The Heavy Lifting of Career (Re) Invention-5 Keys to Moving Forward
Filed under: Career, Life and Business, Marketing Yourself, Professional Growth
Whether you are a few years removed from college or a few years removed from that time when prior generations began thinking about retiring, chances are, you or someone you know is involved in defining or redefining their career.
It’s a daunting task in a world where the old rules no longer apply. For those just starting on their career journeys, many have sprinted out of college only to run face-first into the brick wall that is the job market in so many sectors and markets. For this group, career development has turned out to involve a lot more work than just graduating.
For those of us with a few more laps around the block to our credit, the future doesn’t quite look like what we expected. The book on career management has a new chapter that many of our parents never experienced. It’s called, “Reinvention,” and it’s really daunting.
Regardless of where you fit on the chronological scale, there are at least five key issues that I encourage you to wrap your arms and mind around. Like much of the invention or reinvention process, tackling these items is challenging, uncomfortable, and critically important.
At Least Five Keys for Career (Re) Invention:
1. Aligning Your Values, Purpose and Goals around a Vision.
While your tendency may be to roll your eyes at the fluffy and abstract discussion of personal vision and values, the reality is that you do have a set of operating instructions (your core values) and there is a purpose that drives all of us. Sometimes we ignore that purpose (often for decades), but it is there and aligning values and purpose around some big, exciting and challenging goals is an important part of the process. It’s awkward and difficult and squishy to grasp but when you focus in on a vision for yourself, it’s transformational.
For some help here, check out Ed Batista’s outstanding post, “Developing Your Professional Vision,” and Jesse Lyn Stoner’s (with Ken Blanchard) excellent book, Full Steam Ahead.
2. Cultivating Your Confidence and Self-Esteem.
Confidence is critical for fueling invention or transformation. Without it, we just dream. With it, we take actions to build towards our dreams.
I’ve long believed the biggest barrier to individual success is self-confidence. Recognize this issue as human, get over any stigma attached to it, and seek coaching, help and guidance on developing the inner-strength to tackle problems and issues that seem foreboding and practically impossible. A good coach is priceless here. My post, “9 Ideas for Strengthening Your Self-Esteem” is a starting point.
3. Strengthening Your Professional Presence.
A critical part of the confidence issue is the ability to project this confidence and to engage as an articulate, intelligent professional. Those who lack confidence AND who lack the ability present themselves as confident, knowledgeable and interesting human beings are relegated to bit roles in their own careers.
From your posture to your eye-contact to your smile to your eyes to your ability to listen and importantly, your use of your vocabulary and your ability to articulate your thoughts, it’s all on display and it’s all being judged. Solicit feedback from trusted sources, engage a speaking coach and take deliberate action to match the vision. One of my favorite books on this topic: Seeing Yourself as Others Do, offers some great guidance.
4. Planning to Act…Creating a Strategic Plan for Your Career.
Pardon the lofty sounding label, but you cannot operationalize a vision…you can’t put into play unless you’ve created a roadmap complete with those items on the critical path that are essential for success.
Armed with a vision, you need to set clear goals and define those very clear actions and milestones required for success. My favorite definition of strategy: “integrated actions in pursuit of competitive advantage,” reminds me of the need to coordinate my activities, measure my results and adjust accordingly. Put pen to paper. The act of planning forces you to think through what it takes to succeed. And then engage. You can update the plan along the way.
5. Building Your Professional Brand.
There’s never been a better time to build and form and frame your professional brand…to build yourself as a thought-leader than now. The tools are there, they are mostly free and they are truly powerful. Sadly, just about everyone I know who is struggling with the career issue is failing to leverage these tools in the proper manner to position themselves as thought-leaders, as exciting and relevant professionals and as people worth listening to and investing in.
The person I pay attention to on this topic is Dr. Bret Simmons writing at Positive Organizational Behavior. Bret is a champion of the topic of building your professional brand…particularly when it comes to leveraging the power of social media to do this.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
Whether you are building, rebuilding or transforming your career, the work described above is some of the sticky, dirty, roll-up-your sleeves hard work that builds towards success. There’s no silver bullet, no convenient short-cut and no getting away from the heavy lifting.
Guest Marketing Post-Succeeding with Video
Filed under: Fresh Voices, Marketing, Marketing Yourself
Note from Art: Whether you work inside the walls of a corporation or you make your office wherever you can grab a good connection and a great cup of coffee, chances are that you will come face-to-face with the need to appear on camera at some point in time. For many of us, the thought isn’t exactly a welcome one.
I had my first video encounter to promote the launch of my essay collection, Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development, and while painful, in the end after the self-induced stress wore off and the almost-expletives cleared the air and I had regained my ability to say, “action-packed” versus the now classic line captured as “action-paction,” it was fun and I believe beneficial. So much so, that I’ve agreed to start a monthly videocast.
