I am an avid tennis player that enjoys watching professional tennis on television. On the surface, tennis is an extreme individual sport. Players stand alone on one side of a court, a net separating the competitors, and no contact until the end of the match. You sit in a chair alone between odd …
Career Developemnt
Create Your Success System
What do financial guru Dave Ramsey, hall of fame basketball coach John Wooden, and professor and leadership expert Bren`e Brown have in common? They all have a blueprint for success, or a success system. Ramsey created “The 7 Baby Steps” to becoming a millionaire and achieving financial freedom. …
Grow Your Career or Business by Expanding Your Spheres of Influence
What is your current career situation? Are you looking to get promoted to the next level? Maybe you like your job and want to insulate yourself from future layoffs or being labeled a “blocker” to younger talent. Are you an entrepreneur looking to grow your business? While these scenarios are …
Activate Your Network!
There are four types of networking that help accelerate our career development. Do you know what they are? And if so, are you spending enough time on each? In previous blogs I identified the importance of exploring the possibilities and communicating our value as two of three keys to finding …
Want a Great Job? Communicate Your Value!
Want to find a great job? Be a great storyteller. The ability to communicate the value you offer an organization is a critical skill. Interviewing well, receiving plum job assignments, and getting promoted are a result of good preparation that allows you to distill a lifetime of experiences into …
How to Explore the Possibilities
In a previous blog I identified the importance of exploring the possibilities as one of three keys to finding the right job (communicating your value and activating your network are the other two). Readers have asked me to share more about what “exploring” means, and how to do it well. I will …
Dreaming of Great Talent Development
The Beatles had seventeen #1 songs and thirty-eight Top-40 songs on the UK charts, but “Yesterday” is the most covered song in The Beatles’ catalogue. Recorded in 1965 by Paul McCartney on an acoustic guitar, the song was simple, but beautiful. After hearing it the other band members – John, …
Is This Job Right for You?
Taking a job without assessing its fit is like marrying someone because they like you. It’s okay to go out on a blind date but getting married is a commitment. Before you walk down the aisle with an organization evaluate your fit with the company on three levels – strategic, political and …
Stop with All the Teams!
Over the past three years the pandemic has changed our workplaces. According to a McKinsey report The Future of Work After COVID (link), the pandemic accelerated existing trends in remote work, e-commerce, automation and people switching occupations. Employees deemed essential workers, remained on …
Two Plus One Principle
I’ve observed and worked with many successful leaders across business, government, and philanthropy. Many of them develop a towering strength over time. But I’ve noticed that highly successful leaders develop a second strength which is unusual for their field. This, coupled with emotional …
Transitioning To A New Industry
One of the toughest challenges for job seekers is transitioning from one industry to another (e.g., from retail to banking), or from one role type to another (e.g., from marketing to information technology). Job seekers attempting to make the transition express frustration, anger, hurt, and …
3 Keys for Identifying Entrepreneurs
I recently watched a Warren Buffett YouTube video (LINK), where he shared the list of the 20 largest companies in the world by stock market value as of March 31, 2022. Apple topped the list with a $2 trillion valuation and LVMH MOET of France was twentieth at $330 billion. He asked the audience to …