3 Steps to Improve Your Odds of Climbing the Corporate Ladder

Success cannot be achieved without action. Read further as Lizette Warner, Ph.D. provides three, highly –and easily– actionable steps to make your next career move.

Step 1: Stop Word Vomiting

Be brief. Be complete. Be clear.

Creating a word salad or word vomiting over everyone is not a good leadership skill.

More information dilutes your message: 

Communicating succinctly shows that you can cut through the noise. Leaders do not have time to wade through 50 slides or emails when one would suffice. 

Going deeper: 

People are too busy to understand what is important, let alone why it is important.

You’ll be the hero if you can cut one of the more than 333 billion emails sent daily into brief, complete, and clear messages.

Assume people will: 

• read 200 words, at most

• listen to you for one minute

Convey the most important point first! Curious about what words you should avoid in business? Read about them here.

How to say what you mean:

Decide what you want your audience to understand. Do you want your team to fill out their project updates?

• Start with the takeaway: 

• Subject: No project. No Work. No Money.

• Go deeper if needed and provide the why:

• Team, the project updates are incomplete. That means we cannot pay the bills and deliver our products.

• Add humor to make your point stick:

• Who wants to work in the dark with no internet for no money? Update the projects today.

Pitfalls:

Being a robot is your biggest pitfall. 

Don’t be a robot. Be you. 

Bottom Line:

Corporate leaders don’t have time to play the long game with communications. Give feedback, pitch in, and communicate effectively. Clarity and brevity are hallmark skills in leadership.

Step 2: Hug Independence and Grow Your Community

Leadership can be lonely. Anyone who says differently is lying. You lead yourself, manage a team, and your colleagues in parallel, and deliver your commitments to leadership.

The higher, the fewer:

The higher you go, the fewer supporters you will see, and the less support you will get from your leadership. 

Going deeper:

Leaders see confidential information and make decisions based on that information. As a result, you will see things no one else on your team can know. You will have to keep confidence, unable to be fully transparent with your team.

Supporting your team to a level you may not be supported and giving feedback and career advice that you will not get may leave you feeling empty.

As a leader:

• You may not see people that look like you at leadership round tables.

• You may be the only voice with your perspective in a room of other leaders.

Middle managers direct a team, have peers with their own problems, and report to leaders who are distant and managing a different level of crisis. You will be lucky to get feedback or career development tips from your leaders. 

How to hug independence and grow a community:

 Though you may be the odd woman out on a team, you can cultivate a community of:

• a personal board of directors

• C-level peers in a group advisory board

• peers from your SheVentures community or private Facebook group

• peers in an authentic leadership team 

Prepare yourself to be the only (fill in the blank) in the room. Grow comfortable being your authentic self.

Have a support system such as: 

• an executive coach

• allies

• an advisory board

• a positive support system from friends and family

• a leadership team

Pitfalls:

Feeling alone is a pitfall to avoid at all costs.

You are not alone, even when you feel like you are. 

You have simply forgotten that you have a support system or you need to build one. 

Bottom Line:

Be both fiercely independent and communal to help build muscles to stand your ground. 

Connect with a support team regularly or find people who can supplement your leadership journey.

Step 3: Keep Your Eyes On the Direction You Travel

We would repeat this mantra to my five-year-old, who got distracted by everything as he ran into people, walls, or other objects. You, a brilliant leader, need to keep your eyes on the direction you are traveling.

You are not your peers:

You are not in competition with anyone. When others succeed, we sometimes tell ourselves lies about ourselves — running into walls, wishing we had what she had, or examining what’s wrong with us.

Going deeper:

There’s nothing wrong with you; you are brilliant and beautiful! Keep your eyes on your prize, and you will not get distracted or pulled out of your lane.

How to keep your eyes on the direction you are traveling:

When someone else succeeds: 

• appreciate their win

• ask yourself “What can I learn here?”

• If you struggle, tell yourself, “One day, my dear, that will be you.” 

Pitfalls:

When we see someone else’s progress, we may miss their struggles. You are not with them late at night, reviewing their finances, or experiencing the blood and tears they shed along their journey. There are enough sour patches in the world. You can afford to send love when you see someone else succeeding.

Bottom Line:

You are the only you in this world, even if you have an identical twin. You are unique. 

No one else will drive your career, accomplish your goals, or enjoy your wins if it is not you. 

It is your life, so keep your eyes on the direction you are traveling.