I will never forget the student who came to my office hours in a mess of tears and dismay. 

She'd just received the results of the 360 feedback report from her former (pre-MBA) bosses and coworkers, a process which all of my students go through as part of "Becoming You," my on career development.

"Professor Welch, you have to help me," she pleaded, "My results were atrocious!"

At first, I was too stunned to reply. I'd seen this student's results and they were anything but. 

But within a minute, I recognized the problem. I'd seen it before — many times. This student had wanted her 360 feedback to celebrate her brilliant ideas and phenomenal people skills. She'd wanted her evaluators to talk about her astute data analysis, visionary outlook on industry trends, and say things like, "She inspires us all to greater heights!"

Instead, it celebrated…her ability to execute.

To get stuff done. Fast. Early. Perfectly. Always.

"Stop beating yourself up!" I immediately reassured her, "Any CEO would kill for someone like you. I'm serious. Look at this feedback! It says you're conscientious, reliable, decisive—"

"But I want to be a leader," she cut me off in protest, "and this just says I'm an operator." She whispered this last word like it was NSFW.

I let out one of my deep, affectionate — and frustrated — sighs. If you walk by my office at NYU Stern School of Business, where I also teach a class called "Management with Purpose" to hundreds of students a year, you might hear one yourself. 

Why? The reason is simple — and probably inescapable. My students — all in their 20s and 30s — are bright and ambitious. They hail from around the world, and in the two or three years before coming back to get their MBAs, many have held impressive jobs as analysts and associates. With their MBAs, they dream of stellar careers in banking, consulting, tech, and industry, and many will land them. 

DON'T MISS: 

But what they lack is something I learned the only way you can, with about 40 years working in business, as a consultant at two major firms, a leader of organizations large and small, and a board member of both public and private companies.

Execution is your career's killer app.

Execution is the most underrated skill of highly successful people

Time and time again, I've been in the room where it happens — where promotion decisions get made, and sadly, sometimes where "departure" decisions happen as well. 

And time and time again, I've seen a person's ability to execute be the deciding factor.

Their dependability around deadlines and deliverables. Their tendency to get things done sooner and better than expected. Their propensity to anticipate roadblocks and remove them. Their habit of taking full accountability for actions and outcomes.

Their tendency to walk a whole lot more than talk. 

It's funny. When people are early in their careers, they almost always understand that integrity is essential in business.  "You need to do the right thing," they'll tell you with confidence. "You have to have a moral code."                  

It takes a few years to come to see that great execution is a form of integrity, too. 

And every boss in the world wants and needs to see ample evidence of it. That includes the small stuff, like you showing up at work early, getting to meetings on time and prepared, and, if you're remote, attending with your camera on and light in your eyes.

But it extends into everything. Finishing projects a day or week ahead of schedule, with their scope enlarged and their insights expanded. Committing to making 30 cold calls and making 50. Offering to mentor an intern — and actually doing it with intention and commitment. Saying, "I've got this," and then proving it. 

Every. Single. Time.

Look, great ideas matter; every career needs a few for jet fuel. And people skills are important, too. Of course they are. In most cases, although there are exceptions, it's easier to get promoted if you're not a jerk, meaning you know how to collaborate, listen, and empathize. (I discuss all the components of career success in my book, ".")

But the cold hard truth of business is that the biggest, most unsung career amplifier and accelerator is the quality of your execution.

Now, I understand that execution is easier for some people than others. It comes more naturally; it takes less effort. For such individuals, they often gamble their career growth on knowing something interesting about the product or knowing someone influential in the organization, or both. 

Those certainly help, but they're not enough — in the long run. And often, they're not enough in the short either.

By the way, if you'd like to see how you measure up on execution, I created a DIY 360 feedback tool called PIE360 (for People, Ideas, and Execution) for early and mid-career professionals which costs about the same as a movie ticket. Try it !

is an award-winning , acclaimed researcher, popular podcaster, and three-time New York Times best-selling author, most recently with "" which is also a #1 bestseller on Amazon. A graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Business School, Dr. Welch is a frequent guest of the Today Show and an op-ed contributor to the Wall Street Journal. She serves on the boards of public and private companies, and is the Director of the NYU | Stern Initiative on Purpose and Flourishing.

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