How to Make Your Career Move

1. Know what you want before you ask. Are you looking for short-term gain or long-term security? How important, really, are the people you work with? What about the company's products and their impact on the world? Make a list of what matters.
2. Figure out who's on the other side. Identify their priorities and goals. What are they trying to achieve? What pressures are they under? Do they have total authority? The more you know about the other side, the more power you have.
3. If you want to be heard, make noise. Someone who wanted to work for the firm created a mock Sports Illustrated cover featuring him as "Employee of the Year." Someone else put together a newspaper with lots of funny comments. Sure, they were gimmicks, but they distinguished these candidates from a flood of applicants. And they were also signs of initiative and cleverness, which we find extremely important.
4. You are somebody! The biggest obstacle to negotiating well is our inherent modesty. People are uncomfortable asserting their best attributes. So let other people sing your praises. Assemble compelling references and make sure your potential employer speaks with these people.
5. Negotiations require confrontation. Any negotiation has its difficult moments. Don't let them trigger undue anger. Hold mock negotiations in which a colleague or family member plays the other side, and operate under a general paradigm of cooperation. The only thing that's certain about a negotiation is that it will lead to another negotiation, and then another.

Leigh Steinberg's many clients include NFL superstars such as: Steve Young, Troy Aikman, and Drew Bledsoe.

Leonard Schlesinger
Professor of Business Administration Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts
lschlesinger@hbs.edu

When I graduated from business school in 1973, almost everyone in my class flocked to Wall Street. I became a first-line supervisor in a paper mill in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I was the first MBA to hold the job, and I had no technical or engineering background.

Many people thought I had lost my mind. Why take a job that paid less money, required night-shift rotations, and guaranteed cold winters? Simple: the most important skill you can learn is how to manage people. And you can't learn how to manage people without managing people.

In this job I managed up, down, and sideways -- even through work stoppages and grievances. I slept days and worked nights; slept nights and worked days. I made $1,130 a month when my Wall Street pals were making three times as much. It was the best career decision I've ever made.

Len Schlesinger's eight books include "The Real Heroes of Business ... and Not a CEO Among Them" (Doubleday Currency, 1994).

Randy Battat
Corporate VP and General Manager, Information Systems Group, Motorola
Mansfield, Massachusetts
randy_battat-w11384@email.mot.com

Grow. Have fun. Keep these goals in mind and "getting ahead" will take care of itself. Too many people just pursue status or the big financial win. Or they take a job they don't like as a stepping stone. Those choices usually lead to failure and frustration. If you don't enjoy what you're doing, how can you do it well? And if you don't do your current job well, why would you expect cash and status from your next job?

In 1994, when Randy Battat left Apple Computer to join Motorola, he was vice president of the Macintosh Desktop and PowerBook Division.

Simon Roy
President and CEO
Accrue Software
Sunnyvale, California
simon@accrue.com

Over the last 10 years I've held senior positions at four different companies. I might not be able to offer a formula for success, but here are some reality-tested guidelines from my career.

1. No risk, no reward. A few years ago I left a secure position with McKinsey & Co. to rescue a South African company in financial distress. Some colleagues thought I was rash, but I turned the company around and had one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
2. The smartest route between two points is not a straight line. Straight lines rarely get you where you want to go. Take a detour. Make a pit stop. The only experiences you'll regret are the ones you didn't have.
3. You're never too old to learn. Always work with people who know more than you do. They're the best source of new skills, and they help you make great connections down the road.

Accrue Software helps companies analyze who's surfing their Web sites. Simon Roy is a devoted (wave) surfer.

Robert Perkins
Executive Vice President,
Marketing and Corporate Development, Playboy Enterprises
Chicago, Illinois