Growing up Asian, we are told that hard work is always what is needed to achieve success. Like a good Chinese, I followed that advice and worked my butt off at McKinsey, my first job. Fortunately or unfortunately, I learned quickly that hard work is not enough and sometimes does not even help.
I was on my 3rd project at McKinsey just about a year after college. My manager was a junior EM, basically someone who is not officially a manager yet but is up for promotion soon. This project was his proving ground. I was naive and eager and tried my best to do a good job. I worked almost every weekend on this project. I distinctly remember once he asked me to work one weekend to summarize a mountain of research into two slides. I was diligent and I worked about 10 hours each day. I was able to do it and send them to him by Sunday night.
I remember feeling relieved and accomplished that night. Well, long story short, he didn’t use those slides for four weeks. When the Senior Manager finally saw the slides four weeks later, they used them in the client presentation. And guess who got the credit for it? Well, it wasn’t me. A few months later, when the client was not happy with some part of the project, guess who received the blame? Well, it was not my manager.
How did this happen, you may ask? Well, I was not in many of the senior level meetings as an Analyst, so my manager can say whatever he wanted about my performance, which included blaming me for the clients’ dissatisfaction and taking credit for my work. I only received an Average rating for that project, but I learned a lot about politics and what it takes to be successful. Here were my mistakes:
I spent 150% of my energy on doing good work and almost none on publicizing my good work to anyone but my manager.I could have easily done some subtle PR and copied those slides I sent to my manager also to the senior manager and partner, under the guise of getting feedback or in case they needed to use them. Either way, they would have known that it was I who made them oand 4 weeks earlier.
I didn’t take any time to build relationships with the partner, senior manager, or the client and didn’t take any time building a support network at the office with other senior folks. I followed my upbringing, kept my head down, and worked hard. So when the manager blamed things on me, no one could question him about it. They don’t have any other reference point.
I also assumed that my manager would represent me fairly – a bad assumption I try not to make again. He was up for promotion so any blemish on his performance could affect that. He didn’t really believe in developing others, so I was a good scapegoat. Not all managers are like him, but they are definitely out there.
At the end of the day, I learned a lot during my two years at McKinsey. Years later, the Partner on that project met up with me in San Francisco for coffee (I learned and had kept in touch with him). He actually apologized for that manager’s behavior and asked if I was interested in re-joining McKinsey after business school. I wasn’t but it was a nice gesture.
Moral of the story:
Hard work helps with success only if the right people knows about it and if it delivers results.
Perception is reality.Whatever others perceive about you is true in their mind. If you don’t spend time shaping their perception of you, then someone else (e.g., like my manager) will for their own benefit.
I got an email this morning from a distressed mum telling me the outfitters for the West London Free School didn’t have any blazers left in her son’s size. She wanted to know what to do – a reasonable enough question given that we’ve told all the parents to make sure their children are properly attired for the school’s official opening on September 9. The Mayor of London is cutting the ribbon and we’re anxious to make a good impression.
Luckily, a quick email to Billings & Edmonds managed to sort that out – they’ve agreed to adjust one in a smaller size, free of charge – but the last-minute headaches are multiplying thick and fast. Apollo Education, a specialist building firm, is racing to get the school ready by September 7 when our first 120 pupils (more than 500 applied) are due to arrive and I can’t set foot on the site without being peppered with questions. What height should the dado rails be? Should there be blinds or curtains in the library? Was I aware there’s no emergency lighting?
I embarked on this journey two years ago, full of grand ideas about how to transform state education. I believe that all children can benefit from learning Latin, from seeing the plays of Shakespeare and from studying our island story. To deny them that opportunity on the grounds that those things are “elitist” is inverted snobbery. We’ll never dismantle the English class system if poor children are herded into media studies classes and forced to watch EastEnders while the children of the rich are introduced to the best that’s been thought and said. That’s not social justice, it’s social apartheid.
But as the big day approaches, I’ve had to focus on more mundane matters, such as what colour the school chairs should be. It’s the perennial complaint of political idealists the world over. You start out wanting to change the world and end up worrying about how to get the trains to run on time – or, in our case, how we’re going to afford a minibus. Still, I mustn’t grumble. I would much prefer to be in this position, sorting out a few teething problems in the run-up to opening, than stuck at the drawing-board stage. The Department for Education has received 323 applications from free school proposer groups, only 24 of which have been approved to open this year. We’re one of the lucky ones.
My wife jokes that if I’d devoted as much time to my career as I have to the school, we’d have enough money to send all our kids to Eton. For the past two years, I’ve been spending between 40 and 60 hours a week on this project and I’m only one of 15 volunteers working flat-out. Most of us are parents, but the steering committee also boasts some educationalists, such as John McIntosh, the ex-head of the London Oratory School.
Success quotations motivate and inspire many people. …When I was a little girl, my dad's friend had a box on his desk labeled, "The Secret To Success." When my little fingers eagerly lifted the box lid to see what the secret was, the word "Work" was such a disappointment to find in there. My young mind was looking for something that was attainable!
The secret of success was not a secret at all for me then, but now, I know that working toward, and for, what you want to be and become in life is the only way there is. If you work to succeed, you will. …Be motivated by my list of success quotes. Inspire yourself here to be successful in all you do! Inspire yourself to be your best you!
Quotations About Success
Motivation to succeed at the game of life
Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. —Winston Churchill
Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round heads in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. But the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. —Jack Kerouac
Success is not the key to happiness — happiness is the key to success. —Unknown
If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced. —Vincent Van Gogh
Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be. —George Sheehan
You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand. —Woodrow Wilson
Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds. —Orison Swett Marden
Let every man or woman here, if you never hear me again, remember this, that if you wish to be great at all, you must begin where you are and with what you are. He who would be great anywhere must first be great in his own Philadelphia. —Russel H. Conwell
Success doesn't come to you — you go to it. —Marva Collins
Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value. —Albert Einstein
Success is simply a matter of luck. Ask any failure. —Earl Nightingale
The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack ofstrength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will. —Vincent T. Lombardi
Failure is success if we learn from it. —Malcolm Forbes
You must do the thing you think you cannot do. —Eleanor Roosevelt
Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens. —Carl Jung
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. —Mark Twain
Whether you think you can or think you can't — you're right. —Henry Ford
Inventing: Hard Work and Determination Leads to Success
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent... —Calvin Coolidge
Inventing is very hard work and not for those who think it's a get-rich-quick business. Too many have contacted scrupulous invention companies only to find they have been taken for a ride. Start with some basics first, and then go after help if you need to. After all, who knows the idea better than you?
Idea's should be written or sketched out in a bound journal so that you cannot tear-out or replace pages. Information should be updated regularly, dated and be notarized whenever you work on it. This will help claiming, "first to invent" rights if anyone claims they had it first. Never tell anyone what your idea is, including family and friends. Many have claimed fame to something that wasn't theirs.
You will want to have your idea assessed through a formal assessment team prior to shelling out any money or time. The purpose of an assessment is to find out if your idea is useful, can be manufactured for a profit and complies with safety standards, if any. An assessment can cost anywhere from $100 - $400 or more, depending on where you have it done. An assessment can also deliver results such as product life, targeted audience and more information on your proposed idea.
If you receive favorable results from your assessment, you will need to protect your idea by filing one of several patent options with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Many choose a quick filing, such as a "provisional patent", which gives them approximately 12 months to complete their idea and to file a non-provisional patent and costs about $50. This also gives you an inception date protecting your idea.
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