Professional acceptance is a curious mix of the things you can do and the things-you-look-like-you-can do. A marriage of style and substance, if you like.
Talent is good, a strong work ethic to go with it is even better, but looking and sounding the part is both a shortcut to success and a ticket to wider recognition beyond your chosen field.
These cosmetic differences are important not because the world is a shallow place (it is) but for a far simpler reason: people don’t know when other people are right.
Bill Bryson has an outstanding book called “A Short History of Nearly Everything, which is a very readable summary of every branch of science around. What’s striking about it is that the amount of things that science doesn’t actually know dramatically dwarfs the things that we do (and Bryson freely admits this). Even the things that we do know, we’re far from certain about, we simply employ best-case estimates by experts whose sole qualification is that they’re smarter than us. A more apt name would have been “A Short History of Hardly Anything.
Anyone who’s followed the recent stock market meltdown wouldn’t disagree that the reason everything went to hell in a hand basket, is pithily summed up thus: the smartest guys in the room turned out not to know nearly as much as we (or they) thought they did. They invented financial products that didn’t make sense, aided by a government that didn’t know any better and sold to a public that didn’t know anything. Disaster.
Even fields like sport, where professional athletes progress through the junior ranks, their every move recorded, dissected and scrutinized by a platoon of so-called experts, the success rate of predicting the ones that will progress to become even passable professionals is pitiful. Just a little better than pulling names out of a hat.
In the absence of knowing the right thing to do, people make decisions of employment based on shallow criteria like looks, personality and sociability, even if they don’t relate to the job for which you’re being interviewed. Quantity is another false indicator: the more stuff you’ve done (or claim you’ve done), the more likely you are to get hired. It’s a long-standing feature of shallow-thinking to confuse activity with achievement.
So aside from talent in your chosen field, and the discipline and hard work to make it bear fruit, what are the other skills that you might need, that you aren’t taught in school? Lucky for you, I’ve compiled a subjective list based on my own experiences:
Communication. You need to be able to speak to what you do, both in detail and from a summary perspective. And you need to know when it’s appropriate to do which (generally, when you’re talking to your boss, a summary approach works best and when you’re talking to a subordinate, go with the details). You also need to be diligent about sharing information, because nothing annoys people more than not being told things they need to know.
Look good. Tall people get more raises and good-looking people get promoted quicker. So what’s an ugly, Quasimodo-like figure such as yourself to do? Dress the part. Think of clothes and grooming as the canvas against which you’re painting the masterpiece of your professional contribution. It doesn’t have to be expensive and it doesn’t have to be attention-whoring; all it needs to be is simple, elegant and affirming that you belong where you are.
Understand office politics. I don’t recommend you become adept at politics, because I hate political people. You know, the ones who decide to do things only if they’re good for them, not good for the work. But I do think you need to understand how politics work, and that every workplace has them: from government offices in Helwan to NASA headquarters in Houston; politics are part of human nature.
Here’s a crash course: When it comes to superiors, figure out the kind of power they wield. If you’re going to impress anyone, it needs to be them. And if you’re going to screw up, it better not be around them. With peers, know the workers from the slackers, the doers from the talkers, the trustworthy ones from the backstabbers. And always be friendly, but never friends. With subordinates, always be nice because they won’t be subordinates forever. But don’t be too nice, because they’re still people who want your job. And don’t withhold your knowledge from them; if they’re any good, they’ll find another way to learn and then you’ll have made an enemy for life.
Take risks. You see, risk-aversity and conservatism in thought, speech and action is a sure recipe for mediocrity. You can’t achieve anything without risk (after all, nothing ventured, nothing gained) but some people are adept at not taking any. Their success is defined by their propensity to not fail. They may not get fired, but they’re also the same people who work in the same place for 27 years without getting ahead.
Perception is reality. It may not be fair, it may not be right, it’s probably not even accurate and yet that’s how it is. The way you’re perceived is the way you’ll be treated and according to which, you’ll receive your reward or punishment. So always be aware that there are two of you: the public you and the personal you, and it’s only the former that anyone else cares about.
Finally, get a life outside of work. Either that or write for a column like this one.
Mohammed Nassarwas kidnapped at birth and forced to work in advertising, in Cairo, New York and London. Today, his main concern is that archaeologists will one day stumble upon his desk, debate the value of his profession and judge him. Feel free to email him at [email protected].
