President, UBS Asset Management
Ten years into her career, Suni Harford faced off against a colleague who was trying to steal her work. Thanks to her preparedness, she prevailed.
The incident happened on a trading floor while Harford was working in the capital markets business at the investment bank Salomon Brothers.
"So everything's very public, and everybody listens to everybody's phone calls," recalled Harford, who was recently named president of UBS Asset Management after a two-year stint as its head of investments.
This particular morning, Harford was expecting to complete the largest bond deal she had ever brokered. The call came in; the deal went through. She was excited to share the news.
"I turn around to tell my boss," she said, "and this guy is sitting there telling my boss about the deal. Seriously."
That same morning, Harford had stopped by her boss's desk and asked him to cross his fingers for the forthcoming bond deal. So as the co-worker sought to take credit, the boss turned his attention to Harford and said, "Congratulations."
The lesson that Harford drew from the incident: There are effective, informal ways to keep your boss apprised of what you are accomplishing.
"The reality is, every time you schedule a meeting with your manager to talk about your career, it's hard. It's additional work," she said. "Our job as employees is to make our manager's job easier and to keep in front of them with what's going on, without making a big formal deal about it."
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Harford said little steps that dovetail with the natural course of your daily workflow, such as arranging a client meeting and inviting your boss to sit in, offer opportunities to promote yourself without being overt.
"There's a thousand different ways to be in front of senior people and improve your visibility in the context of business as usual, as opposed to making it a formal sit-down review," she said.
It has clearly worked for Harford. In addition to being named president of one of the largest asset managers in the world, an appointment that was to take effect on Oct. 1, she was also recently named to the group executive board of UBS.
But what about that other guy?
"Well, he learned a lesson too, I suppose," Harford said. "We never talked about it, but he never tried it again."
