Emily Kumler - How Not to Get Promoted

2020 HarperCollins Leadership

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published by HarperCollins Leadership, an imprint of HarperCollins Focus LLC.

Published in association with Kevin Anderson & Associates:

https://www.ka-writing.com/.

Book design by Aubrey Khan, Neuwirth & Associates.

ISBN 978-1-4002-1856-1 (eBook)

ISBN 978-1-4002-1845-5 (HC)

Epub Edition June 2020 9781400218561

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020936192

Printed in the United States of America

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Contents

1. Section 1
   Getting to Know Yourself
2. Section 2
   Making an Impression
3. Section 3
   Getting the Offer

T his book is dedicated to my sister Kate. Her vivid, emotional, hilarious storytelling makes me smile years after the telling has ended. She is the star of the family who rarely gets the credit she deserves. As a sister, a mother, and a friend she has set a great example for me. And when it comes to getting promoted, she has encouraged and believed in me since my first business endeavor, selling hot chocolate in front of the town exchange. Thank you for a lifetime of support. I love you.

To Sandy, Marci, Carrie, and Natalie, thank you for holding space for me and keeping me grounded in all our worlds!

A special thank-you to Katy, Doug, Anne, Nicola, Jessie, Jessica, Payal, Lindsey, Jason, Kate TR, Harley, Ames, and big Camilla. I am acutely aware that every time I have fallen, broken in two, and wanted to hide in a pit of doom, youve come into the darkness, found me, held my hand, and shared in my sorrow. Then youve carefully and gently encouraged me, reminding me to get back up, to keep trying, and to be true to my ideas. Risk-taking is less risky when you know you have an incredible crash pad. Failure doesnt feel so final when friends unrelentingly believe youll find a waymaybe not the way you thoughtbut that youll find a solution to the problem. Im endlessly grateful for your love and encouragement. Without it, I would surely be a different person.

Thank you to Mom, Dad, Kate, Dave, Aden, Marge, George, Robin, Michael, Billy, and Greta for being my family.

To my children, who have taught me the value of time and the fleetingness of it. How we spend our time and with whom we spend it are by far the most important choices we make in life, a lesson you both have driven home for me. I will always want more time with you. Being your momma is my favorite job and my greatest honor. I love you.

And to Bobby, my great love, who constantly deals with my unsolicited advice. Your drive and intellect are unmatched. Your determination to find the truth, to question everything, to pursue the unpopular, inspires me every day. Im deeply indebted that youre on this journey with me. Thank you for giving me the space and freedom to pursue what I believe matters. Your opinions are always the ones I value most. When we dont agree, I know it means Im about to learn something important because your thoughtfulness is always revealing to me. And nothing is more validating than having your support and love. Id be lost without it. Thank you for sharing this life with me. I love you.

Errare humanum estto err is human.

W hen it comes to not getting promoted, you are likely the biggest obstacle in your way. Your ability to assess your own contributions, experience, readiness, and the assurance that you will succeed in the new position are all subjective. You may think you can check all those boxes, but if youre not evaluating yourself properly, youre in for a world of disappointment. Likewise, if you discount yourself too much, your lack of confidence might keep you in the same position longer than is warranted.

There are some basic facts about not getting promoted we should address up front. This book considers factors that are within your control. It is full of examples of how people have screwed up their chances at a promotion. Just like a fairy tale, the morals in these stories help to illustrate exactly what you should not do. My intention is that this book will be fun to read and informative for anyone interested in how to get ahead. However, it would be irresponsible not to address head-on how discrimination, which is out of your control, may impact your ability to get a promotion. The fact is: if youre a woman, youre more likely to not get the promotion just because youre a female.

This is one area where you have a profound, innate advantageif were looking at it in this backward way of trying not to get promoted. All you have to do to get passed over is be born into your body. If youre born a woman, congrats! Your male counterparts are much more likely to be picked for a promotion than you based exclusively on their sex!

According to the 2019 Women in the Workplace annual study conducted by McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org, the problem of not promoting women starts at the manager level and women arent able to make up that gap at later stages of their careers. The report finds: Progress at the top is constrained by a broken rung. The biggest obstacle women face on the path to senior leadership is at the first step up to manager. For every 100 men promoted and hired to manager, only 72 women are promoted and hired. This broken rung results in more women getting stuck at the entry level and fewer women becoming managers. Not surprisingly, men end up holding 62 percent of manager-level positions, while women hold just 38 percent.

And the report finds this issue is widely overlooked by hiring managers and human resource representatives. More than half of HR leaders and employees think their company will reach gender parity in leadership over the next 10 years. In reality, we are many decades away from reaching gender parity at the highest ranksand may never reach it at all.

We find a similar hiring bias with most minority groups.

The research indicates that women are promoted less and paid less than men. But there are things you can do about it. Id argue being aware and conscientious of this disadvantage is the first line of defense against it. And, for those who dont face this unfair disadvantage, you will have a role to play when youre promoted and afforded the opportunity to build your team; try to build one that includes lots of people who dont look like you. We all need to be aware of these prejudices and do our part to confront them and correct them. This book will not get into these innate reasons why you may not be promoted. Instead, it will look closely at actions within your control that will impact whether you get the big raise or jump a few rungs on the corporate ladder. It is important to distinguish between these two avenues of advice, both of which warrant more discussion and have direct bearing on who moves up and who doesnt.

This book will not get into these innate reasons why

you may not be promoted. Instead, it will look closely

at actions within your control that will impact

whether you get the big raise or jump a few rungs on

the corporate ladder. It is important to distinguish

between these two avenues of advice, both of which