21-05-2025
How to become unforgettable at work and grow your career
If you've ever been passed over for a promotion, you may have questioned the quality of your work. The other candidate probably had better experience, right? But what if the answer is that you simply weren't top of mind. Instead of focusing exclusively on building a résumé, how much time do you focus on how you're perceived?
'A lot of people think that heads-down good work will speak for itself,' says Lorraine K. Lee, author of Unforgettable Presence: Get Seen, Gain Influence, and Catapult Your Career. 'Then there are people who are thoughtful about how they're seen, but they're not being seen by the right people in the right places.'
Both can be career killers. Lee says she struggled with this earlier in her career. 'I worked on really high-profile projects,' she says. 'I was well liked by my peers. As hard as I pushed, I could not figure out how to get promoted and how to get seen as a leader.'
What was missing was presence, Lee says. 'A lot of things compete for our attention. In order to stand out, we have to be unforgettable. We have to be really intentional with our presence.'
