Additionally, you must know when, where and how to flex your power muscles. Information is power, but first you have to acquire it and then you need to know when and how to use it. (Remember, your influential and reputational power is mostly a matter of perception but you always control it.)

One way you do that is in the projects you are offered and work on. Don't settle for the easy assignments. Take the ones that stretch your comfort zone, expand your skills and add incrementally to your base of accomplishments. Build your project portfolio over time with success stories you were part of creating and leading. The person who evolves is the one who survives. Track your results and put them in that marketing brochure called your résumé. Better yet, dump the term résumé and start thinking of it as your "professional profile" designed to sell you as an appreciating asset not as an expense.

Learn to put yourself first and invest in your own future by putting every effort you can into building your personal success brand. The job market will reward you for that. Be known for the company you keep. What's good for you is great for the company. Always keep your pulse on the market and your eye on your marketability.

Feedback is the breakfast of champions!

Seek feedback on your performance, not just from the boss but also from those with whom you interact and where you've made an impact. It's the only way to have an accurate reading of your worth on the open market and to make sure you're always in a strong bargaining position for leveraging what you've done in a way that gets you what you want and where you want to go.

Regularly monitor your 4 most important metrics: your relationships, your professional expertise, your personal vision, and your business smarts. Stop worrying about finding the single best or right path to success (there isn't one) and focus instead on making sure you are on one and blazing a trail.

Your career can be anything you want it to be. Don't put yourself in the trap of seeing only one way up the ladder; the ladder doesn't exist anymore. Instead, concentrate on showing your progression. How you've expanded your reach. How you've grown your business knowledge and professional expertise. Know what you are working for and stay true to it. Review this regularly. People change. So will you. It's how you build your brand.

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