I’m not alone in my video-phobia, and in comparing notes with many of my colleagues, it seems we all struggle with the same issues. We also agree that the benefits of building a video presence strongly outweigh any of the personal reasons for avoiding this. To support our efforts, I encouraged Amber Wallor and Edgar Mourans, the two pros behind Left Hand Marketing and the drive to help small business owners and even hapless actors like me build a video presence, to offer us some guidance.
Like everything else these two great people do, they went above and beyond the call of duty, offering a free e-book filled with tips and brief video clip to show that they are willing to face the camera as well! Use their advice wisely, and of course don’t be bashful in reaching out to them for help. Did I mention they are entrepreneurs! Enjoy the resources and good luck in your small screen careers!
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What causes you to freeze up, mispronounce words, suffer from memory loss, and blabber senselessly about ideas that are normally second nature to you while watching your every move? A video camera!
We are passionate about the effectiveness of video marketing. Video is a powerful tool for businesses and individuals looking to gain an edge against competitors.
Video allows you to showcase what differentiates you while giving people the feeling that they already know you before ever doing business with you. It goes with the old cliché, people like doing business with people they know, like and trust. More so, video brings increased exposure and higher search results. YouTube is owned by Google and is one of the largest search engines; so naturally, Google favors websites with video in its search results. In fact, videos are 53 times more likely than traditional websites to receive a first-page ranking on Google.
Nevertheless, being on camera is easier said than done. We haven’t had one client who hasn’t feared being recorded. For the majority of people, being in front of the camera is quite an unpleasant feeling to say the least. It’s like hating the sound of your own voice but ten times worse!
Here’s Some Help:
To help you with overcoming that fear, we have been inspired to create a mini e-book (and we had fun creating the pictures on the cover) that will guide you in the right direction.
Watch your confidence grow with our list of helpful tips on preparing yourself when it’s time for the lights, camera, and action (or “action-paction” as Art has been known to say)!
It’s truly an amazing sight to watch our clients transform through the camera lens, some even begin to enjoy being on camera! If you find other things that work for you, we’d love to hear from you and add them to future revisions of our e-book.
P.S. We’d like to thank Art for being so great to work with and for being a good sport about action-paction!
In writing a post on the importance of video, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to release a video of our own about the e-book. Hey, we can all use the practice!
Please Get the LinkedIn Invitation Right!
Filed under: Life and Business, Marketing Yourself, Social Commentary, Your Professional Development "To Do" List
LinkedIn is an increasingly popular and powerful professional tool. Like many other professionals, I enjoy connecting with others via LinkedIn, and find it a remarkably useful tool for making new contacts, remaining in contact and conducting talent and firm research of all types. However, a pet peeve of mine is the generic invitations that I frequently receive from people I do and don’t know. Cut it out!
If you are on LinkedIn, you know the generic invitation. It reads: “I would like to add you to my network.” Relying on this invitation is just wrong.
If you know the person and send that invitation, it’s just rude. What, you can’t take 20 seconds to jot a note to someone you haven’t seen or talked with in 15 years? If you think so little of the person you’re inviting to join your network, why invite?
If you don’t know the person and send that invitation, it’s rude and dumb. Why should anyone accept a generic invitation to connect with someone they don’t know? No introduction, no connection. You’re either a “collector” of connections, someone who is looking for numbers and access or, you missed the memo on social media etiquette.
3 “Must Haves” for Getting the LinkedIn Invitation Right:
1. Always customize the invitation! If you are interested in connecting with someone you’ve not met, introduce yourself!
2. Always establish context. If you are reconnecting with old friends or colleagues, take a few seconds to say, “Hello.” The years melt away and memories return in the warmth of a friendly greeting. If you are seeking to connect with someone you follow or admire, describe a reason for connecting.
3. Always showcase your willingness to serve as a valued networking partner.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
There are more ways than ever to connect with people, but numbers of connections are meaningless. Quality counts, and whether you are reconnecting or introducing yourself to someone new, take the time to make it personal and relevant.
7 Tips for Nailing Your Presentation to the Board of Directors
Filed under: Career, Management Education, Marketing Yourself, Professional Growth, Your Professional Development "To Do" List
While some people view an invitation to present to the Board of Directors as a prison sentence (or worse), this truly can be a career enhancing opportunity. However, like any challenging situation, preparation and attitude are keys to success.
I’ve worked with dozens of professionals faced with this opportunity for the first time, and every encounter reminds me of my own early emotions as I prepared for and dreaded my first board presentation.
It’s not worth the churn, dread and sleeplessness folks, especially if you prepare properly and thoroughly.
7 Ideas to Help You Prepare for and Nail Your Board Presentation:
1. Start early and prepare your mind. Unless you are presiding over a disaster of monumental proportions and have been summoned to explain yourself in front of the firing squad, this is a positive invitation. It’s an honor to be invited. Time is at a premium for most Board meetings, and someone convinced the group you were worth some of that precious time.
2. Know who invited you and why. Since someone had to champion getting your name placed on the agenda, it’s important for you to tune into why you were invited and precisely what you are expected to deliver. Your sponsor in this case has a stake in your success and typically will do whatever it takes to help you prepare for success.
