Hard Work Does Not Guarantee Success
Posted on | August 25, 2009
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.
Good luck out there at your jobs! I look forward to hearing your comments.
- Lei
Tags: hard work > job success > job tips > on the job advice > perception > personal branding > reputation
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7 Responses to “Hard Work Does Not Guarantee Success”
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Lei Han - Career Coach
Stanford engineer and Wharton MBA | Business / marketing executive with 15 years of corporate experience | Mentored 100+ professionals | Screened / interviewed hundreds of candidates | Connect with me 
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August 31st, 2009 @ 2:27 pm
Lei – I don't typically comment, but this is a point I constantly need to remind myself of. It's true no matter what industry you work in and what level you're at. Although I believe in hard work and being fair and generous with credit, it's equally important to manage your career as your manage your projects.
September 2nd, 2009 @ 2:14 pm
Lei – you are 100% correct! That's one of the big painful lessons I learned too.
I was so busy working hard that I didn't even take the time to reflect to see what was holding me back. Now that I've walked away from my career for a while, I can see that it was my own focus on hard work & belief that hard work alone would get me ahead.
I hope your article helps other heads down hard workers learn this lesson earlier in life!!!
BTW – you worked REALLY hard at Deloitte too. I did so very much enjoy getting to work with you!
Susan
November 16th, 2010 @ 7:42 pm
Guys, I recommend a book my mentor once mentioned to me. It’s called “The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn without Blowing It”. Let me know what you guys think. You can find it on Amazon. If you’re a woman who suffers from a natural tendency of taking a backseat at work, you should consider it.
July 6th, 2011 @ 8:35 am
Thanks guys for the comments. On reflection they are very true. The problem that we have is that appraisals of managers does not include anything on what they have done to develop subordinates. I think HR should include such issues in appraisals and concrete examples of what subordinates have done (projects done/ideas given/etc) must be availed. This will ‘encourage’ managers to publicise even more what their juniors are doing resulting in better teamwork and motivation.
July 7th, 2011 @ 9:44 am
Etwell, thanks for your comment. This is definitely true in some companies. It’s up to us to choose wisely and also interview the company about its culture and performance evaluation structure prior to joining, so we can select ones that invest on developing its people and train its managers
December 5th, 2011 @ 7:07 am
Thanks for sharing your story, Lei. I believe that we should be able to “sell” ourselves in order to be recognized by others, including our own managers.
In my previous employment, we had daily morning huddle where we could share anything from motivational story, our experiences when we found something new, our ongoing projects, etc.
So, do your job well and sell yourselves to others even better.
May 16th, 2012 @ 3:57 pm
Lei,
This is so true! Many of us were brought up to work hard and let that work speak for itself, but in today’s world, that is no longer enough.
Even when you have a great manager, there is no guarantee they will still be with the company when it comes time for promotions, etc. We always need to be prepared to sell ourselves to a new manager, to upper level executives, or if need be, to a new company.
David’s recommendation of “How to Toot Your Own Horn Without Blowing it” is a good one. I highly recommend that book as well. You may also want to check out the new tool we created at http://www.CareerFlair.com to help people capture their success stories over time and share them with their network. I’d love to hear any feedback you have.