Mistakes I Made in the Corporate World: Take My Advice to Get Ahead

I am a corporate refugee. I served five years in two different medium size companies. In my first go round in the business world I advanced fairly rapidly into middle management and then transferred into a newly created marketing department as a copywriter and web designer. In short order my company merged with another and I was laid off with several others.

I then went to an internet startup as a copywriter. From all accounts I produced good work and soon advanced into the role of producer. This was a rather amorphous position involving design, usability and generally providing for ease of use to our visitors in order to convert them to customers at an ever higher rate. Again, I performed well, but when the company imploded with most of the other startups of the era, I decided to leave the company rather than move with them to another city.

I have learned some things about how to get ahead in corporate America, mostly through my own very bad mistakes. I found out after leaving my second company that I had topped out promotionwise. It turns out I wasn't nearly so well liked as I had thought and in fact was actively disliked by those in control of my career. After much soul searching I have come up with the five biggest mistakes that I made during my career. I offer them to you in the hopes they may be of use.

1. Don't eat lunch alone - A common misconception is that lunch is about eating. It isn't, I know because that's the mistake I made. Lunch is about accepting every invitation you receive and making contacts. These lunch partners will not become your friends, but down the road they may become your allies. It is far easier to support someone you've shared a meal with than that weird guy that goes off by himself at 11:30 every day.