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Good, better, best

February 5, 2012

I have been in business for a little while now. As I gained more responsibility and rose higher on the org chart, I found that not only did I get better looking, smarter, funnier, and ever taller, but I also found that people needed my permission, or at least my opinion to get things done. Money, Money, Money Many times during my illustrious career, my staff would be bring me proposals that required me to spend the company’s money to get something done. I take spending the company’s money very seriously. I learned that from a boss that once said in response to the comment “c’mon boss, it’s only a $1000″, to which he replied “Really? If you think $1000 is not a lot of money, then write me a check.” Anyway, I got the message that every dollar spent was a dollar of profit that some poor sales guy had to make up in sales. Actually, for every 10 cents of profit you want to spend, your sales people have to generate $1 of sales, if your margins are 10%. So, driving the example up a little further, to spend $1000 of company money, your sales guys need to

Anger Management at Work

February 1, 2012

As you can tell from previous articles, I am big on telling stories and big on asking you to learn to control your emotions. My reason for saying so is that I have seen countless examples where people have said or done things “in the moment” that they wish they could take back. In many cases, the outcome was career limiting, if not fatal. The Family Jewels When I was a youngster, I was watching a pro boxing match on TV one Saturday with my Dad. That was a treat back then because boxing wasn’t on TV very often and there was no pay per view (or Don King!). The match was going along great for one boxer who was just dominating the other guy. Suddenly, the boxer who had been losing hauled off and hit the better boxer with a terrible low blow. It looked intentional and hurts me now just to rethink it. I honestly wince as I play back that cheap shot in my mind. After the affected boxer got his wind back, and his testicles descended back into their original anatomical position, the fight resumed, but something had changed. The boxer who’d been hit with the

Performance appraisals should be boring, not a surprise

January 29, 2012

For many years, I have been against annual or semi-annual performance appraisals, sometimes called reviews. The idea that once a year you and your boss sit down face to face and talk about how you did the entire previous year just seems unnatural. The business guru Dr. W. Edward Deming agrees with me. Surprise!! I have had no bad experiences with reviews. I haven’t had a bad review or a surprise review. I simply believe that there is little if any value in this annual display of power whereby you are talked to by your boss about what should be discussed every single day of your career. I cannot imagine what would happen if your boss actually said “Bill, on October 13th at 3:45, you came back a few minutes late from your break. On January 3rd, the spreadsheet you gave me hand an error in it. So, I have to give you a low grade, and therefore no raise.” ******************Advertisement********************************* Tired of sending out resumes with no response? I can help! Download The Professional Guide to Creating Killer Resumes Step by step instructions on how to create a professional resume! ************************************************************** Could you imagine the surprise? Why wouldn’t he

Fitness – Physical, Emotional and Spiritual

January 27, 2012

One of the secrets to Turbo Charge your Career is being fit. I am not talking about joining a gym necessarily. I am talking about getting physically, emotionally, and spiritually fit. Pump Me Up To be physically fit, all you need to do is eat food that is good for you. You know what that means. If not, go to http://thetennisdad.com/blog and my son Ryan will help you. Also, it means getting enough sleep, and limiting your alcohol consumption. I recommend you quit alcohol completely, but moderation is fine as well. And stop smoking. Today. For exercise, walk around the block to get your heart rate up. Use it or lose it!! Emote with me baby The next key is emotional fitness. This is a complex subject that I address in my book, but basically it means clearing up all of your emotional baggage. Address your relationship problems. Apologize to those you have hurt, get over the men or women who have hurt you, and resolve to address all future mistakes immediately. There is a lot to this to process, but making amends and dealing with mistakes quickly is very important to emotional well-being. I See Dead People The part

I hate my job! (Choosing Your Career)

January 23, 2012

As a career coach and senior executive, I can’t tell you how often I hear people say “I hate my job. I just don’t know what to do with my life. I really hate my job. What do you think I should do?” That is a very tough question that I can’t answer for you. It is a completely personal choice based on a lot of factors. I can also tell you that that question does not always come from high school seniors or college students either. Many of my clients, men and women in the 40′s and 50′s still express the same concern. Their dilemma is very understandable since we really receive little or no actual guidance on this subject in our youth. High school guidance counselors are geared more to making sure you get into college if that is what you want to do. Most people simply trip into their careers, or have their careers chosen for them by their parents. What are you passionate about? Choosing a job is not that hard. Anyone can do it. Just look around you and say “I want to be that when I grow up.” But, choosing a career that you

