Working for a Living Blog

The 21st Century Aha! Moment

2009-08-05T13:58:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've had the time to blog. As mentioned in my last post in April, I've been involved in the launch of an exciting new community for senior Organizational Development consultants. It's invitation-only and yet since we went into beta on May 2, we've built a thriving community of over 110 consultants in 16 countries on 5 continents. (Pretty cool, if I do say so myself.)

It's been a first-hand lesson in building community, both virtual and real. Lessons I've learned:

The lines are blurring. I've met and gotten to know people from all over the world that I'd never have had the chance to connect with. It's broadened both my business and personal horizons in ways that have never been possible before. I've learned a few words in languages I'd never thought I'd speak and have developed new respect for anyone who can work across a dozen time zones.
It's getting harder and harder to decide what business should get done online and what gets done in person. Technology is just a tool. It helps me connect with someone on the other side of the planet as easily as I do with clients across town. Skype, online chats, instant messaging and webcams are just tools. Like any tool, you pick the ones that best meets your needs for any given task.
Americans are a bit slow off the mark. Colleagues in Asia, particularly the Philippines, Pakistan and Singapore, get it and look for ways to improve the community experience for all. In the US we tend to assume generational differences; that is, technology is for "young folks." (I'm not a "young folk" by any means, and I'm not the only person in my age group using the new media to connect by a long shot.)
There's global interest in connecting. Beyond LinkedIn and Facebook, people all over the world are looking for ways to connect with others who have shared interests.

Are there dangers to online communities? Sure. You still need to be careful handing out private information; you don't know who's reading what you're posting. On the other hand, I've become much less concerned about differentiating between personal and professional. Honestly, I don't think anyone cares about the details of my personal life, so I'm not likely to share that. (It's just not all that interesting, believe me.) But even in business relationships you can't help but learn some personal details.

And therein lies my personal aha! moment: let's not spend so much time worrying about the technology. Let's focus on people instead, and figure out how to build strong, positive relationships using the tools we've got.

Are Social Media Forcing Us To Be Something We're Not?

2009-04-20T14:11:00.000-07:00

I've been giving a lot of advice about how to present yourself in social media lately. The message is the same: make sure your social media presence lines up with your brand, whether you're in business or looking for a job. You should have a single, consistent, coherent image that you present to the world.

So there I was, having a lot of fun bouncing back and forth between Twitter and Facebook. Then it hit me: anyone who looks at my Facebook profile or follows me on Twitter is going to see a different person than they'll find on my very serious LinkedIn profile. Yah, yah, I'm very proud of my professional accomplishments, but I'm not a one-dimensional, all-work-and-no-play Jill.

There are lots of other things that get me excited besides working with clients and growing my business. I'm involved with a terrific project introducing the global OD community to social media. (Sorry, no link for that yet; we're still in alpha; beta coming in May.) I read a lot, I watch some TV (not much), I belong to some interesting communities on- and off-line. I love my iPhone but wish it could do more. I think technology is a promise yet to be fulfilled, I like driving fast cars fast, I start out most mornings with a long ramble with my dogs and a big mug of great coffee that my honey's made for me.

If I followed my own advice, I'd be hiding all that from the world. I'd be a mini-corporate-me with a laserlike focus (as the corporate types like to say) on making sure that when anyone thought of me, they'd come up with a handful of words--the same words in every mind.

And therein likes my eureka moment. We've got enough one-dimensional, paper-doll personalities, carefully crafted by Hollywood, Bollywood and the media. Real people aren't polished, Botoxed and made-up to within an inch of their lives; slim, trim and dressed in the latest styles all the time. Should we try to jam ourselves into a narrow mold to present that one image, or do we let a bit of our real selves show? I'm not claiming we all post every personal detail online. I'm just saying maybe it's time to loosen up just a little and grant that most people will have the common sense to realize we've probably got a lot going on. And that we're still only showing a small glimpse of ourselves.

What do you think?

Is Twitter a Big Step Backwards?

2009-04-15T15:31:00.000-07:00

I've been remiss in my blogging. OK, to be completely honest, I've been sidetracked playing with social media. Twitter and all the supporting tools and websites are fascinating but if I read one more tweet that communicates something like, "Look at me!! See how smart I am?? I'm on Twitter!!!", I think I'll scream. That said, there are a lot of very bright people holding interesting conversations, as I've also found. It's a matter of taking the time and having the patience to find them. And ignoring all the heavy breathing and self-congratulatory tweeting.

That said, I wonder what's next? I find that when I need to reach out, it's to individuals. Phone calls, emails, SMS and instant messaging work best, depending on who, what, where and when. Even the experts push two very different messages: one says you need to build individual relationships with customers, clients, recruiters and/or hiring managers. Yet these same people insist we need to use broadcast media like Twitter and Facebook. (LinkedIn can be used as a broadcast medium, too, but its real strength is the ability to find and reach out to individuals.) How do you build relationships with individuals if you're broadcasting to the world?

We're told we all need to be thought leaders, but if we're all leading, who's following? And how many of us really have unique, interesting, original viewpoints? We can't all be Malcolm Gladwell or Stephen Hawking. How do we rise above the din? Or should we even try?

I think there are some fabulous advantages to social media. I can find out what people on the other side of the planet are thinking about things that are important to me. I can track what's going on during shuttle missions, find out what local traffic is like, and share a laugh with a colleague across the country.

But I could do all of this with tools I already had, including old fashiond list servers and telephones (not even cell phones).

So what does Twitter do that a list serve didn't? Any thoughts?

The Grass is Always Greener....

2009-03-04T15:23:00.001-08:00

I talk to a lot of people who want to make big career moves. Consultants, entrepreneurs and coaches are lured by the steady paycheck and illusion of stability working within a company. Those looking for work think they'd be successful entrepreneurs, consultants or coaches--they've got this great idea....

Personally, I think you fall into one camp or the other; few of us do well at both. I think there's a gene for entrepreneurship; you either have it or you don't. If you don't, no amount of classes in an MBA program will teach it to you.

But you know the saying: the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. So how do you decide what to do?

Before I launch, for the sake of full disclosure I want to let you know that 1) I make a lousy employee and 2) I'm an entrepreneur at heart. Having laid that out, here are the arguments for and against each career choice.

Case 1: You're Working Solo and Want to Go In-House
Look around you. See all those folks at the local coffee shop? What do you think they're doing there? Where were all these people this time last year? Working. At jobs they had before the economy crashed. Here are the naked realities of working in corporate America today:

There is no job security. There hasn't been for decades, but what little there was is gone now. You can lose your job tomorrow with no warning, for no other reason than you're a line item on a budget that's too big.
Benefits are either expensive or non-existent. The sad fact is, health insurers have priced their products out of the reach of many businesses. So if you want to go in-house for the benefits, find a company that still offers them. If you can.
Pensions are rare and many firms no longer contribute to 401(k) plans. Never mind what the 401(k)s are worth today. I guess the good news is you'd be investing near the bottom of the market...
Your salary may be cut to preserve jobs. Even if not, salaries are calculated on a 40-hour week. Do you know anyone that works a 40 hour week?
With all the people being cut, the work still has to get done. So figure on even bigger workloads.

Having said all that, let's talk about the good stuff:

You'll probably get to work with the same people every day. One big complaint of solo workers is the loneliness: no sense of team, no one to talk to at the water cooler.
If you like working at home, telecommuting is becoming more and more accepted. So you can have a job and still answer the phone in your jammies if you want.
The paycheck is steady and, unless you're in Sales, you don't have to do any business development or sales work. Many folks don't like this part of running their own business, and it's a big draw back into the corporate world.
Big companies offer the chance to work on big, important life-changing projects. It's much harder to find that device that will change everything in a small firm or start-up.

OK, now let's lay out the case for those of you who think you want to go solo.

