Direct Your Career - The Professional Guide to a Better Career

The only thing worse than a weak competitor, is no competitor at all

February 24, 2012

When I was a young businessman, the company for whom I worked was a rather successful retailer in a niche space. We were part of the warehouse club industry like Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Clubs. As we continued to achieve more success, some of our competitors were not so fortunate. Some went out of business while others were acquired by larger companies. I thought this was great news and felt no reason not to celebrate our success openly with my colleagues. We would often talk about our “weaker sisters” and in some morbid way we would joke about how long they would be in business. It was what is sometimes called gallows humor, but nonetheless, we loved talking about our dominance. One day we were all talking in a little circle on a coffee break. We were chatting about the imminent demise of one of our closest competitors, when an older executive overheard our conversation. “Mr. Hayes, did you hear the news?” I asked. “No, what news?” the executive replied. “The Warehouse Club just posted another loss for the quarter. They will be out of business in no time.” “Well, that isn’t really good news. We are much better operators than they

Make sure you really want the job before accepting

February 23, 2012

I’ve told you many stories about one of my jobs and the boss for whom I worked. He was, and still is the boss to whom I compare all other bosses to whenever things may not be going well for some reason. He is the barometer by which I will always compare my current boss. During the time I worked for him, I would often look for another job. I needed to get out of that company, but he intentionally overpaid us to make it even more difficult to leave. Once you are at a certain standard of living, it is so hard to downgrade, even if you hate the job. One year I was called by a recruiter for a great job at the Batesville Casket Company in Batesville, Indiana. Batesville is a tiny farming community about an hour south of Indianapolis, and the Bateville Casket Company and Hill-Rom hospital equipment are the largest employers in the area. So, because I hated my current job, I decided to drive down to Batesville for the interview. I had to talk myself into it since making caskets was not something on my bucket list. I have a natural fear of death

One law of Physics – Things cannot stay the same

February 22, 2012

Several years ago, a friend was struggling with a personal issue. He was dating two people at the same time, and as he started to have stronger feelings for one of the women he found himself feeling something less for the other. Perplexed, he asked me “Why can’t things just stay the same?” I smiled and said “According to one law of physics, things must either get larger, or they must get smaller. But, nothing can remain the same. The stronger your feelings become for one of the women, the weaker your feelings will become for the other. Emotions are as finite as any other form of energy.” He looked at me strangely, but decided to break off one of the relationships and the one he kept got stronger. The same is true of your career, your health, your family or God. If you are not balancing the right amount of time required to nurture each, one will surely suffer, get smaller, and die. Pay attention to the law of physics, and you will keep your life in perfect harmonic balance. Click here to Subscribe to Direct your career! by Email

I want a promotion!

February 21, 2012

I want a promotion. How can I get noticed by my boss? Why does everyone else get noticed, but I never do??? I want to be a Vice President – how did you do it? So, you want a promotion? Can’t get the bosses attention? As a successful C-level executive, I can’t tell you how often I have been asked how to get a promotion. So very often my co-workers, friends, family, and subordinates all want to know what the magic formula was that got to me where I am today. They want to know if it was brains, hard work, talent, or luck, and it isn’t any of those things. Well, here is the answer. 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

He spent a million dollars looking for work

February 20, 2012

A few years ago, during one of the cyclical recessions in the United States, I read of a man that spent nearly all of his life’s savings looking for another job after he was laid off. As I read the article, I kept saying “asshole, what an asshole”. I simply could not believe that anyone would spend every penny they had ever saved in an attempt to find a suitable position. A suitable position? So what is a suitable position? The guy in question, with an obviously questionable IQ, and the track record to prove it, had somehow saved a million dollars. His near lunatic, howling at the moon rationale for spending his money looking for work was that he was a former Wall Street executive and had convinced himself he could once again earn the money he had been previously earning. He was sure that another position would come along very soon. Obviously, it hadn’t. He spent day after day waiting for that call from a colleague, headhunter, or CEO that would leverage his million dollar talents and pay him what he thought he was worth. But it didn’t happen, and he had no plan to recover. If he

WIIFM – What’s in it for me?

February 18, 2012

A long time ago, I took a job in a new city. I was having trouble selling my house and was commuting about an hour and forty five minutes each way. It had become a real problem. My family life was suffering, I was tired all the time, and my work was suffering. I hate the commute I made this commute for a year and a half. We weren’t getting any bites on the house, and I was becoming rather disgusted. Even though I loved my job, I started looking for another job in the old town. After a little while of course, I found a new job nearer my house. So one Monday I went into my boss’s office and reluctantly resigned. I told him I just couldn’t do the commute any more. It was a rather emotional moment for me. Exit, stage left! He asked me if I wanted to leave. He wanted to know if the only reason I was leaving was the house. I said it was. My boss then asked me how much the house was worth. I told him $55,000 and he did a double take. He couldn’t believe my house was only worth

What does your resume say about you?

February 17, 2012

I have read thousands of resumes in my career as a C-level executive. To be honest, I usually read the first couple of lines and scan the job titles of the candidate in an effort to glean what I am able to as quickly as possible. Do you know why? Not because I am too busy or too lazy to read them. No, it is because they are often so boring and poorly formatted that I can hardly get past the first few lines. Look at me!! To get hiring authorities to read your resume, candidates must find ways to create an eye appealing format. Whether you are an entry level candidate, or a senior executive, the first two people that read your resume are generally completely unqualified to make a determination as to whether or not you are qualified for the position for which you are applying. Executive Recruiters or internal HR staff only know on a superficial level whether your qualifications match up with the requirements of the job. Normally, knowing that is that is the job of the hiring authority, but only if your resume has passed on to them through the hands of the first level

The Emperor’s New Clothes

February 16, 2012

Do you remember the children's story about the Emperor who asked a tailor to make him a new suit of clothes? The tailor pretended to make the clothes, and even convinced the Emperor that he looked beautiful in his new outfit, even though he was actually naked. And to make it worse, no one wanted to give the bad news to the Emperor out of fear of his reaction, so they all just said how beautiful he looked, even though he was naked! Then, during a public procession, a little boy said out loud "Mommy, why isn't the Emperor wearing any clothes?" The Emperor, upon hearing the news that he was indeed naked, was humiliated and ran home.