(Of course, if you are leading a monumental disaster, all bets are off on this friendly invitation advice. Start looking for your Teflon-coated Kevlar suit and don’t expect much support.)
3. Know your audience. This one can be difficult for individuals who have had very little or no prior contact with board members. Your inviting sponsor or your boss may have some insights, and of course, it’s reasonable to err on the side of assuming that the Board is comprised of some successful, smart people interested in facts, well-developed ideas, clear plans and how all of this will help the firm achieve its strategic and financial goals.
Warning: they are not interested in bullshit, excessive detail, petty politics, unfounded opinions or anything that sounds like you and your colleagues haven’t baked it long enough.
4. Plan your message. Whatever your topic is, you’re in front of the Board of Directors for just a few brief moments. You need to use this time with the skill of an entrepreneur who has just a few moments to make a positive impression when asking for funding. Your message must be crisp, your key points defensible and your defense supportable.
If you are looking for a helpful tool to organize your thoughts into a crisp and supportable message, try using a Message Mapping approach. (See my post: The Career Enhancing Benefits of Message Mapping.)
5. Bring your confidence. Board Members smell “lack of confidence” a mile away. Show fear or doubt and you’ll invite a line of questioning that a 15th century Inquisitor would envy. Planning and practicing your message is critical to building confidence in your content. Practice, practice, practice.
One more commercial for the Message Mapping technique. Used properly, it forces you to think through your support of your key points and core message. Almost all questions you will receive should be answerable using the points in the map. Link your answers to your key supporting points and ultimately your core message.
6. Focus on the message and keep the materials clean and simple. If you suck at building clear, crisp, bullet free and text limited materials or handouts, get some help. Call in a favor from a colleague or go into favor debt, but ask for help.
7. Admit it if you don’t know it. Or said another way, never, ever make stuff up. While this piece of advice might seem preposterous, the pressure of the event has overwhelmed many an accomplished professional’s common-sense, especially in the face of tough questioning. You are much better off admitting you don’t know something than attempting to bluff or b.s. your way through the answer. The cost to your credibility of anything other than indicating, “That’s a great question and I will get back to you,” is more than you should be willing to pay.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
Last and not least, remember that the prevailing attitude of the Board before you open your mouth is one of interest and hope. You wouldn’t have made the agenda if they weren’t interested in hearing and learning from you, and you can bet that good Board members are always hoping to uncover new talent. Make a great impression and you will be back. Perhaps in a new and improved capacity!
The Millennial View: Fixing Our Shortcomings
Filed under: Career, Fresh Voices, Life and Business, Marketing Yourself, Performance, Project Management, Your Professional Development "To Do" List
Note from Art: Eric Rodriguez is the voice of The Millennial View here at Management Excellence. His periodic posts offer insights from early career professionals seeking to navigate their way through this challenging world.
Nobody is perfect and everyone has a deficiency. It doesn’t matter how good we think we are at something or how much success we’ve had, everyone has an area they can improve.
A friend of mine experienced this lesson a couple of weeks ago; she was on a second interview and felt confident she would get the position. But then something unexpected happened. My friend who was self taught in graphic arts software, failed the company’s graphic arts test.
She later found out through the interviewer that the exam was the reason why she didn’t land the job. She was upset, but she resolved to overcome this shortcoming. Less than one week after the interview she enrolled in a graphics arts class at the local community college.
“I need to fix this, I want to be ready for my next interview that will lead to my new career,” she told me.
One of the blessings of failure is that it shows us the areas we need to improve. It can be painful, especially when our failure results in not getting a job or promotion, but because of failure we see where we need improvement.
Attitude About Failure is Everything:
Obviously not everyone takes rejection or shortcomings the right way.
Some people get defensive, point out why they think the critic is wrong, ignore the deficiency and continue to operate with their errors intact. Other people accept that they need to make improvements, discover how their shortcoming can be improved, and then they take steps to fix it.
Taking action could mean joining a networking group, attending a speech club to improve public speaking skills, finding out how to use social media, going back to school to earn another degree, or fixing the slice on a golf swing. Instead of begrudging our shortcomings we should embrace the fact that we need to make changes or learn something new to succeed.
Some of the most successful people have had to improve their deficiencies to achieve greatness. Michael Jordan worked countless hours on his jump shot after he got cut from his high school basketball team, Margaret Thatcher hired a voice training coach to improve her public speaking skills, and Henry Ford made many changes to his prototypes before he produced the Model T.
These efforts to fix a shortcoming resulted in six championship rings, becoming a key figure in ending the Cold War, and mass producing the first automobile. Imagine what would have happened if these people didn’t improve their errors – we may not be talking about them today and their accomplishments would be sorely missed.
Success can be tied to not giving up, but it should also be attributed to people who step out of their comfort zone and work on their shortcomings. These improvements can be applied to our careers and our personal lives.
It should also be noted that learning a new skill is a step to preparing for something great in the future, a promotion, a new career, or a significant personal accomplishment. The list and benefits go on, but when we make improvements good things happen to us and that is a great incentive to make changes or learn something new.
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