Case 2: You've Got This Fabulous Idea/You're Really, Really Good at (Fill-in-the-Blank)
As I tell clients who've recently lost their jobs and think they want to start their own businesses, it's a great life:

You get to work any 16 hours of the day, any 7 days of the week you want. Really. You can set your own schedule. You are now officially the IT guy, the sales person, the website designer, tech support, the office manager, the cafeteria worker, the mail delivery clerk. Don't underestimate all the administrative stuff, because it can sink you.
You need to know what your cash flow is going to be for the next 1-3 years. How are you going to pay the bills? Seriously. Business cases are largely fiction; nearly everyone estimates they're going to get "just 1/2 percent of the global market." You may, but you've got to pay the bills between now and your first paying customer. You know all those overnight successes? They're fiction. It takes 3-7 years to get a business up and stable. Most (95%) don't make it that far.
You need a support network: friends, family, significant other, colleagues. If you're in a marriage or long-term relationship, have a frank discussion with your significant other. You need them in your camp. More important, they need to know what they're in for. It's a tough conversation, but it's only fair. Because if they don't support you, you've got a nearly impossible hill to climb.
Sure you're really smart, hard-working, your partner is behind you 110%, and you've got the money to make it. Who are your customers? What problem do you solve for them? It's not about what you've got to sell, it's about what they're willing to buy. So what is it, in 10 words or less? Can't do it without reading a page from the business plan? Then you don't have anything to sell, because you don't understand what problem you're solving for your potential customers/clients.
How will you let customers know you're out there? (Deduct 10 points right now if you said "I'll write a blog." Take another 50 off if you answered, "Twitter.") How do you feel about sales--aka "business development?" It's more than endless coffees at Starbucks, webinars on selling, and networking groups. Really, how are you going to sell your product or service? What specifically will you do, by when, with what expected results?

As the man in my life reminds me: if it were all that damn easy, more people would start businesses.

The positives of running your own business:

If you screw something up, you get to fix it--and you learn how to offer a better product or service while you're at it. Lose an important customer? Figure out how to get her back, or fix the problem so you don't lose another. Better yet, you're not dependent on someone else screwing something up.
You can respond on a dime to changing opportunities. It doesn't take a planning committee or a strategy session with board member approval to figure out new ways to serve customers. You can do it over a cup of coffee while you're waking up. Then you get to try it out on your next customer and see if it works.
You get to listen to customer feedback and react immediately. There's nothing better than the first time a client tells you what a great job you did, or how your product or service solved a big problem for them. They just did you two huge favors: they made your day and they wrote your next marketing message for you.
Chickens get fat on crumbs. You don't need to sell a million dollar project to pay the bills; you can probably get by on a few projects priced in the tens-of-thousands-of-dollars. Or maybe by selling a whole lot of something at $14.95 off a website you designed and developed.
You get to do something you love doing, and get paid for it. Yes, some folks in corporate jobs can say that, but most of us start businesses doing things we're good at and we love to do. Every day is a challenge, but every day we get to enjoy the fruits of our work.

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. While this is a fantastic time to make a big career change, it's going to be tougher than staying the course. Don't give up on what you're doing now unless you hate it so much you can't bear it any longer. Double down, focus, and go for broke. Whatever that means for you.

Social Networking and Your Job Hunt: Blogging

2009-02-15T13:12:00.001-08:00

Everybody says you should blog. Whether you're a coach or consultant, whether you're looking for work or a promotion, the advice is blogging is a great way to establish a reputation for expertise.

There are some very good reasons not to blog:

Blogging sounds like pure torture. You'd rather bungee jump off the nearest water tower with your hair on fire and bamboo shoots jammed under your fingernails.
Urban lore (i.e., this is a data point I couldn't substantiate) says that 120,000 new blogs are started every day. Your first thought on reading that: "what is everyone writing about, for Pete's sake? And who cares?!?"
The people who you might like to have read your blog would rather bungee jump off the nearest water tower with their hair on fire and bamboo shoots jammed under their fingernails than read a blog.

OK, so maybe blogging isn't for you. Or at least it's not the greatest way to reach your target audience.

But there are good reasons to blog, too.

You have something to say. You have a strong point of view, you're passionate about something, or you've got a perspective that's slightly askew of the majority.
You love to write. You salivated when presented with essay questions on tests in school. You don't just sign birthday cards, you fill up the inside front blank space and the back of the card with a message for the recipient. You'd be a journalist if you could make a living at it.
Your audience--clients, customers, recruiters, hiring managers--read blogs to stay current. They want to know they're hiring someone that is abreast of the latest issues in the field.

So how do you go about blogging?

Find a service that's free (or really, really cheap) and easy to use. If you have a website, see if the host offers a blogging tool. If not, the most popular blogging tools are Word Press, Typepad and Blogspot (Google's Blogger tool--that what I use for this blog), but there are hundreds out there.
Set up an account. Design the layout of your blog. Don't panic--you don't need to be a CSS programmer. Most blogging tools come with a wide selection of templates that you can customize to suit your needs or whim. Pick a color scheme, upload a picture of yourself, and....
Start writing. About anything. Pick a topic you're passionate about, something (or several somethings) that are connected simply by you knowing something about them and caring enough to write about them. For example, my company, Douglas Partners, is a career transition and ouplacement business but in my next life, I'm going to be an economist. I also love science fiction and fast cars. Sounds like an odd mix of stuff, but it gives me something to write about.
Write several posts at once. Do this either in a MS Word document or directly in your blog. If your blogging tool allows it, set dates for the posts to be published. That's way you can enter all your posts at one time knowing they'll automatically appear at the date and time you set. Worst case, get online and cut-and-paste in the text you wrote every week or two.
Find websites, photos, videos and other blogs to link to. The more links the merrier. And the more interesting your blog is likely to be.
Invite people to read your blog. Ask them to comment and encourage discussion.

Here's a secret tip for success: invite guest bloggers to write posts. This is particularly effective when you don't have the time or don't really like to write all that much.

So there you go: some good reasons for blogging and 6 steps to get you started! Now have at it, and have fun.

Social Networking and Your Job Hunt: Twitter

2009-01-20T05:20:00.000-08:00

I will cheerfully admit that when I first heard about Twitter I thought it was the ultimate example of "it's all about me" meeting "who cares." I will also cheerfully admit I've become a convert. I was showing workshop attendees how to use Twitter when tweets about the Airbus plane crash into the Hudson River popped up with a link to the article. (I was also fascinated by the person who was tweeting about the December plane crash at Denver airport--while it was happening. Must be a generational thing: I've have been worrying about how to get off the plane, not sitting there with iPhone gripped in my sweaty paws tweeting the world. C'est la vie....)

I've found it a great way to stay on top of trends and information. It does take a little while to figure out how to use it productively. Rohit Bhargava has written a couple of great blog entries about it; start with this one on The Influential Marketing Blog. David Spark has also written a great article on 16 Great Twitter Moments for Mashable.

How can you use Twitter to hunt for a job?

Set up an account and create your profile.
Use the search site to find out what people are tweeting about. If you find someone whose comments make sense, start following them.
Find people to follow. You can search for them by name, but you can also see who other people are following and add them to your own list. Find out who those folks are following, and so on, and so on, and so on.....
Use Twitter to build your expertise. Check out the links that people are tweeting about. Even the government gets into it. For example, if you're interested in the SEC (SEC_Investor_Ed), they tweet now and again on regulatory topics.

Tips for using Twitter:

Brevity is the soul of tweeting. Work toward terse and pithy. Find someone whose style you like and emulate them. Use abbreviations that are easy to figure out to save space. For example, betw for between and w for with.
Tweet interesting or helpful information. I personally don't care if someone's washing their dog, having problems planning their wedding, or putting their kids to bed (though I recognize that other folks do). I much prefer interesting observations and links to useful websites. A master at this is Guy Kawasaki, who tweets non-stop all day long.
Remain professional and be kind to others. Like email, readers cannot hear your tone of voice or see your body language. There's nothing to gain in flaming another tweeter. It doesn't matter how big an idiot they are; you'll look just as bad. Which reminds me....
Be careful what you tweet. As in all electronic communications, it's near impossible to retrieve something once you hit Send. Listen to that little editor in your brain: when in doubt, don't do it.

