The Success Code

How to Stand Out and Get Noticed

JOHN LEES

Praise for The Success Code

‘The Success Code is a pragmatic and insightful guide to building reputation and impact that anyone can learn from – even those not in the least bit inclined to self-promote. From communication tips to networking advice, the exercises are sufficiently stretching so there is no hiding behind what ‘feels natural’. Written in a manner that helps the reader challenge and reframe some of their anxieties or prejudices about how they approach building their personal brand, the book builds confidence as well as skills.’

Penny de Valk, Managing Director, Penna Talent Practice

‘If you believe digital media is for show-offs, not people like you; if you know you should network but don’t; if you are told you need to have a personal brand but find the idea distasteful; if you would rather climb the stairs than get in the lift to do an elevator pitch – then buy this book. John Lees is not exhorting you to be different from who you are, he stands alongside you, encouraging you to succeed by being the best authentic version of you. It’s a refreshingly different message.’

Dr Carole Pemberton, Executive coach and author, Coaching to Solutions

‘If you dread the thought of ‘networking’ or ‘selling yourself’ but want to progress in your existing job and/or future career then this is the book for you. It is full of practical advice and tips and will help you find your voice and achieve success in an authentic way.’

Zoe Shackle, HR Director, AMC Networks International

‘The Success Code identifies a key issue at work today. Relationships and interpersonal skills are critical to success but not everyone feels naturally comfortable with how they are ‘supposed’ to behave. John’s book helps you to deal with this in a really simple, practical and genuine way with lots of useful insights and tips. It’s a great resource in aiding your own development or for someone in your team who is struggling to fulfil their potential.’

Gordon McFarland, HR Director, Global Professional Services

‘Do you want to succeed in your career but cringe at the thought of networking, self–promotion and elevator pitches? This book is for you. The good news: most influence doesn’t come from elevator pitches; it’s not about conveying information. Influence comes from building relationships. John Lees reminds us that the impression we make matters, and suggests small positive changes that will help other people remember the best of who we are.’

Jonathan Winter, Founder of The Career Innovation Company and author of The Conversation Gap

‘This book is packed with helpful facts, insightful quotes and practical tips. The real appeal for me is the refreshing honesty with which John approaches a topic that many struggle with. He explains that “self-projection” is an important and often misunderstood concept, and we can all improve if we properly plan, prepare and practise. I have never met a successful person who has not benefited from making helpful contacts and yet, from my experience, most people do not understand how to go about forging strong relationships with the right people. Rightly, in my opinion, the book stresses the pitfalls for anyone focused upon self-promotion and, instead, demonstrates that those who show genuine interest in others will ultimately be the people that we wish to approach and keep in touch with.’

Ian Nicholas, Chief HR Officer, REED Specialist Recruitment Ltd

‘The Success Code is the book for people who want to promote themselves but are aghast at the idea of coming across like an over-confident salesman in a shiny suit. It’s a career dilemma that affects us all: we know we need to put ourselves forward at work, but many of us find the idea of being pushy and networking mortifying. John Lees offers a workable, practical solution. It’s self-promotion without the self-regard.’

Rhymer Rigby, freelance journalist and author. His work appears regularly in the Financial Times and The Telegraph

‘Succinct, well-structured, and very much of the real world, The Success Code is founded on good research yet is eminently accessible. This book is for those people who want to progress but don’t want to sacrifice their sense of self, who want to amplify who they really are rather than pretending to be something they’re not. This isn’t a book that berates you and badgers you, it’s a book that takes you by the hand and guides you to understanding, and then via understanding into action.’

Kathleen Smith, Business Services Director, the Serocor Group

Foreword

by Sarah Willingham of BBC’s Dragons’ Den

For anyone who struggles to promote themselves, to progress as quickly as they would like to, to impress the people they want to or to just generally get noticed – this is the book for you!

The prevailing business culture in the UK, and many business advice books, assumes that having an extrovert personality and being an expert in ‘power networking’ is the only way to get ahead. But this just isn’t a natural way of being for 90 per cent of people out there. We can’t all become sales gurus and experts in elevator pitches overnight; it’s just not in our DNA. The truth is that most of us have personalities that lie somewhere in the middle.

As a TV ‘Dragon’ and investor, I meet successful and not-so-successful businesspeople every day who pitch me ideas and want to get me to invest in them, and one thing I can tell you is there is no single personality type that automatically gets you ahead in business. I’ve seen the cleverest people crumble in front of me when faced with giving a presentation, and the most confident communicators present the very worst business ideas.

The Success Code is all about taking control of your own future, about pushing your comfort zone in a controlled way. It’s about relationships, looking people in the eye, listening (not just hearing) and returning back to basics where we TALK to people rather than hide behind a screen. The unavoidable fact is that making professional connections is a vital component of a successful working life, and most of the time promotions, job offers and business deals just don’t happen unless you’re looking your boss, prospective business partner or new client directly in the eye.

In The Success Code John Lees has re-written the rules on everything you thought you knew about successful self-projection, networking and effective communication. This book is for you if you dread words like ‘networking event’ and ‘elevator pitch’. Inside, John explains that you don’t have to be an extrovert to communicate well. In fact, natural introverts, too often overlooked in business, are very often much better at building relationships as they are naturally better at listening. Whatever your personality type – extrovert, introvert or ambivert – we can all become better at communicating, and more successful in our career progression and business dealings.

In The Success Code, John will challenge you to face your fears about self-projection and encourage you to explore what’s holding you back from making new connections in your professional life. He’ll move to the edge of your comfort zone, and give you powerful tools to control and manage the messages you’re giving out, whatever your natural personality type.

