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5 Common Mistakes That Can Kill Your Promotion
You work hard for a promotion and give it your best shot. But what if your hard work isn’t enough? What if you’re not doing the right things? Worse yet, could you be making these mistakes without knowing it and killing your chances?
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How to Build Your Network in 5 Minutes a Day
Your network is one of your most important assets. But how can you fit networking activities into your already overstretched day? Use this simple strategy. It has generated the most “quick wins” for me and it will for you, too.
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9 Capabilities to Advance Your Career Faster and More Easily
At any given point in your career, people will be forming opinions on whether you’ve “got what it takes” to make it to the next level. Which of these capabilities would make the biggest difference for you if you worked on it now?
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Two Business Lessons From An Olympic Fencing Hopeful
Fencing is a lot like business, and perhaps even life in general. I learned this yesterday at the British Youth Championships, watching my friends’ 12-year old son compete and listening to his coach (who is an Olympic hopeful for 2012) advise...
3 Ways To Harness Your Fear
Since prehistoric times, fear has proven useful to our survival, both individually and as a species. These days, however, fear more often can hold us back from enjoying the success we are meant to achieve. With most of our fears blown out of proportion or perhaps even imagined, we must learn to keep fear in check or…
Intensity
Why do some people train hard in the gym and play hard on the court, while others go through the motions? Are those hours equally well spent? Some would ask what the point is of showing up if you aren’t going to get everything you can out of it. Others would say that at least the second person bothered to go at all.
How Great Leaders Inspire Action
I wasn’t sure what to expect from the YouTube video link that my daughter recently forwarded to me (“we watched this in class today and I thought you might like it”). Well, it turned out to be great. So great that it is worth sharing. It is...
What To Do When Asked To Lead A Gender Initiative
Sometimes, it is not clear whether a company is referring to a women’s initiative such as forming a women’s network, or whether it is part of a broader gender balancing program aimed at balancing the ratio of men and women throughout the...
Surviving As An Analyst
Making a success of your first job as an analyst is an important career milestone. I remember looking up at the 53-story office building from the sidewalk on my first day of work. It was scary, exciting, and pretty intimidating. Twenty-four...
Gaming The Year-End Appraisal Process
You’ve worked hard all year, now it all comes down to the official assessment - the year-end appraisal. If only you could be in the room to represent yourself, if only you could be in control. For two decades, this was my refrain after getting...
Compensation: How To Get Paid What You Deserve
Compensation is a tricky topic in banking these days. It is unpopular (and many have argued even unjust) for bankers to be paid large sums given all that has gone on. On the other hand, people doing an honest day’s work cannot be expected to...
How To Make It To Managing Director – Part II
This is a continuation of my earlier article on how to make it to the top of the tree in an investment bank. As I stated previously, making Managing Director is an art, not a science. But there are some things that will help you along the way....
How To Make It To Managing Director – Part I
Making Managing Director is in part an art, and definitely not a science. There is no set formula for achieving this status, and each firm will have its own dynamics in terms of when someone becomes eligible, what it takes, and indeed what it...
What If You Get Passed Over For Managing Director Promotion?
There is no guarantee that having embarked on the journey toward “MD-ship” that one will make it. That having been said, sometimes you just have to be patient. If you are given bad news, then the key is to understand why and what it takes to...
How To Cope When You're Not Promoted To Vice President
It doesn’t feel very good to find out you didn’t get promoted, whatever the seniority level. It’s natural to wonder, “Is this a sign? Am I remedial? Do I have what it takes? Is it me or is it them?” If this happens to you at an early stage,...