Now get out there and tweet!

2009-01-17T12:33:00.000-08:00

The main benefits of working for someone else used to be job security, benefits (including health insurance), and the ability to have some income in your retirement years. Over time, those benefits have eroded while employers increasingly expect employees to work longer and longer hours for less and less. I understand the economic drivers behind the changes, but I fear real damage to the American economy in ways we don't yet comprehend. I think the unspoken contract between employers and employees is seriously damaged, and here's why:

With "at will" employment and increasing flexibility, job stability (and security) is a thing of the past. I don't think poor performers have a divine right to a job, but the pendulum has swung to an extreme: performance and job security have become almost completely disconnected. If working better/harder/more hours doesn't mean anything to an employer and if you know your job is at risk, why put in the extra effort?
Employees are being asked to forgo raises and bonuses, or take cuts in hours and/or wages. (The argument is you should be glad you have a job.) In the long run this will backfire unless companies restore wages and hours as soon as they reasonably can. Seeing profits go up while salaries remain stagnant is going to further damage employee morale and performance.
With skyrocketing costs, employers are either no longer offering health benefits, or are asking employees to bear an increasing percentage of their cost. People tell me they work for big companies because they need the healthcare benefits, yet are finding those benefits narrowing, becoming prohibitively expensive, and/or disappearing entirely, often with no notice. They're feeling betrayed.
Outside of government jobs, pensions are rare. Many firms offer 401(k)s but as we're finding out, these plans come with big problems. In the current economic climate, our 401(k) plans are worth half (or less) what they were just 2 years ago. Some companies are starting to eliminate employer contributions entirely. Given the way the markets are performing right now, you can see why people would rather stash their savings in a mattress.

All of this damages the employer-employee contract, particularly because so much seems entirely out of the control of individuals. Economic storms are forcing companies to batten down the hatches, and the average Joe or Jane doesn't think they can have any impact. If nothing you do will guarantee success on the job, why work so hard? Or why work so hard for someone else doing something you may not particularly enjoy? I wonder if we're not laying the groundwork for an economy based on the old-fashioned notion of the 40-hour work week. This could bring about some interesting changes:

Employers compete for top talent even more than they do now. Say many of us decide to become contract workers; smart contractors will have several clients who will have to compete for the limited time available. Scarce resources cost more.
Bosses can no longer dictate the hours people work, or expect employees to put in 80+ hour weeks on demand. If they need people to work those hours, they'll have to pay for it.
If we get over our uber-consumer mentality, we'll all be able to live on less. Fewer and lower expenses mean we need lower salaries, which means we don't have to work as hard--or as many hours.

All in all, interesting times. I do think our economy is in the painful throes of reinventing itself. How will it all turn out? I don't think anyone really knows.

Social Networking And Your Job Hunt: Facebook

2009-01-13T13:50:00.000-08:00

Facebook started--literally--as an online college face book. It's grown into a social networking website used by kids, adults and seniors. In 2007, 15% of recruiters checked candidates' Facebook Walls (home pages). Stories abound about candidates who lost jobs over college pictures and videos posted on Facebook.

It's considerably looser in style than LinkedIn, but that increased flexibility brings challanges. You can use Facebook for business or social networking; I recommend extreme care if you mix the two. You're much better off picking one or the other and sticking to that use. If you want to use Facebook to extend your professional network, it should fit in with your overall networking strategy.

Like LinkedIn, Facebook's strength is the network you can build; in this case, you add "friends." Like LinkedIn, you can start and join groups and post events, but you can also post photos, videos and links to other sites you find interesting or entertaining. Everything goes on your "wall" (your Facebook home page), which shows everything other people post to it. Facebook also has thousands of "applications" that allow you to interact with others by sending virtual gifts, tagging photos, donate to charities and much more. You can hop all over the Facebook network by clicking on links to friends' pages, then checking out their friends. And therein lies one of the challenges of using Facebook in a job hunt.

Tips for using Facebook to extend your professional network:

If you use Facebook socially, set security to limit who can see your Wall. You can remove inappropriate postings, but that means you have to stay on top of things.
Think twice about "friending" someone who has a less than professional Facebook wall. Consider how that connection may reflect on you; if in doubt, don't connect to that person. If you don't know someone, don't agree to be their friend.
Post links to interesting articles, videos, photos and websites on your wall. "Interesting" can mean linking to things others will find interesting, or things that you care passionately about.
Comment on postings other friends have on their walls; start discussions and see what you learn. If you want to communicate directly, you can also send messages, which are private communications between you and a friend.

Use Facebook to enlist friends and colleagues in your job hunt, extend your learning, and join professional and alumni groups. Just pay attention to the image you're building; make sure it isn't something that would lose you a job. The good news: Facebook is flexible--you can (and should) be adding and removing things all the time.

Turn Off the TV: Find Your Passion

2009-01-07T10:29:00.000-08:00

I've been talking to a lot of frightened people lately: folks looking for a job, consultants worried about client cutbacks, coaches wondering if their clients will be able to afford them. I've heard people say the economy is in great shape and that the problems are all generated by the news media. (OK, I admit that last one gets me wondering what they're smoking.....) Here's the thing: let it go. Don't go into denial, but don't dwell on it either. Be realistic. Yes, it's tough out there right now and you need to incorporate that into your planning. But that doesn't mean you can't find a new job, start a new business, or find new clients.

I'm a strong believer in the power of positive thinking, but the people that sit around with pictures of piles of money pinned up around their desks drive me crazy. I'll ignore the thought that defining success as large piles of cash is sad. If that's all these folks want, how shallow their lives must be!

More importantly, pictures aren't action. Dreams are wonderful things--I have big plans and goals for my own future--but unless they translate into projects, tasks and accomplishments they mean nothing. I'm not saying dreams are bad; I am saying you need to convert them into concrete, achievable goals and then act to achieve those goals. You need to include the tough economy in your plans; ignoring it isn't going to make you successful. But taking it into account--realistically--will help you set better goals and make better decisions about what you need to do next to achieve them. And you'll feel better when you start reaching some of those goals.

Some questions to ask yourself to start making your dreams come true:

What am I passionate about? It doesn't matter who you are or what you do, people prefer to work with people they like. And we usually like working with folks who get passionate about what they do. They bring energy to the task at hand and it's fun to be around them.
How can I build on that passion? What knowledge, skills, abilities and talents do I have that I use (or can use) to bring that passion to my job?
If you're a coach or consultant: How can I use my passion to better serve my clients and customers? Of all the things I do, what do they value the most? How can I tie my passion to the work I do to add even more value?
If you're looking for a job: What problems does my (future) employer need solved? Is it something I'm passionate about? (If not, do you really want to work there?) What makes me different (better) than other people who do the same kind of work?

Oh yeah, and turn of that #$%^&* TV set!

Social Networking And Your Job Hunt: Are You Really Using LinkedIn?

2009-01-06T13:08:00.000-08:00

LinkedIn claims a community more than 60 million, yet I run into an awful lot of people who are frustrated users. They've filled out their profiles, gotten recommendations, and built their networks. Yet they don't feel like they're getting anything out of it. If you fall into that camp, here are some ideas to get a fresh start in 2009:

Networking is not a passive game. Don't post your profile and pray for results. You know the old saying, "hope is not a strategy." Log in every day, at least for a few minutes, and see what your network is up to. Reach out to at least one person; let them know what you're up to.
Write Recommendations for others and ask for Recommendations in return. Keep recommendations concise and focused on a key skill or result. LinkedIn will ask the person for whom you wrote a Recommendation to write one for you in return, so that takes some of the awkwardness out of the request. You can review all recommendations written for you and approve their posting, so don't let the fear of poor reviews hold you back.
Look for and join school and work alumni Groups. Rebuild relationships with colleagues and participate in discussions. Alumni groups are one of the most powerful tools available, so take advantage of it!
Use Answers to build your online reputation. Look for questions in your area(s) of expertise and respond to the poster. To build a strong positive reputation, keep your answers concise and don't "sell." Lay out 2-3 salient points and invite the person who posed the question to contact you for details.
Be kind to yourself. It takes some time and practice to build confidence working in an online community. Start slowly, watch what other people say and see how the community responds. Look for people who mirror your own style and approach, and see what tips you can pick up from them.

