Tag: career management

How Long Will It Last?

Roads 

 

When you consider where you and your options for a great life are at, how long do think you have to get things in order?  In other words, how long before you move forward with looking at your life as the thing you manage and not just your career, your money or your spiritual?

You wouldn't need to ask many people to find out that the majority feels out of balance.  Many have made a deal with themselves to pick and choose what they will pay attention to.  A game of pretend where you believe that ignoring will make everything okay.  A warning may have been given, from a doctor or counselor, that was designed to shake the slumber.  But fear or insecurity continues its dominance.

This all makes sense in so many ways.  Where do you go?  Who do you turn to?  What's the right pathway back or out?

For better or worse we have a trust issue running through our modern day world.  It almost feels like you need the CIA to find out who really cares-in business and out.  I can't solve this, but I can be a source of consistent truth and encouragement.  My contribution to you and your journey.  The bottom line is you need help in making sense of your whole life.  Any successful life warrior I've ever met always had help.  It is this help that is truly a difference-maker.  A way to a breakthrough.

But what if you look away?  What if you tell yourself that it's too big of a mountain to change?  What if you believe the promises of your employer?  I would ask that you consider remembering the following:

    All of the disease, dysfunction, stress, and unhappiness would not be such a big deal if ignoring your whole life was a viable solution.  Employers wouldn't still be grappling with engagement and performance if relying on half-a-person to do the work that only a full person could do, was a viable solution.

The Problem With Talking Points

Talking Points 

Many years ago, some of my colleagues and I would joke about various talking points executed in the oh-so many meetings we attended.  What was ever striking about those talking points was the lack of conviction and sincerity.

So why the problem?

At some level we crossed over the line of danger when it comes to our words-spoken and written.  So much so, that many inside of organizations, families, churches, communities, and governments are jaded.  We've blurred the picture of what is real and what is fiction.  Regrettable leaders now feel comfortable using words in truth and lie.  They see this time as one meant for convenience and opportunity. 

Is there hope here?

The short answer is yes.  But the following needs to be adopted:

  1. Stop ceding your voice to those who think they're smarter than you.  Often-times they're not and should never be given the power to smother you.  It's a basic human thing that is bigger than a position, a title or career security.
  2. Stop allowing fame and fortune to cause you to turn the ether on.  The courageous and integrity driven folks are often never on Oprah.  But if we only see fame and fortune as valid, how will we recognize the "real" and authentic?
  3. Stop living someone else's life.  I wear a size 40 jacket, you wear a size 42, so why should you try wearing my jacket?  Your size is what you were meant to wear.  And by the way you'll be happier.
  4. Stop listening to the negative voices in your head.  Specifically, the type that cause you to run and hide.  Negative voices are inherently evil.
  5. Start demanding honesty from those that lead you, serve you or ask you for your money.  You're worth it!

Do You Know What Your Work Is?

Worker bees 
Do you know what your work is?  Most people could rattle off a list of things related to their career.  For example, a title, an employer's name, annual sales, deferred compensation, etc.  But those things are abstract compared to what your work is.  If you want a starting point in finding an answer, then the following question must be asked:

If you lost everything related to your career and I asked you to help my mission/movement, what could you offer?

Now notice, I didn't ask about your credentials, your experience, your references or what companies you worked for before.  I focused my question on you.  You!  That's where the answers begin to come into focus.  I know that may make you uncomfortable for a host of reasons.

Some people got their work from their parents, from their religion, from peer pressure, and it's all wrong.  Some people followed a path they couldn't fully see unfolding and stayed on it, and it's all right.  Regardless of which one represents you, the game is not over.  Unless you've fully surrendered and choose to look the other way.  What matters most is where you're going, not where you've been.  There's no greater a story than the person who says and lives out. "I need to make a change."

The following outlines some ways to get to that place of a fully-defined work:

  • Compile a list of what makes you come alive, makes you satisfied even when it exhausts you, makes you want to talk about it.  There could be other examples, but just start compiling.
  • Stop the negative self-talk.  You've made some mistakes, I've made some mistakes, everybody has.
  • Be vulnerable.  This opens the door to courage.  It will help you when you have to tell the world you need to make a change.
  • Before you rush into making a change ask yourself if your current setting is suited for your work.  Your current business, employer, etc., may be a great fit.  The main thing is to define what your work is.
  • If a change in career, for example, is necessary, then start small and build to the big.  Most people run out of gas because they go to fast and too far at once.  Patience is a virtue.

Some Thoughts On Improv In Business

In my early days of musicianship (I'm still a musician) I really become fond of improvisation.  There was something magnetic about creating without a "script."  Not to mention, when you had to make a change because the performance demanded it. 

