The Way of the Wall Street Warrior

CHAPTER 21Win the Game of Thrones: Get Promoted in a Dog-Eat-Dog World

Admit it … before you even entered the workforce, maybe while you were still riding around on training wheels, you imagined yourself in business nirvana, sitting in the executive suite behind a sleek desk with windows overlooking the world. With a touch of a button, you'd have more of everything—more compensation, more respect, more power, to say nothing of the most expensive laptop in the world, the Voodoo Envy H171. I assume it's called that because when you stick digital pins into your mortal corporate enemies, they bleed, and everyone is jealous of your psychic powers.

No worries. If you've followed my sage advice thus far, your promotion should be a foregone conclusion. That, of course, assumes you have taken to heart Shirley MacLaine's counsel that “Life is just one big performance.” The transmigrating, Oscar-winning actress is correct. It's not about what you've actually done; it's what people think you've done that gets you closer to the top.

Harry Nelis, former Goldman Sachs banker and now partner at the venture capital firm Accel, explained it well when he told me, “The big takeaway is that those who project the most self-confidence tend to get promoted and paid the most. You can still keep your head down and work hard and not play the game, but you know what will happen? You're never going to get anything early. No early promotion, no early compensation, nothing.”

Harry offers two different examples ...