Episode 4: Why you should eat the frog

👋 Yo! Welcome to the next episode of How to negotiate  where you learn how to grow your career and income with better negotiation strategy in less than 5 minutes. 

#️⃣ But first the stats

Did you know that 25% of c-suite leaders are women and only 5% are minority women? (Source).

When you dig into the data we see that there is meaningful representation at the entry level, but then a massive drop when we look at mid-level and senior professionals. More specifically, only 87 women and 82 women of color promoted to manager for every 100 men promoted.

So what can we do to start bridging this gap? Eat the frog for your boss.

 💎 Advice on how to shift your mindset at work

‘Eat the frog’ originally came up as a productivity hack from Brian Tracy, where you identify the hardest or most complex task you have for the day and do that first. The rationale here is a) you have the most energy for the hardest task b) you feel accomplished and can fly through the rest of your tasks c) you can avoid what I call ‘productive procrastination’ — spending all your time on easy things that need to get done but in reality it’s to avoid the hard thing.

 ❓️ But what does this have to do with my boss?

If your interactions with your boss are in 1-1 or team meetings where s/he assigns work and then the subsequent interactions are some variations of status checks, then you’re behind.

First off, you should be owning your 1-1 agenda and make sure it’s focused on what is most helpful for you. More on effective 1-1’s in a future episode.

Applying this concept to your boss means identifying the hardest thing your boss has to do and do it for them without them asking you to.

It doesn’t have to be perfect - although bonus points if they don’t have to make many edits to it - but the adage ‘A for effort’ applies here. It’s more important that you identified a hard thing they needed to get done and took it off their plate or at the very least gives them a significant head start.

But Farhan, how do I get visibility into what the hardest thing for my manager?

There are a few key questions I ask in every 1-1 — one of them is ‘what’s a challenge in the business you’ve spent time thinking about recently’? This opens the door to the topic and the next natural transition is what you/your manger/your team should be doing to help.

☑️ Let’s break it down

1. Own your 1-1 agenda: This should always be structured to what’s most helpful for you.

2. Find the frog: Good questions get good answers, so be thoughtful about what you’re asking your manager based on their role in the organization.

3. Eat the frog: Once you figure out what’s on their plate, find a project that aligns with your strengths and take a first pass. If you consistently find things that are top of mind for your manager that aren’t your core competency, then you have your roadmap for development.

4. Write it down: keep track of these tasks you complete as well as others with the context for future. This will inform your promotion docs. More on that another day.

_{Use my free template to jumpstart this mindset shift exercise}

If you have other tips on how you stand out, drop a reply to the email. I would love to feature your story in a future episode. 

If you get stuck and need help researching a week in the life or improving your skills, respond to this email.

As always, feedback is a gift and I welcome any/all feedback on this newsletter - good or bad.See ya next week 👋 

Newsletter forwarded to you? Subscribe below 👇️ 

✅ Find all resources here.

📆 Looking to connect? Find me on LinkedIn or grab some time on my cal here.

✨ Special thank you to Gigi Marquez who suggested I start this newsletter 🙏