You (According to Them)

Uncovering blind spots that impact your reputation and your career

by Sara Canaday

Uncovering Your Professional Blind Spots

For those who want a more specific roadmap, I want to leave you with some tools to help you pinpoint and correct your own personal blind spots. The four steps that follow should prove to be quite valuable. Read More

Do You Have the Leadership "X Factor"?

Most of us have watched it happen in the workplace. There’s a go-to person in the organization who gets everything done. Never misses a deadline, never forgets a detail, but never gets promoted into a senior position. Meanwhile, others break through to the next level. Leaders listen to them; subordinates recognize their authority. What do those people have? Read More

When Office Enthusiasm Gets Out of Control

People who have this professional blind spot struggle with finding the proper way to apply their double-barreled enthusiasm. They’ve frequently been rewarded for this attribute in the past, so they don’t always notice when it starts to misfire. Read More

When Self-Promotion Crosses the Line

You might recall that my last blog focused on people who suffer from a professional blind spot called Faulty Volume Control syndrome, specifically having their self-promotion volume far too low. Some people are plagued by the same syndrome but fall on the other end of the spectrum. Read More

Go Ahead, Toot Your Horn, It's OK

That's right: This year, you have permission to toot your own horn! Unless we make a point of gracefully educating decision makers about our capabilities and contributions, we might never receive the recognition we deserve. Read More

Who's On Patrol In Your Office?

Sure, every office needs someone to help them avoid pitfalls and legal liability. But if the rules become the primary focus and innovation is constantly stifled, the perception among colleagues is quite different. People who take this route suffer from a professional blind spot I call Safety Patrol syndrome. Read More

There Is No Crying In Baseball or Work

When it comes to the social side of corporate life, most of us are familiar with certain personality types and behaviors that spell trouble: people who gossip or flirt a lot; people who spend lots of time stirring up drama. But are there any dangers on the other end of the spectrum-- for people who stay out of all that and just focus on completing tasks? Actually, yes. Read More

Pace & Productivity: Higher Isn't Always Better

What's your personal workday pace? Maybe it's slow and steady or blazingly fast. For you, it's normal. Perhaps the bigger question is: what's normal for your team? Especially if you are a manager, it's critical to recognize that everyone in your office isn't working at exactly the same speed. Read More

Shifting Your Route on the Road to Success

Learning to shift your interactive behavior in a subtle yet powerful way, you’ll be better prepared to keep your career on track while navigating the twists and turns of perpetual corporate change. Read More

Is Your Reputation Hungry for Some Humble Pie

People with Intellectual Snob syndrome are the colleagues who subconsciously communicate feelings of self-importance based on their impressive academic achievements or IQs. Sometimes their messages are not so subtle. Read More

Rule-Breakers: Reputation Ramificaticatications

Our culture has an infatuation with brilliant rogues. These are the people who are so good at what they do, they consider themselves exempt from the workplace rules that mere mortals have to follow: punctuality, dress code, attending the company picnic. These corporate rebels make great movie characters but not-so-great team members. Read More

You Know What They Say About You, Don't You?

Understanding how blind spots can derail your career is usually a great incentive to look long and hard at your thought processes and behaviors in the workplace. Read More

Sara Canaday is a leadership expert, career strategist and the author of a new book, You -- According to Them: Uncovering the Blind Spots that Impact Your Reputation and Your Career.

more...