You are here: Home / Archives for Book Reviews

11 Ways to Get What You Want – By Saying NO

By 1 Comment

By Jim Camp – Adapted from his bestselling book, “Start with No”

Most of us have been taught that if we want others to cooperate with us, we have to compromise — that is, to getsomething, we have to give something. There’s a better way, however, to getting what you want: Start with NO. So, if your New Year’s resolutions include being more assertive, standing up for yourself, and reaching your goals, the “No” system can be your ticket to success.

Here are 11 ways to do it:

 

1. Start with NO.

Resist the urge to compromise. Instead, invite the other person to say “no” to your proposal. (Hint: Don’t tell him or her what it is — at least not yet.) The invitation to say no will earn you respect and remove all the tension from the discussion.

 

2. Dwell not.

Don’t dwell on what you want, or you’ll blow your advantage. Throughout the discussion, focus instead on the now — controlling your actions and behaviors in the moment.

 

3. Do your homework.

Learn everything you can before you begin. This way, you avoid surprises, whether you’re dealing with the boss, a car dealer, or your own teenager.

 

4. Identify obstacles.

Before the meeting, identify everything you can think of that might come up during the negotiation — your baggage and their baggage. If you don’t, you could walk into a minefield.

 

5. Expose the elephant.

Bring your problem, their problem, and anything else standing in the way of your agreement out into the open. Doing so clears the air, eliminates surprises, and gives you an edge.

 

6. Be like Lt. Columbo.

Let the other party feel superior to you. This is the “Lt. Columbo Effect.” Don’t dress to impress, name drop, use fancy language, lecture, or get on a grandstand. The more smug and confident they feel, the easier it is to get what you want.

 

7. Shift into neutral.

Neutral emotions, that is. Check all emotions at the door, and let go of any expectations, excitement, fear, anger, and neediness. An emotional blank slate keeps you balanced and alert.

 

8. Build your M&P around them.

Every negotiation, whether it’s a phone call or a formal business meeting, needs a mission and purpose. Your M&P is to help the other person see how your three or four top features will benefit them and help them achieve their goals.

 

9. Get them talking.

The person talking most loses the advantage. Ask great questions that begin with what, why, how, when, and where. Learn about his or her needs, requirements, hopes, fears, plans, position, and objectives so you can soon position yourself as the solution.

 

10. Solve their problem.

Help them see that giving you the deal you’ve proposed is to their advantage. Spend all of your time getting information about their world, the challenges they anticipate, and the problems they see — and then present yourself as the solution.

 

11. Don’t try to be friends.

The other party is not necessarily your friend. You’re not seeking loyalty or a long-term relationship from this negotiation. What you want, instead, is respect and a fair agreement that accomplishes your mission and purpose, and solves his or her problem.

 

Jim Camp is president and CEO of Camp Negotiation Systems, a negotiation training and management firm, and founder of J. Camp University, which offers Camp Method “Start with No” Credentialed Skill Courses to organizations and individuals who wish to develop professional negotiating skills. His bestselling business book, Start with No (Crown Business), has been translated into 12 languages. You can find out more at www.StartwithNo.com.

 

Question: How have you benefited from saying NO?

 

Share
Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Tweezerman’s Lessons on Entrepreneurship – I Failed, to get Ahead

By Leave a Comment

Nothing happens unless first a dream. – Carl Sandburg

The important part of dreaming is what you do when you wake up. – Dal LaMagna

Raising Eyebrows-A Failed Entrepreneur Finally Gets it Right is a must-read book on entrepreneurship lessons from Dal LaMagna, popularly known as the founder of Tweezerman. The story takes you on the road to discovery – the lessons you must learn from a failed entrepreneurial venture and how one failure leads to a larger success. The success lies in:

  • perseverance,
  • learning from the failures and
  • acting on the present opportunities

Though these form the basic elements one must learn on the path to entrepreneurship, the book teaches you a lot more! The abstract of the book puts it in perfect words here: “This book offers an unforgettable business and life journey that brings new meaning to the saying “never give up.” If you’ve ever dreamed of following your own path and changing the world along the way, you’ll want to see how a lot of pluck – and a little luck – had one man Raising Eyebrows.”

If you are an entrepreneur or an aspiring one this book should be in your list of “must-read”, especially if you are at the point of giving up on a failed venture or dissatisfied with the success of the present one. Inspired by DL’s personal experience stories you’d definitely want to give it another try once you are done reading Raising Eyebrows. What makes this book a wonderful read is that it never preaches or tells you what to do and how to be successful, it is a story – a journey – of a born-entrepreneur who candidly tells you about his failures and how one failure was a stepping stone to yet another one till he finally found the niche which made him a multi-millionaire.

Dal LaMagna – a self-made millionaire who learned never to give up, who learnt that a failed venture is a brilliant teacher – what we must do is to learn from what went wrong and how can we set it right, or know when to move on to a profitable venture. And once you have a grasp on this essential life-skill on the path to entrepreneurship you get it – there’s no hurdles to your success and the millions you had dreamt of. It is no doubt that entrepreneurship is a long and difficult road, but if you ready to take a risk, fail, learn, persevere, and then turn your problems into opportunities you’ve not only learned to brave the storms but have acquired the skills and abilities to take larger risks, turn around your previous failure lessons to the stepping stones to success and accelerate towards your goals.

There are no failures, only lessons. – Dal LaMagna

I failed, to get ahead. – Dal LaMagna

There is a resilient die-hard drive in the stories that DL has for us in the book, a drive to learn from our failures and move on and then to get your project across the finish line.
An excerpt from one of the chapter on Focus:

“I hadn’t yet created a mission statement for my new business, but I did have a definite vision. I knew I wanted the best tweezers, and the thought of simply being excellent excited me. I could hardly fall asleep alt night and couldn’t wait for the morning to come so I could make it all happen.”