This post came to me from Rose over at BSchool.com.  It's an extensive list of why improv matters in your business life.  I think it's also applicable to your personal life too. 

What You Leave Behind Shapes Your Tomorrow

Your history is shaping your future.  Not uncontrollably, but subtley and deliberately.  Has a lot to do with our choices.

We really are a motion picture.  Hollywood can only touch the tip of a life's iceberg.

You're not one of those that says; "so what" are you?

A lot of people are now faced with multiple, multiple paths and crossroads.  Whether it's financial, career, family or social, it all adds up to confusion.  Who do you trust?  How do you know how to trust?  Often people just guess and hope it turns out okay.  History is riddled with folks who found those guesses produced nothing but regret.

There is an opportunity to course correct or to begin again.  It won't be easy and it won't be free.  But when did easy and fee get you to a better future?

If you want to know the solutions, then contact me to begin the journey and learn how Epic Living can help.

A Book About Acting Up In The Workplace

I found a book that you should check-out.  Acting Up Brings Everyone Down is a book by Nick McCormick of Be Good Ventures.  The book is a short read, but is packed with wit, irony and useful workplace tips.

When I began reviewing the book, I couldn't help but think back to my days in the corporate world.  The irony was inescapable.  Nick does a good job at finding situations and anecdotes that breed a sense of relating.  I especially like the 3rd chapter, Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire.  Sincere lying is an art form in some corporate halls.

The tips are also not to be overlooked.  Nick gives the reader no-nonsense help without resorting to worn out motivational techniques.  It's the stuff we no we should do, and shouldn't do.

Maybe Acting Up Brings Everyone Down will help us get back to some basics.

 

The Future of the Corporation: Seven Dangers Ahead

Fireworks 

The relevance still remains.  Good to look back to look forward.  Wrote the following post about 2 1/2 years ago:

Talked to my attorney this morning over breakfast (no problems, he's a friend too).  We got to talking about security inside of corporate America.  I, of course, said security in corporate America is pure fantasy.  No bitterness hear, just the facts ma'am.

As we talked, I went out of my way to mention that corporate America is pretty young from a historical point of view.  Why is that important?  The winds of change blow harder on youth.

The main point here is to alert you to what I believe are some dangers (keep in-mind danger is a relative term) ahead for corporate America:

  1. The flight of talented men and women to entrepreneur ventures.  I personally see this as a good thing.  I like the idea of small and nimble organizations increasing.  Besides, anytime you increase the odds against bureaucracy, the world is a better place.
  2. The harvest from the bad seeds of poor leadership.  Some organizations have failed in this area for so long that poor leadership is part of the culture.  And we know how powerful culture is.
  3. Apathetic employees who spend extended (10+ years) inside of the same organization.  Apathy works well when things are going swimmingly, not so well when the tough times come.
  4. Age demographics.
  5. Prosperity.  It was once said that Rome was never conquered, because it committed suicide.
  6. HR departments that have no true say in the corporation's future, but are asked to babysit/discipline employees (managers and staff) who are doing their own thing.
  7. Workers that have no vision.  Without vision, an organization will crumble slowly over time.

Each of the seven dangers are solvable.  But the greater issue is do we have the courage to solve?

Top Ten Reasons Managers Won’t Lead From a Position of Responsibility

The following post first appeared in 2008.  It's worth a look again.

 

FIRST, HERE'S TO ALL THE MANAGERS WHO LEAD FROM RESPONSIBILITY AND THOSE WHO WANT TO LEARN THE ART.  THESE PEOPLE PROVIDE HOPE.

Now for problem in need of fixing.  In my post on What Management Doesn't Get: Leadership Implies Responsibility I made the argument that managers have a gaping hole relating to leading.

Here is a good list (a starting point) of why managers won't lead from a position of responsibility:

  1. It's easier to command and throw your weight around.
  2. Too many organizations teach (by their actions) that people are a means-to-an-end.
  3. Most managers, if honest, would have to admit they're soft.  When I was escorted out of corporate America for the last time, I discovered this first-hand.
  4. Managers, and those who promote them, don't teach and guide.  Therefore, many managers go by instinct.  It is not instinctual to take responsibility.  If it were, I'd be writing about something else.
  5. Fear and greed.
  6. The tools for education focus too much attention on skills and the attainment of position.  Without a strong emphasis on character, responsibility will not be a priority.
  7. Managers have bought the lie that everything begins with them.
  8. It's hard to lead from responsibility.  It requires a creativity of the highest order.
  9. Deep down many managers have given up.
  10. Too many organizations have become instant everything.  No time for anything except for what's immediately in front.