Question: After 3 years in America, I am very frustrated. In the Philippines you get promoted according to whom you know. I find it the same in America. I work harder than others but I get bypassed for promotion. Subsub ako sa trabaho pero iba ang nakikinabang. Bakit?

It’s time you change your idea of what’s good and fair. Contrary to common sense, whom you know is just as important as hard work. The sooner you realize this, the better your life and your feelings will be.

Any employee who asks herself the following "whom you know" questions everyday will be promoted faster than others.

1. Who helped me in the past and how can I help her in return?

2. Who asked me for help in the past but whom I ignored because I did not consider him important enough? How can I prove to him I care?

3. Who among my peers is looking for information I can provide or research?

4. Who among my supervisors had a recent setback and how can I offer my fellowship by just listening? (Pakiki-kapwa-tao ang tawag dito, hindi sipsip)

5. Who can help me if management is deciding whom to promote?

6. Who recently got promoted and needs immediate help in wrapping up old projects?

7. Who among my peers deserve to be promoted and how can I help her?

Question 7 above is most important, although it may hurt your ego because you yourself want to be promoted. Eighty percent of the time, those who deserve promotion actually get promoted. To try to help them after they are already promoted appears phony. If you help them early, your support and friendship will be remembered by someone in the management.

Ray Colorado
June 6, 2001
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