Read more about and from Dal LaMagna at his blog.

In an exclusive interview with Careerbright Dal LaMagna shares his insight on the book and the entrepreneurship lessons.

Welcome DL, thanks for the wonderful insight on lessons on the entrepreneurial road from your life experience, it is one of those few book that I have read in one sitting. Raising Eyebrows was a compulsive page-turner – just to know what happens next since you have failed yet again!


Your entrepreneurial pursuits date back to the 1960s when at a very young age you had real world experience on launching not one but multiple businesses, though rare back then it is a widespread phenomenon these days as many young GEN Y entrepreneurs are sprouting in every town around the world. If you were to offer an entrepreneurship class for the teens and the GEN Y today what are some essentials tips or guidelines you would share with them?

DL: Now it the best time in your life to start a business.  You don’t have a family and expenses to worry about.  You are probably living with your parents.  You can afford it.  What skills do you have?  Recently I spoke at career day at my alma mater Bishop Loughlin.  One of the student told me she was braiding hair and making money.  Another was tutoring other students.  (Read more at Dal LaMagna’s blog)

You are probably a lot more educated about computers and the Internet than your realized compared to us Baby Boomers.   Hire yourself out as a computer geek – $25 an hour is fair.    Help older folks set up their computers, get onto Facebook, browse the web, etc.  Put fliers on cars or in the doors of your neighbors.   Whatever business you start you must be organized, stay focused, and find something you can do with the resources you have or can easily get.

It has been a delight knowing you through your book, which in itself is a delightful reading! What are your next ventures and what excites you to yet another entrepreneurial venture?

DL: What I am doing now is working as a small business responsible capitalist activist.  I am a Trustee and major funder of the Bainbridge Graduate Institute  (BGI).  Also my book is designed to inspire and encourage people to start a business and show them how if I could do it so can they.  Recently I have become a co-managing partner of IceStone a company in which I have a large investment.  IceStone make counter tops out of recycled glass and cement.  It is in the Green Building space.

About Dal LaMagna

Dal LaMagna is the founder of Tweezerman, the socially responsible global beauty tools company, and a major funder and active trustee of the Bainbridge Graduate Institute, which awards MBAs in sustainable business. A partner and a blogger at HuffingtonPost.com, he is also author of the book, Raising Eyebrows: A Failed Entrepreneur Finally Gets It Right (John Wiley & Sons, www.raisingeyebrows.com).

Share
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Entrepreneurship Tagged With: , , , ,

The Best Advice for Boomers for Success at Workplace or during Career Change

By 2 Comments

“Three out of four boomers intend to keep working and earning in retirement. For many of these older workers, it’s a matter of economic necessity. But the feeling that they’re trapped in a job they’ll never be able to leave is causing many boomers to feel bored, uninspired, and dissatisfied.

Fortunately, we’re living in an era when telework is possible, and employers would prefer to keep their older workers — the ones with experience and institutional knowledge — happy.

If you’re an older worker and you’re unhappy in a job you can’t leave, here are some creative options to make your work life more tolerable.” – Meagan and Larry Johnson, the authors of
Generations Inc. – From Boomers to Linksters–Managing the Friction Between Generations at Work.

Tips for Boomers in a Job Burnout

  • Telecommute part-time
  • Migrate seasonally
  • Take a day off
  • Work part-time
  • Become a consultant

Advice to Boomers to Succeed at their Workplace and the right way for career change

Meagan, Larry, these are some great tips but most often the older generation which has been affected on a large scale during the recession has been unable to find part-time work since the last 2-3 years. What are your suggestions to them in this scenario?

This is a tough problem. Young graduates are looking for work along with those laid off during the recession, so the competition for work can be fierce. Essential for Boomers who are looking for part-time work to replace their full time positions with part-time work is flexibility. Given that most of them have a history of working at a certain level in a particular industry, it’s understandable that they would want part-time work at a similar level, if not in the same industry. We would suggest being open to jobs at all levels that can utilize the skills they’ve developed over a career.

For example, we talk in our book about Larry’s step-father, who spent a 40 years career working as a salesman for Procter & Gamble. After retiring, he was bored, and he wanted to earn some extra money.  A salesman friend who worked for a liquor distributing company turned him on to a job in a liquor store, located in the red-light district of town. It paid much less than he was used to earning. And it was frequented by ladies of the night and various nefarious characters who hung out there. Having lived an upper middle class life in a nice part of town, it was NOT a job he would have ever normally considered.  But his friend urged him to try it, so he did.

With his gregarious salesman’s personality, his familiarity with the grocery industry, and his liking of people, it turned out to be perfect for him.  He said that he got to meet some of the most interesting characters in town, that he had a ball talking to him, and that he loved every minute of it. He worked there on weekends for 15 years until his death, and never missed a day of work.

We’re not saying that would be the right choice for everyone, but it speaks to the power of being willing to consider a wide variety of options.

What 3 important tips can you give to a boomer who is looking for a career change these days?

