Some Women Work Too Hard to Be Promoted

You're a woman. You're a hard worker. But, for some reason, you're not getting promoted. Although you may assume the worst—that you're hitting your head against a glass ceiling—consider that you may, in fact, be working too hard.

That's the message relayed by career strategist Karyl Innis, as reported by the Dallas Morning News:

Ironically, the reward for being known as a hard worker is often more hard work—not that leadership position you may be after.

One of the world's largest international consulting companies wanted to find out why it has never had a woman partner in its Dallas office.

It didn't take long to pinpoint the problem.

"These young women, who are extraordinarily bright, allow themselves to be branded with the hard-worker brand, not the leader brand," Ms. Innis says. "Therefore, when it comes to who is picked for the new-business pitch team or who gets to go to lunch with the customer, the hard workers are at their desks working hard, while the leaders are busy leading at the customer table."

It's a strange world: Not only are women wondering why they're not getting promoted, companies are wondering why they're not promoting them.

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