How to Get a Promotion: Leadership Strategies #15, #16 & #17

Be the First to Give More:

The problem with the employer/employee relationship is that most employers will only pay you just enough to keep you and most employees will only work just hard enough not to get fired. What a terrible arrangement!

In order for this relationship to progress, somebody has got to give . . . that is, give more. Do you really think that your employer will pay you more before you give more? You, the employee must be the one to break this impasse. In order to get paid more, you first have to do more. Come in early, work with a great attitude, and every project that you are given to do, over-deliver. And stay late. It mainly benefits you.

Some employees are reluctant to give more because in the past, each and everything they did wasn’t rewarded or recognized. Some feel that by giving more, only the company will benefit. Let me ask you a question, “When you give more, whose stock goes up? The company’s or yours? Mainly yours.When you give more, some wonderful dynamics takes place. (1). Your work ethic improves (2).Your attitude improves. (3). Your self-esteem will improve. (4). Your fellow employees see your increased performance and can give you a good reference. When you give more it is your stock that goes up and if your company won’t pay you more for doing more, another one will.

Take the Coca Cola Bottles Downstairs With Joy.

When I was 21, I went to work for this particular company. I would drink a Coca Cola or two in the morning and one or two in the afternoon. Nobody drank that much. Out of 20 sales people on the sales floor, I was the leading Coca Cola drinker.

The Coca Cola machine was downstairs and it only had glass, returnable bottles and after we were finished drinking our Coke, we were supposed to take the empties downstairs and put them in the wooden crate so the delivery person could carry them away. Well, not everybody was good about taking their empties downstairs and they would let them accumulate on their desk.

Frequently, my sales manager, in an effort to exert his authority would walk up behind me, put his hand on my shoulder and ask me to go around the sales floor, gather up everybody’s empties and take them downstairs. How humiliating this was. I started there in June and by October; I was salesperson of the month. This company had a tradition whereby they would have a one-minute ceremony at the beginning of the first business day of every month and they would present the “salesperson of the month” award to whoever had the most sales in the prior month.

On November 1, in front of the entire sales force, I was given this beautiful “salesperson of the month” plaque. That very afternoon, my sales manager once again walked up behind me, put his hand on my shoulder and asked me to gather up all of the Coca Cola bottles on the sales floor and take them downstairs.

Well, how was the salesperson of the month supposed to react? Well, I gave him my dirtiest look is what I did. And I walked around gathering up everybody’s empties with a scowl on my face.

I don’t know if it was the second or third trip downstairs, but I caught myself and said, “John, this isn’t you.” What was I thinking? This is not the attitude that is going to get me where I want to go I walked back upstairs with a new attitude and noticed a half-finished Coca Cola bottle on my sales manager’s desk. This time it was my turn to walk up behind him and put my hand on his shoulder and I said, “After you finish your Coke, I will be happy to take that bottle downstairs for you. You should have seen the look on his face – it was worth a thousand bucks. If you want to get ahead, then take out the Coca Cola bottles with joy.

Your Education Never Stops.

If you have a high school diploma, sign up with an online college or attend a local college at night and get your AA degree. Then continue and get your Bachelor’s Degree. If an MBA will help get you where you want to go, then go for it.

Let me tell you something about education. Researchers conducted this particular study whereby they found that a person who has completed one year of college, on average, makes more than a person with a high school education. The person who has completed two years of college, on average, makes more money than someone who has completed one year. The person who has completed three years of college, on average makes more money than someone who has completed two. And a person with a college degree, on average, makes more money than someone who has completed three years of college.

In this world where just about everything that we gain can be lost – in this world where just about everything we accomplish can be taken away, one thing that can never be taken from you is your education. Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you will always remember that you will only stand as tall as how tall you stand on the books you have read.