http://directyourcareer.com/blog from MEA Strategic Solutions, LLC Fri, 18 May 2012 16:19:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://directyourcareer.com/blog/what-do-you-know-about-your-employees.html http://directyourcareer.com/blog/what-do-you-know-about-your-employees.html#comments Fri, 18 May 2012 16:19:00 +0000 Mike Anderson http://directyourcareer.com/blog/?p=767   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 [...]]]> http://directyourcareer.com/blog/what-do-you-know-about-your-employees.html/feed 1 http://directyourcareer.com/blog/project-manager-in-arabic-means-chosen.html http://directyourcareer.com/blog/project-manager-in-arabic-means-chosen.html#comments Thu, 17 May 2012 15:53:45 +0000 Mike Anderson http://directyourcareer.com/blog/?p=2467 Wait, I was mistaken.  Mustafa, from the Lion King means Chosen in Arabic.  But, I too think that Project Managers are chosen by God to do what they do.  Yes, some project managers believe they are God, but most do not.  I remember when Whoopi Goldberg, who played Shenzi, The Hyena said “Mustafa, tell me about it. I just hear that name and I shudder.” Tell me you don’t feel that way when your project manager, say his name is Russell, stops by to get an update…yes, you shudder. Well, maybe a child of a lessor god…. Project Managers have a very challenging job.  They first and foremost are required to create a project plan.  Easy, right?  Well, not so much.  A project plan is a detailed list of all tasks, a starting date, ending date, calculation of time needed to get the task done, and yes, your name.  The key ingredient to that recipe is of course, your name.  No one wants to give dates.  They want to say things like “Do you want it right, or do you want it on time?”  All together now Project Managers ” WE WANT BOTH!!!” Project Managers are probably the most powerful [...]]]> http://directyourcareer.com/blog/project-manager-in-arabic-means-chosen.html/feed 0 http://directyourcareer.com/blog/what-is-a-ba-and-why-do-i-need-them.html http://directyourcareer.com/blog/what-is-a-ba-and-why-do-i-need-them.html#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 15:12:09 +0000 Mike Anderson http://directyourcareer.com/blog/?p=2421 Recently, a colleague asked me a question.  He asked “What is a BA, and why do we need so many? What do they do?” I am always surprised that people ask me questions like that.  Then, I stop being intellectually arrogant, and realize I just know “stuff” and just answered him. A BA is short for Business Analyst.  A BA wears many hats in an organization.  If they are correctly used, they can be the most important part of a well run IT organization.  Let me give you a brief history of the BA. Rock on dude! I started in IT back in the 80′s.   AC/DC, Anthrax, Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and KISS were the bands of the day.  Big hair and make-up on guys was ok, and politically we were moving from Jimmy Carter and onto Ronald Reagan.  In the early days of IT, we programmers did it all.   We were even more interesting than the Dos XX guy. Once a user requested a project, the programmer would meet with them, gather the business requirements, turn them into technical requirements, create a project plan of sorts, and then start programming.  We ran [...]]]> http://directyourcareer.com/blog/what-is-a-ba-and-why-do-i-need-them.html/feed 0 http://directyourcareer.com/blog/10-business-terms-you-need-to-know.html http://directyourcareer.com/blog/10-business-terms-you-need-to-know.html#comments Tue, 15 May 2012 14:42:12 +0000 Mike Anderson http://directyourcareer.com/blog/?p=1087 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 [...]]]> http://directyourcareer.com/blog/10-business-terms-you-need-to-know.html/feed 6 http://directyourcareer.com/blog/the-devil-you-know.html http://directyourcareer.com/blog/the-devil-you-know.html#comments Mon, 14 May 2012 14:15:08 +0000 Mike Anderson http://directyourcareer.com/blog/?p=2428 As many of you know, I feel that most people in management have no right to be there.  People are drawn into management for a number of reasons – everything from a desire to have more power to just wanting an office.  But sometimes, even under the worst conditions, the boss you have, as bad as he is, may just be be better than the one that comes next. The Boss from Hell? Many years ago, I worked for a horrible boss.  I have written about him here many times.  He smelled, was profane, was marginally competent, and was just a really bad guy.  The management team would do almost everything it could to marginalize his negative impact by planning our staff meetings with him ahead time.  We would coach each other about what not to talk about so as to prevent an accidental blood bath. One day one of my colleagues started railing about what a bad boss he was.  He really hated him.  He kept saying “when will someone take action and get rid of him?”  He was really angry and just wanted justice.  I smiled and said “Larry, Dave is the devil we know.  He is a [...]]]> http://directyourcareer.com/blog/the-devil-you-know.html/feed 0 http://directyourcareer.com/blog/annual-performance-reviews.html http://directyourcareer.com/blog/annual-performance-reviews.html#comments Sun, 13 May 2012 12:44:34 +0000 Mike Anderson http://directyourcareer.com/blog/?p=57 In my opinion, one of the biggest wastes of management time are annual performance reviews. I know, I know that is heresy.  “Mike, isn’t it true we need let our staff know where they stand?  Where they can improve?” you ask.  Yes, every single day.  Each and every day your direct reports should know where they stand.  Reviews are an institutionalized exercise to overcome bad management.  You know, the guys that never get involved in what is happening and stay in their offices. I do these reviews, because it is part and parcel of the bonus or merit raise process, but they are a waste of time, encourage fear, and cause people to leave companies because the marginally competent managers gave them an unfair, low rating. No, I think reviews are ridiculous, but I do them. Click here to Subscribe to Direct your career! by Email What do you think? Visit http://www.directyourcareer.com often for FREE offers!]]