Years ago, as a junior officer, I worked with another young Lieutenant named, Derek.  Derek was a smart, articulate and a hard worker but he was also a MAJOR League sycophant (aka: fawning parasite or brown-noser).   Whenever the opportunity would arise, we would duck and pucker in the hope of outshining the rest of the Lieutenants he worked with.  In the end, although he was smart, articulate and worked hard, he ended up being ranked below the rest of us.  Why?  Because nothing good comes from shamelessly self-promoting and throwing your shipmates under the bus.  Conversely, no one cares about your career more than you.  So, how do you self-promote without selling yourself out and brown nosing?  Here are four methods to always to keep your self respect, the respect of your coworkers and rise to the top.

METHOD #1:  WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK! If you’re going to be there, give it your all (I think that’s a given) and do it with a great attitude!  Don’t just work hard when you feel like it, when the boss is looking, or take a job and then complain about it the whole time; give it your all every time and in every endeavor.  Roll ‘em up, put a smile on your face and get dirty, there’s no substitute for it.  Your positive attitude will be like a light to all the “moths” at work!

METHOD #2:  BE COOL, LIKE THE GAMBLER. The shameless self promoter will continually insert himself into conversations and conditions that he think will please the boss and that usually ends him up in an awkward situation.  If you’re like the gambler, you know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em….(you know how the song goes).   If it pertains to your expertise and you have something of value to add, contribute.  If not, don’t.  Remember, people don’t know you’re an idiot until you open your mouth.

METHOD #3:  GIVE SOLUTIONS! People are quick to point out what is wrong or how things are bad.  This solves nothing.  What I I know my bosses loved about me was that I was ALWAYS solution focused.  If there was an issue, yes, I would point it out but I always had a solution to fix it.  Further, because I adhered to #1, they knew I would attack it like a bulldog and not let go of it until it was a dead issue.  As a boss, I always had PLENTY on my plate and was very appreciative when someone took something off.  Scrape the plate clean!

METHOD #4:  BUILD OTHERS UP! You want to look great?  Make OTHERS look great.  Catch your team mates and coworkers doing great things and then spread the word.  My favorite thing to do in meetings was always to toot someone else’s horn.  They appreciated the shout out, it built esprit de corps, trust, and let people know I was a person of integrity.

Like I said, no one cares about your career like you.  We’d like to think that people do but, in reality, we’re all busy and just trying to run the race without ending up caught in a dead end.  With that being the case, we have to take control of our destiny and this can be done one of two ways.  First, you can go the way of Derek – selling yourself and your team out so look good.  Or, you can go a different route – the route of working strategically to better the company and others.  One sells your soul and your self respect to the Devil and the other moves EVERYONE forward.  It’s your choice, choose well.