The Missing "I" in My Image: Perception Management Skills and Techniques

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Manish Temani is an Indian C.A. (Gold Medallist), C.S. (Gold Medallist) and US CPA. He is currently working in a leadership position at an Investment Bank, based in London. In a career span of over 15 years, he has led large teams across multiple geographies and have held multiple roles, that has given him the experience of a wide range of workplace cultures. A faculty for Chartered Accountant students, he is also a speaker at national and international seminars.

Often you hear people saying, "Focus on your work, and not on what people think of you", or
"If you are doing a good job, you don't need to worry about what people think and say about you."
Well, not entirely true.
Here's a small story to explain this. Roy, a software engineer had joined a reputed IT company three years ago. Very hard working, he had always delivered on his tasks (in time and with good quality). In addition, he had also been supporting and guiding other members in the team as and when they needed any help. He thinks he's also been very efficient in completing all his work/projects over these years. Overall, he's happy with his work, and thinks his work really speaks well for him.
There is an opportunity now for him to be promoted to the next role in his team, as someone had recently resigned making that position available. Roy is quite keen to get that role (and get promoted) so he approaches his manager to apply for that post. To his surprise, his manager did not really feel that Roy was quite ready for the next level.
In fact, the manager thought that Roy was years off from his next promotion. He's been considered as someone who can deliver on his own tasks very well, and is valued for that in the team. But no one sees him yet, as capable of managing other people, or managing wider team tasks. Also, people don't see him as innovative enough when it comes to doing the same tasks, in a more efficient way. And with the management and team having this perception of Roy, he found that he had no real shot at this opportunity. And, there is not enough time now for him to look back, and prove that what he has done in the last 3 years is good enough for him to deserve this chance the decision that he isn't ready for the next level was based more on the image that his manager and team had of him, rather than his actual work and potential.