Marketing yourself … Mentoring others

Five Ways We Hurt Our Careers — And How To Stop

The days of outright workplace discrimination have given way to more enlightened times, helped along by Equal Opportunity and a few lawsuits. Still, the workplace is far from a pure meritocracy. It’s not just what you know, it’s the position you create; it’s the paths you open up. Each of us is a brand in competition with other brands. Studies and experience show that the barriers to advancing your brand are often self-constructed. It might be a lack of confidence to demand what you’re worth. It might be a reluctance to push for the higher-risk – and more visible – assignments. It might be someone in a senior position that sees rising talent not as assets, but threats. It might be a reluctance to find or become a mentor. Dr. Peggy Drexler draws on her career researching genders and families, and her extensive studies of people and work to look at the roadblocks we create for ourselves, and how to knock them down.