  1. Be willing to start at the bottom. You may think that entry level is a huge waste of your talent and experience – and it probably is – but that doesn’t matter. If you’re new to an industry, you have to pay your dues like anyone else.
  2. Start training and networking before you retire. We know a state health care inspector who’s job is to health care facilities and identify deficiencies. It requires that he interact with administrators and resolve disputes over how they deliver care. He decided that the skills he’s developed over the years doing this would serve him well if he became a mediator for the courts (mediation is an up and coming field.)  So three years before his retirement, he’s joined an association dedicated to the art of mediation and started networking. Meanwhile, he’s taking  seminars and classes in his off hours to become certified. When he retires, he’ll have the connections and the training to start a new career.
  3. Contribute what skills you have to any position you take to add value to the organization, and do it with a smile. For example, if you were in accounting, and you’re now working part-time in a bookstore, offer to help with any accounting tasks that might be needed.
  4. One more suggestion. When you take new position, be careful to never talk about how good it was where you used to work. Or, for that matter, how bad it was. New employers don’t like to be unfavorably compared to previous ones (just like new husbands don’t like to be unfavorably compared to exes.) And when you bad mouth a previous employer, it can make you sound bitter and potentially a problem for your new one.

In your new book Generations, Inc.: From Boomers to Linksters—Managing the Friction Between Generations at Work, how do you address the problem of multi-generational workplace on the issue of the uneasiness an older worker faces with a Gen Y boss?

In an AARP survey1 published in May 2008, 27 percent of workers ages 45 and up said the economic slowdown had prompted them to postpone plans to retire. This means Baby Boomers will continue to be in the workforce for some time to come. Meanwhile, Gen Xers and Yers with the technological skills and the necessary drive are getting promoted, so many Baby Boomers find themselves being managed by people young enough to be their children. If you are in that position and find it disheartening, here are some tips to help you have a successful and fulfilling finale to your career.

Swallow Your Pride

It may be hard to admit, but the younger person may have more cutting edge skills than you and the decision to promote her was justified. So if it galls you that she’s now your boss, get over it. It’s a done deal so your grousing about it won’t do any good anyway.

Don’t Compete – Support

Everyone wants the support of subordinates – especially bosses who may feel threatened because they have to manage some one older than they. So don’t try to compete with your younger boss, or prove that you are smarter or better experienced. It may be that you are, but trying to prove it will only alienate him.

Match Your Communication Style

As a Boomer, you probably prefer face-to-face communication, with phone conversations coming in a close second. And that may be true for your young manager, but it’s unlikely. One only has to observe a group of teenagers or twenty-somethings sitting around restaurant table, eyes glued on their PDAs, thumbs flying while they text each other to realize that the younger generations have adopted electronic communication whole hog. A recent Pew Research Poll found that 75% of all American teenagers today have a cell phone, and 54% of them text daily. So it’s no surprise that your Gen Y boss may prefer some sort of electronic communication to face to face. We suggest that you ask her what she prefers and do whatever she says. When in Rome…

Avoid “Grandpa-isms”

“When I was your age.…” “Back in the day.…” “The way we used to do it.…” Blah, blah, blah. It’s tempting to reminisce about the past. Really,Generation Y can’t imagine being as old as you are, so stop rambling on about the way it used to be. Your responsibility is to produce so the team and your boss succeed, not to relive the touchdown you scored back in high school.

Stay Current

You’ll need the latest technical and business skills to contribute and earn your keep. Besides, after you retire, they may come in handy. We know a Boomer telecommunications engineer who got certified in working with a new system six months before she retired. After she left, the company hired her part time to consult and do contract work for them because of her extensive experience and her current certification.

Avoid Comb-Overs, Pho-hawks and Tattoos

Nothing against them, but if you go to unusual lengths to look younger than you are, you’ll just look silly. So dress your age and do a great job. That’s what will count.

Offer To Mentor

You probably have significant skills that can be of use to others in the organization, especially if they can be tied to productivity, profitability, product quality, or organizational efficiency. Offer individual coaching, training sessions and/or blogs that make that wisdom available to others. Setting it up so your boss gets the credit for sponsoring it doesn’t hurt either.

Establish a contract for disagreement

Mention to your boss that you will probably disagree with her from time to time.  Ask her how she would like you to approach that process. I may be that he prefers it be in private. Perhaps he’d like a written argument supporting your side of the disagreement. Maybe he expects you to have a clear set of reasons, with data to support your side. Or, it may be that he doesn’t want any disagreement at all. Then you have to decide if it’s worth staying or it’s time to retire.

Always acknowledge the virtues of his side first.

Provide solutions, or suggestions along with the disagreement.  Never whine.

Clarify expectations.

Ask your boss to list her expectations of you, and ask if it’s ok for  you to list your expectations of her.  Do this separately, then compare the lists.  The discussion that follows will more than justify the time and effort spent.

Stay positive.

Avoid complaining about the company, your boss, your co-workers, or anyone unless you are speaking to the person in question and are ready to be proactive in solving the problem.

1 The Economic Slowdown’s Impact on Middle-Aged and Older Americans, AARP, May, 2008, http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/econ/economy_survey.pdf

About the Authors of Generations Inc.:

Meagan Johnson and her father, Larry Johnson, are the Johnson Training Group (www.johnsontraininggroup.com), whose clients include several government agencies, American Express, Harley-Davidson, Nordstrom, Dairy Queen, and many others. They are leading experts on managing multigenerational workplaces, and are coauthors of Generations, Inc.: From Boomers to Linksters—Managing the Friction Between Generations at Work (Amacom, 2010, GenerationsIncBook.com).

Share
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Career Self-Help Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Do you have these Essential 4 Qualities to get HIRED?

By Leave a Comment

Do you know your WHIM to get hired and be a successful employee? And more valuable tips here- Garrett Miller presents the keys to a successful career in this article. Read on – feel enlightened!

These four qualities are indeed essential and must be highlighted at every point when you are ready for the job market, these have been adapted from Garrett Miller’s new book, “Hire on a WHIM: The Four Qualities that Make for Great Employees “.

Work ethic: A set of values based on the virtues of hard work and diligence.

