Cambridge Business Association
Expect to Win
Book

Expect to Win

Proven Strategies for Success from a Wall Street Vet

Carla A. Harris
Hudson Street Press, 2009
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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Applicable

Recommendation

The author of this inspirational career guide is a black female managing director at a top Wall Street investment bank. And if that weren’t enough, she’s also a recording artist and gospel singer in her spare time. Carla A. Harris emphasizes developing your “authentic self” in the workplace, setting your career plan and taking responsibility for your professional advancement. She also tells a great personal story in this realistic, readily accessible book, summarizing her insights as “Carla’s Pearls” at the end of each chapter. While her advice may ring familiar tones with most corporate veterans, Harris says her book will boost “women, women of color, and anyone (men, too) who desires to maximize their potential and claim their power in a professional environment.” getAbstract wholeheartedly concurs and considers this worthwhile material, particularly for those who seek guidance and encouragement at the start of their careers.

Summary

The Value of Authenticity

When you’re hired for a job, it confirms that you have a unique set of skills, abilities and personality traits that your employer wants over those of other candidates. This is your competitive advantage in the workplace. The skills and talents you bring also give you power within the organization. When you maximize the characteristics and skills that helped you secure your job in the first place, you free yourself to learn, create and take risks. Being “your authentic self” at work makes you more valuable to your employer.

When you’re authentic, you exude self-confidence; you’re comfortable in your own skin, and that’s evident to clients, bosses and colleagues. But when you’re not sure of your goals, your talents or even whether you’re in the right industry, you inhibit your own flexibility and creativity, and that erodes your self-assurance. People who lose self-confidence can appear apprehensive, passive or false. That inauthenticity will undermine your bosses’ perceptions of you, hurt your client relationships and raise questions among colleagues about your capabilities.

If you’ve fallen into this trap, work on knowing yourself. ...

About the Author

Fortune magazine named Morgan Stanley managing director Carla A. Harris to its “Most Influential List” in 2005. Black Enterprise magazine hailed Harris as one of the “75 Most Powerful Blacks on Wall Street” in 2006.

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