We notice when you sneak in the back
“Don’t be late to meetings,” Marek says. “My time is just as valuable as yours. Being late tells me this isn’t a priority for you.” And if your boss thinks that you don’t prioritize your time with her then she won’t be as eager to give you her time in the first place. (Here’s how you can convince your boss to hold less meetings.)
It’s not enough to know what you’re doing, you have to be able to share it with others
Being an expert in your field is great but if you can’t communicate your data, results, or plans well to others then all your hard work will be stuck behind a screen, says Lyn Hastings, VP of Marketing & Operations, The Powerline Group. Communication skills are every bit as important as “hard” skills. “Strategy and execution are important, but if you’re putting together a spreadsheet of company data, you need to be able to speak about the data, not just put the numbers together,” she explains.
Despite what your parents told you, you are not a special snowflake
“Special snowflake” is a criticism often leveled at Millenials, but everyone would do well to remember that when you work for a company, you are one part of a larger machine. Expecting to always have your work lauded or to get special favors isn’t realistic and is setting you up for some uncomfortable confrontations down the line. “You can’t always be the star,” Hastings says. “How an employee rebounds from a tough situation says more about their work ethic and character than the easy win.”
