Category Archives: Strategy and “Big Picture” Focus

The earlier you start on this, the better for your career

Procrastination exacts a heavy price. And there is one area of life in which delay is particularly costly.

Stephen Covey writes of “quadrant two” activities in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Quadrant two is the area devoted to those important things in life that we never really seem to get around to doing. They are important, but they are not urgent.

Planning and goal setting are good examples of quadrant two activities. What could be more important than defining a vision of success and knowing where you’re going in life? But most of us do not take the time to plan our career and write down goals.

Continue reading →

The Number One Way to Influence Others

Have you ever been in a situation where you felt that a sales person really understood your needs?

I once made a large purchase with no regrets. In fact, the sales person made me feel great about handing over lots of my hard-earned money.

What was the key to this sales person’s success? Why do I want to work with him again?

I walked away feeling that I had been understood. He was able to get inside of my head, figure out my needs, and deliver a set of complex services that satisfied me.

Continue reading →

How to Keep Idealism from Ruining You

“Scratch the surface of most cynics and you find a frustrated idealist–someone who made the mistake of converting his ideals into expectations.” -Peter M. Senge, “The Fifth Discipline” (p. 146)

A number of years ago I noticed a distressing pattern in my life. Despite my best efforts to “make things happen” in business settings, relationships, and other areas, I was continually disappointed. Nothing seemed to work out as I had hoped.

Continue reading →

Simple Tips, Tricks, and Techniques to Achieve Success

I have diligently searched for the secret of success and fulfillment. Ideally, as  I’m sure many would agree, this should be a quick, fast-tracked way to skip all the hard work and drudgery.

Finally, I have solved the mystery. Are you ready? Here it is:

Continue reading →

Here’s How I Changed My Driving Habits in 21 Days

I previously detailed the painful experience but happy end results of my recent vehicle incident.

But that was not the best part of the story. The best part was the life-changing experience of changing my mindset and actions behind the wheel.

Continue reading →

Here’s How I Saved Myself Almost Six Hundred After-Tax Dollars

It was a Friday evening, and I was looking forward to an enjoyable evening with friends. I simply had to navigate the roads safely to my intended destination. Simple enough, right?

Just when I thought I was in control of my destiny, I managed to get myself into quite a predicament. The good news is that I took away several valuable lessons from my experiences.

Continue reading →

Take Ownership of Your Career, Revisited

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Now is the time for you to take ownership of your career.

Elaine Pofeldt wrote an excellent piece on Forbes on this theme. She says: “Skip the long list of resolutions this year. If you really want to take charge of your career in 2014, you only need to make one: Stop delegating control of your career to others.”

Continue reading →

Read Broadly to Open Your Mind to New Ideas and Become a Leader

I am putting together a “reading list” for the year. Having a blog about career development, coupled with a desire to advance in my profession, gives me motivation to read voraciously. I can learn from a broad array of authors and genres. I can write reviews. I can apply the insights I gain. I can follow up with additional blog posts about my successes and lessons learned.

My reading list includes books about the 80/20 principle, which states that 80% of our results come from 20% of our efforts. A corollary principle is that 80% of our efforts are rather wasteful since they only produce 20% of our results.

Continue reading →

“This is how we’ve always done it”

I was recently surprised by a question about a simple, routine business process. For lack of a better response, I calmly blurted out the familiar retort, “I’ve always done it this way.”

Initially, I wondered why only just now I was being asked about the process. I was taken aback. After all, the process seemed to work fine and no one had complained in the past. However, I refrained myself from being affronted or resenting the question. In fact, after my initial response, I paused and became more reflective.

Continue reading →

To Get Good Advice, You Have to Ask for it the Right Way

One of my teachers once said, “I always think I’m right, but I don’t think I’m always right.”

Think about this for a moment.

Each of us tends to believe, at any given point, that our thoughts and actions are correct and justified. That said, we have to acknowledge that we have been wrong or mistaken at times.

I recently sought advice from several people on how to deal with a challenging situation. Gratefully, I chose to follow the advice of the person who essentially told me to be calm (rather than tense), objective (rather than making assumptions and jumping to conclusions), straightforward (rather than playing games), and proactive (rather than passive) in seeking a resolution. The advice was bound to work very well, and I’m grateful I followed it.

We can be wrong for various reasons — our judgment can be clouded by blind spots, tunnel vision, or negative emotions — and it is wise to seek a wide array of counsel. The more important the decision, the broader and more sophisticated the counsel should be. In business contexts, good counsel comes from attorneys, accountants, bankers, and other advisors. In career contexts, good counsel can come from professionals with more experience who have successfully navigated the path you are treading and avoided pitfalls along the way.

Word to the wise: I have avoided disasters by seeking and following advice. And yes, I have gone through painful “learning experiences” by foolishly presuming that I was smart enough and didn’t need to heed counsel.

That said, getting good advice is not merely a matter of asking. You have to do so correctly.

Overcome your counselor’s resistance to sharing candidly. Personally, I follow the simple rule of avoiding giving unsolicited advice. If someone does solicit my advice, I try to discern whether the person is serious about receiving my real opinion. Often people are seeking affirmation for what they have already decided to do, in which case it is counterproductive to share insights. I avoid entangling myself in pointless arguments with unteachable people who are already persuaded of their course of action.

I am not the only one who follows these simple principles of giving advice judiciously — they are commonsense for anyone who understands human nature — so make sure you convey sincerity in seeking advice. If you do not, the person you are asking will probably discern that you are not serious and will not give you real advice.

Give all the necessary background information. Do not succumb to the temptation to slant the scenario in such a way that the counselor is inclined toward giving the opinion you hope to get. Be sure to give all the relevant details so that you can get the most benefit from the opinions of an objective outside party. For example, if you are asking how to resolve a conflict and you only share about the faults of the other party in your conflict, your counselor will not be able to advise you appropriately on remedying your own faults. You have to demonstrate a level of humility, honesty, and integrity that conveys you are serious about getting to the truth — even if that means admitting you were wrong in the past.

Ask open ended questions and listen for answers. Be ready for surprising answers and words that you do not want to hear. You might have to reexamine your assumptions and change your course of action. If you are not ready to do this, don’t bother wasting your words and others’ time by asking for counsel.