How to show it: Describe activities — jobs, assignments, internships, classes, extracurricular activities such as sports teams or clubs — that required intensity, motivation, a sense of purpose, and a strong, passionate desire for self-improvement.

Humility: The ability and willingness to be taught.

How to show it: When talking about your work style, describe a difficult situation when you asked for help. Highlight team and group working scenarios, to demonstrate that you can collaborate. Don’t be shy about discussing an embarrassing moment or an incorrect choice — and emphasize what you learned from it.

Integrity: The innate ability to do what’s right, even when influenced to do otherwise.

How to show it: Share one of your biggest disappointments or failures, and talk about how you took the appropriate level of responsibility for it. Mention an instance of moral ambiguity — and how you handled it. Own your successes and your failures.

Maturity: The quality of seriousness, thoughtfulness, and consciousness in thought and actions.

How to show it: Give the interviewer a sense of how you see yourself years from now, so he or she can gauge how realistic your dreams and goals are. Talk about an experience in life that was particularly important in shaping who you’ve become. Show in your stories and demeanor that you are at ease with people and can navigate through touchy emotional situations.

And we have Garrett Miller here to present his insight on what does it take to get hired in these competitive times and the values that ensure success beyond!
Welcome Garrett, thanks for sharing such valuable tips on getting hired, sure enough these 4 qualities are essential to impress the hiring manager! As the generation Y joins the workplace by thousands and millions what advice do you have for them to hone these skills?

Funny you should ask this first question. My original motivation for writing the book was to help managers hire the Millennials. I had great success with hiring Millennials, while other managers would not touch them with a 10-foot pole because they are “loose cannons and unpredictable.” I struggled reconciling that until I began to analyze the candidates I hired and began to see a pattern in the qualities that they possessed, thus WHIM. When I began to share the book with other professionals, they agreed with my premise but pointed out that these qualities are necessary in every hire, from a college student to the next CEO.

My follow-up book, which is 70% done, is going to focus on helping college students get ready for the right career.

Here are some thoughts.

  • It is really important to know where you are going. In my experience, students are graduating from college and then asking, “What do I want to do?” This question needs to be asked years before so that they can begin to focus their experiences and activities.
  • My biggest piece of advice is to be busy–but busy with a purpose. Yes, I can be busy mastering Xbox, StarCraft, and expanding my friends on Facebook to 500; those activities keep me busy but don’t grow and stretch me. Being busy with a purpose means getting involved with as many diverse activities as I can. Being busy with a purpose accomplishes two objectives.
    • It provides the much-needed experience students are lacking. These experiences can easily be translated on a resume and in an interview into valuable skill-building opportunities.
    • It provides you with an opportunity to evaluate your gifts, talents, likes, and dislikes. It’s in the activity of being busy that you begin to find what you love to do; it is rarely found in the classroom. An example is joining the school newspaper and writing. It’s in experiences like this that you may find your love or dislike for writing, reporting, and storytelling. Finding what you love to do and also what you don’t like to do are of equal value. Now I bring that confidence into the interviewing process. When asked the question, “Why do you think you would be good at sales?” the candidate can list real-life experiences that mimic or relate directly to the sales process.
  • Candidates also need to master the art of networking. Students spend four years living in an ever-expanding network of friends. Yet many fail to use those same skill sets that they have honed when job hunting. They know how to network — but don’t know how to translate their networking skills into the workplace environment.

Honing WHIM

Work Ethic — Being busy with a purpose is a great start. Demonstrating that you have been active demonstrates agood work ethic, especially when many of your fellow students have decided not to be.

  • Tip: When joining groups and activities, look for ones that require commitment and dedication. These are great opportunities for you to show that you can handle and balance a challenging course load and the demands of extracurricular activities. Charities are always a wonderful way to demonstrate hard work and the maturity to look outside of yourself and help others.
  • Tip: Be careful of mentioning activities like the “Entrepreneur Club” if all you did was sign up as a member so that you could receive email blasts. If you were not involved, active, and a contributing member, placing it on your resume could cause you more harm than good.

Humility — defined as the ability and willingness to be taught. One concern many hiring managers have with Millennials is their ability to admit that they don’t know it all. One reason some have speculated that this generation struggles with humility to a greater degree is that this is the generation whose members all received a trophy regardless of their win/loss record, everyone was MVP, and they didn’t get a wrong answer, they got a different answer. If you have been raised thinking that you are the best and that you are smart, talented, and perfect just the way you are then it is very difficult to receive correction or criticism. An example that stands out in my mind was a time that I was working with a young sales rep and at the end of the day we sat down to review the day. While sharing some constructive criticism she began to cry and then told me, “No one has ever spoken to me like that before.” I spoke to her like I had spoken to reps for 10 years. I was completely blown away. I do believe no one had ever carefully evaluated her performance and provided ways that she could improve.

In my experiences I noticed two types of employees, ones who only wanted to hear how good they are, and ones who say, “Yeah, yeah, I know what I did right but how can I improve, what can I do better?” The difference is night and day; one is ready to learn and grow, the other is not.

To demonstrate this in an interview, share experiences where you have grown or been challenged. If you earned a poor grade (notice I said “earned”), own it. Be careful not to blame the teacher, the textbook, or the time of the class. In the end, you earned the grade. I would much rather hear, “You know, Garrett, I just didn’t like the class and really struggled. If I were to do it over again, I would approach the class much differently. In fact, in my junior year I had an equally difficult class but decided to approach this class differently….” This shows someone who has grown and learned from their failures or difficulties.

