Narcissist or humble. Let your work speak for you, they say. People will notice eventually. While some say to advertise your work – network, market, and make others know it – we can still be proud. Up to what point?
In the book “Leadership BS: Fixing Workplaces and Careers One Truth at a Time” by Jeffrey Pfeffer, he talks about some of the common qualities that we learn from reading leadership books, seminars, or podcasts that are, in real-world settings, not 100% helpful in traversing our everyday work.
One of those is being modest. As a leader, any achievements we have are a result of the collective work of the people we lead. It is not the leader who was successful but the team that worked to produce results. In effect, the leader cannot claim success.
He said that is what the leadership books, seminars, or podcasts tell us. He made an argument that successful leaders and organizations are doing otherwise.
A leader that takes pride in his work, pushes the team to do what he wants, claims it as his, and makes the people in the organization know about it are the ones that are successful in achieving goals and climbing up the corporate ladder faster than anyone else.
That is true as I have seen this happen.
Or even not being in a leadership position, just being part of a team, being quiet about what you have accomplished against making it known to everyone, or just even your boss, could impact our progress in our career. We could end up stuck in our levels and wonder what we could have done differently to get promoted.
Though, the other side of it, when you boast about your work, there is a tendency that others will take it negatively. Just thinking of yourself and your own could hurt relationships along the way and in the end, if you get that promotion, no one would be willing to follow you.
In my experience, I attributed my promotion to the work that I did and to those who had led me to it. I had that desire to keep moving and my leaders gave me their hands to pull me up. And I have not been a person advertising what I achieved but every day, I just focused on what needs to be done.
And being a leader, I do not have an accomplishment that I can say my own. Almost all of the work being done every day is done by my team. All of this work brought us to the stability we are looking for. No fire fighting. Just anticipate where that fire might come from and prevent it.
In summary, I think that a leader should continue being humble. Without the people around him, that is willing to follow his vision, and think with him to find creative solutions, what could the leader accomplish?
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