Thursday, May 27, 2010

Don't steal their thunder

I was in a conversation with an HR person today and the topic turned to good and bad coworkers.  The conversation brought me the following memory:

"I was part of a team of four that was working on a new strategy for the company. We worked for several days putting together a document that would help launch the strategy effort  and sent it to the VP in charge of the new strategy. The VP, who didn't really help with the document, changed a few words and sent a message to the CEO and others saying that HE worked on the document ALL NIGHT and asking them for feedback. We would have never learned of this, if not for the fact that the CEO sent a reply to the whole team saying that the document was brilliant and thanking HIM for the effort"

We were speechless. He had passed our work as his own! Nobody, but me, in the team confronted the VP and he ended up taking the glory (and later, a promotion). Our associated continued for several years, and I never forgot the incident. I was very cautious as to what material I sent him, and always made sure that people who needed to know were CC'd.
My takeaways are:
  1. Always make sure to let the right people know the job you are making - there is nothing wrong with proper self promotion.
  2. Give credit where credit is due. People will ALWAYS remember if you steal their thunder.
  3. When in this situation, confront the person. Don't shy away from establishing your role in the effort. It is not humility to let somebody steal your credit.
Has this ever happened to you? How did you manage/resolve it?

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