BLOG: Leadership Insights

Get Email Updates

Getting to know WIL faculty Carla Harris (video)

August 11, 2015

What are the three adjectives people use to describe you when you are not in the room?

It’s not a question you ask yourself every day, right?

Well you should because, according to Carla Harris—veteran senior executive at Morgan Stanley, author, and keynote faculty at our Women in Leadership Institute —when it comes to maximizing success and advancing into greater leadership roles, “Perception is the co-pilot of reality.”

And as she explains in this clip of a presentation she made to the Council on Foreign Relations, being a hard worker, or loyal, or even being capable to lead and take on greater responsibility is never enough if you’re not perceived to be able to do those things. This is because decisions about career advancement (compensation, promotions, assignments, etc.) are almost always made when you are not in the room. And that’s why it’s so important to pick three words that describe exactly how capable you really are.

So, first, soak up some more hard-earned Wall Street wisdom from Carla:

Pick the adjectives that you want people to use when they are talking about you.

Find out more about Carla and the rest of our world-class faculty at Linkage’s Women in Leadership Institute from November 2-5 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Dark haired woman watches from audience of conference event

Women in Leadership Institute

NOV. 13–16, 2023 | Orlando, Florida, or Virtual
A 4-day immersive learning experience designed to equip women leaders with actionable strategies to overcome the hurdles women often face in the workplace.

Enrich Your inbox

with timely, relevant leadership insights

Join more than 15,000 others and subscribe to Linkage Leadership Insights: your resource for leadership development-related topics that matter to you, from the advancement of women leaders to diversity and inclusion and purposeful leadership. Plus, get all the latest Linkage news delivered to your inbox.

Related Posts

All Insights

Start Your Journey

Speak with a Linkage expert today