Career Success – Take on Extra, but Get the Credit

Last updated: August 23, 2026

Conventional wisdom suggests that for career success, you need to show your value by working above and beyond. But is this the full story?

In the famous opening scene of The Godfather (1972, directed by Francis Ford Coppola), Don Corleone is receiving requests for favors on the day of his daughter's wedding. The undertaker asks for revenge against two boys who beat his daughter when she refused their advances. Don Corleone grants the favor, but makes clear that he's owed something in return, someday, whenever he chooses to call it in.

The Godfather movie is a case study of the power of reciprocity for influence. If you are going to give value, know your value, and seek value in return.

Coaching Career Success

I am currently coaching a Senior Vice President, who has her eyes on a C-level promotion. She has made her aspirations known to her organization and is being offered a highly visible transformation project.

As I was preparing her for the meeting with her boss and the Company President, she said, “I don’t want to link this project to my promotion aspirations”.

“Why the hell not?” Was my, less than diplomatic, response.

“Can you successfully complete this project, and what is the monetary value to the organization?”

My coachee, let us call her Margaret, said she was confident that she could successfully complete the project and it would be worth $100 million to her company in the first year, with significant growth in subsequent years.

This is one big favor!

I shared with Margaret how another one of my coaching clients had delivered massive value to his company, on the promise of promotion, but that promotion did not transpire, because he had not really articulated the reciprocity. The good news is that I was able to help him get the C-level promotion and a significant equity stake, but it was much harder, after the fact.

Margaret understood and agreed to frame the reciprocity as follows.

“I’m excited about this project, and I’m confident that I can deliver value, to the order of $100million in the first year, and growth thereafter. Realizing that this will take significant effort, over and above my current responsibilities, I trust that this will be reflected in my next career progression discussion.”

Notice that the framing makes the reciprocity explicit but does not make a demand.

"To give value, you must know your value."

And it is my experience that people who have made it to the top, of any field, recognize the value and respect those that know their value.

Is your Value Hidden?

In 2007 Joshua Bell, one of the best concert violinists in the world played for free, for 45 minutes, on a violin worth 3.5 million dollars at a subway station. Over a thousand people passed by Bell, but only seven stopped to listen to him play, including a 3-year-old boy. This social experiment demonstrates that people will overlook value if it is not articulated.

Hybrid and remote work removed the old advantage of simply being physically present in the room. When your face is one tile among many on a screen, or your team is spread across time zones, presence no longer speaks for itself. Articulating your value explicitly, in writing, in the room, in the numbers, isn't optional anymore. It's the primary way anyone gets seen at all.

You may need to learn to show your Executive Presence through a Webcam, but Global Visibility is more accessible than ever. So, what are you waiting for, Take on Extra, but get the Credit!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is reciprocity in a workplace negotiation?
Reciprocity is naming the value you're creating and, in the same breath, naming what you expect in return, without turning it into a demand. Instead of quietly hoping extra work gets rewarded, you make the exchange explicit: "I'll deliver X, and I trust that will be reflected in Y."

How do you get credit for extra work?
Articulate the value before you deliver it, not after. State the specific, measurable outcome you're aiming for, connect it to what you want in return, whether that's a promotion, a raise, or a new role, and frame it as confidence in your own contribution rather than a condition.

Why does visible work get more credit than valuable work?
The 2007 Joshua Bell experiment, where a world-class violinist playing a $3.5 million instrument in a subway station drew almost no attention, shows that people routinely overlook value that isn't announced. The same happens at work: quality goes unnoticed unless someone actively points to it.

Is it pushy to ask for a promotion before finishing a project?
Not if you frame it as confidence in your own delivery rather than a condition on your effort. Naming the expected outcome and the expected reciprocity upfront reads as clarity and self-respect, not entitlement, especially when the value you're promising is specific and measurable.