Joel A. Garfinkle’s new book, Getting Ahead Three Steps to Take Your Career to the Next Level, (John Wiley & Sons, 2011, ISBN: 978-0-470-91587-5), explores the author’s model for getting ahead in your career. Perception, Visibility and Influence (PVI) are the three steps suggested by the author for taking your career up the proverbial ladder.
Getting Ahead in Your Career
Garfinkle begins by telling the reader, “No matter what you’ve achieved at work over the years, your current position is your starting point.” He takes it further by writing that anyone wanting to advance up the corporate ladder needs:
- Commitment to change
- Willingness to do what it takes
- Dedication to the process for reaching the desired level
- Courage to stay the course
- Ability to follow the steps forward regardless of the level of fear one might have
The author wrote that most people spend one-third of their lives at work. To gain the most of the 100,000 hours at work, Garfinkle says you need to leverage your own personal PVI. You need to actively promote yourself as an asset to the company, increase your visibility to gain others’ recognition and appreciation, and be a person of influence who can make key decisions within the company.
Getting Ahead Book Can Help
Garfinkle wrote the book for anyone wanting to get an advancement in their career, more specifically:
- New employees
- Mid-level managers
- Upper management
- Future company leaders
- C-level professionals (CEO, CCO, etc.)
By page three of this book, I felt it was written specifically for me. And, by the end, I knew it was written for me. If you have ever worked hard, been told how talented and skilled you are, were always the go-to person in the office but still did not make it past a certain level of management, then this book was written specifically for you too.
Garfinkel includes a summary section with action steps at the end of each chapter. The book is broken into three sections, Perception, Visibility and Influence, with appropriate topics related to each of the PVI steps.
Fear of PVI
The author wrote, “The vulnerability necessary to put oneself out there to be seen, to influence others, and to change people’s opinions requires a tremendous amount of strength and persistence.”
There are several ideas presented on perception that are helpful including:
- Defining what perception is and that it’s the perception others have about you that advances or holds one back.
- Exploring the power of perception
- Everything one does at work is remembered by somebody
- The seven influences of perception
The information presented in the visibility section is just as interesting and vital. The concepts in this section include among others:
- If you’re not visible, you’re invisible.
- Reasons for self-promotion
- Worker bees and roosters
- Positive effects of negative visibility
- A three-step promotional plan
The section on exerting your influence to lead people, situations and events includes:
- You can’t be a leader without influence
- Five ways to gain influence
- Influencing up, down and laterally in the workplace
Comfort Level for Readers
Some of the suggestions Garfinkle makes in the book, especially the ways to self-promote, may make some people highly uncomfortable. He brings home the need for using the PVI model by telling readers that performance is not always what gets one promoted. Good performance is nothing without the perception, visibility and influence factors.
A person can be an observer who watches what goes on in the company, a participant who wants to share but often holds back, an initiator who works hard at making others aware of your accomplishments or a leader who works hard on maintaining high visibility. Readers can pick where they want to be in the company by using the PVI model to its fullest, even when their uncomfortable level is as strong as the desire to get promoted.
The book is well written. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that feels left behind or stuck at a certain level in the workplace. The ideas and concepts are realistic and can certainly make a difference in one’s career.