LinkedIn is a safe, professional place to learn more about online networking. If you don't have a LinkedIn profile, start building one now. If you do have one, review and update it so it's current. If you want to know what others are seeing, Google yourself and see what comes up: your LinkedIn profile should be near the top of the search results.

Make LinkedIn part of your overall networking strategy, visit the site regularly, keep your data current, and you should start seeing results.

Social Networking And Your Job Hunt: Ready for 2009?

2009-01-02T13:33:00.001-08:00

The job hunt has changed remarkably in the last decade. In fact, it seems to have reinvented itself every few years. The latest tools for finding a new job are all technology: LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are three that you'll find people using more and more.

LinkedIn is the granddaddy of them all, and the largest and best known. It's also the most tightly controlled and safest, so if you're new to social networking this is the place to start. You can put up a simple profile (sort of an online resume) with bare facts pretty quickly, build a network, and start reaching out to others all in a couple of hours. Since recruiters routinely check LinkedIn to verify candidate data, I recommend you sign up for a free account and build your profile before 2009 gets much older.

Facebook isn't just for college students anymore. While it's a lot less structured than LinkedIn, security has improved considerably since early 2008. More and more businesses are moving onto Facebook to reach consumers, and job seekers are starting to use Facebook to reconnect with friends colleagues. If you're using Facebook for social networking, you may not want to use it for business. Check your privacy settings to be sure that recruiters don't see your videos from the New Year's Eve kegger.

Twitter is the latest technology, and it can be addicting. It's a microblog: anyone can sign up for free and post short (140 character) messages to the world. And I do mean the world. Postings are called "tweets." Use Twitter to research jobs, companies, recruiters and hiring managers. Post and share interesting links. Ask questions.

Since I'm a believer in using technology to learn, grow, build skills, stay in touch, and expand professionally, I'll be blogging over the next few weeks on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. I also recognize these aren't for everyone. I do encourage you to check them out but use what suits you best. In the end, these have to fit into your overall job hunt strategy, or they're just a waste of time.

Turn Off the TV: Good Stuff Happens More Than You Think

2008-12-30T12:31:00.000-08:00

I'm not big on making resolutions for the new year. For one thing, January 1 is an arbitrary point in time. For another, resolutions for me are usually business or personal goals best established when needed and that's not usually on January 1. But this year is different. I'm thoroughly sick of all the bad news, so I'm reinstating an old practice.

When I started Douglas Partners I knew I was going to need a lot of support. It's daunting to start a business--I know, because this isn't my first. As someone close to me often reminds me, "if it were all that easy, a lot more people would be doing it."

One particularly bad stretch a couple of years ago when everything seemed to be falling apart, I started keeping a weekly list of everything that went right. Business successes were important, but I also included entries like "beautiful sunset today," "great idea about growing the business from Joe," and "Mary complimented on my article." I stuck the lists in the back of my planner and when I hit a rough patch, I'd pull them out and re-read them. They taught me two important lessons:

Things aren't all that bad, and
More good stuff happens than bad.

Or, to paraphrase Albert Einstein, it's all relative.

Try it for yourself: start your own Good Stuff list. Set your own criteria; "good" is highly subjective. Some days it may boil down to the kids not fighting or the dog not throwing up on the furniture. Stick with it for a few weeks and see how much good actually happens in your life.

And turn off that damn TV!

Cold Weather Friends

2008-12-14T20:56:00.001-08:00

I'm tired of all the bad news. Tonight I'm celebrating the joys of friendship and holiday challenges. We're sitting in Vancouver, Washington, on a very cold December night. There's a fire in the fireplace and a good glass of wine at my side. Just 12 hours ago, we'd decided to brave ice and snow to start a long trek back to northern California. We drove up for a long weekend, a chance to renew friendships, catch up on a holiday party tradition I've missed for too many years, and transact a little business.

We did plan for bad weather, but there's bad weather and there's bad weather. Much of Oregon is glazed with several inches of ice and snow, and Oregon is smack between us and home. Chains are required on all vehicles, assuming you're crazy enough to try to drive anywhere, as we were until we turned tail and headed back.

So here's to dear friends, love and companionship. Here's to getting through tough times, offering and receiving compassion and support without question, and laughing at ourselves. Here's to adopted, step and birth families with all their drama, confusion and emotion. Here's to the holidays, to dealing with financial challenges, and finally realizing you really don't need all that stuff. Here's to the basics: life, joy, shared meals, and realizing you really do have everything you need.

Happy holidays!

Turn Off the TV: Here's an Idea to Increase Your Focus

2008-11-10T11:04:00.000-08:00

If you're one of the growing number of people feeling the pinch of this recession we're in, turn off the TV. There's little good news and much of what the pundits are talking about is incomprehensible to normal human beings. The problems are too big and complex, and they are oversimplified in the effort to explain. And now that the 2008 elections are history, there's not much we can do about most of it.

Here's an idea: how about starting a notebook to help you focus on the important stuff? You can do this on your computer or the old-fashioned way with pen and paper. Or use a combination-whatever works for you. Set up the following sections.

Goals for This Week/Month. What do you want to accomplish? Make the goals specific and measurable. Don't make them so big or so impossible you can't complete them, and assign a date (and maybe time) to them.
To Do List. Translate those goals into tasks. Prioritize them high, medium or low; high has to get done; medium would be nice to get done, and low tasks could fall of the list without causing problems. Assign a due date and/or time to each, and note any resources you'll need to get the work done. That may mean access to the family computer, information from another person, or a meeting room. If you like to use software, there are a number of options available. Microsoft Office Suite and Apple's iCal both let you enter tasks and events. There's also iGTD, a very flexible To Do List tool for Apple, based on Merlin Mann's 43 Folders concept.
Contacts. Update your contact list, Rolodex, address book, customer management software, or whatever it is you use. Make sure you have the most current cell phone number and email address for each of your contacts. You can also track where and when you met someone, and whether they were a referral from someone else.
Calendar. Get all meetings and events on your calendar, not just the critical ones. Don't forget to add birthdays, anniversaries and all the other date-dependent information you need to track. Now block out times on your calendar for you to work, to check email, and to return phone calls. Make a deal with yourself to stick with this schedule, and you'll be surprised how much you can get done.
Good Stuff List. Finally, start a weekly "Good Stuff List." Write down everything that brings you joy or lifts your mood, and I do mean everything. Some days for me that means the sunset was stunning or a client paid me a compliment. It doesn't have to be big and momentous. When you get discouraged or feel bad, pull out your Good Stuff List. You'd be surprised how many great things happen in a week.

Finally, be kind to yourself. Tough times happen to everyone. Day to day, you're doing the best you can. Some days are better than others, sure, but on the whole, you'll make it. Once a week, find some way to treat yourself to a small reward. Maybe it's splurging on a cup of coffee at a cafe, talking a long walk in a beautiful area, or taking some time to call a friend you haven't heard from in a while.

And don't forget that Good Stuff list.

I'm Glad I'm Alive!

2008-11-04T21:42:00.000-08:00

I just watched Senator John McCain concede the presidential election and heard President Elect Obama give his stirring speech. I listened as the Republicans boo Obama's name--let them wonder why they lost the election, but that moment said it all for me. McCain was nothing but gracious and admonished his supporters for that reaction. Sore losers or petty people with small minds? Either way, I'm glad they're not going to be running the show.

My mother used to comment on the changes she'd witnessed in her lifetime: automobiles replacing horse-drawn carriages, the telephone, television, space flight, the civil rights movement, women having careers, PCs, cell phones, email, instant messaging and the Internet. She'd have been thrilled to watch this election which would have been historic no matter how it turned out. She had a better perspective than I do, because all I can think of is why it took so long to get to this point.

