Articles

Maze with a shortcut through the middle. People are walking through the shortcut

Inside Networking and the Essential Elements of Success

June 27, 2019

There is always an element of serendipity to success. You have to be in the right place at the right time when the right opportunity comes along. However, to be successful in the modern corporate world you need more than just luck. You have to get three things right:

  1. You have to do good work.
  2. You have to be doing the right work.
  3. You have to be visible.

Inside networking is critical in all three areas.

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Four Questions For Your Direct Reports

June 26, 2019

As you grow as a leader you find yourself spending more time developing people and less time knee-deep in the weeds. Here are four questions to ask your direct reports on a regular basis. If you do so, they will evolve in their ability to deliver results and you will develop as a leader.

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Cartoonish line drawing of a male eagerly raising his hand.

Five Questions To Ask Your Boss

June 25, 2019

Want a better relationship with your boss? It’s easier than you think to create a great working relationship. The secret is effective communications and a mutual understanding of what you expect from each other.

Ask these questions on a regular basis, ensuring that you and your boss are on the same page. Try inserting one or two of them into your one-on-one meetings with your boss — in the most open-ended way you can. Let your boss surprise you!

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Inside Networking: How and Why to Build a Network Inside Your Organization

June 5, 2019

How visible are you at work? Chances are good that you’re making one of most common career mistakes there is — pouring a disproportionate about of effort into doing good work and not taking enough time to get to know other people.

This is like wearing a cloak of invisibility.

Networking inside your company is some of the most important work that you can do — and not just for yourself. Building a web of strong relationships up, down, and across your organization is invaluable for any projects and tasks that you could hope to accomplish, especially inside large organizations.

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The Value of Coaching

May 20, 2019

I work with people who see coaching not as a cost, nor as a sign of weakness, but as an avenue to breakthroughs and greatness. The value of that coaching depends on how hard you are willing to work and how successful you want be.

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Bring Out the Stories That Are Hiding in Your Resume

February 22, 2017

Every resume tells a story. Actually, if you do it right, every resume tells four to seven stories, but I’m getting ahead of my self.

Getting hired is first and foremost, a sales job. Selling anything is hard, and selling yourself is the hardest. This is what makes polishing your resume such an art, and interviewing so difficult. Somewhere, somehow you have to convince a handful of people that you are the perfect person for the job. What do you say? How much detail do you include?

The answer is to turn each of your career experiences into a story — complete with a story-teller’s arc.

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Rugby players during a rough play

Play Hard. Play Fair. Nobody Hurt. Simple rules for great meetings and teams

March 7, 2014

Working together is hard. Running an effective meeting can be even harder. One of the challenges is that everyone wants to be heard. To make it even more challenging, not everyone speaks up.

Setting a few ground rules is one of the surest ways to get everyone engaged while producing amazing results. Let it be known that you expect full engagement and everyone to be pulling in the same direction. My favorite set of ground rules comes out of the “New Games” movement from the 70’s. Their motto was Play Hard. Play Fair. Nobody Hurt. I can’t think of a better set of guiding principles for great meetings and vibrant teams.

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Man trying to work out how to get a square peg into a round hole.

Have we been looking at 'cultural fit' all wrong?

February 6, 2014

Most of the time — especially when we are looking to hire someone — we put a lot of emphasis on cultural fit. We’ve got a round hole and we go looking for a round peg.

I’m afraid that we’ve got the idea of ‘fit’ backwards. You don’t go looking for someone who fits. You start by articulating what fit looks like on your team and then go looking for someone willing and able to adapt.

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Pair of stylish quad roller skates on color background.

Lessons from the Roller Rink

November 21, 2013

I love to roller skate — indoor skating in a good rink with great music and a primo floor. There’s nothing like getting lost in a song while you glide effortlessly a few inches above the floor.

I’m pretty good at it too — or at least I was back in the day. During college I even taught classes. I still have the syllabus tucked away somewhere.

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Apple corporate logo, black

Do Your Best Work

October 1, 2012

Imagine if your boss, your leaders, your entire company culture, joined forces with you in a concerted effort to push you to do your best work. What if they fully embraced the reality of human potential and pushed you for ever higher levels of knowledge, skills, and excellence? What would it be like to work in such a place? What would you produce? What could you create?

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