More on emotions

January 15, 2012

As you may be able to tell from my postings, I am big on telling stories and big on controlling your emotions. My reason for doing so is that I have seen countless examples where people have said or done things “in the moment” that they wish they could take back. In many cases, the outcome was career limiting, if not fatal. Boxing I was watching boxing on TV one Saturday with my Dad as a young teen. That was a treat back then because it didn’t happen very often and there was no pay per view (or Don King!). The match was going along swimmingly for one boxer, when his opponent suddenly hauled off and hit him with a low blow. It looked intentional and hurts me now just to recount it. I honestly wince as I play back that cheap shot in my mind. After the affected boxer got his wind back, and his testicles descended back into their original anatomical position, the fight resumed. But something had changed. The boxer who’d been wronged no longer boxed. He came out throwing these hay maker punches all the while leaving himself defenseless. The other boxer easily avoided the punches

7 Business Terms You Need to Know

January 11, 2012

Mentoring is a nearly dead art. Gone are the days when a veteran employee or manager will take the time to take someone under his wing and show them the ropes. There are many reasons why, but I think the fact that people change jobs, careers, and companies way more often today than they ever did in the pre-1980′s “Greed is good” period of Gordon Gekko in a major factor. For that reason, I have found that many young people are less prepared for the real world and have little opportunity to learn things that people of my generation learned from seasoned professionals. For that reason, I am taking some time to define some terms that I continually see people misunderstand or misuse. #1 – Draw Against Commission Many companies will hire commissioned sales people that may not receive a commission check for many months after starting their new job. If the position is highly commissioned, meaning the bulk 2of their paycheck is from commissions, the company will loan money to the new salesman that is to be paid back from future commission checks. This keeps the new salesman’s cash flow steady while he builds up his business and starts

I need a new job!!!

January 10, 2012

In recent weeks, several of my clients have asked my help in finding them a new job. They each have different reasons for wanting to change jobs. Some just want more money. A few are not comfortable with the financial health of their current employer. And, I have one entry level client and one recently “outplaced” client that just need help getting started. Finding a job is not necessarily that hard, but finding the right job does take a plan. There was a time in the recent past when people would just shotgun resumes or respond to every job ad they saw. That method does work, but it is a lot more painful in terms of time, and success. If you think about it, you need to hit the right company at the right time looking for your credentials. Odds seem a little against you. So, it is best to create a plan of attack, and to work your plan. The first rule of thumb that people need to know in the job search is that, as non-scientific it may be, you should expect to spend about one month per $10,000 of salary hunting for that new job. If you

Can you judge a book by it’s cover?

January 6, 2012

I’m sure you have heard that you should never judge a book by it’s cover. That phrase means that what a person looks like does not necessarily reflect on the inner person. Is that always true? 20/20 Vision Humans are primarily visual beings. We judge most everything initially on what we see. The sense we rely on most is vision. We don’t smell people to identify each other as animals such as dogs do. We don’t spray our territories to keep intruders away like lions do. We don’t listen for clicks and whistles to identify friends and family much like the earth’s largest mammals the whales do. No, we primarily use our sense of sight to get our first impressions. Well, if sight is so important to us, wouldn’t it be fair to say that what you see does often reflect the inner person because the person knows what image they are trying to present to you, right? Self Proclaimed Worlds Hottest Sports Reporter? For evidence I present Mexican sports reporter Ines Sainz. Miss Sainz recently tweeted that she had been treated inappropriately at the NY football Jets training camp. She was unhappy that some of the players made some

What do you know about your employees?

January 5, 2012

Charley Charley, a new retiree-greeter at Wal-Mart, just couldn’t seem to get to work on time. Every day he was 5, 10, 15 minutes late. But he was a good worker, really tidy, clean-shaven, sharp minded and a real credit to the company; obviously demonstrating their “Older Person Friendly” policies. One day the boss called him into the office for a talk. “Charley, I have to tell you, I like your work ethic, you do a bang up job. But, being late so often is quite bothersome.” “I know boss, and I am working on it.” ”Well good, you are a team player. That’s what I like to hear. It’s odd though your coming in late. I know you’re retired from the Armed Forces. So, what did they say if you came in late back then?” ‘‘They said, ‘Good morning, Admiral, can I get you coffee, sir?”’ What do you know about your employees? Some of them have skills and talents that are far beyond what you see of them day in and day out. The Problem Several years ago, I had an opening for a computer programmer. One of the computer operators approached me with an

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Career and Management