Introduction

This book has a specific purpose.

I wrote this book for professionals who feel as though it's too late to change the trajectory of their careers. They are frustrated and contemplating how they ended up at that exact desk, in-person or virtual, when they knew they were destined for more. Many professionals have experienced that moment when they look up at the ceiling and ask, "How did I end up here?"

Even if "here" is going well, many times professionals who have been able to navigate their careers to a certain level start to look back and wonder how they can be strategic in their next career moves. For years, they may have landed job after job, but something has changed and they know it's their job to fix it.

Perhaps you feel unappreciated, overlooked, and underpaid for the talents you know you have, and you are underutilized in your current role, too. You also know that if your supervisor asks you to complete one more thing, that you're ready to give him or her a piece of your mind and tell him or her to do it instead. Better yet, your supervisor should give it to your co-worker who you know is getting paid more than you for the same work.

Or maybe you've reached a new level in your career and how you move as a professional needs to change. You're finally ready to position yourself as a leader, and you know that it's time you build your first career strategy versus relying on your manager or company to do it for you. Your next move will require something different and you're not quite sure what that is just yet.

The good news is there's a light at the end of the tunnel of this terrible thought process, and that's the fact that you recognize something isn't right. You realize you're undervalued, and you believe you are destined for more - but what is more? Luckily, this book is designed to take you to the next level in your career to achieve more - to a level that allows you to finally be seen as the leader you know you are, the leader you've been all along. You know, the leader in the office who gets first pick on key projects, becomes the go-to for stakeholder presentations, is widely respected in the office, and has a presence that is not only felt but known and acknowledged.

For the record, I believe that every professional has the potential to be a leader in his or her role. Being a leader has much less to do with a title and more to do with the influence you bring to the workplace. In any role you occupy, you can position yourself as a leader. I really don't care about your level, whether you're an executive assistant or the director of a department, because leading is about your ability to influence and master the work you do in a way that helps you guide and empower others in the workplace. Leading does not always mean managing, either. You can lead without having a staff to instruct or supervise.

In 2011, I learned this lesson in my first role as a career development counselor. My then co-worker, now best friend, Amber, said I walked into the office on the first day like I was ready to take over. While I disagree with that statement, I will share that I was ready to build a career for myself and probably walked into my first day of work a tinch overzealous.

Up until that point in my career, I had a steady stream of jobs to earn money. I was about two years out of college and determined not to go back to my hometown in Connecticut and live with my parents. Hell, it's a responsible decision to reduce the financial burden of living on your own while starting your career and preparing to pay for your student loans, but for me, I had built a life in New York and wasn't ready to return to my small hometown. I was raised in a town where I was one of a handful of underrepresented minorities in the school system and one of fewer than five Black families in the town. I considered moving home to be the ultimate failure because my 20-year-old mind didn't understand how I'd be able to return to New York at a later time, so my decisions were primarily based on how much money I was able to make to remain in New York and less about the work that I was doing.

So, in 2011, when I accepted the role of career development counselor, I knew I was ready to have a career and was excited about the work. Previously, I had a string of roles that were based on the convenience of location, the prospect of being happier, or the salary. I was not making strategic decisions about my career; I was simply stumbling into jobs. Again, these were jobs, not a career. The position I held before becoming a career development counselor sparked a deeper interest in building long-term relationships with students, so working in career development was the answer for me. The work wasn't confined to a particular collegiate year; it spanned undergraduate to graduate and alumni in some institutions. Although the salary wasn't what I hoped for in that first role, I learned I would be eligible for a performance-based increase at six months due to a new process to increase base salaries across the university. I may have walked into the office as if I was overly confident, but I didn't know a single thing about career counseling.

On my first day, I wore my I-mean-business outfit and interacted with everyone in a calm but cautious manner until I figured out who was who. I mentally prepared myself on how to walk into an office where I was finally building a career versus how I walked into just another job. When walking into just another job, the focus is generally on finding out your assignments, mastering them, and getting out of the office by 5 p.m. When the goal is to build a career, you bring curiosity to the table to understand your role and the organization's needs so you can contribute in a meaningful way outside of your day-to-day assignments.

Shortly after my first day, Amber and I were asked to share an office, and we quickly became close friends. We worked hard and became team leaders based on the appointments seen in any given month, innovative programs with departments outside of our office, and overall reviews from students. We knew career development wasn't just a job for us; it was a career.

Amber had started working at the institution eight months before me and straight out of her undergraduate program. I came in with a few years of professional experience unrelated to career development, so we ended up being on the same track together. Six months into the role, the policy to obtain a salary increase was no longer in effect. To this day, I have no idea why this policy stopped. I just remember hitting the six-month mark and walking into my performance discussion feeling excited about recouping some of the money I sacrificed when I transitioned into higher education but being told that the money was no longer available. Knowing what I know now, I would have advocated for myself instead of walking away, but I didn't. Instead, I took this as a sign of workplace politics, and I let it pass.

Amber and I were promoted to senior career development counselors at the one-year mark, based upon our performance, and we received a performance-based salary increase. Given the norms in the office, these promotions and raises were common. If you performed well, you could expect to be promoted to a senior counselor within one year.

However, during my second year, things changed. During my first year, my goal was to learn the basics of career counseling, the office's norms, and lead the programming I was assigned. In the second year, we had metrics that were tracked and personal goals we needed to reach to move to the next level and ultimately be promoted to assistant directors. During the second year, the performance discussion with my supervisor changed how I thought about the world of work. I was in the early stages of this career path, but I was devoted and outperformed the other senior counselors in the office. I was also working on completing my master's degree in the evenings and required internships in the morning before work. At that time, I also didn't know very much about standing up for myself in the workplace, so when I disagreed with something, I'd vent to Amber, we'd grab a drink at one of our favorite restaurants after work, and I'd let it go.

By mid-2013, when my second annual review came around, I expected another performance-based salary increase and title change. I had surpassed all established goals, created innovative programs, presented at a state-level conference, and joined the board for a professional organization. Maybe you can guess how this story unfolds.

I didn't get the full increase or title change.

My supervisor believed I could have exceeded my goals far past the level I reached.

To this day, I remember my exact feelings when I walked out of his office. My mind focused on one thought - I exceeded my goals for the year, but I could have exceeded them more. I tried to rationalize that thought but was overwhelmed with emotion. Then, more thoughts swirled around my mind.

Did he have a personal issue with me?

Could I have done more?

Was it a race thing?

Was it a gender thing?

Why was my standard of performance different from other senior counselors in the office?

I will never know the answers to those questions, but I will always remember the feeling of hopelessness. I felt like the only option I had was to accept the...