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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
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How to Be a Star at Work summary
Robert E. Kelley
9 Breakthrough Strategies You Need to Succeed
19 mins
Brief summary
How to Be a Star at Work by Robert E. Kelley outlines nine critical strategies for achieving excellence at work, focusing on personal initiative, self-management, and effective collaboration to enhance career growth and professional development.
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How to Be a Star at Work
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Key idea 1 of 9
Taking the initiative
You know how there’s always that one person at work who seems to effortlessly get promoted, land the best projects, and have everyone singing their praises?
Well, here’s the truth: when researchers compared such star performers against average employees, they found zero meaningful differences in IQ, creativity, ambition, or any other trait we typically associate with success.
So what exactly is their secret? It turns out stars aren’t doing anything magical – they’re just approaching their work differently. The author Robert E. Kelly and his research team discovered nine specific strategies that star performers use to increase their value and visibility at work. When regular employees are taught these behaviors, their productivity literally doubles.
The first essential behavior: taking ownership beyond your official responsibilities. Consider Kathleen Betts, a part-time Massachusetts state employee who saved her government $489 million by discovering a Medicaid reimbursement loophole – work that wasn’t part of her job description.
Taking initiative means identifying important work that nobody owns – the gaps where important tasks slip through organizational cracks. Top performers actively hunt for these opportunities to help their colleagues, departments, and companies succeed.
When should you take the initiative? First, always excel at your assigned work – extra projects should enhance, not replace, your core duties. Next, focus on activities that directly affect your organization’s bottom line through cost savings or revenue generation. Lastly, initiative needs persistence, requiring personal investment to see projects through completion.
Real initiative means showing the courage to act when others hesitate, consistently delivering value beyond expectations, and building a reputation as someone who makes things better. Master it, and you’ll make yourself an irreplaceable asset at work.
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What is How to Be a Star at Work about?
How to Be a Star at Work (1999) reveals nine research-backed strategies that transform ordinary employees into exceptional performers. These techniques enable you to raise your workplace productivity, visibility and value to a new level and become the top choice for premium opportunities. The secrets of workplace excellence aren’t about natural talent – they’re learnable skills that anyone can master to join the elite ranks of star performers.
Who should read How to Be a Star at Work?
- Mid-level professionals who want to stand out among their peers
- Managers and team leaders looking to understand what makes top performers excel
- Ambitious employees seeking actionable methods to increase their visibility and value
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