I don't envy the man his new job. Heaven knows, he's got his work cut out for him. We're fighting two unpopular wars halfway around the world, facing an ongoing economic crisis that is by no means resolved, and seeing disaffection, fear and disappointment among our neighbors. I had a conversation today with someone who's watching wealthy friends lose much of what they have; her comment to me: "At least I'm used to having to keep an eye my budget."

On the other hand, there have been record voter turnouts this time around: 85% in the California county where I live, 80% in New Jersey, and record numbers of young people voting. And that's all for the good. Obama's message hit a positive, if somber note. We're off to a good start; let's hope these changes stick.

Call Me Crazy.....

2008-10-10T16:23:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking about investing in the stock market next week. I fully realize this may be the worst idea I've ever had, and I expect the market may well lose more ground next week. But that can make it a perfect time to stick my toe in the shallow end. Cautiously.

No, you shouldn't do it just because I do. Simon says doing what I do is not a good idea. I follow the markets pretty closely and have access to professionals that make their living investing globally in some sophisticated stuff. And no, I'm not going to tell you what I'm thinking about investing in. All I'm saying is, if I do decide to invest, I'll dribble a little bit of money in, and very carefully at that.

We are living through historically significant times. Will this be like than the Great Depression in the 1930's? I don't think so. For one thing, the government added protections to guard against the economic devastation that resulted. There was no such thing as unemployment insurance or federally insured bank deposits in 1929, and we have those lifelines in place now. And there are dozens of watchdog organizations at the state and national level to monitor the financial systems.

We are seeing the painful evolution of national and regional markets into one integrated, truly global economy. The countries of the European Union are learning that individual national responses to a global financial crisis is something like tossing a bunch of cats in a bag. Germany's fear of inflation is understandable given what they lived through in the early part of the last century, but the problem isn't and hasn't been inflation. France insisting their financial institutions are solid after the scandals at Societe Generale is, well, very French. Iceland evolved from a maritime economy to a financial powerhouse in the last 10 years. They devolved into a bankrupt country in a few days earlier this week; the debt incurred by Iceland's top 3 banks is several multiples of the country's gross domestic product.

Some say the banking industry is broken. Others blame greedy hedge funds, greedy home owners, Alan Greenspan, greedy mortgage providers, greedy home builders, the price of gasoline, commodoties prices, greed, and a half dozen other agents. It's going to be years and a lot of Ph.D. dissertations under the bridge before all the facts are uncovered and agreement is reached--if agreement is ever reached on what happened.

One thing is sure: we're in for some interesting times.

Interesting Times

2008-10-06T11:50:00.000-07:00

I've continued to be glued to CNBC and Bloomberg News for the last couple of weeks. As I write this, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 743 points--give or take, with huge swings minute to minute--and the other major indices are doing no better. NASDAQ is down 8%, and the NSYE and S&P 50o are in equally rough shape. And as another indicator, performance is crawling to a halt as I'm cruising the internet to pick up URLs for the links to relevant sites.

What does that mean for us, the folks who are hearing the news and wondering whether we should worry? I wouldn't panic; no need to go yanking money out of bank accounts and credit unions to stuff into mattresses. This is worrisome, but it's not 1932. After huge sell-offs, there are always investors who swoop in and buy, buy buy. There's not a big sense of panic on the US stock exchanges; volume is moderate and investors are simply waiting this out. Markets are being driven down mainly by funds being forced to sell--and more supply than demand always drives prices down.

Three things you should do:

If you're working, make sure you have open lines of communication to your boss and your customers. Know what they want and know how you can help them. Keep talking, and keep listening. Pay attention to what you're hearing and be prepared to adjust course on short notice if you need to.
If you're looking for a job, take another look at your network. Create a schedule for renewing contacts and reach out to folks you haven't talked to in a while. See how you can help them; see what you can do to provide information or help solve a problem. And stay focused on your transition; don't get side-tracked by the talking heads with their hair on fire raving about the bad news.
Make sure your resume is current. I know, I know, this isn't news--humor me on this one. Have you got a results- and accomplishments-based set of facts and figures that demonstrate your key competencies? Here's a thought: if you don't have numbers in your resume (and I don't mean your phone number), figure out how to work them in.

What shouldn't you do?

Don't panic. The economy and the markets have to work through a lot of drek and it's going to take some time. This isn't 1907, 1929, 1987 or 2001. If you're only just starting to pay attention, we've been working through this since July of 2007--it's not exactly news.
Don't give up. Focus on the future, not the present. Yes, investments like 401(k)s and IRAs are looking pretty gawdawful right now. It'll all be different in 5 years. Hang in there.
Don't be hard on yourself. This is no time for the woulda/shoulda/couldas. You are where you are and, as a dear friend says, "it is what it is." We all do our best day-to-day; some days are better than others. Look around you and be glad for what you have.

As a reality check, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is now down a mere 490 points--that's up about 33% from where it was when I began writing this blog entry about 15 minutes ago, and we're 37 minutes from market close.

The Perfect Storm?

2008-09-22T15:34:00.001-07:00

Economics geek that I am, I've been channel surfing between CNBC, Bloomberg and NPR for the last two weeks, watching the global financial crisis snowball. The commentators are no longer running around with their hair on fire. For one thing, they're exhausted; for another, those expensive hairdos are looking pretty well singed. This is unknown territory; nobody knows what's going to happen next. Toss in the uncertainties of an election year, and it really is a mess.

I'm tired of the one-issue commentators and people getting all fired trying to find a single person or entity to blame. To hear them talk, you'd think the dot-com meltdown was all Enron's fault. (Seriously. Someone did explain that to me, with some disregard for both history and the facts.) Depending on who you talk to, all of this is the fault of executive compensation, hedge funds, homeowners who took on mortgages they couldn't afford, predatory lending practices, the US government, oil prices, Democrats, Republicans, voters, non-voters, NAFTA, men or women. None of it's that simple. We're working our way through a perfect storm based on 50 years (or more) of government policy, good intentions, an increasingly global economy, and capitalism. This thing's been building for a while. It's going to take a while to unwind.

Meanwhile, it's not going to be pretty. Last Thursday, the banks pulled $192 billion out of the economy, worried that their customers would start bank runs. It damn near shut the economy down. I'd have taken that for a newspaper's hyperbole except for one fact: I heard a women in a cafe wondering aloud whether her cash was safe in the bank. In the past 2 weeks, the top 5 investment banks have been bought, gone bankrupt, or reorganized into a highly regulated banking model. The US government has pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into the world economy. (Other central banks have done the same; we're not in this alone.) Treasury Secretary Paulson is talking a $700+ billion bail-out; the war in Iraq has cost us considerably less than that to date. The largest insurance company in the world has all but been nationalized, and two of the largest mortgage underwriters have been flat-out taken over by the government. I'm no economist, and I'm certainly no expert, but if losses are less than $2 trillion by 2o10, I'll be surprised.

We're not alone in this. China's market has lost 60% of its value since the beginning of the year. Russia's stock exchange has been operating only intermittently for the last week. Australia's and the Euro zone countries are in, or on the edge of, recession. Africa's mired in civil wars while the west is too preoccupied to help very much.

What does that mean for us, the everyday folks trying to earn a living, have a life, and maybe even retire?

Nobody knows.

Stay tuned....

Spare me the Stereotypes

2008-09-12T10:09:00.000-07:00

I've had the most interesting discussions in the last few weeks with women clients, colleagues and friends. It seems this Hilary/Sarah thing has gotten everyone fired up. (By the way, why is it first names for women and last names for men: Hilary and Sarah vs. McCain and Obama?) Nobody seems to be able to stay calm about the issues these candidates represent. I don't think the Supreme Court is going to overthrow Roe v Wade the day Palin is sworn in as VP--assuming the Republicans win. Similarly, I don't think Obama will pull all the soldiers out of Iraq and Afghanistan or double taxes the day he takes office. Government moves slowly, and sometimes that's a good thing. Otherwise intelligent women start foaming at the mouth when you don't agree with their point of view. What gives?

