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Two Genius Ways to Impress YourBoss

Mar 10, 2015 24,917 283 57

I've worked in enough organizations and agencies to know that at the end of theday, a lot of your success is based on one single thing: how much you impress your

Tracey Harrington McCoyNewsweek Contributing Writer // COO, MtoMConsulting LLC, specializing in Influencer…

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boss. Whether you're a media planner, content creator, brand marketing director, orVP of client services, an important piece of your job is making sure your boss (andhis/her boss!) appreciates and acknowledges your contributions to the company.

Obvious? Yes. Easy to accomplish? Rarely.

Here are two smart ways to impress your boss:

1) Measurement, measurement, measurement!

Numbers tell a story that words simply can't. No one can argue with hard data.When it comes to impressing your boss, showing him or her measurable resultsabout a high performing campaign is always better than telling them. And thepresentation of this information is almost as important as the data itself.

Whether your managing a social media campaign, overseeing a Facebookadvertising campaign or executive producing a video influencer campaign, it'simportant to tell your success story with numbers. Take advantage of Facebook'srobust ad reportingit's extremely thorough and arms you with enough data to wowyour boss with detailed clickthrough and engagement numbers. Ditto withAdWords. Even Pinterest has decent reporting.

Influencer marketing has upped it's reporting game too. Previously, reporting oninfluencer campaigns consisted of links to the content with no real data or metrics.Today, there's great technology that tracks and captures traffic and engagementnumbers across all platforms: blogs and social networks including Facebook,Twitter, Instagram,Vine, Tumblr, and YouTube.

But gathering the data is only half the battle. The presentation of the data is veryimportant. Don't just screenshot the reporting from each platform, throw on a coversheet and send it over. Make it as cohesive and aesthetically appealing aspossible. Best case scenario: get your graphic design person to create matchinggraphs and tables. Worst case: sign up for an online presentation app like Emaze,and use one of their templates to showcase your data. Either way: it's got to lookpolished, sophisticated, and cohesive.

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The final secret to a great report is knowing what to highlightand what to omit.Find out which stats your boss (and his/her boss) care about. Make sure youhighlight your biggest accomplishments first unabashedly and in bold. Skip themundane or unimportant. Don't bury the lead for fear of appearing boastful. There'sno time for that when it comes to how well you're doing your job. And remember, it'sthe NUMBERS doing the boasting, not you.

2) Stay on Top of Technology

Nothing irked me more than when my boss told ME about a new website or app Ihad to check out. It should've been the other way around. You should be the onetelling your boss about the new musthave technology or gadget. And you shouldalso be telling them about the stuff they should skip.

Don't just act like the most techsavvy, BE the most techsavvy. Buy new apps, testthem out, and share your opinion. Sign up to beta test new platforms and websites.Stay on the pulse of what's trending in your industry. Be the goto tech person onyour team and if possible, in your company. A great way to stay on top is keeping adaily eye on these publications: Adweek, Mashable, Techcrunch, Gizmodo, andEngadget.

Join a forum. Both LinkedIn and Facebook have great, engaged groups wheremembers share cuttingedge ideas and their latest discoveries. Take ten minutes aday to check in and see what's going on.

If you use online tools and one isn't meeting all your needs, take the time to findsomething that does. Do research and price out options. This shows you're forwardthinking and eager to take the initiative. (And if your new solution is cheaper, you'realso helping the bottom line!)

What do these two tips have in common? They help you look good while alsohelping your boss look good. And there's no better way to impress your boss thanhelping them impress THEIR boss.

Impress Your BossTracey Harrington McCoy

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Ken MurphyMarketing & Communications | Public Relations | Social Media | Web Analytics,Content & SEO | CRM

Tracey, I like your concept; agree with you on measuring results and publicizingthem internally; and keeping up on technology. Let's make this a two way street, abroader audience and add more lanes. Impressing your boss is fine, but I've hadthose bosses leave which takes away your single supporter. Impress yourclients/customers that will impress your boss and everybody up and down thehierarchy. Don't just promote yourself, build alliances and support others. No onesucceeds alone. Share the credit, highlight your part and enjoy the success withyour team/colleagues.

