career

Business is a benevolent dictatorship

April 1, 2012

Many of us living in the western world have been raised under democratically elected governments. The basic premise of majority rule permeates nearly every organization in which we participate from student council to the garden club. We elect the club’s president, secretary and treasurer, and limit their terms in many instances to ensure that we don’t create some sort of accidental dictatorship. Unfortunately, when people come into the workplace, they expect some semblance of those democratic principles to be in place in the company as well. But, they are often surprised to find that business is basically a benevolent dictatorship. Yes, a dictatorship of unelected officials who are chosen by a business junta to run the business in the best interest of share holders, or the owners. Now, this is not a bad thing. You just need to understand what this means for you. ******************Advertisement********************************* Need some help getting ready for your interview? I can help! Download The Professional Guide to Nailing Your Interview Step by step instructions on how to ace any job interview! ************************************************************** In my opinion, this really is a good thing. In a highly effective company, the decision making is efficient and very quick. In a

Balance in all things

March 31, 2012

Like so many people, I have often found myself struggling to maintain a certain balance in my life and my career. What I mean by balance, is that I allow myself to focus too much on one thing, spending time and energy on that thing to the detriment of the other important things in my life. I believe life has four parts that must be kept in a harmonic balance. The are: 1) Your health 2) Love 3) Spiritual fitness 4) Your career The first of those things is my health. When I eat properly, sleep enough, exercise and not indulge in things that hurt my health, I allow my mind and body to be prepared for the other parts of my life. I also know that when I don’t sleep enough, eat junk food and not exercise, I feel like a slug. I have less energy, am moodier, and generally just don’t perform well. The second part of my life that requires balance is my family, or loved ones. I know that if you are not spending the right amount of time with the people who are important to you, be they your children, spouse, or significant other, that

Email protocol at work – don’t hit send yet!!!

March 30, 2012

Email may be one of the most effective and efficient forms of communication since the telephone. And, it can be one of the leading causes of workplace problems since the rumor mill. When used correctly, email is a truly wonderful tool, but it is also a way of sending impersonal, and unnecessarily harsh communiques that, at a minimum can hurt someone’s feeling, and at its worst, be cause for termination. An email is a monologue. It is a one-sided litany of streaming thought that does not allow for point by point discourse or debate. Emails should be used in the same way as paper memos were in their day. When used at their best, emails can impart news, updates, reports, and general information. They are also used to ask “Want to have lunch?” or “How about that game last night?” Those uses are generally innocuous, and cause no harm. But sometimes, emails can take on a more sinister meaning. I have seen emails that are used to criticize others. Words that could never be said face to face, or even over the phone are hurled at the recipient at the speed of light. In many cases, the response is just

Who wouldn’t want to be me?

March 29, 2012

I think one of the biggest career limiters, if not a complete killer, is a lack of confidence. A lack of confidence can come from any number of areas in your life, anything from childhood trauma to an abusive boss, but far be it from me to try to explain your particular situation. The point is that you must attempt to overcome that lack of confidence if you do suffer from it. There is a country singer named Keith Urban who sings a song called “Who Wouldn’t Want to be Me?” When I first heard the title, I remember thinking how self-centered this guy must be to sing a song so obviously self-congratulating. But, that is not what the lyrics mean, nor is it what I mean with my title. If you think about all of things in your career for which you can be proud and grateful, you might be able to start the process of over coming some professional lack of confidence. You have educated yourself to become able to be hired. You’ve come to work everyday with as bright as outlook as possible. You are reliable and have accomplished significant things in your career. But, you cannot

The strangest job interview ever!

March 29, 2012

I want to first tell you that everything in this post is 100% true. I could exaggerate to be funny, but I don’t think I need to. The facts will speak for themselves. Welcome to Wal-Mart A few years back, the company for whom I worked was acquired by Wal-Mart. The Wal-Mart folks that were in charge of the merger were very nice, professional people led by Bobby Martin, CIO of Wal-Mart at the time, and Kevin Turner, someone that would become Wal-Mart’s CIO later on. I really learned a lot during that time and it was a privilege meeting and working with them. Each of us was interviewed by the Wal-Martians for any openings that were available, and many of us, including me, were made generous offers to move to Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, AR. I am an east coast yankee that was living in Indianapolis at the time, and I really struggled with the idea of moving to Arkansas (no offense to any Razorbacks). After Wal-Mart made the acquisition, we were told we had about six months before they closed down the Indianapolis office. During that time, they allowed us to work on our resumes, use their postage

There is no “they”!