Integrity — Integrity issues are costing organizations hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and can cause extensive damage to an organization’s reputation as well. To demonstrate integrity in an interview, grades are, again, a great area to demonstrate integrity. Owning mistakes and talking about what you learned and how you grew from them is also a great way to demonstrate integrity.

Have you been involved with activities (again the importance of being busy with a purpose) that require or have a halo effect of integrity? Activities like charities, church groups, religious organizations, serving in officer roles, student government, jobs like working at a bank or a similar situation where trust must be earned and given to the student? I served as VP of the Student Judicial Board at my college. This board was the judge and jury for serious student offenses. The sentences we handed down were meant to correct the individual and protect the student body. Just serving in this capacity allowed the interviewers to easily check the integrity box. If the school trusted me with such sensitive issues, then the interviewer could as well.

Maturity — It’s that quality that suggests to a hiring manager that you are mature beyond your years. This also shares qualities with a similar idea called emotional intelligence. Candidates with maturity have resilience and a deeper emotional reservoir to pull from when there is a crisis or difficult situation. They can take and welcome constructive criticism because they often have humility as well.

Demonstrating maturity is often showcased in how you have reacted to difficult situations and challenges in life. When there is a conflict or when you have been offended, how did you handle it? Were you able to “get over it” quickly and move on, or is there a sense that you have held a grudge? People who lack maturity hold on to issues and don’t let them go. When insulted they remain offended.

I look for times in which they have experienced an unusually difficult event, like losing a loved one, struggling through an illness, or recovering from an accident. How have they responded to life and these circumstances? I have noticed that there are often two responses:

  1. They remain bitter because of what happened. I hear language like “Only if, shoulda, woulda, coulda.” These candidates live in the past and show that they are not growing from their experiences. I am afraid that these candidates will be those ones who are always crying that something wasn’t fair or giving excuses as to why they were late or couldn’t complete the project.
  2. The other response is often a long pause followed by “Listen, you may not believe what I’m about to say, but I’m a better person because of it. I became stronger, more thankful, and focused for what I have….” I heard one candidate say that she “Wouldn’t wish this experience on her worst enemy but if I knew that I would become the woman I am today I would do it all over again.” Wow, that is maturity.

You see, the manager you are about to work for can’t teach you any of these qualities. These qualities are valuable because life teaches you them and you either adopt these qualities and they become a part of you — or you don’t. Many of you have these qualities and it’s up to you to weave them into your story. If you’ re concerned that you do not possess a few of these qualities, then get busy with a purpose, and place yourself in situations where you will be challenged with learning or demonstrating each of them.

How can a candidate present these qualities when he/she has no previous work experience?

Several valuable ideas were presented in the above discussion but the idea that is worth repeating is each candidate must be busy with a purpose. Always strive to put oneself in new areas and environments. By doing this, you open yourself up to experiencing skills, talents, likes, and dislikes that will help you focus and discover who you are.

Keep in mind that companies can teach you skills, but what they can’ t teach you is WHIM. Experiences are valuable, but don’t equate “experience” as only being “work experience.” Ask anyone who volunteers full time for a charity, and they will tell you volunteering is a full-time job!

When addressing the activities that one chooses, make sure you highlight the training that was involved, the responsibility and trust that was needed. Share the hours you dedicated to the group, cause, or activity. If you paint these in the correct manner, you may hear, “Wow, so when did you have time to go to class?” If you hear this, you have built credibility with the interviewer. Now it’s time to bring out the features and benefits of each experience.

In your book Hire on a WHIM: The Four Qualities that Make for Great Employees (2010,www.HireonaWHIM.com) do you also address the point of view of hiring managers on what they look for in a prospective employee?

The entire book is a discussion between two hiring managers and why they see these qualities as important and what questions to ask in order to uncover the qualities. There are also two chapters on what managers are looking for on a resume and how to properly evaluate a resume.

The characters also discuss what to look and listen for and what type of questions will illicit the desired responses.

We believe that if someone is looking to hire the next CEO, they must read this book. But also that if someone will soon be interviewing for a job, they too should read the book because when they know what the hiring manager is looking and listening for, they can position their talents, skills, and experiences in the best light.

About Garrett Miller:

Garrett Miller is a workplace productivity coach and trainer, keynote speaker, and author of Hire on a WHIM: The Four Qualities that Make for Great Employees (2010, www.HireonaWHIM.com). He is president and CEO of CoTria, a company that provides time-saving solutions to help clients manage more efficiently, and is known for his extensive experience in hiring, training, attracting, and retaining top talent.

Share
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Job Search Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

The Right way to use Social Media Strategies for your Small Business

By Leave a Comment

Sherrie A. Madia, PhD, is Director of Communications, External Affairs at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches Social Media and Communication Strategies. She also serves on the Advisory Board of EyeCatcher Digital, a tech strategy and marketing firm. With fellow social media strategist Paul Borgese, she is coauthor of The Social Media Survival Guide: Everything You Need to Know to Grow Your Business Exponentially with Social Media (Second Edition).

In her critically acclaimed book, The Social Media Survival Guide, social media strategist and author Sherrie Madia offers creative ideas for small businesses to make the most of social networking.  Sherrie discuss here on the right way to use social media strategies for your small business success.

Welcome Sherrie, the Social Media buzz and strategies are all around us and some of us have been savvy to use it to our advantage but most of those I come across are still confused – “Alright I use Twitter, Facebook – that’s social media right? What now?” – What do we need to know FIRST before digging deep in the strategies for success?

The first step in using social media effectively begins with a question that should sound familiar to most businesses:  “What’s the objective?” And yet, because social media is a “make-and-take” environment—that is, companies can create and launch networks on their own in minutes—many companies are bypassing the basics.

