In his book, Promote Yourself: The New Rules for Career Success, published by St. Martin’s Press (September 2013), Dan Schawbel provides a wealth of information, insights, and counsel for those who have no clear career roadmap and are willing to invest time and effort to advance their career.

Be sure to give value before you promote yourself. In fact, giving value will do more to help promote you than almost anything else. Here are some key points to keep in mind:

1. Make yourself worthy of being talked about. Earn it by producing results.

2. Become well-known for must-have expertise on which others depend and highly value.

3. Take responsibility (i.e. “Be your own publicist”) but without bragging.

4. Find ways to expand your role and increase involvement in operations. [Volunteers often become heroes.]

5. Make others look good — especially your supervisor.

6. Create some evangelists. [See #2]

To repeat, be sure to give value before you promote yourself. In fact, giving value will do more to help promote you than almost anything else.

Schawbel discusses all this in much greater detail in the book, concluding with these observations:

“Do one thing every day — add a new skill, share a new idea with your group — that will advance you. Developing this ‘One Step Forward a Day’ habit will keep you current, make you feel more fulfilled and confident, and increase your value. It also will make you more creative and fulfilled when you’re not working. And it will ensure that you do 365 things during the next twelve months to improve yourself.”

Dan Schawbel‘s comments remind me of how the new leaders of the LEGO Group saved their company: “one brick at a time.” They also remind me of a proverb from China: “When is the best time to plant a tree? One hundred years ago. When is the next best time? Now.”