March 28, 2012

Several years ago, I had a great boss who said “quit saying they, there is no they”. It was some of the best advice I’d ever gotten. I had this problem at the time where I blamed “they” for things that were not going right for me. For example, I would say “they won’t let us” or “they just don’t care”. THEY! I have been in conversations with many people over the years that talk about the infamous “they”. The fact of the matter is that whatever your rank is you are the “they” you refer to. In reality, there is no they, and that is especially true if you are in management because if you are, then YOU are THEY. Just do it! Whenever you are faced with making a decision, make it. If you do the next right thing, whatever that happens to be, you are most assuredly not going to get into trouble. There is an old management saying that goes ” it is better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.” What that means is that if you are faced with something that needs to be done, just do it. I have seen people

When should I discuss compensation?

March 27, 2012

Yes, that is a tough question. You don’t want to be too forward and ask before you have even had an interview do you? No, of course not. You do want to seem assertive and show interest in the position, and asking makes you seem worldly, right? Well maybe, but not automatically. It can also make you seem inexperienced and greedy. The real answer is you don’t ask. You have to go on interviews without having any idea what the compensation is. Quite often there is a phone interview and your current compensation may come up as a question. If you must answer, then you must, but you should avoid it anytime you can. “But why oh guru of the job market? Won’t I be wasting everyone’s time if we are far apart?” you ask. Yes, it is possible that you are way over or way under the compensation for the job, but if that is true then someone made a mistake in qualifying you for it in the first place, or you did in applying for it. A phone interviewer should determine from your current job title and level of responsibility if you two are in the same ballpark

Put on your own oxygen mask first

March 25, 2012

If you have flown much, you might recall that when the flight attendants are giving their pre-flight safety instructions, they tell you how put on your seat belt, where the emergency exits are, and then say something like: “In the unlikely event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will drop from the compartment above. Place the mask over your nose and mouth and breathe normally. Please put on your own mask before attempting to assist others. The point is that before you can help anyone, you must take control of your own life. If you have a healthy, positive outlook on life, no matter what your situation, then you will attract that back into your life including the people, places and things that you need!! Let me know what you think!!! Mike

Raving fans vs detractors

March 22, 2012

Several times in my career I have had to take over what are called “turn around” opportunities. In a nutshell, that means that the organization has been poorly run, ignored or just messed up in some way, whereby its reputation is not on solid ground. I get the unenviable opportunity to go into those organizations and assess the problems, create a plan to address those problems, and execute that plan. Turn, Turn, Turn There are many things that need to be done when taking on a turn around opportunity including coaching, evaluating budgets, assessing staff, and addressing morale problems. One thing that I have found to be of the utmost importance is talking to customers. Customers come in many forms, but they are basically anyone who consumes your service. Whether your customer is defined in a classic sense, or they are internal to the organization, they are your lifeblood. For example, if you are a salesman, then of course your customer is an outside entity who pays for your product. But, if you are a computer programmer, then your customer might be an internal user who requires some new functionality that they look to you to create. If you are

How to Be a Turnaround CIO and Bring Your Ailing Co. Back Into the Black

March 21, 2012

Some years ago, I was hired to turn around a failing IT department at a midsize retailer in the Midwest. The company had an IT budget of $10 million and more than 50 IT associates, but there was no CIO or IT director; the most senior IT person was a homegrown senior programmer with no professional technical training or experience. So the company hired me as a temporary CIO, which was a pretty radical concept back then. Unfortunately, as is common among growth companies, this organization had charged its controller with making the critical IT decisions and setting strategic direction. I say unfortunately because, while sometimes necessary in a pinch and occasionally effective, that strategy usually doesn’t work for long. Sure enough, the enormity of the responsibility soon overwhelmed this controller. IT problems abounded. Senior management blamed everyone from “prima donna programmers” to vendors who could not be trusted. Finally the company recognized that it needed some outside help. My original agreement was for six months, but it ended up being a year at the client’s request. It was an interesting assignment, to say the least. Let me share what I learned about being a turnaround CIO. Survey the Beast

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Career and Management