The recipe for opening doors at work starts with first doing what seems the most obvious: Do what you say you will.
Antonio Neri, the CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, told Business Insider that delivering on the promises you’ve made is where opportunity begins at work.
Neri knows a thing or two about getting on your boss’s radar and climbing the corporate ladder.
He started working at the company at a call center in Amsterdam during the mid-1990s when the firm was known as Hewlett-Packard. He rose through the ranks and eventually took the helm of HPE in 2018.
Neri said in addition to delivering on the work you were hired to do, make sure you are communicating your career goals to your manager about where you want to see yourself in three to five years.
“Hold the manager accountable, but most importantly, hold yourself accountable, too, because it’s a two-way street,” Neri said.
He said if you are looking to climb the ladder at work, you should ask for developmental opportunities that will help build your network amongst colleagues and other leaders in the organization. This will help keep you on their radar, and possibly considered for new opportunities when they open up.
Neri added that once opportunities present themselves, you should be intentional about the ones you take on.
“Don’t overdo it, but also don’t be quiet behind the scenes,” he said. “Speak when it’s necessary and then listen most of the time.”
“But again, it starts by delivering what you say you’re going to do,” Neri said.
Neri’s advice echos that of Walmart chief people officer Donna Morris who told Business Insider in October that one of the two traits she looks for in people to promote are those who are excelling at the job they were hired for.
She said that employees who get promoted quickly “are focused as much, if not more, on just being exceptional at what they’re doing today.”
She said the second thing that employees who move up quickly do is demonstrate that they can take more on.
“Be the type of person that takes on over and above what’s being expected of you. Be the person that asks, or provides, volunteerism for new ideas or new initiatives,” she said.
