I heard a great story last night from a friend who spent just under 10 years in the military.  Just before he left home his Dad gave him some great brown-nosing advice.

"Son, no matter where you go, not matter where you are stationed around the world, there are three people you need to get to know immediately.  Get to know someone in the mess hall.  Then get to know someone in supply, and then get to know someone in the company commander's office.  That way, you'll always have the food you need, the supplies you require and most important, information."

This guy's dad was teaching him some basic survival skills which aren't much different than those  needed for survival in Corporate America, or for that matter, in any organization on the planet!  Understand this and you can move from survival to thriving in very little time.

At work, you need nourishment.  You need to nourish your mind, you spirit and your career.  Who are the people likely to provide this nourishment?  Who can give you challenging work, make you feel like you are valued for what you bring and most important, who are the key influencers who can make a difference in your career?

At work, you need supplies.  Not just pens and paper and stuff like that.  You need resources — access to people, ideas, materials, software, data, money.  Who has the ability to allocate these resources? Without resources you can't do much beyond your job. AND, if you've been following anything I've been saying you know that you must find a way to go beyond your job in order to make a lasting impression and create some visibility for yourself.  Who are the people who can provide you the resources you need to make this happen?

And finally, at work, you need information.  How much further ahead of the curve could you be if you got wind of the fact that your department was being eliminated, downsized or expanded? Or what if you knew about a new product being considered before everone else?  Or that there was trouble with a key account?  Knowing information allows you to position yourself to take advantage of the coming changes OR to help you mitigate any risk to yourself.  Information is power.  It has been that way through all of time in any organizational structure – government, politics, corporations, not-for-profit entities – all operate this way.  The more (accurate) information you possess, the more your value goes up.

Take a look around.  Take the time to learn who these key people are in your organization.  Then put your plan in place to get to know them. Just remember that in order to establish and leverage these relationships you must be able to connect with people and you must bring something to the relationship.  These people will want to know why getting to know you should be important to them.

Think about it —

Later, Linda

Once, while I was working at the Director level in a healthcare organization, I had an idea for a new approach that I wanted to share at the weekly management meeting. I was in charge of marketing

The other night I watched a finance class talk about assets and how they are used to help a company make money.  Hum, I thought.  When it comes right down to it, we all have assets that we use to make money. They are called our skills, knowledge, abilities, education, perspectives, experience, expertise, attitudes….

Have you ever watched a brownnoser with his or her boss?  The brown-noser ALWAYS knows what he brings to the table in terms of his assets.  It may just be a word of encouragement with little substance behind it, but he knows when someone needs encouraging, doesn't he?  Isn't that why we dislike him so?  It's as if he's got a some sort of tracking device that can sniff out opportunities to get in front of the boss and look good.  Not so – he simply knows what his assets are and then puts them into play to help him make money, friends, influence people, get jobs, get your promotion, etc.

Here's what I want you to do.  Take an inventory or your assets.  How can you possibly position yourself or your ideas if you don't know what you have to offer?  Be careful – this requires some soul-searching and an honest attempt to assess yourself.  Don't discount anything and don't assume that simply because you aren't allowed to use an asset at this particular time that it should not be on your list.

Your objective here is to know what you have so you can brownnose influential people and convince them that you've got the assets they need to further their own agendas.  (Read more about positioning in other posts in this blog or read it in Brown-nosing 101.

Oh — you're happy to take an inventory of your assets but don't want to 'brownnose' to get ahead?    Would you rather be cool and bored and underutilized or would you rather use a few skills that have been proven to work in the corporate world and be happy, successful and fulfilled by the work you do? I'm not advocating you become an incompetent brown-noser, but I am advocating you use the skills that brownnosers have mastered (and most of the rest of us have not), to influence your own career.

Think about it…

Later, Linda

I couldn't believe that less than one month after being diagnosed with breast cancer I was having trouble remaining focused. Oh my God, I thought…I'm human! What a difficult way to learn this lesson.   Of course, a diagnosis like this made me spend some time thinking about what it means to be human and in line with my objective here – to bring my message of competent brown-nosing to the world of repressed talent - it also caused me to reevaluate how I might use this adversity to that end.

I've been spreading my home grown brand of brown-nosing through this blog for a while now and even this cancer experience has shown me how these four skills – gaining visibility, connecting, networking and positioning – are used by all of us all the time. For those of you who can't imagine using 'brown-nosing' skill to further your own agenda, let me share a real world example from this experience.

The phone rings at 4:40pm and my surgeon says, 'There is a problem'.  Careful not to use the "C" word in other than the most clinical terms, this skillful, kind and competent man has taken care to position this information in the most gentle way possible.  He continually emphasized any good news (not than anything he can say after problem and carcinoma would be good) and held my focus on the obvious objective at this point – healing and getting healthy again. 

Doesn't this look like an approach that could be successful for you at work?  Skillfully and tactfully using the art of positioning to help people see the good in any situation and to keep them focused on the goal?  To provide support for just such an effort?  Should it matter if you think the target of your efforts is a jerk?  An incompetent?  Do you think this successful, skillful surgeon would have approached this any differently if I had been an incompetent jerk?  I suspect not.  His job was to deliver the news and provide support and options which he did brilliantly.  Keep in mind that his technical expertise is in surgery, but there is no doubt that these ancillary people skills are just as important to his success and why he was so highly recommended by previous patients and colleagues.