What’s more, this book is easy to understand, simple to follow with easy-to-use tips, and straight-talking. It will give you the confidence to start networking authentically, and the strategies to start meaningful and productive business conversations naturally. By the end of this book, you’ll start to understand how others perceive you, what they say about you when you leave the room, and how you can use this to your advantage. Finally, the strategies inside The Success Code will help you move towards getting genuine, warm recommendations from colleagues, clients and business partners, helping you grow your business to the next level and realizing your career goals.

Sarah Willingham

Serial entrepreneur, consumer champion, businesswoman, BBC Dragon and mum of four

About the Author

John Lees is one of the UK’s best-known career strategists, writing and speaking about the world of work.

He specializes in helping people make difficult decisions about work. This usually involves helping them to reach out to other people, talk about themselves, and make new things happen.

John is the author of a wide range of business titles. His books have been translated into Arabic, Polish and Spanish. How To Get a Job You Love regularly tops the list as the bestselling career change handbook by a British author and, along with Job Interviews: Top Answers to Tough Questions, has been selected as WHSmith’s ‘Business Book of the Month’.

Other titles include Secrets of Resilient People and Knockout CV. He is a regular blog contributor to Harvard Business Review online and in 2012 wrote the introduction to the HBR Guide to Getting the Right Job.

He appears frequently in the national press and his work has been profiled in Management Today, Psychologies, Coaching at Work and The Sunday Times. John has contributed to the BBC interactive Back to Work series programme, BBC2’s Working Lunch, Channel 4’s Dispatches and ITV’s Tonight – How To Get A Job. John has presented at conferences and events in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Switzerland and the United States.

John is a graduate of the universities of Cambridge, London and Liverpool, and has spent most of his career focusing on the world of work. He has consulted for a wide range of organizations including: British Gas Commercial, the British Council, CIPD, Harrods, Hiscox, House of Commons, Imperial College London, the Association of MBAs, Lloyds Banking Group, Marks & Spencer, Napp Pharmaceuticals, Oakridge, as well as business schools across the UK. John is a Fellow of the CIPD, an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Recruitment Professionals, a Career Management Fellow, and was a founding board director of the Career Development Institute.

Alongside his day job, John serves as an ordained Anglican priest. He is married to the poet and children’s writer Jan Dean. They live in East Devon.

w: www.johnleescareers.com

tw: @JohnLeesCareers

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to the work of several writers who have forgotten more about personal impact than I will ever learn. In particular I would point to The Charisma Myth by Olivia Fox Cabane (Penguin, 2013), Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini (Harper Business, 2007), Gravitas by Caroline Goyder (Vermilion, 2014), How to Talk to Anyone by Leil Lowndes (Harper, 2014), The Introverted Presenter by Richard Tierney (Apress, 2015) and Networking for People Who Hate Networking by Devora Zack (Berrett-Koehler, 2010).

My enormous thanks to everyone who has helped to shape this book or steer it on its way, including Gill Best, Richard Nelson Bolles (jobhuntersbible.com), Nancy Collamer (mylifestylecareer.com), Hilary Dawson, Richard Doggett, Zena Everett (zenaeverett.com), Peter Fennah (careersynergy.com), Patricia Keener (keenerinspiration.com), Darryl Howes (ddnsconsulting.com), Kate Howlett, Ian Nicholas, Jonathan Poston, Stuart Robertson (sr-associates.com), Richard Tierney (introvertedpresenter.com) and Ruth Winden (careersenhanced.com).

Particular gratitude goes to my wife Jan Dean for untangling several chapters and to Carole Pemberton (carolepemberton.co.uk) for not only contributing ideas but also assuring me that the book was heading where I hoped to point it.

Thanks, as ever, go to my agent James Wills at Watson, Little for his unstinting support and to my Hodder & Stoughton editor Iain Campbell for commissioning the idea and massaging it into shape.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my great friend Richard Weston.

Richard is not only a gifted professional photographer (find him at Weston Digital Imaging), but an inspiring teacher and mentor – and just about as authentic as they come.

How to get the most from this book

This book decodes success for people who hate the idea of selling themselves.

This is a book about getting noticed, but it’s not a conventional book. It doesn’t tell you to sell yourself, get out there, impress with power dressing or have an elevator speech.

The pages ahead are a practical guide to making an impression, authentically. It’s probably true that about 10 per cent of people will never feel comfortable talking about their strengths, while another 10 per cent need no encouragement at all. This book is for the remaining 80 per cent. People like you who want to make an impression in the world, but don’t quite know how to make it happen.

This book will help you if you:

•  Hope to build the confidence to approach new people.

•  Want to be noticed in a busy marketplace.

•  Need to reach out to people to advance your career.

•  Need to shape a more positive reputation so that you become a more credible promotion candidate.

•  Want to widen your range of connections but you’re not a natural networker.

•  Struggle to communicate your strengths without feeling like a fake.

•  Want work to find you rather than having to constantly chase it down.

You’ve probably heard of personal branding and you’re probably tired of hearing about it. It’s too closely associated with self-promotion – pushing to gain influence, exploiting connections and talking too much. But getting noticed doesn’t have to mean overselling. Throughout the course of this book, you will discover exciting research, positive psychology and advice from a range of experts that will help you to make an authentic impact.

By stepping just to the edge of your comfort zone, you will learn to project yourself onto the world of work.

From discussing personal influencing skills to presentations, this book decodes the elements of success for people who hate the idea of selling themselves. You’ll rethink networking, learn how to talk about yourself in ways that others find easy to listen to, and also directly influence what people say about you. You’ll discover how to project yourself in writing without looking as if you’re pushing too hard, and learn how to engage people in a way that sparks curiosity and leads to interesting offers.