Welcome to One Thing Better. Each week, the editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine (that’s me) shares one way to achieve a breakthrough at work — and build a career or company you love.
Hey, OTB community! In July, I ran my first “mailbag edition” — answering three questions from readers. It got a great response, so I’m doing it again today.
I’ll do this every few months. If you ever have questions, just hit reply or email me at hellojasonfeifer@gmail.com.
Here we go…
1. How can humble workers get ahead?
Dana asks:
I’m struggling with an unfair work situation.
When someone (like me) works very hard, and is honest and humble about their efforts, they don’t receive the recognition or compensation they deserve. Meanwhile, other people contribute less but are more vocal or effective at promoting their work, and they seem to get more credit, rewards, and faster promotions.
This is what happens in my industry, and I’m struggling to navigate it.
Dana, you’re right: That sucks.
In a perfect world, hard work and humbleness are handsomely rewarded. It’s OK to be frustrated that they’re not. But here’s a word of caution: If you wait for a perfect world, you’ll wait forever.
That’s why, when I face a frustrating situation, I try to drain the emotion from it. It’s more useful to look at it like a logic puzzle.
Here are three great questions to ask about any frustrating situation:
- What are the unchangeable facts?
- What is a reasonable explanation for these facts?
- I can’t change these facts, so what else can I do?
In your situation, I believe these are the answers…
1. The facts: At work, promotions are not solely tied to hard work. Self-promotion is rewarded, and humbleness is often overlooked.
2. Reasonable explanation: Companies don’t want to punish humble, hard workers. That wouldn’t make sense. So why is self-promotion so valuable? Maybe…
- A) Managers are too busy to keep track of everyone individually, so they operate off the information they have — and the loudest people are often the most noticed.
- B) Managers want to promote people who are motivated and eager. Self-promoters give off that vibe. Humble workers may appear aloof or unready to take initiative.
3. What to do: The point isn’t to be self-promotional; the point is to make sure that your manager knows and appreciates your work, and sees you as ready for more. This means, yes, doing some self-promotion. (See my advice here and here.)
Think of it this way, Dana: If your work is better than your colleagues’, then you’ll easily outpace them — as soon as you start speaking up.
2. How “focused” should I really be?
Paul asks:
I follow a lot of thought leaders, and I hear contradictory advice. Some say to have a specific vision for my life. Others say to be open-minded and embrace a world of possibilities. How do I square these?
Paul, you make such a great point.
I tend to fall into the latter camp. I love the advice that Malcolm Gladwell once gave me: “Self-conceptions are powerfully limiting.” If you define yourself too narrowly, you’ll miss all the opportunities that fall outside that narrow view.
But I totally get it — that can also sound chaotic and directionless.
So here’s what you need to know: These two ideas are not actually different. They’re two parts of the same life. You can have a vision and remain open to exploration.
How? Embrace the possibility of revision.
Life is like being lost in the woods. If you stand still, or walk in a circle, you’ll get nowhere. So you must pick a direction and go somewhere.
But along the way, you’ll pick up new information. You’ll find a stream, or meet other people, or see out over the distance. Then you’ll ask yourself: “Do I keep going in the same direction, because it’s gotten me this far… or do I revise?”
Revising doesn’t mean changing everything about your life, nor does it mean that the previous path was wrong. It just means redefining what parts are most important to you now. Here’s an exercise I wrote to help you do it.
3. How can I say the most impactful things?
Divya asks:
I’ve been invited to speak a lot lately and, despite strong feedback, I’m my own toughest critic. When you give keynote talks, do you ever worry that your core message won’t land — and how do you pressure-test it ahead of time?
I love this question, because the answer applies way beyond speaking. What you’re really asking is: “How do I know if something is good before other people see it?”
My answer: I don’t debut ideas. I graduate ideas.
Here’s what I mean:
I never debut a new idea on stage. That’s too high-risk. Instead, I debut ideas on LinkedIn or Instagram. Those are low-stakes venues, and I’ll get instant feedback.
If the idea gets a good response, I might graduate it — say, by expanding upon it in this newsletter.
If that gets a good response, I might graduate it more — by weaving it into something I say on a podcast, or during a Q&A session on stage.
After my talks, I often hang around and chat with my audience. People often say: “My favorite part of your talk was…”
I listen closely in those moments. Are they complimenting a certain segment? Are they not complimenting another segment? Are they really into something I said during the Q&A?
Over time, this helps me refine my talk. I keep people’s favorite segments, drop the stuff people don’t comment on, and sometimes graduate material from the Q&A into the main talk.
By doing this, I am constantly evolving and pressure-testing my material. Consider it: I post 260 times a year LinkedIn (aka, every weekday). I write 52 newsletters a year. And my standard keynote contains only 7 big ideas. The strongest survive their way to the top.
Despite all this, I STILL often worry that my material won’t resonate — or that something that worked with one audience will flop with another. That’s life! I just remind myself: Everything is a work in progress. And whatever happens will make the next talk even better.
FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN SPEAKING…
I get a lot of questions about this topic, so had an idea — what if I set up a group call, where anyone could join for a low fee, and I’d share tips and answer questions?
If this interests you, reply to this email and put “Speaking” in the subject.
Truth be told, I’ve been thinking about doing something like this for a range of subjects — and speaking feels like a good one to start with. So let’s see who’s interested!
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