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　　Of all the various ways to differentiate your personal brand — thelist goes on and on — here’s one profile you may want to avoid: YoungGuy Baggage。

　　Years ago I was speaking to a client about a member of his team.“Steve’s a solid performer,” the client said, “but he has a fair amountof young guy baggage?！?I admitted that I had never heard the term.Without skipping a beat, he recited, “You know... defensive, insecure,always worried about how he looks. Tends to personalize everything?！?/p>

　　You just thought of someone who exactly fits that description, didn’t you?

　　By now you’ve probably figured out that your boss wants youworrying about her problems, not yours. Your value will be in roughproportion to your ability to forget personal needs, including concernsof how others perceive you, and focus on the goals of the team. Theinternal equity you build - indeed, your credibility itself – relies to asignificant degree on the knack for recognizing that it’s seldom, ifever, about you。

　　Here’s a simple test to see whether you may have one or more latentsymptoms. Imagine that I’m your boss. Suppose you ask me a directquestion and I give you an evasive (逃避的，難以捉摸的) response. Is it becauseI’ve decided you’re not worthy to know the answer，or because answeringyou directly might compromise (危害，妥協(xié)處理) me? Let it go, grasshopper(蚱蜢，小型偵察機(jī))。

　　Haven’t you found that the more you ask for approval, the more iteludes (使困惑，躲避) you? Try to remember that others are focused almostexclusively on their own interests. If you learn to think and feelbig-picture, you’ll have every strategic advantage. Do you wish you hadsaid something slightly different at that meeting? Chances are no oneremembers. They’re all on to the next thing. You need to move on, too。

　　Frustrated (沮喪的，失意的) with trying to win respect, you may fall intoanother subtle (敏感的，微妙的) though predictable trap: You believe you’veaccomplished the ultimate by not caring what people think about you, butyou’re still stuck， because you want them to know emphatically how muchyou don’t care. Gotcha。

　　If you’re asking: Okay, once I drop that whole constellation(星座，星群) of neurotic (神經(jīng)病的，神經(jīng)過(guò)敏的) thoughts and behaviors, what do Ireplace it with? The answer may be to create a “To Do” list for yourselfthat looks something like this:

　　1. Let people underestimate your abilities

　　2. Vastly exceed their expectations

　　3. Get promoted and enjoy the last laugh