To win in the world of work, YOU must develop these ancillary people sills, too.  The next time you see a brownnoser trying to make lemonaide out of lemons, try appreciating the skill involved when helping another feel good about him or herself in a bad situation. Then try your hand at it yourself. 

You will be demonstrating the skillful art of making people feel good and helping them be as good (or as healthy) as they can be under less than ideal circumstances.  Isn't this something that managers of people are supposed to do?  If you show your boss and your colleagues that you have this talent their perception of you as someone who can make it at the next level will undoubtedly be enhanced.  As a result, you might come highly recommended by the people who can influence your career, too.

Think about it —

Later, Linda

P.S. Brown-nosing 101: A career survival manual for the rest of us is now available.  Please visit www.brownnosingonline.com and click on the Buy the Book tab.  The best of health to you….

There were the usual responses – to get a better job, to fortify my resume, because I was bored….and then there was the guy who said, "Because I hate Corporate America. All I know is IT and I figured I should learn more about business, though I don't think I"m cut out for a corporate job.  The only thing corporations and the people who work there are interested in is money and getting ahead and they'll step on anyone to get there."

"Oh," I smiled, moving in a little closer for the kill.  "And where do you work now?" 

He replied, "XYZ company" (Note: one of the biggest companies in town). 

"How long have you been there?" 

"About 3 years."

"Where did you work before?"

" ABC Company."

"Why did you move to XYZ Company?"

"For more money and a promotion."

"Oh," I said.  I stopped there, smiled, and waited for the snickering to subside as it made its way around the classroom.

In the past I have tried to be a bit more empathetic and  probing to learn the reasons why particular students felt this way, but for some reason I couldn't stop myself last night. It's like the guy was 'stuck on stupid' (remember the National Guard's General Honoree?).  Here he is most of the way through an MBA program and he still doesn't understand what business is all about.   

Like it or not, business IS about money.  No company can survive the long haul if it doesn't make money.  No money — no products, no profit for your profit sharing plan, no jobs, no benefits, no decent return for your 401K or IRA, blah, blah, blah.  NO ONE starts any type of business – for profit or not-for-profit without knowing that they will have to generate revenue (i.e. money) and eventually generate a return to either pay back those people who took the risk to invest in the venture or to deliver the services they hope will make the world a better place.  I have to wonder what part of this the student didn't understand?  The irony and hypocrisy of this situation still has me  dumbfounded.

What does this have to do with your career and brown-nosing?  Quite a bit, actually.  If you are going to 'play' you must understand that business is about money and numbers. Once you've bought into this concept you are then in a better position to see just how your job contributes to those objectives.  THAT is how you and your job add value. 

With an understanding of this you can better position yourself and your ideas in terms that make sense to your boss and the business.  Talking smart, instead of stupid, is one of the best ways to gain visibility for yourself in the workplace.  Take the time to learn about the mechanics of business and you'll look much smarter than most of the people around you. 

If you are a little rusty or don't really understand the fundamentals of business, a great place to start is with any one of a number of the resources I've listed in the book, Brown-Nosing 101: A career survival manual for the rest of us.  They will give you the foundation that you'll need if you truly want to become a player. 

Think about it —- then let me know what YOU think!

Later, Linda

 I once heard a story of a woman who decided to attend a business event, even though she was nursing the flu. She had just started working for the company and though under the weather, she believed it would do her more harm if she didn

I once overheard a conversation about trade show booths. A group of marketing and sales people were discussing how best to increase their product's exposure at national trade shows. The booth that the trade show team set up to present the company had been in use for many years and was universally deemed to be a bit dated and ineffective. During the course of the conversation, one member of the team said, rather forcefully,

When you speak up in a meeting you create instant visibility as well as position yourself as someone who has something of value to bring.  Your words position your idea in a manner that you believe will be beneficial to others and as a consequence you make a connection with them.  Your ultimate objective is to get a promotion or pay raise or prestigious assignment, but your approach has others in mind.

When you take an idea to your boss, you connect with her on some personal level in an attempt to insure that she will actually listen to what you have to say.  Then, you position your idea in terms of what is in it for her.  Your intention is to be considered as someone with potential to think bigger than your own job, but your approach starts with how to make others look good.

If you want to be considered for a new project you search around to determine who has the power to make that happen.  Then you do some networking in an attempt to get closer to that person. Using the power of other people's contacts your process includes making strong connections with people who can get you in front of the decision maker.  It is then imperative that you make a strong connection with this person so you are offered the opportunity to make your case i.e. position why your presence on the project would the right thing for him (not you).  This gives you a degree of visibility so even if you aren't selected for the project you've made some good contacts (and hopefully some good impressions) with people who could help you when the next project rolls around.

As you can see, these skills work synergistically and you can't use one without using several (or all) of them at the same time.  Consequently, you must work to hone all of them in the context of the culture in which you work.

Yes, here's the rub — HOW these skills are used is dictated by the culture in which you work.  If you are relatively new to this game, you'll need to do a cultural 'audit' to learn how the game is played in your organization. 

How do you learn about the culture?  Next time….

Got to go….Linda