In school, you get the grade you objectively earn.
In the workplace, what you get isn’t as objective. In many cases, you get what you convince someone else to give you.
Want that promotion? You need to convince someone.
Want a raise? You need to convince someone.
Want a budget for your project? You need to convince someone.
Want someone to work for you? You need to convince someone.
Want your engineering approach adopted? You need to convince someone.
Sure, competence is important.
Yes, working hard is useful.
Of course, building relationships is valuable.
However, all of that only matters if you can convince someone to make a decision that you want.
What you “deserve” matters little unless you can convince someone to do what you want them to do.
In short, your career success depends as much on your functional competence as it does on your ability to “sell” others on your ideas, proposals, or plans.
It’s ironic that most of us spend 16+ years of schooling to become competent in our fields, yet we spend virtually zero time learning how to “sell” others.
This represents a significant discrepancy in the allocation of time versus importance.
If selling is not a natural skill for you, you might consider my program on How to Sell Your Ideas in Everyday Life. It will be available for a limited time next month.
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