Power Your Career by Exceeding Your Promises - Bruce Kasanoff

The single best way to advance your career is to consistently and dramatically exceed the promises you make.

There are so many ways you can exceed promises: be faster, better, more reliable, more creative, or more inventive than you promised.

I once spent a year trying to get a young manager to fit into our team. He worked very hard, but always fell short of expectations. Another manager joined our team, and within a week he established a very different pattern: he always did a better job than I expected. His research was more carefully compiled and explained... he anticipated questions and had thoughtful answers ready... he generally finished projects a few days or hours earlier than requested.
That was years ago, and to this day I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the second guy; he lived by the principle of exceeding his promises.
There are so many ways to do this, both large and small. All work better than relentless self-promotion, praying for good fortune, screwing others, or simply working hard. Here are a few examples:
If you promise to let others know how a meeting went, don't forget to do it, and don't just send out a rushed note that says, "It was a pretty good discussion." Send a clear and concise summary and back up your conclusions with support statements.
If you promise to help someone and then get very busy, don't back out of your promise. Even if it means missing a little sleep, take the time to help despite your limited resources; doing so will send a clear signal how much you both value this relationship and the value of your own word.
If you promise to introduce a person to others, don't just make the introduction and bow out. Ask each person to tell you how their interaction goes, and then personally follow-up to ensure that both parties get the most value out of their time.
If you promise to deliver a certain result, don't fold when the going gets tough. Do whatever it takes to deliver on your promise. While doing so may not be worth the effort for the given result, sticking to your word will show others that they can trust you implicitly.
When you exceed promises, the need to self-promote evaporates. Other people will do the promotion for you.
Bruce Kasanoff is author of How to Self-Promote without Being a Jerk.