  • What are you looking to achieve?
  • Who is your target audience?
  • Where is your target audience?
  • Where are your competitors?

Define your objective, do your research, then create a social media plan.

The plan should include the scope of networks you will launch with, along with a content strategy and a plan to source this content.

What skills I must have to understand and leverage the best out of today’s existing social media tools and applications?

If you are a clear, succinct, personable communicator, your time is now.   Social media is centered on authentic, value-driven content.  This is a dramatically different model from what many professionals are used to.  Many businesses have sustained themselves on a long-term diet of institution-speak, which simply doesn’t resonate with today’s information consumers.  The social media space is not the place for posers or pretenders—it’s a space for a brand to create content starters designed to engage consumers in genuine dialogue—this can be off putting to businesses, but they should view this as an opportunity to create more meaningful relationships by giving consumers a say and enabling audiences to help shape the brand’s story.

Social media advertising campaigns take a lot of time and effort, how can I ensure I am using some smart and less time-consuming strategies for my business success?

Social media doesn’t necessarily mean “more” in the way of content or effort.  Often it means “different.”  For example, companies who used to provide the three-panel brochure advertising their services, or the direct-mail appeal, might take that content and package it as a how-to video showcasing a product, or a Facebook fan page promotion.  The beauty of the Web 2.0 space is its iterative nature. Whereas in the past, companies found themselves locked into ad campaigns they knew were less effective, today, businesses can react in real time to market effects, and tweak and modify along the way.

What is the most inexpensive form of advertising that I can use through the social media networks? Also when must I know that investing more would benefit my business more?

The most inexpensive forms of advertising are free with the exception of time.  Creating a blog, for example, is a means of providing value to target groups in the form of expertise, content aggregation, industry insights, and more.  The goal is to generate “organic opt-in” whereby users are raising a hand to say they support what your business has to offer.

Facebook ads are another inexpensive means of advertising.  One of the fantastic benefits of Facebook ads are that companies can target ads to highly specific groups based on demographics, geographics, and areas of interest.  Ads are simple to create, and multiple versions can be tested simultaneously.  Companies set their selected bid price per click or view (e.g., $5.00 per click-through) and a maximum spend per day (e.g., $50 per day).

Based on initial results, content, target audience or bid price can be adjusted to optimize—or can be turned off completely at any point along the way.

Because social media is a relationship builder, the need for additional investment may come not in dollars but in time.  Companies that offer consistency and value will see these results firsthand.

What are a couple of important lessons that readers would take back from your book The Social Media Survival Guide? Do you have some examples for us?

Many businesses enter social media with the sense that because their social-networking platforms took only moments to establish, that they should see return with equal rapidity.  In fact, like any other tactics, social media takes hard work, creativity and time.  The good news is that when done right, the investment is not about the next sale, or the next follower—It’s about the lifecycle of the consumer relationship with your brand.  When we think about the value proposition that social media offers—and the cost to acquire a new customer or client—we can see the real value in ongoing, meaningful conversation.

Tips for success:
Know your objective.  Identify your audience.  Not sure where to begin?  Try the robust search engines of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to locate the communities that you’d like to target.  Create your content strategy (this includes an editorial calendar of posts, tweets and updates, based on the types of content most conducive to your brand).  Start with a small core of social networks and work them well.  Listen as you go and modify based on what you hear.

As companies large and small continue to discover, the rewards of social media far outweigh the risks.  In fact, to avoid being left behind or trounced by competitors, businesses who want to remain top of mind must engage in this dynamic space.

Thank you Sherrie, for this illuminating information on how to use social media effectively for small business success. You can find out more about Sherrie Madia and the book at http://www.socialmediasurvivalguide.com


 

Share
Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Laws of Charisma – A book Review

By Leave a Comment

“Charisma is a vital motivational and life skill,” attests Kurt W. Mortensen, a leading authority on persuasion, motivation, and influence. In THE LAWS OF CHARISMA: How to Captivate, Inspire, and Influence for Maximum Success (AMACOM 2010), Mortensen shows how anyone can harness this innate power to become more influential, successful, respected, cherished, and fulfilled.

The Laws of Charisma – How to Captivate, inspire, and Influence for Maximum Successby Kurt W. Mortensen is a well researched book with short and inspiring chapters which holds and maintains your attention till the very end – it is that kind of a book which you simply can’t put down until you’ve read it all. And at the end expect your Charisma quotient to rise by at least 50 percent (of course, expecting you implement what you have just savored)!

The reasons why I loved this book:

I want to be a charismatic leader and around the last 4-5 years I have researched superficially and skimmed through the meaning of CHARISMA – though not in-depth. Having read a lot about the power of influence and persuasion, charisma was something I have related to be linked to these essential leadership attributes but only after reading this book I can now implement the science and techniques of what it truly takes to be charismatic, other than what one naturally possesses.

The author Kurt Mortensen rightly points out that it takes both – nature and nurture to build upon your inner and outer charisma! This book enlightened me on right in the very first pages on what it truly means to be charismatic.

According to the author: Charisma is defined as the ability to easily build rapport, effectively influence others to your way of thinking, inspire them to achieve more, and in the process make an ally for life. Wonderful – I hope I have learnt enough to be charismatic to some extent!

This book discusses 30 skills, traits and attributes one needs to know to truly be charismatic.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book not only because I have become a better leader than before but also because of the inspiring stories and examples in each chapter – these were entertaining and had a subtle or strong message which impacts your mind for long – sure enough storytelling is an important ingredient to drive the message home or just be charismatic!

