Volume 5, No. 12: December 8, 2006
Wildly Organized
I was standing in line at one of those office superstores to buy a plastic file box as preparation (and motivation) for the annual ritual of cleaning up my files, and I happened to glance up at a huge poster with an incredible promise. There, within that very building, it claimed, was everything I needed to be “wildly organized”.
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Volume 5, No. 11: November 10, 2006
Skaneateles
When you think of it strategically, a vacation becomes an opportunity for discovering ways you want to live differently. It’s not simply leisure. It has a end goal, to hold on to some of what you practice while you’re away and integrate it into your “non-vacation” life.
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Volume 5, No. 10: October 13, 2006
“I Feel Pretty”
We need the capability of being surprised at what a co-worker or colleague can do, particularly one we think we have figured out. We need to move past gender labels to gender assets and common strengths. We need to start looking with awe at another person’s capabilities so we can all become more effective in the workplace.
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Volume 5, No. 9: September 15, 2006
Back To School
It is important that we recognize how moving out of a small comfortable world into a larger unknown one expands our capabilities, and that we acknowledge the fear and feelings of inadequacy which inevitably arise when we step into new learning situations.
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Volume 5, No. 8: August 11, 2006
Bleeding Work
There is value in being clearer about when we are working and when we are not. To do this, we need to recognize where we let work bleed over into the non-working part of our lives. It’s about being conscious of the line, not about never crossing it. Without consciousness, it all gets so blurry we don’t see any line at all.
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Volume 5, No. 7: July 14, 2006
Road Closed
Before we can seek alternate routes, we first have to “see with our own eyes” that a path is closed. It doesn’t matter if a spouse, or a counselor, or a co-worker sees it. We have to see it for ourselves, because we are the ones who have to be ready and willing to live with the deer-in-the-headlights experience of not knowing which way to go, until the feeling passes. Only then are we able to fully engage our heads, our talents, our experience, and our resources to find new directions.
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Volume 5, No. 6: June 9, 2006
Stop Networking
I am often asked to present at large business gatherings, the kind that offer ample opportunities for networking. Recently at a particularly well attended event, I overheard a woman who was just leaving say with great excitement that she had had a great networking day. She had come with a hundred business cards and was leaving without a single one!
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Volume 5, No. 5: May 12, 2006
Throw Out Your Resume
A few years ago, I did a full-day workshop on transition for a group of alumni of Bentley College. Right after we finished lunch, just before we started back again, someone expressed frustration with the inefficiency and wastefulness of traditional job-search practices, and I made the offhand remark, “If I had my way, we’d throw out resumes and stop networking.”
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Volume 5, No. 4: April 14, 2006
The Art of Possibility
If you’ve decided to launch a new business venture, you’ll find plenty of books telling you how to go about writing a business plan, securing financing, setting up payroll, etc. Likewise, if you’ve been laid off or you’ve decided you want to make a change, there’s no lack of information on how to start a job search. But where do you turn when your start-up activities are completed, and things aren’t going so well ...
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Volume 5, No. 3: March 10, 2006
Work Seartch as Consultative Sales
I have described how a consultative sales approach made it possible for employees who were unaccustomed to functioning as salespeople to be effective in that role. A consultative sales approach is just as valuable to people who are engaged in work search, whether they have been laid off or have chosen to go out on their own. After all, work search is sales, and many people who find themselves thrown into it feel out of their element.
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Volume 5, No. 2: February 10, 2006
The Kinder, Gentle Way of Consultative Sales
In last month's column I talked about how educated consumers are bringing about the extinction of the hard-driving salesperson at the same time that businesses are facing unprecedented competitive challenges. It makes perfect sense for businesses who are trying to stay profitable in this new environment to set the goal of having every employee contribute to the revenue stream. It’s the lifeblood of the organization. But forcing an aggressive sales model onto people who aren’t ready for it is counterproductive.
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Volume 5, No. 1: January 13, 2006
A Few Dinosaurs Still Roam (Mostly in Car Dealerships)
There’s good news for those of us who think we can’t sell. The salesman as we have known him is becoming extinct. The unprecedented access to information that is available at our fingertips on the Internet and elsewhere is causing his habitat of hype, bravado, and manipulation to shrink, and soon he will disappear. He’s met his match—the educated consumer.
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