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12 Personal Things SuccessfulPeople NEVER Reveal At WorkMar 10, 2015 342,207 1,900 611

You can’t build a strong professional network if you don’t open up to yourcolleagues; but doing so is tricky, because revealing the wrong things can have adevastating effect on your career.

Sharing the right aspects of yourself in the right ways is an art form. Disclosuresthat feel like relationship builders in the moment can wind up as obvious nonoswith hindsight.

The trick is to catch yourself before you cross that line, because once you share

Dr. Travis BradberryCoauthor Emotional Intelligence 2.0 & President at

TalentSmart

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something, there is no going back.

TalentSmart has tested more than a million people and found that the upperechelons of top performance are filled with people who are high in emotionalintelligence (90% of top performers, to be exact). Emotionally intelligent people areadept at reading others, and this shows them what they should and shouldn't revealabout themselves at work.

The following list contains the 12 most common things people reveal that send theircareers careening in the wrong direction.

1. That They Hate Their Job

The last thing anyone wants to hear at work is someone complaining about howmuch they hate their job. Doing so labels you as a negative person, who is not ateam player. This brings down the morale of the group. Bosses are quick to catchon to naysayers who drag down morale, and they know that there are alwaysenthusiastic replacements waiting just around the corner.

2. That They Think Someone Is Incompetent

There will always be incompetent people in any workplace, and chances are thateveryone knows who they are. If you don’t have the power to help them improve orto fire them, then you have nothing to gain by broadcasting their ineptitude.Announcing your colleague’s incompetence comes across as an insecure attemptto make you look better. Your callousness will inevitably come back to haunt you inthe form of your coworkers’ negative opinions of you.

3. How Much Money They Make

Your parents may love to hear all about how much you’re pulling in each month, butin the workplace, this only breeds negativity. It’s impossible to allocate salaries withperfect fairness, and revealing yours gives your coworkers a direct measure ofcomparison. As soon as everyone knows how much you make, everything you doat work is considered against your income. It’s tempting to swap salary figures witha buddy out of curiosity, but the moment you do, you’ll never see each other the

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same way again.

4. Their Political and Religious Beliefs

People’s political and religious beliefs are too closely tied to their identities to bediscussed without incident at work. Disagreeing with someone else’s views canquickly alter their otherwise strong perception of you. Confronting someone’s corevalues is one of the most insulting things you can do.

Granted, different people treat politics and religion differently, but asserting yourvalues can alienate some people as quickly as it intrigues others. Even bringing upa hotbutton world event without asserting a strong opinion can lead to conflict.

People build their lives around their ideals and beliefs, and giving them your twocents is risky. Be willing to listen to others without inputting anything on your endbecause all it takes is a disapproving look to start a conflict. Political opinions andreligious beliefs are so deeply ingrained in people, that challenging their views ismore likely to get you judged than to change their mind.

5. What They Do on Facebook

The last thing your boss wants to see when she logs on to her Facebook account isphotos of you taking tequila shots in Tijuana. There are just too many ways you canlook inappropriate on Facebook and leave a bad impression. It could be whatyou’re wearing, who you’re with, what you’re doing, or even your friends’commentary. These are the little things that can cast a shadow of doubt in yourboss’s or colleagues’ minds just when they are about to hand you a big assignmentor recommend you for a promotion.

It’s too difficult to try to censure yourself on Facebook for your colleagues. Saveyourself the trouble, and don’t friend them there. Let LinkedIn be your professional“social” network, and save Facebook for everybody else.

6. What They Do in the Bedroom

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Whether your sex life is out of this world or lacking entirely, this information has noplace at work. Such comments might get a chuckle from some people, but it makesmost uncomfortable, and even offended. Crossing this line will instantly give you abad reputation.

