Working hard does not mean you would be recognized or promoted. It is important to create a favourable impression, a perception that you are a hard worker. 
You have to manage the impression that you have made on others.

Hard Work Is Optional

Make an effort to be noticed in the higher levels of the company. Show a little boldness in communicating your (perceived) accomplishments to those with the power strings.

Market Yourself

Leadership is about theatrics, to pretend to do something which is seemingly useful and to play a role. How we talk, appear, respond and behave in our daily interactions is what creates an image of ourselves in others minds.
Showing that you are confident makes it seem as if you are powerful.

Fake Confidence

Unfair as it is, having a great relationship with your boss is more important than your performance. If you manage to upset your boss or instill insecurity, then your performance cannot save you. You simply need to ask your boss what they want and then do that.
According to a study, flattery works too well, even if it is overdone.

Boss Flattery

<img alt="Power" src="http://imghumour.com/assets/Uploads/Money-Best-Superpower-ever2.jpg" width="398" height="354">The book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061789089/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0061789089&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=spacforrent-20" rel="nofollow" data-geniuslink="//buy.geni.us/Proxy.ashx?TSID=21272&amp;GR_URL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0061789089%2Fref%3Das_li_ss_tl%3Fie%3DUTF8%26camp%3D1789%26creative%3D390957%26creativeASIN%3D0061789089%26linkCode%3Das2%26tag%3Dspacforrent-20&amp;dtb=1" dir="ltr">Power</a> by Stanford business school professor Jeffrey Pfeffer may very well be a Machiavelli’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312149786/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0312149786&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=spacforrent-20" rel="nofollow" data-geniuslink="//buy.geni.us/Proxy.ashx?TSID=21272&amp;GR_URL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0312149786%2Fref%3Das_li_ss_tl%3Fie%3DUTF8%26camp%3D1789%26creative%3D390957%26creativeASIN%3D0312149786%26linkCode%3Das2%26tag%3Dspacforrent-20&amp;dtb=1" dir="ltr">The Prince</a> for the modern corporate era.What’s really impressive about&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061789089/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0061789089&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=spacforrent-20" rel="nofollow" data-geniuslink="//buy.geni.us/Proxy.ashx?TSID=21272&amp;GR_URL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0061789089%2Fref%3Das_li_ss_tl%3Fie%3DUTF8%26camp%3D1789%26creative%3D390957%26creativeASIN%3D0061789089%26linkCode%3Das2%26tag%3Dspacforrent-20&amp;dtb=1" dir="ltr">Power</a>&nbsp;is that it’s backed up by plenty of research as well as anecdotal evidence.So what does Pfeffer say you need to do to succeed at office politics and gain power?1)&nbsp;Stop thinking doing a good job is the most important thingHard work isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Performance is only loosely tied to who succeeds:The data shows that performance doesn’t matter that much for what happens to most people in most organizations. That includes the effect of your accomplishments on those ubiquitous performance evaluations and even on your job tenure and promotion prospects.Research shows being liked affects performance reviews more than actual performance:In an experimental study of the performance appraisals people received, those who were able to create a favorable impression received higher ratings than did people who actually performed better but did not do as good a job in managing the impressions they made on others.2) Be visibleTo be rewarded, you need to be noticed. And the boss is only going to notice if you make an effort to be noticed:…your first responsibility is to ensure that those at higher levels in your company know what you are accomplishing. And the best way to ensure they know what you are achieving is to tell them.3) Be confident — even when you’re notPowerful people act confident and confidence tells others you are powerful:Because power is likely to cause people to behave in a more confident fashion, observers will associate confident behavior with actually having power.Leadership is theater:Her experience&nbsp;suggested that the secret of leadership was the ability to play a role, to pretend, to be skilled in the theatrical arts. Rubin is right. Differences in the ability to convey power through how we talk, appear, and act matter in our everyday interactions, from seeking a job to attempting to win a vital contract to presenting a company’s growth prospects before investment analysts.4) Keep your boss happyYour relationship with your boss is far more important than your actual performance:The lesson from cases of people both keeping and losing their jobs is that as long as you keep your boss or bosses happy, performance really does not matter that much and, by contrast, if you upset them, performance won’t save you…&nbsp;How do you keep the boss happy? Ask what they want and do it:It is much more effective for you to ask those in power, on a regular basis, what aspects of the job they think are the most crucial and how they see what you ought to be doing.And research shows flattery works:One of the best ways to make those in power feel better about themselves is to flatter them. The research literature shows how effective flattery is as a strategy to gain influence… University of California–Berkeley professor Jennifer Chatman, in an unpublished study, sought to see if there was some point beyond which flattery became ineffective. She believed that the effectiveness of flattery might have an inverted U-shaped relationship, with flattery being increasingly effective up to some point but beyond that becoming ineffective as the flatterer became seen as insincere and a “suck up.” As she told me, there might be a point at which flattery became ineffective, but she couldn’t find it in her data.So what stops most people from being more powerful? Themselves, says Pfeffer:Stop thinking the world is a just placeWe don’t want to believe that currying favor makes a big difference so we don’t take it as seriously as our work.&nbsp;And that, says Pfeffer, is the biggest mistake.Curious? Check out the book:<UL><LI><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061789089/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0061789089&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=spacforrent-20" rel="nofollow" data-geniuslink="//buy.geni.us/Proxy.ashx?TSID=21272&amp;GR_URL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0061789089%2Fref%3Das_li_ss_tl%3Fie%3DUTF8%26camp%3D1789%26creative%3D390957%26creativeASIN%3D0061789089%26linkCode%3Das2%26tag%3Dspacforrent-20&amp;dtb=1" dir="ltr">Power</a>&nbsp;by Jeffrey Pfeffer</LI></UL>Join 25K+ readers.&nbsp;Get a free weekly update via email&nbsp;<a href="http://eepurl.com/o6uAD" rel="nofollow" dir="ltr">here</a>.Related posts:<div>Post Details</div>

Everything you need to know about What are the 4 best methods for increasing your power in the workplace?

What are the 4 best methods for increasing your power in the workplace?

Hard Work Is Optional

Market Yourself

Fake Confidence

Boss Flattery

CURATED BY

Related collections

More like this