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What resonated with me the most was the awareness I gained after reading the article about the importance of self-promotion. I have worked in highly political settings. I think that at times I was able to handle different situations, but I must admit that I was better at guiding my team than at communicating what we achieved. I used to say "Our work speaks for itself". And I remember having many challenges in communicating our achievements. Actually my boss demanded me to share more because we had good stories to tell.

I really enjoyed the cases because they bring a real-world experience and I learned a lot from them.

Finally, I loved the analogy with the animals because it gave me many insights about how I behave in different scenarios.

The challenge I am currently facing is that now that I am a freelance innovation coach - I am no longer part of a famous organization like the ones I used to work for - I need to further develop the ability of promoting myself. I have a hard time talking about myself and my achievements. I am fully aware of the importance of people knowing me and recognizing my work, in order to offer them my courses and consulting programs.

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The skill that resonates with me the most is self-promoting. When I was younger I was taught that "my work speaks for itself" mentality will always work as it's non threatening to those in higher positions. Working at that job for 6 years taught me that I need to self-promote in order to receive raises and to keep my job. Changing my way of thinking has helped me outside of my job with networking with clients and interviews. As I am currently looking for a new job I recognize that I should never treat any meeting as casual and that I need to self-promote to stand above other applicants.

A challenge I may face in the future is networking. While I know how to create friendly connections with those around me, I do have problems with using them as a network. I fear that by adding clients to my network I could get in trouble with my bosses. In the future I need to be more comfortable building my network.

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Describe one skill/topic from the reading that resonated with you the most.

After reading the article the topic that resonated with me the most was “self – promotion”. I feel that this is a topic that many or if not all of us can relate to in more than one way. I believe that even if your work speaks for itself and you’re a valuable person within an organization sometimes it is just not enough. All that we are left with is, in fact, self-promoting and it does not need to be done in a bragging way. I feel self-promotion can be done in a form that will not make you feel others think of you any less. Sometimes regardless others will have their opinions. As the article stated one must ask themselves two important questions, “What do I know that can be shared”? and “What will help others and help the organization”? I think these are two valid questions when shying away from the idea of self-promotion. A lot of times people instantly think of how it would make them look speaking highly of themselves within the organizations. I feel that I have been in that position several times during my career and as the article stated there is a better way of going about it that does not seem like constant bragging. Working for an organization that is made of so made different personalities and levels of leadership it is necessary to speak up for yourself. I always keep in mind there are others aside from me who want to achieve the same goals possibly. This is especially important when I interview for different assignments within my organization.

Discuss a challenge you think you might face in the future with one of the skills/topics noted in the reading.

I feel that a lot of times we get comfortable in our roles within organizations and the self-promotion aspect will always need to be worked on. Networking and Self- promoting I feel like it is a never-ending learning process. I feel that personally although self-promotion is something I have constantly worked on there is still progress to be made. The article discussed “limiting beliefs”. I think my networking is something that can also be worked on and benefit me in the future. I related to that in the sense that I tend to break short of certain ideas or not be outspoken about certain things in the workplace that may be to my benefit within the organization. Consider myself a social person. At times I am too hard on myself for not doing or speaking my mind about certain things. I feel that always being prepared and remaining confident about my goals and achievements within the organization will assist in self-promotion.

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I genuinely enjoyed reading this piece. It was such an important reminder of how we need to present ourselves in the workplace in order to be heard, seen, respected, and given the opportunities that we deserve. I appreciated the breakdown of how to map out/strategize your self-promotion: figuring out what you are known for, what you have achieved (and ensuring you can speak to these points). who you know, and how connected you are. Additionally, the reminders that in order to do this "right," one must self-promote with accuracy, authenticity, and consistency were a terrific guide. This all resonated with me, but especially the being able to speak to what I have achieved and what I am known for. I generally have no problem networking, making connections, and forming alliances within organizations, but I am still somewhat timid when it comes to the true "promotion" part of self-promotion. I am working on being able to eloquently and confidently talk about my skills and accomplishments, and to continue forming what it is that I am known for in my organization and what I would like to be known for. I did just go through months of interviews for new positions and start a new one last month, so I had many opportunities to practice this skill. I think it's especially interesting having this discussion in a class of all female students and learning about our shared experiences.