It starts at the top

February 15, 2012

I have been telling people for years that companies are only as healthy as the people that work in them. I also like to tell people that the health of the company is directly related to the health of the leadership. For example, if a CEO demonstrates low integrity, sarcasm, and lying, he will inspire very little positive energy and therefore positive work around him. Some of his reports will think it is ok for them to have questionable integrity, be sarcastic, and lie. Others may become distrustful, shy away from contributing for fear of being ridiculed or being skeptical of the information they receive since so much has been of questionable honesty in the past. The team is nothing short of dysfunctional. Now, lets say the CEO is a solid executive and good leader, but one of his direct reports demonstrates the above behavior in his department. Well, that means that while all of the other departments are operating well, the department of the lying executive will be “sick”. That department will be like the one spark plug in an engine that is bad. The car will keep on going, but it doesn’t have full power. It is important

What is networking and should I do it?

February 14, 2012

I remember first hearing the term networking as it applied to looking for a job. My company was being purchased and I was fortunate enough to have six months to look for work. Well, I called recruiters, answered some online ads, and sent my resume all over the planet, but with limited luck. I was bemoaning my plight to the janitor one day and he said “are you using your network?” I said “my what?” And he smugly smiled and said – “you know, all those big shots you know”. Well, I was a bit embarrassed at his exposure of my shortcoming since I was the educated, white collar professional and he was just the lowly janitor (arrogance acknowledged), but I realized he was so right. Hey sis, who’s your friend? Networking is like asking your sister if she will introduce you to that hot blond by the pool, and “oh yeah, tell her how great I am”. You see, you could walk right over to her yourself and strike up a conversation on your own, but you would have about three minutes to pass the first impression test or you have take that long walk of shame back from

Behavior, Attitude and Training (B.A.T)

February 13, 2012

As managers and as employees, our work place demeanor is composed of three major components that I call B.A.T. – Behavior, Attitude, and Training. These three components are all that are needed for us to perform effectively, and to assess someone else’s performance in any task that is undertaken. Unfortunately, business people seem to misjudge performance by mistaking a change in one component for another when assessing performance problems. I will explain. The dictionary defines behavior as a manner of behaving or acting. Not very specific is it? In my world, what I mean by that is assessing how someone deals with a variety of stimuli. For example, continuing to come in late is a behavorial problem. Using language deemed inappropriate by your workplace culture is also behavior related. The stimuli affecting the behavior can be work related, or completely un-work related (ie: a fight with your spouse). Attitude is a slighty different animal. Attitude is defined as a manner, disposition, feeling, position, etc., with regard to a person or thing; tendency or orientation, especially of the mind, as in “he has a negative attitude”. Attitude is a little tougher to assess because it is more subjective, but I can

Your resume and your job search

February 12, 2012

I was a little testy yesterday. My old boss, a man I genuinely like and greatly respect sent me his friend’s resume. He said his friend had been just laid off from a major company and wanted to know if I could help him. As I read the resume, I started to feel myself getting agitated. I wasn’t sure why, but the more I read it, the more agitated I became. It took me a few minutes to figure out why, but I did. The reason I became testy was that I didn’t like the resume I was reading. It was obvious to me that this man was most likely a brilliant executive with a great career, but his resume read like something an average student would write to minimally satisfy the requirements of his teacher or professor. It had mixed word tenses, did not clearly explain what his profession was, or what he wanted to do. He spent important “real estate” talking about his former employer instead of himself. And then it dawned on me. As I said, this man was probably a brilliant executive. He might even have a genius IQ, and a long, successful career, but he

Avoid Isolation in the Workplace

February 11, 2012

This is a guest post by Anna Miller Sometimes it’s tempting to isolate yourself in an office environment, especially if the office you work in can be loud or sometimes frustrating. Isolating yourself seems like a good way to hunker down and get your work done. There are plenty of ways to do this, certainly. You can wear headphones all day. You can request a workspace off the beaten path. You can avoid responding to emails unless they’re vital to your task. But, you must be careful with this sort of strategy, for though you may do a good job at minimizing distraction, you also risk cutting yourself off from opportunity and the community of your office. In all of that distracting office activity there might be a few ideas that your fellow co-workers might kick around to improve the office or figure out some problem. If you’re isolated, how can you participate in these impromptu brainstorming sessions? Furthermore, if you’re isolated, you might not be able to take an idea and add to it, presenting it to your team later that week. For example, at my office, I often wear headphones to help me concentrate, but I’ve taken to

Choosing the perfect job

February 10, 2012

As a career coach and senior executive, I can’t tell you how often I hear people say “I just don’t know what to do with my life. What do you think I should do?” It is a very tough question, and I am here to tell you that that question is not always coming from high school seniors 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 seem to either trip into their careers, or have their careers chosen for them by their parents. 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 will enjoy for a long time, if not the rest of your life is a true challenge. It does take a little planning on your part though. The plan will

Career and Management