Power of Showing Up
Showing up is 80 percent of life. Woody Allen, Writer
Practices
Gutenberg vs. Digital Folks
I’m a Gutenberg person. What do I mean? Well, I process information; in this case the written word, in a left-to-right, linear narrative. Each sentence has a thought that builds into the next sentence, paragraph, section, and chapter. The process builds on itself leading to insights, conclusions and recommendations. Most of our communications and decision-making …
Break the Rules
People work for a big company usually because of its strength, security, benefits, and stability. All of which are not found in a small company. As well, big companies offer challenges and resources to do things small company employees can only dream of. In big organizations, there is often a well-defined career path. Big projects …
Do It Your Way
So you’ve got a great idea and you don’t want to share it. Well find your risk sensitivity. Are you risk taking or risk averse? If you like risks, one option is go out on your own. If you have a good track record, chances are you’ll attract investment like flowers attract bees.
Be An Entrepreneur
I’ve started a number of small businesses. Some tanked, others broke even, and one or two actually made money. This is after years of very hard work – many 80-hour weeks and little pay. Would I do it again? You bet, in a heartbeat – no in a nanosecond! Why? It’s partly freedom and the …
De-Jobbing
I’ve said this a number of times but it bears repeating. “De-jobbing makes a prospective employer much more concerned about abilities and less concerned about education and experience than the old job-based employer was” said William Bridges, the career development sage.[i] So, your life/career/job success depends on developing Brand U core competencies and then displaying …
Career Resiliency
Each of these is a stimulus to examine what you do right, what should be different, and to conduct a career gap analysis. This is hard because you may have to stare at the mirror and conduct an objective analysis. I call this the ‘career ledger sheet.’ What are your career assets and liabilities? …
What’s Your Personal Value Proposition?
Know your Brand U value proposition. If you don’t, sooner than later you’ll have a career wake up call. Your abilities, career direction, or work are not aligned with your employer’s or customer’s business strategies or market requirements. You may have less authority, new boss, new position, marginal performance review, or even a job loss. …
What Does the Market Want?
Reengineering forced companies to institutionalize the notion that organizational processes must be flexible and periodically must be transformed. Much in the same way, Brand U’s must assess their work choices and if necessary reengineer their careers. Just as any business, Brand U’s understand their present core proficiencies, understand what’s valued in the marketplace, and if …
Keys to Self Reliance
Vicky Farrow, Director of Executive and Work Force Development at Sun Microsystems gives workers the following advice for assuming career responsibility: The overarching principle: Think of yourself as a business. Define your product or service. What is your area of expertise? Know your target market. To whom are you going to sell this? Be …