Some essential traits that I learned through this book on being charismatic:

  • Tap into your true passion and it will influence others to come around to your point of view.
  • Charismatic and successful people enhance their energy by finding balance and alignment in their lives. No balance plus no energy means no charisma.
  • Passion is one great thing to have, but without the perception of competence you cannot radiate charisma or influence anyone. Having competence increases your expertise, enhances charisma and commands respect from your audience.
  • When you have tapped into your creativity, you can find new ways and practices to improve existing systems. When you tap into the creativity of those around you, you generate new interest in your goals and more excitement about the future.

You might have a feeling as you go through this book, “oh, this is something which I know or have read before” .. but when it all presents itself in one place, in the right order you have a checklist that you always wanted! The impact thus increases manifolds and results in effective action and implementation of the idea. The Laws of Charisma is not only about how you can be a better leader but useful to any entrepreneur who can use these techniques and traits to maximize success.

Read more about this book and related tips / articles at the authors’ website http://www.kurtmortensen.com/


Share
Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Employees First Customer Second Turning Conventional Management Upside Down — A book review

By Leave a Comment

“Employees are the heart and soul of every company. Vineet Nayar’s book tells the story of how management can step out of the way to let employees lead– and to let engagement and productivity soar.” –Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos.com

With personal experiences and insightful leadership approach, Vineet Nayar puts forward a well tested and new management mantra for the world to see and follow – Employees First, Customer Second. It certainly is not a radically new concept – employees have always been the main and best asset of a company but how many organizations actually respect and most importantly implement this concept in totality? Of the thousands of large and mid size companies I can think of only a few. A company culture that fosters and strives to develop and train employees as well as clarifying the overall vision of the organization has helped HCL rise like a phoenix above all odds in the last few years to become one of the top runners in the IT industry in India and the world. It was not so long before when the employee motivation and enthusiasm was at the bottom rungs, but through careful analysis and a change in the management style, Vineet Nayar, the CEO of HCL Technologies Ltd., has been able to turn around the graphs from negative to a solid positive for his company and has made Employee First, Customer Second (EFCS) not only a catch phrase but a model to follow. And that is what the book is about – an inspiration to the managers, a wakeup call for the HR to model open employee appraisals and a motivating read for any entrepreneur who in future will or has employees to nurture.

The EFCS model is based on 5 main tenets:

  1. Accepting imperfections as catalysts for transformation
  2. Seeding trust by stretching the envelope of transparency
  3. Reversing accountability by bringing the bottom to the top
  4. Decentralizing decision-making
  5. Collaborating to create value

Through this philosophy Vineet Nayar has been able to achieve transparency and accountability within the organization, two very important attributes most valued by the employees. Through such a culture employees find motivation and pride in working for the company and of course quality work and loyalty follows.

The book takes us through some examples and experiences on how their smart service desk, transparency in performance reviews, interactive meetings, career planning and development initiatives, reward and recognition portal, face to face interaction with the customers and effective feedback process has resulted in satisfied employees and an increase in revenue for the company.

 Employees First, Customers Second: Turning Conventional Management Upside Down not only depicts the journey of HCL from the slowdown days to the fresh new achievement of being the forerunner in the IT industry it is also a brilliant leadership manual for those who wish to learn from others’ experience and implement what has been well tested and liked by employees. After all, it is tough to find, motivate and retain good employees; so developing and taking good care of the best asset of your company should always be a priority.

Find this book at Amazon.

About the author: Vineet Nayar is the CEO of HCL Technologies Ltd., India’s leading global IT Services Company. Fortune magazine called his leadership style The World’s Most Modern Management and the London Business School cites him the leader of organizational innovation.

Share
Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Life is What you Make it – A book review

By 1 Comment

“I’d like to define vocation as the tug we feel toward the life that is right for us, the life that is truly our own.” – Peter Buffett, Life Is What You Make It

The first thoughts I had when holding a book written by Peter Buffet (yes, the son of the billionaire investor Warren Buffet) was why would this person talk about life is what you make it, when he is the one born with the silver spoon? This was anticipated and pretty much thought about as you get an instant answer reading the abstract of this book “You may think that with a last name like his, Buffet has enjoyed a life of endless privilege. But… that is the only inheritance handed down from his parents was a philosophy: Forge you own path in life.”

And that is exactly the subtle message that Peter conveys in this amazingly down to earth book, Life is What you Make of it, which reaches out not only to those starting on a new career but also largely to parents on how to set expectations for their kids or teenagers.
On rewards and lavish gifting Peter says; “In the normal course of things, rewards come gradually. That is part of the suspense and joy in life – that we sense ourselves moving forward, gaining in competence and knowledge, and being compensated for our progress, whether in money, or professional advancement, or creative satisfaction. Success, however we define it, happens little by little.”
Well said. How often we tend to make it easy on ourselves by gifting our kids based on not what they need but what they want – or is a trend with their friends or society – thereby taking away from them the most valuable lesson of life – your own experience to find out what is right and what is wrong.

This is also very true in this present world where everyday there is a lure of making easy money and when people need it the most in current situation, the short term ‘success’ in making a few bucks can affect their long term goals and benefits. If you are out there either making it big or just starting out on a new career, Peter’s new book has the most inspiring message for all of us -  taking on the reins of your destiny, living the life to the fullest, luck, timing of the luck happening to us, patience, trust and how we use our time – some things very basic and often we tend to overlook or ignore as we go on with our lives; all these have been brought in beautifully together in this book.

It is a life’s perspective from someone who has gone through trial, error and a varied experience which many of us have gone through or are presently going through but that makes life what it is – complete and rich with experience which is yours and no one else can make what you can out of the time you have.