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The one skill that resonated with me the most is self-promoting. I used to be that “my work speaks for itself” type of person. (Brome-Hernez, McLaughlin and Trovas 2009) call this “limiting beliefs”. I have always been a diligent worker; I strive to get all my work done. I am extremely hard on myself. This goes for my education as well. However, I learned how to self-promote the hard way. This was by watching others go into a manager’s office and speak about what their accomplishments, etc., and always coming out with confidence. I used to be a shy person, but quickly discovered that shyness was not getting me anywhere. I learned that to get ahead we must speak up and sometimes demand what we feel is owed to us. This goes hand and hand with networking. This is also something that I learned to do as I understood more about being political savvy in the workplace.

A challenge that I may face in the future is being overconfident about my accomplishments. But as Horan (2012) states; “it is about reframing your thinking, understanding that your knowledge and what you do is vital to the business.” Since collaborating with managers and executives throughout my (HR) human resource career I have seen how busy managers can be and not notice what others are really doing. So, I can see the importance of self-promoting. I have also learned to write down everything that I have accomplished at work. This is good to have for when you must do a self-evaluation and/or speak to your manger about your accomplishments and requesting a pay increase. It is also helpful to have for updating your resume.

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The skill that resonated most with me is the importance of networking. Networking is one of the crucial skills that a person must do, whether in their personal life or career life. Networking not only allows a person to connect with other people, but it can open doors to opportunities, ideas, and a different path in your career. Networking makes people that may have never looked your way before pay attention to you. The other topic that resonated with me was the idea of always being prepared. I may have stated before that I am used to structuring, and I like to have a to-do list or a list for everything. Although life is unpredictable, I have a Two-Steps-Ahead strategy or try to at least. I like to be prepared for the most part so there will not be too many surprises.

A challenge that I may face in the future when thinking about self-promotion is being considered presumptuous and naggy. However, when you know your organization or people you work with, you can get a sense of the extent to which you can self-promote yourself. The article states that a recurring comment in the Asia Pacific region, especially from women, is "I was taught to be modest and not to brag about my achievements." This bears a strong resemblance in family and my culture. I grew up with my mom being so humble about all her achievements in life, and when my family wanted to celebrate her, she would respectfully decline. I feel like I am the same way. Although times have changed and networking is crucial in today's world, I have to be confident in who I am, what I know, and what I can contribute to my organization.

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The section discussing Reading and Carrying is a topic I enjoyed learning about. I think that having the ability to "read" the dynamics of an organization or people can typically benefit you as an employee.  As I understood the "read" skill is the idea that one should learn to listen, observe and ask questions to really find the inner details of how people and organizations function. Reading a room correctly can help make for successful meetings, projects, and organizational developments, which in turn can also be a good way to self-promote. When you "read" a room with success this usually allows you to "carry" or influence situations better.

I have always had a difficult time self-promoting myself in a way that doesn't feel like bragging. Since I worked for the same company for 20 years I didn't have to do a lot of self-promotion towards the end of my career there. When I do enter the workforce again I think that learning how to do this in a more savvy way than I did many years ago will ber a change for me.

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The one topic that resonated with me the most is authentic self-promotion. The author describes that people can lose themselves or their ideas if they are not savvy. It also makes me sad when people think that they won’t experience the same situations by moving to another organization, but they do. Many people fail to realize that being political in an organization is not always a negative thing, and they do not realize how much they lose out on when not embracing it. I enjoy networking, and thinking back to my career in the military; I made it further than I thought I would have by networking and giving and gaining knowledge. I wonder how workshops about political savviness would help people in the military.

The chapter on Becoming Savvy gave an excellent example of self-promotion. The chapter also gave good pointers to self-promote without crossing into dangerous or even annoying situations. However, self-promotion is easier said than done. As a sergeant in the military, you are constantly working on becoming a good leader, but you are also competing with your peers with the same rank. As a sergeant or any level above, you have to stand out and make your skills known. So, in the beginning, without even noticing, I would self-promote because, well, who does not want to be the best and get promoted. Self-promoting is something I may face challenges with in the future, only because I will be doing it in a completely different atmosphere than what I am used to in the military. Distinguishing whether I am coming on too strong or not strong enough could be a difficult situation.