I've heard several women speak about the role of women in the world and the workplace lately. Opinions ranged from the 80's model of making yourself over to behave just like a man (boy, did that get the audience riled up!) to an ultra-feminist model (also got the audience riled). For the record, I'm somewhere in between. I think each woman needs to understand her own strengths and weaknesses, and leverage those to the best of her ability. Everyone one of us is dealt a different hand; it's all in how you play it.

I'm one of those people who hates generalizations with a passion. It makes me absolutely crazy to hear pundits talking about the splintered female vote. As if we're all Stepford wives, marching in robot lockstep, exactly alike! When someone says "all [fill-in-the-name-of-the-group] act this way" or "this particular group does that," I see red. For one thing, I know enough about statistics to understand that there are always outliers. As soon as I hear "women always.../men never...." (or vice versa), I can think of a half-dozen contrarian examples.

For another thing, to lump people into broad categories is to miss the wonderful variety of the human race. The people who say "women are nuturing, men aren't" haven't met the guy in my life, a nuturing semi-retired CEO from high tech. The people who assume that because you're a woman, you must love kids doesn't know me. I like kids well enough, but "nurturing" is not a word that most people use to describe me.

I'm glad that Hilary and Sarah are stirring debate and discussion among women. It's a sign of maturity that we can talk about the wide variety of roles open to us. We don't all have to agree, and it would be one boring planet if we did.

What's Age Got to Do With Anything?

2008-09-02T12:28:00.001-07:00

I've had a series of interesting conversations with colleagues lately, people who wouldn't dream of hiring anyone based on their age. But every single one of these folks, in commenting on the presidential campaign, either said Obama was too young or McCain too old.

Come on, folks! If you're too young to remember John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign (too young and--gasp!!--a Catholic, too), surely you remember Ronald Regan's (too old and--gasp!!--linked closely with the religious right). Both turned out to be memorable presidents, and good ones.

So what gives? Do I care that my president doesn't know what text messaging is? I'd hope he has better things to do than spend his days emailing and texting. I know how time consuming it is, and I'm not running a country. Do I think my president is a terrorist because he fist bumps his wife? Good grief, that doesn't even deserve a comment it's such an ignorant statement.

I do care about policy, strategy and plans. As a business owner, I want to know what my president's plans are for turning the economy around and managing spending intelligently. As a woman and a member of very large extended family, I want to know what he plans to do about health care, education and social welfare programs. As a resident of one of the most beautiful areas on the planet, I want to know what his environmental plans and programs will cover. As a citizen of the US, I want to know what he plans to do about the threats to this country and her citizens, and I'd love to know what he's going to do about uniting a fractious, independent population that holds wildly divergent views.

I don't vote for political parties, or a gender, or a religious affiliation, or for a race. I vote for candidates who can demonstrate they recognize and have given some thought to the issues they'll be facing. I vote for the person who's smart enough to assemble a strong team to support them, and who will honor, respect and support the laws of our country. I want someone who's willing to step out of the political box to solve long-standing problems creatively.

And I don't particularly care how old they are--or aren't.

Top Gear

2008-08-20T09:07:00.000-07:00

I love Top Gear. I clear my Monday evenings to catch up with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and the mysterious Stig. They, their moms, friends and British celebrities test drive, review and race all kinds of cars. All kinds of vehicles for that matter: fast cars, old cars, new cars, soccer mom cars, mobile homes, boats, bicycles, jet packs, RAF bombers, British army tanks....you name it. And they race everything. A recent show had Clarkson (in a Mercedes SLR) racing Hammond and May (on a ferry and later speed boats) from England to Oslo, Norway. Sounds silly, but watch the show and see who wins; you may be surprised. Hammond has raced RAF fighter jets, they've held demolition derbies in mobile homes driven by England's best race car drivers.

Their mothers, Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Clarkson and Mrs. May, recently reviewed economy cars from a practical perspective. The moms raced each other and did timed laps around a test track. When they reconvened with their sons at a pub later, they delivered pragmatic reviews of the cars--and I have to say, they made a lot of sense.

But I love their coverage of fast cars: Aston Martin's DB9, Ferraris, Lambos, Maseratis, the classic Jensen Interceptors...and of course, Mercedes Benz. Clarkson is an unabashed Mercedes fan; the other two have yet to be converted. They even review cars made for the American market. The Honda Element got raves for being "funky" and practical (as tested by an upper crust British bowling club) and the newest Cadillac STS got a surprisingly postive review.

Nearly everything the hosts do involves boyish pranks, but the show is fun and they really do know what they're talking about. Reviews are serious and well considered; I don't always agree with them, but they explain their points of view. They rarely agree with each other, for that matter; May is often the holdout for the more practical vehicles while Hammond and Clarkson vote for horsepower and AMG nearly every time.

So if you have a chance, and an hour or two to spare on a Monday night, tune into BBC America and watch.

Be Kind to Yourself!

2008-08-12T12:16:00.001-07:00

Looking for a new job can become an all-consuming obsession. You send out dozens of resumes blind to job boards, you email HR departments praying for a response, you reply to ads on Craig's List or KIT List hoping for attention. Pretty soon, you realize you're lucky if you even get so much as a generic, automated response.

Job hunting is a marathon, not a sprint. Treat it like a project, and set hours--and boundaries. Let friends and family know what you're doing and ask them to leave you alone so you can focus. But don't get sucked down the rabbit hole, either. When you've completed your tasks for the day, call it quits.

Some more ideas:

Eat a healthy diet. Keep the junk food and soda away from your designated work area.
Continue--or start--an exercise routine to keep your mood up and stay energized.
Reward yourself when you've finished a task you've particularly dreaded.
If time spent looking for another job sounds like torture, use the 5/2 rule. For every 5 minutes you've spent doing something you don't like, spend 2 minutes on a job hunt task you do like. Hate phone calls but love going online? For every 5 minutes you spend on the phone, spend 2 cleaning up your Linked In profile or writing a blog post.
Don't forget family and friends. Get out of the house, go to a kid's soccer game, visit with a friend you haven't seen in a while, call that cousin you've been meaning to stay in touch with.

If you're not currently working and have the time, use it to build your knowledge and skills and have fun at the same time:

Visit museums or volunteer as a docent.
Look for local events that have interesting speakers or cover topics that you're interested in. Double bonus: you can do some networking while you're there, and you may be more relaxed about it since that isn't the primary reason for going.
Go to movies you wouldn't normally see. Most theaters offer afternoon matinée discounts, so you can go when it's less crowded and you pay less, too.
Hop on a train, light rail, or bus and visit a town you've only driven through.
Sign up at your local library and get a library card. The books are great but libraries offer free access to a wealth of on-line data. Some also offer classes in business skills.

Above all, be kind to yourself. You're doing the best you can, day to day. Sure, you screw up some days. But you also hit a home run out of the park on others. Don't dwell on your mistakes. Learn from them and let them go.

A Bubble by Any Other Name?

2008-07-03T13:48:00.000-07:00

I'm not a pessimist by nature, but I'll tell you, the economic news lately is making me nervous. Not only has the credit crunch not eased, it's still got a ways to go before it plays itself out. Banks are again refusing to lend money to each other because no one's sure quite how bad the other guys' books are. The Fed is trapped: they can't lower interest rates because we're teetering on the edge of inflation, but they can't raise them, either because of the impact on homeowners with variable rate loans.

Unemployment is still at historic lows but it's been creeping up for the last year, and noticeably so in the last 6 months. Unless you're a hermit, you know what gas and food prices are like. Oil prices seemed to have stopped their steep upward climb just before the 4th of July weekend because we stopped driving. How much and how fast they'll come down is another matter--gasoline retailers claim they couldn't pass along all costs and therefore have to make up the money they lost.