7. What They Think Someone Else Does in the Bedroom

A good 111% of the people you work with do not want to know that you bet they’retigers in the sack. There’s no more surefire way to creep someone out than to letthem know that thoughts of their love life have entered your brain. Anything fromspeculating on a colleague’s sexual orientation to making a relatively indirectcomment like, “Oh, to be a newlywed again,” plants a permanent seed in the brainsof all who hear it that casts you in a negative light.

Your thoughts are your own. Think whatever you feel is right about people; justkeep it to yourself.

8. That They're After Somebody Else’s Job

Announcing your ambitions at work when they are in direct conflict with otherpeople’s interests comes across as selfish and indifferent to those you work withand the company as a whole. Great employees want the whole team to succeed,not just themselves. Regardless of your actual motives (some of us really do justwork for the money), announcing your selfish goal will not help you get there.

9. How Wild They Used To Be in College

Your past can say a lot about you. Just because you did something outlandish orstupid 20 years ago doesn’t mean that people will believe you’ve developedimpeccable judgment since then. Some behavior that might qualify as just anotherday in the typical fraternity (binge drinking, minor theft, drunk driving, abusingpeople or farm animals, and so on) shows everyone you work with that, when pushcomes to shove, you have poor judgment and don’t know where to draw the line.Many presidents have been elected in spite of their past indiscretions, but unlessyou have a team of handlers and PR types protecting and spinning your image, youshould keep your unsavory past to yourself.

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10. How Intoxicated They Like to Get

You might think talking about how inebriated you were over the weekend has noeffect on how you’re viewed at work. After all, if you’re a good worker, then you’re agood worker, right? Unfortunately not. Sharing this will not get people to thinkyou’re fun. Instead, they will see you as unpredictable, immature, and lacking ingood judgment. Too many people have negative views of drugs and alcohol for youto reveal how much you love to indulge in them.

11. An Offensive Joke

If there’s one thing we can learn from celebrities, it’s to be careful about what yousay and whom you say it to. Offensive jokes make other people feel terrible, andthey make you look terrible. They also happen to be much less funny than cleverjokes.

A joke crosses the line anytime you try to gauge its appropriateness based on howclose you are with someone. If there is anyone who would be offended by yourjoke, you are better off not telling it. You never know whom people know or whatexperiences they’ve had in life that can lead your joke to tread on subjects that theytake very seriously.

12. That They Are Job Hunting

When I was a kid, I told my baseball coach I was quitting in two weeks. For the nexttwo weeks, I found myself riding the bench. It got even worse after those two weekswhen I decided to stay, and I became “the kid who doesn’t even want to be here.” Iwas crushed, but it was my own fault; I told him my decision before it was certain.

The same thing happens when you tell people that you’re job hunting. Once youreveal that you’re planning to leave, you suddenly become a waste of everyone’stime. There’s also the chance that your hunt will be unsuccessful, so it’s best to waituntil you’ve found a job before you tell anyone. Otherwise, you will end up riding thebench.

Bringing It All Together

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Let me know what you think of this list. Do you disagree with any of these items?Did I miss any? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below, as Ilearn just as much from you as you do from me.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dr. Travis Bradberry is the awardwinning coauthor of the #1 bestselling book,Emotional Intelligence 2.0, and the cofounder of TalentSmart, the world's leadingprovider of emotional intelligence tests and training, serving more than 75% ofFortune 500 companies. His bestselling books have been translated into 25languages and are available in more than 150 countries. Dr. Bradberry has writtenfor, or been covered by, Newsweek, BusinessWeek, Fortune, Forbes, FastCompany, Inc., USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, andThe Harvard Business Review.

If you'd like to learn how to increase your emotional intelligence (EQ), consider

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taking the online Emotional Intelligence Appraisal test that's included with theEmotional Intelligence 2.0 book. Your test results will pinpoint which of the book's66 emotional intelligence strategies will increase your EQ the most.

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