Is your Reputation working for or against you?
What are you known for? How does it serve you?
I had the most fascinating conversation last week with an executive in finance who built a reputation for being the person who didn’t just hit her goals; she exceeded them - all the time.
Throughout her whole career, she has been admired because she excels at anything and everything you throw at her.
That reputation got her job offers without having to look for them. It got her promotion after promotion, and it got her very well paid!
It also got her STUCK.
At the time of our conversation, she had spent five years in the same role- doing excellent work, moving initiatives forward, making money for her business line, and providing services above and beyond what anyone asked of her.
As she put it, she was the person who killed the goals. She was also flying under the radar, stuck in the dark, hitting her targets but never in the spotlight.
Sometimes, being exceptional is not enough to earn you a seat at the table. Too often, it is actually the exact opposite; you become so essential to the success of your leaders that you are actively held back.
In her case, being asked, “What would we do without you?” wasn’t a compliment; it was a locked door and glass ceiling.
If you’re the most impactful woman in the room, shouldn’t you be rewarded for it?
What this VP wants more than anything else is a seat at the table. No surprise there; most of my clients are either vying for that seat or have it and want to make sure they also get a voice and the power to drive change.
Her work, her impact, and the solutions she comes up with are discussed at the highest levels, but she is never invited to those conversations. She is, she said, “Just below important.”
There’s something else she really wants. As I mentioned earlier, every role and every great opportunity this SVP’s career was brought to her once others realized what she could do for them. She never actually chose what she wanted to do; she simply followed the best offer.
As a result, she’s earned her living extremely well, but she also hates her work at times. The compensation is there, but the excitement isn’t.
This executive's second ask for coaching is to finally figure out and pursue fun, exciting, and challenging work without giving up the material and professional success she’s achieved.
You can have your seat and enjoy it too!
This is the kind of work and woman I live to coach: smart, driven, determined, successful, and truly ready to level her already impressive career.
What’s the point in being successful if you can enjoy and leverage that success to build a personal legacy, be ridiculously impactful in your career, enjoy life outside of work, and be genuinely fulfilled?
I don’t yet have an ending to this story quite yet- we’re still talking about the work we want to do together. I can share an initial plan and the outcomes I have in mind for her.
First things first, she’s going to finally get answers to big questions like:
What makes me happy?
What do I need to feel successful?
What has to be built into my life if I want to wake up in the morning and feel excited about my day?
Then, instead of pursuing opportunities because she’s perfect for them, she’ll start taking on work because it’s perfect for her. Back in control of her career and her day!
We’ll show her how to leverage her excellence and build her reputation as an expert whose seat at the table is ‘RESERVED’ rather than a workhorse whose impact is leveraged anonymously. The right kind of visibility to
We’ll also elevate her authority- do a thorough audit of her communication, presence, and habits - so that when she walks into a room or asks a question, people will stop, pay attention, and implicitly trust her leadership.
Just writing about it makes me giddy. This is what we do at Noteworthy; it’s the kind of work I love. And who better to do it for than someone who’s clearly demonstrated that she deserves real success that comes with peace of mind, lazy weekends, and a muted phone outside of office hours?
This week’s question to ponder and comment on:
What are you known for, and is it working for you?