Page 20 - How To Get Rich

committed to getting the job, and she did it with elegance.

Ask for Your Raise at the Right Time
When it comes to your career, certain moves should not be made

without careful consideration of the old and very apt sayingTiming is
everything.
For example, if you’ve decided to ask for a raise, look around first. So
many times, employees who I like very much do the dumbest things when
it comes to conversations about their salaries.
Jason Greenblatt, a young and brilliant lawyer who works for me, is
terrific at everything he does, but one day, I swear, he must have been

wearing blindfolds—and earplugs.
I was having an especially tough, vicious, terrible, miserable day that
seemed never-ending to me and to everyone else. It was a grand-slam
rotten day. No one could possibly have mistaken it for anything else.
Late in the afternoon, by which time I had had enough, I heard a polite
knock on my door. I yelled out WHAT? in my most exasperated tone.

Jason nonchalantly entered my office, completely ignoring my angry
welcome, and proceeded to ask me for a raise.
I could not believe a lawyer as smart as Jason could make such a dumb
move. I use his real name only because Jason knows how much I like and
respect him, despite his incredible faux pas. But I have to tell you that I
was ready to kill him. Was hejoking ? It’s amazing, but he wasn’t. He was
dead serious. I couldn’t believe it.

Did he get a raise? Not that day. He almost got fired for stupidity,
except that I told him to get out before I really lost my temper. I also told
him that although he might be brilliant, his timing for certain things
needed work—and that maybe he ought to start paying attention to what
was going on around him. I remember thinking to myself,Did I really hire

such a person? But as I said, it had been a rough day.
Jason is still with me, and he gets lots of raises because he’s great at
what he does. But now he always waits for sunny days, blue skies, and
puffy white clouds on the horizon before approaching me. I told you he
was smart.
The best way to ask for a raise is to wait for the right time. It also
indicates to your boss that you have a certain amount of discernment and