As a career writer, I found this book very inspiring for my audience and young students who are stepping into this world which largely depicts affluence and making ends meet is not a struggle anymore, there is more likely a chance of falling for the short cut to success or even just spending what you have and finding later on that on the financial front we were perhaps never taught what we should have been.  The true path to success is – through honesty, confidence, peace of mind, philanthropy and just going the experience and journey of making it to you success goal by doing what you want.

A highly inspiring book for anyone from age 16 to 100, it brings to you insight and in depth thoughts from a person who had the chance of growing up in affluence and an influential surname which could take him anywhere but he decided to follow – Life is what YOU make of it. Interspersed with guidance on how anyone can really follow their dreams, it is this combination of Peter’s life experiences with inspirational advice that developed Life Is What You Make It into a rewarding and poignant read.

Find your own path to fulfillment.

Peter Buffett is an Emmy Award-winning musician, philanthropist and Random House-published author. Know more about him and his book at http://peterbuffett.com and look up the excerpts of this book at http://www.peterbuffett.com/bookexcerpts.pdf .

Share
Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Book Review – Work with Passion in Midlife and Beyond

By Leave a Comment

“Given the volatile economy, rising costs of living, and likelihood that safety nets like social security and savings may not cover expenses when you are older, it is imperative that you start now to find the work that engages your heart and soul,” Anderson writes in the introduction to her new book, Work with Passion in Midlife and Beyond: Reach your Full Potential & Make the Money you Need.

An extremely inspiring title indeed and a very helpful book for those who are contemplating a career change, or have been in a layoff and see the need to reinvent themselves to achieve success in their careers.

I couldn’t agree more when I during the first few pages of the book I came across this statement: “Identifying and facing your fears is a crucial step in the first stage of change.”

The book revs up in a gentle massaging way, the author focuses your attention on how to streamline your life – the mental preparedness is essential to any strong beginning and if you need a major re-work in your life to begin on a fresh start to rewrite your story of life. You might wonder if you go through the first 80 pages of this book as to why it was so important t0 re-visit my triumphs and failures in life and why I need to clarify more on who I am today? But then, look again, the title of this book has an important word “passion” for those in midlife and beyond, and it is through revisiting your life history and an in-depth analysis of your present stand you slowly start seeing the light – to create a template of success to find the work you would love to do – when work is no more work, it is a passion and true bliss.

Some wonderful thoughts that I truly loved in this book are:

  • Notice what you enjoy that others think is hard work.
  • A sense of timelessness is another clue that you are on the passion path.
  • Your mind is on what’s in front of you, like a child on the beach with a bucket and shovel building a sand castle.
  • Parcells’s third rule of leadership is to set and reach small goals. When people set small, visible goals, he says, and they achieve them, they get it into their heads (their subconscious) that they can succeed.

I admired deeply the authors’ take on providing us with a step by step look at some must do action items, it not through reading, inspiration alone that one can achieve the path to success; you achieve so by crafting practical goals and time bound action plans. Perhaps this book could have achieved more if it had the worksheets and all, but hey at time you just need such a book to motivate you to action, to clear up the many cobwebs of mind and the surroundings and at times you just need such a book to put your legs up and soak up some wise valuable suggestions and insights on how your personality type influences success in a particular career.

Nancy Anderson takes a good take through this book on streamlining life midlife, post-retirement or after a layoff and can be many such women would find a lot in common to some of the stories which the author narrates throughout the book and will find helpful as they search for a new career or job or perhaps it is the right time to reinvent and start something new altogether!

 Learn more about Nancy Anderson and Work With Passion In Midlife And Beyond here.

Share
Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Where the JOBS are NOW– A Book Review

By Leave a Comment

Unemployment rate is the highest ever, many new grads are unable to find decent jobs or any job for that matter and we are not even sure whether the lost jobs are ever coming back. The job market is not at all a happy place for millions, and as the struggle continues we find solace in advice and direction from career experts and authors. Now you can add one more person on your list- Joe Watson! Joe Watson is the CEO of Without Excuses (www.withoutexcuses.com) and StrategicHire and his book Where the Jobs are Now (McGraw hill) comes in time to explain the new job market and the new jobs and resources we must be learning more about this year.

Who is this book for?

  • If you are looking for a career change in the new emerging industries, or even in the existing ones like health care, education and government, then this book is for you.
  • If you have been unemployed for a long time and would like to know more about the green industries, the jobs they offer and for example what kind of jobs and how many are/would be available in the green energy sector then this book could be for you.

Where the Jobs are Now will not help you in getting a job but is a good resource to know what is going around these days – the stats and predictions are all over the web, but the author presents a good discussion on where the emphasis would be in near future and how you could possibly think about diversifying in those areas if you can. For example read this:

Environmental engineers are experiencing the fastest growth at 25 percent, while civil engineers are seeing the largest employment increase, with an estimated 46,000 new jobs by 2016. .. Even in slower growing or declining manufacturing industries, engineers are still needed design, build, test, and improve products, but it’s the faster growing service industries that are generating most of the employment growth.

And how about the financial sector:

Joe says: We’ve got 77 million baby boomers who are getting ready to retire and will need help managing their money. As the economy rebounds (because it always does), the retirement of the baby boomer workforce will mean expanded job opportunities for personal financial advisors, as well as their corporate cousins, financial analysts. In fact the BLS has forecast that personal financial advisors will be one of the 10 fastest growing occupations in the nation.

Another great aspect of this book is the appendix, in itself it is a great resource for any job seeker to spend some time on the internet and gain more knowledge on new emerging industries, career self-help advice blogs and websites, IT, freelance and many others through the numerous relevant links here.

Visit the book’s website: http://www.WhereTheJobsAreNow.com

Get your copy on Amazon.

Share
Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »