In the past week, Satya Nadella’s words have been all over the internet, television and newspaper. You may have seen the Microsoft CEO’s original statements, his later retractions or commentary from outsiders.

In case you didn’t, Nadella was asked to advise women interested in career advancement who are uncomfortable “putting themselves up for promotions or advanced opportunities.” He shocked many people when he said, “It’s not really about asking for the raise but knowing and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along. And that I think might be one of the additional ‘superpowers’ that, quite frankly, women who don’t ask for a raise have. Because that’s good karma.”

To make matters worse, this conversation happened during a public forum at a women’s computing conference.

Although his statements disappoint me, they’re not surprising. On a positive note, however, we’re now all talking about a very important issue. Many times in the last week, we’ve been reminded that women make 78 cents for every dollar men make. This is an interesting and powerful fact. It demonstrates that although we’ve made a lot of progress over the years, there’s still quite a lot of room for improvement.

One thing I find interesting, however, is that there are also many men who don’t negotiate. In my consulting practice, for example, men and women have had a fairly consistent history of not negotiating before seeking out my help. I’m not sure what that says about the 78 cents issue, but it certainly raises a few questions for me.

The other point I find intriguing is that in order to even be considered for a CEO-level job at any company as powerful as Microsoft, you’d better be a strong negotiator. Nadella didn’t get to where he is without being good at convincing people he’s valuable and deserves more money. After all, he’s currently receiving a salary of $1.2 million, an 80 percent pay increase above what he was paid as a division head in 2013, according to a company filing in February. That’s some pretty serious negotiation if you ask me.

I can only imagine he’s not taking his own advice – and, neither should you. Man or woman, negotiation is key to career advancement.

To be a successful negotiator, you first need to know your value. Sites like Glassdoor.com and Salary.com provide real salary data that you can use to find out just how much your peers are making.

The next step is practicing your negotiation technique. It involves communicating clearly and without emotion. It’s important to focus on business issues rather than personal issues when you discuss your value. Think of how much you’ve saved your company, efficiencies you’ve created, or how you can add to the bottom line in the future.

Analyzing the value you bring to your company – and then being willing to present it – will ultimately be what leads you to promotions and advanced opportunities. You are, after all, your own best advocate.

Angela Copeland is CEO/founder of Copeland Coaching, CopelandCoaching.com, and author of “Breaking The Rules & Getting The Job.” She also hosts the Copeland Coaching Podcast on iTunes. You can follow Copeland Coaching on Twitter (@CopelandCoach) and Facebook (facebook.com/CopelandCoaching).