Manufacturers are trapped between rising costs and price inflexibility: for the most part, they've been eating their increasing costs rather than pass them on to the consumer. Circuit City, Costco and Best Buy are in trouble. How many flat-panel TVs, digital cameras, and video recorders do you need, anyway? Target, WalMart and the big discounters aren't lacking for business. (Have you noticed how many S-class Mercedes and 7-series BMWs are parked outside Costco lately?) Raise prices and you drive even more consumers to these places. We might turn our noses up at WalMart's labor practices, but we've still got to feed our families, take care of our homes, and put clothes on our backs.

Home equity loans are tapped out. Either homeowners have spent all the money, or housing prices have fallen to the point that they can't get another loan. There's been an increase in the number of people tapping into their IRAs--their retirement money--to pay the bills. What happens when the IRA is gone? And let's not talk about how much money the funds have lost this year, either, because that means we have even less of a cushion than we did before.

Here's one scenario:

The US develops an aging population that can't afford health insurance and isn't contributing much in the way of taxes to fund Social Security and Medicare. (Either they're retired with low incomes or they're working low-paying, part-time jobs to make ends meet.) Oh, and by the way, they neither want nor can afford those honkin' huge homes they bought in the '90's. Housing prices plummet further and walk-aways increase, leaving large abandoned homes in once beautiful neighborhoods.
Entire industries that have ramped up on the assumption of an elderly but well-off population that can afford their services. (Think big pharma and all things related to healthcare: hospitals and hospices, medicines and supplies, bandages, sheets and towels. And jobs--nurses, doctors, therapists, counselors...) Healthcare is that everyone hopes will drive the economy out of the mess we're in. Only it can't, because no one can afford to pay for it. So now we have an aging, frail, and increasingly unhealthy population.
Driven by poverty, more and more of us shop in WalMart, DollarTree, anywhere where we can get what we need on our limited budgets. Companies can't raise prices, because no one's buying. Layoffs increase; with no one buying, they don't need so many employees.
Energy and food prices continue to skyrocket. The human race has depleted the easily accessible natural resources, but demand continues to increase as emerging nations want their share of the good life. Riots begin and resentment toward the west grows, particularly since we're percieved as having spent the planet's wealth on our own desires while lecturing other countries about environmental issues and pollution.

I have to stop here; it's getting too grim and sounding much too much science fiction.

Scary, I know, and I'm sure I'm wrong about much of this. The consultants I know are all busy while hiring in many industries continues to be good. Outside of financials, business forecasts aren't uniformly terrible. We do have to work through the housing bubble, but we made it through the tech bubble even though at the time things seemed pretty dire. Yes, there are people out of work, but there haven't been the large scale layoffs that so many feared. And the consumer, driver of the US and world economies, is still spending, if somewhat more carefully.

The bad news about bubbles is they burst; the good news is they burst and life goes on.

Talk about a Career Transition!

2008-06-30T18:20:00.000-07:00

I've got a client who is making one heck of a career transition. Fed up with a very old-school sales management job in a fading industry going through some particularly difficult times right now, he's decided he wants to sell enterprise software. Just about everybody he knows has told him he's crazy and that he won't succeed.

Colleagues thought I was a little crazy for taking him on as a client, but enough people have said the exact same thing to me and I'm a sucker for anyone who dreams big. He's smart, a hard worker, and a great sales guy. I figured at the least it would be an interesting journey.

Within a month he'd landed interviews with a small software start-up in the valley. They wanted him badly but didn't want to pay what he was worth, and it's probably just as well. He'd have been so successful he'd have put them out of business. But it meant practice with job interviews and salary negotiations, and he learned a couple of important things: he can learn software quickly. And sales is sales.

More networking, more cold calls, more mining of LinkedIn connections, and he landed strong contacts at Oracle, SAP and ADP. Then he connected with a couple of recruiters in firms who handle staffing at these companies. Next came the initial screening interviews, all of which he's passed. He stays in touch with his contacts, and one is so impressed that she's coaching him on how to get a sales job in her company.

We're preparing for a big one this week, a demo sales presentation to his potential new boss. He's studying hard, soaking up new concepts like a sponge, and perfecting his consultative sales techniques.

Stay tuned.....

2008-06-16T11:18:00.000-07:00

I will cheerfully admit to being a wonk, a numbers geek. I'm also very visual, so I absorb and think about data in terms of shapes and pictures, preferably painted in bright colors. I delight in converting nearly everything to a spreadsheet, then charting the daylights out of it. I'll create bar graphs to calculate when my dogs need their flea drops, for heaven's sake.

Numbers are like literature and art; I think of them as another language, a different way to envision and describe the world in which we live. No, they don't work for every situation, but then there are times when words fail, too. If I were a stock trader, I'd use the technicals, not the fundamentals; candlestick charts convey a fantastic wealth of information elegantly and concisely, as do the moving averages and Bollinger bands. Need a view of global traffic on the Internet? See the Internet Traffic Report for a quick overview of how each continent is doing. One of the masters in presenting complex information in a simple, rich visual format is Edward Tufte. Pick up any one of his books for an eye-opening tour of graphs, charts, tools and posters that are beautiful and useful.

So I was delighted when a friend sent me a link to Ross Perot's newest effort: a website dedicated to presenting numbers and information. I'm not saying I agree with everything Mr. Perot says, but I do think he presents factual information--or at least, his view of the facts. And numbers, like anything else, can be used selectively to present and defend specific points of view. Check it out and see what you think.

Working in China: Success!

2008-06-11T09:50:00.001-07:00

你好 (ni hao) .....

Good new: my client landed a job as adjunct professor of supply chain management for the Webster University MBA and EMBA programs, then sold a very large consulting project to a major global consumer products firm. He's a consultant at heart and is very excited at how his new life in China has come together.

I'm proud of him. He landed in China at the end of November, right before the holidays, with little besides his suitcase and a strong resume backed by years of solid experience. He's immersed himself in the culture, learned a new language, made friends, and had some adventures. His three key success factors:

Persistence. He never gave up. Like water, if he didn't find one way to a goal, he'd find another. He started writing a regular article for a widely read trade publication and took the job teaching English, not something he was thrilled about. But together, these led to the adjunct professor position.
Networking. He got involved in the Shanghai ex-patriot community and joined local and global trade associations and professional organizations. He began teaching seminars and workshops in China and Viet Nam. When interviews didn't lead to jobs, he stayed connected with the executives who interviewed him and received referrals to other executives. He wrote and memorized two sets of elevator pitches: one in English, and one in Mandarin.
Kindness. Most important, he was kind to himself. Yes, at times he was frustrated, panicky, angry and fearful. When his mood sank he reached out to friends and family in China and the US. He traveled and played foreign tourist to the hilt: walked new streets, toured new museums, ate new foods, asked dumb questions in really bad Mandarin of total strangers.

Next time you gripe about your elevator pitch, be glad you don't have to deliver it in a language you're just learning!

Fast Cars

2008-06-08T21:23:00.000-07:00

I love fast cars. I grew up around big, fast American muscle cars. The first car I ever owned was a retired stock car, a 1964 blue, 2-door Pontiac Tempest with a Hurst T-shift on the floor and a truck clutch. I bought it for $5.00 from my brother and drove it up and down the east coast until it died. I dated guys who drove 1960-era Pontiacs: GTOs and RoadRunners, and of course the Ford Mustangs. (Loved the 1964 green convertible Mustang.) My father drove Ford's Shelby Cobra at the time; naturally he wasn't going to let me near it. He'd seen me lay rubber when I took off in my Tempest and he was worried I'd wrap his car around a tree. I wasn't a bad driver, but I had a lead foot and no amount of speeding tickets slowed me down in the least.

I developed a taste for fast foreign cars when I drove the old man's Porsche 911 Targa on an unfinished stretch of freeway. The guys took their muscle cars out there for uninterrupted runs and impromptu races. We were racing one of the guys I'd gone to high school with, and as we approached the end of the road, Butch nosed past me in his GTO. The old man said, "Your not going to let some !@#$%^&* in an American car beat a Porsche, are you?" So I downshifted, stepped on the gas, and hit the 360-degree exit ramp at a little over 120 mph. We beat out Butch and the GTO, and I developed an immediate taste for smaller, faster, more agile cars that could handle like a dream.