> http://directyourcareer.com/blog/annual-performance-reviews.html/feed 0 http://directyourcareer.com/blog/should-you-get-and-mba.html http://directyourcareer.com/blog/should-you-get-and-mba.html#comments Sat, 12 May 2012 11:17:30 +0000 Mike Anderson http://directyourcareer.com/blog/?p=215 Many of my career clients often ask me if they should go back to school for an MBA. Most of the time they are asking as a result of some negative experience they just suffered. It usually comes while they are looking for a job and aren’t getting offers, or even interviews. Generally, my answer is no, don’t go back. Why would I discourage someone from getting more education when the conventional wisdom might say otherwise. Well, it is because you must examine your motives whenever you do anything. If you are going back to school because you feel the additional knowledge will make you a better employee, then yes, you should go. But, if you are using it to add a pedigree to your resume, then forget it. The MBA might get you in the door and could possibly get you to the finals, but your work experience and the chemistry you create with the hiring authority is what will get you hired. Sorry, your credits aren’t any good here I am not a big fan of the industry of higher education. College is a business. The business of college is to collect tuition, turn out graduates, and recruit [...]]]> http://directyourcareer.com/blog/should-you-get-and-mba.html/feed 0 http://directyourcareer.com/blog/do-you-know-where-the-greatest-treasures-in-the-world-are-buried.html http://directyourcareer.com/blog/do-you-know-where-the-greatest-treasures-in-the-world-are-buried.html#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 10:20:09 +0000 Mike Anderson http://directyourcareer.com/blog/?p=276 I heard a guy ask once “Do you know where the greatest treasures in the world are buried?”They are not buried in the diamond mines of Africa.They are not buried in the oil fields of the middle east.They are not buried on sunken treasure ships deep in the Atlantic. No, they are buried in the billions of graves all over the world, along with the books that were never written, the businesses that were never started, the athletes that never reached for the stars, relationships that were never fulfilled, and many more unfulfilled dreams because the people buried there took their dreams with them to their graves, afraid to fail. We are each blessed with so many talents that come standard with who you are. The irony is that most us don’t know what that talent is because it is something so natural and easy for us to do that it just doesn’t “can’t” be a talent.Talents are obvious, right?I used to listen to people sing and think “oh, I would love to be able to do that.”I used to see beautiful art and think “oh, I could never do that. I don’t have that talent.”I never thought I had [...]]]> http://directyourcareer.com/blog/do-you-know-where-the-greatest-treasures-in-the-world-are-buried.html/feed 2 http://directyourcareer.com/blog/persistence-dont-leave-before-the-miracle-happens-2.html http://directyourcareer.com/blog/persistence-dont-leave-before-the-miracle-happens-2.html#comments Thu, 10 May 2012 09:53:31 +0000 Mike http://justmike70.wordpress.com/2008/06/02/persistence-dont-leave-before-the-miracle-happens/ I learned the hard way that the primary key to success is not talent. It isn’t brains, looks, or education. It isn’t any of the things that you are taught growing up. No, the key to success at any level is persistence. To succeed, one needs to continually strive to get what they want. And when I say continually strive, I don’t mean work harder, etc., I mean picking yourself up when knocked down and continuing the fight until you get what it is you want and to expect and learn from your failures. Some people call it suit up and show up. When I was a freshman in high school in 1776, I played soccer on the school’s soccer team. I didn’t go out for soccer because of some deep love of the game. No, as an American I played soccer because I knew it would force me to get into excellent physical condition for my first sport love, basketball. Even then I understood my own shortcomings and knew that if I didn’t have someone or something driving me to workout, I would not have been in good enough shape for basketball. Before each practice, our soccer coach made [...]]]> http://directyourcareer.com/blog/persistence-dont-leave-before-the-miracle-happens-2.html/feed 1 http://directyourcareer.com/blog/in-flight-consultants.html http://directyourcareer.com/blog/in-flight-consultants.html#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 08:51:37 +0000 Mike Anderson http://directyourcareer.com/blog/?p=93 I have had far too much experience in my career with people who believe everything that they see and hear is fact, before actually doing any research to find out the truth.   I have had bosses, co-workers, subordinates, and friends who will declare something as fact when the facts are actually in opposition to their point. I will give some examples of someone’s perception being their reality. Some years ago there was a new fad in toys called pogs. It was a game where you would try to flip disk shaped pieces of plastic into a cup. Our CEO at the time came back to the office and said he had a conversation with a 16 year old kid on a flight who told him that pogs were the next big thing.   A 16 year old kid? Our CEO then ordered the toy buyer to go out and corner the market on pogs.  He directed him to buy millions of dollars of  the stupid little game. The buyer argued that we should test the product before buying that many, but the CEO over-ruled him and forced him to move ahead.   Well, I’m sure by now you have guessed the end [...]]]> http://directyourcareer.com/blog/in-flight-consultants.html/feed 0