The greatest key to your career success is managing perception.  If we do a good job of managing how others see us, we can gain sufficient power from those perceptions.  This power can aid in gaining opportunity. 

Here's an example:  I know an engineer who worked for a high tech R&D company that focused on creating the latest processes for manufacturing semiconductors.  He learned the easiest way to get on projects that were investigating the newest technologies.  Once he heard of a particular process being investigated, he would do a quick search in the library and download several technical papers on the subject.  He would read them and even sometimes call the authors to discuss their results.  He made himself an expert on those few papers.  The real trick came when he would discuss this subject with managers who were interested in it but didn't know much about it.  He could spout off endless tidbits on it. As far as management was concerned, he was an expert on it.  When it came time for the new project to begin, who do you think they wanted on it?  That's right, he got himself on all of the major, high profile projects just by managing perception.  I know what you're thinking now....but what if he fails?  This was new technology.  Nobody really knows if its possible.  He couldn't cause it to fail alone so he was never blamed if it did.  Even if you don't have this luxury, you'll have the support of your Blitz team.  Failure ceases to become an option.  Now imagine how this could work if you had a team of people promoting you!!

Managing perception can provide you significant power.  Many experts call this perceived relative power.  Kathleen McGinn, Harvard Professor of Business Administration, defines it in terms of negotiations in her article, "What Perceived Power Brings to Negotiations."  She says it has two components. First, it is a perception about how much power each of the two parties has in the negotiation.  In other words, it is not based on anything tangible.  So if you're not necessarily the best at a particular skill but your team communicates that you are the best (as they help make you better), then you are! Second, perceived relative power is also relative.  If I percieve you as being a more powerful negotiator, then I will feel less powerful and vice versa.  The point here is that you never won't be overpowered by others in a negotiation (and your career definitely is a negotiation).

By utilizing a Blitz team, as I describe in my upcoming book, "Blitz the Ladder," you can easily impact the first component Kathleen discusses; that is, what others perceive.  Maybe you want to be seen as a powerful negotiator or a technical expert.  Your team can help you achieve this by influencing how others think of you.  Of course, Kathleen offers us a little advice in that you should be careful to not use too much perceived power when in negotiations.  It's important to maintain a balance between both parties so that no one party feels overpowered, resulting in an unwillingness to be open-minded and cooperative.  So, just remember to keep things on an equal playing field!

Managing perception is an extremely powerful tool and is quickly becoming vital to success, much more so than degrees, working long hours or achieving great accomplishments.  That's why the academic experts are jumping on board with it.  Get ahead of the game by learning about it.