The man in my life drives a Mercedes CLK 320, a beautiful red convertible coupe. It's a sweet little thing that has real guts and comes to life at 80 mph. At 120 mph, it makes the drive on Rte. 280 through the hills above Silicon Valley feel like a tai chi lesson: a series of fluid turns requiring complete attention, absolute focus, and meditative breathing.

So I had the thrill of a lifetime today when I got to sit in the driver's seat of a 1967 Maserati Ghibli coupe that's being restored. The paint is a deep, blue red, the color of fresh blood. The upholstery is butter-soft, golden caramel leather; the trim is mirror-bright chrome. The dashboard is all business: speedometer, tachometer, and a long row of switches. When the engine warms up, it sounds like a big jungle cat waking up, and it sent shivers down my spine.

I can't wait the last details are finished, the Concourse awards are won for the season, and I get to go for a ride. I just hope one of the guys hands me the keys.

Coaches, Coaches and More Coaches

2008-06-03T14:25:00.000-07:00

I refer many clients to coaches and receive quite a number of referrals in return. It's a nice pipeline and gives me steady business. If they have share one trait, these professionals are uniformly a delight to work with. They always send me clients that are smart, easy to work with, and sure of what they want. In other words, ideal clients. I try hard to return the favor and match each referral to one or two coaches I think they'll work best with.

I met two more coaches recently, both accomplished professionals who have been coaching for a while and who I'd bet are both quite good. But it got me thinking....why does it seem like there are so many coaches? And so many very good ones?

Beyond the obvious effort by the profession to educate and certify coaches, I think the answer lies more in a fundamental business shift. Managers and executives today are so busy doing their jobs that they don't have much time left to coach and mentor. Never mind that coaching and mentoring are critical to their jobs. Businesses are so pared-down and organizations so flattened that no one has time to do anything but their immediate job. So, while most companies pay lip service to coaching and mentoring--it's essential for their survival--many also find that have to institute formal programs. And even they may not stick very well.

Have you ever found yourself in a position where you wanted to coach or mentor someone but didn't have the time? How did you handle it?

Supply & Demand 101

2008-05-21T08:14:00.000-07:00

As I write this, CNBC's ticker shows oil prices north of $130/barrel and crawling upward. Commentators are bemoaning the impact on travel: airlines and automobiles are expensive and inefficient; buses and trains are relatively less so. Much discussion of the obvious impact on businesses. CEOs of major American oil companies are to be trotted up to Capitol Hill to explain things. Seems like simple math: too many vehicles worldwide + too little conservation + finite supplies of oil = serious trouble.

Oil doesn't just go to make gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel for trucks. It's also a feedstock for plastics and animal food. Food prices are rising because there are more people in the world who can afford better things and more food. In the US, subsidies for farmers to grow corn for ethanol means we're growing less food. In Burma/Myanmar, a recent cyclone destroyed much of the rice-producing land along the Irrawaddy River taking even more land out of production.

So what? Here's what: I gave up a Saturday tai chi class I loved because it cost me nearly $50 between bridge tolls, gasoline and the class fee. I now spend a half hour in line at the local super-cheap gas station to fill up my reasonably fuel-efficient truck (and at 24 mpg, I'm doing way better than most truck owners). For me, it means some lifestyle changes and less convenience, and I'm not complaining.

Shopping at a local big-box store, I realized bagels cost 25% more than they had a couple of months before. I did that calculation as I listened to a husband and wife discuss hoarding strategies. Did they blow their monthly food budget to stock up now, before prices rose any higher? Or did they wait it out, pray for some overtime work, and buy later? If they bought now, did that mean one of the girls didn't get new shoes? That's the kind of calculations people are making.

Working in China: Road Trip to Guangzhou

2008-05-19T14:42:00.000-07:00

你好 (ni hao) .....

My client in China is learning the language and getting comfortable enough to want to learn more. He emailed me the following late Sunday night:

"Out of almost sheer embarrassment coupled with an increased comfort level in my ability to 'get about', almost on a whim I booked a flight to Guangzhou and spent 3 days knocking about the city. China is known as the factory floor of the world, and Guangzhou is one of the premier factory sites in China. Its proximity to Hong Kong and the Ju Jiang river make it an ideal site for heavy industry. "

He attached a dozen pictures of the city, some tourist spots he'd visited, and a new friend.

He's got so much consulting work, his biggest challenge now is finding time for a trip home for a quick family reunion.

Working in China: The Elevator Pitch

2008-05-07T17:58:00.001-07:00

你好 (ni hao) .....

Things are going well--the supply chain guru in Shanghai is swamped with consulting offers. He's started to get calls from American companies looking for American faces to run Chinese operations. He's been working with a local businessman to learn two elevator pitches in Mandarin Chinese: one about himself and one about the kind of jobs he wants.

And you thought an English-language elevator pitch was tough!

I'll Never Find a Job!

2008-05-07T17:33:00.000-07:00

Got two clients with the same dilemma, both making a big career transition, both in the early days of their job hunt, both worried. They're smart, savvy people; they'll do just fine.

Targeted job hunts are easier: figure out the companies you want to work for, then figure out how to get into them. As opposed to shotgunning a resume to every major job board on god's green earth then getting depressed when you get no response at all. Or, worse, a canned email telling you you're overqualified but sincerely wishing you the best, etc., etc., etc.

Stay tuned to see how things work out....

19th Century Issues in the 21st Century

2008-04-22T09:29:00.001-07:00

I never thought I'd be saying this in the 21st century, but what gives? I recently attended a couple of VC talks. Just curious--wanted to see what the boys (and I do mean boys) had to say for themselves. The message came through loud and clear: unless you're a 30-year-old male Stanford Ph.D., you haven't got a prayer of getting a VC's attention. I'll give the speakers some credit for honesty; they never used a female pronoun even once. At one of these uplifting sessions I was sitting next to a woman who'd retired after 25 very successful years in her own law practice. "Is it me, or ....?..." The look I got back said, no, it wasn't just me; she heard it, too.

So what gives? How did we lose decades of progress--or did we? Why are businesswomen attending seminars to learn how to work with men? (Since when are men all that complicated, for that matter?) Why is this still an issue in the 21st century?

Why are we arguing whether the Democratic primary is about gender or race? Good grief, maybe Clinton isn't the best choice because she's not the best choice, period! What if it doesn't have anything to do with her gender? Maybe Obama really is too inexperienced to be a solid president. Time may fix that, or it may not.

Politics is ugly enough without falling into the easy excuses of misogyny, bigotry and racism. Worse, playing to stereotypes sidesteps the fundamental issue: whether these candidates are qualified for the job of President of the United States. It puts all of us on the defensive, makes it difficult to discuss core issues, and disguises the candidates' weaknesses--and strengths. And they do have strengths, both of them, or they wouldn't have made it this far.

The real question is this: why are we still arguing about race and gender in the 21st century?

Finding a Job in China

2008-04-16T15:56:00.000-07:00

A client of mine recently moved to China. After a rough year, he needed a break, wanted to go someplace he'd never been. So packed his bags right after Thanksgiving 2007 and took off for Shanghai. He promptly fell in love with the city, the people and the culture, and decided to stay. He got an apartment, found a job teaching English, started networking, attended seminars, led workshops.

There were dozens of emails and long distance calls as he refined his strategy. His eyes were opened about the challenges of working in another country. We talked about Robert Kohls' Iceberg Model of cultures, discussed what to ask in interviews, and talked about being homesick for pizza. He sent pictures of Shanghai's architecture and told me about his adventures.

He did all the things I tell clients in the US to do: network, get to know people, polish the resume, practice interview skills, don't forget to thank everyone. He's also learning to read and write Mandarin--nobody's going to hire an illiterate professional. And he got lots of chances to practice patience because hiring comes to a standstill between Christmas and Chinese New Year.

How's he doing? He picked up some quick consulting work and now companies are inviting him to come in for interviews. He's seen as an expert in his field. It won't be long before we're talking about negotiating compensation in China.