The BLITZ Blog

We are Moving!

Todd Rhoad — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:15:32 GMT

The Blitz Blog is moving. We're pushing everything over to a new site. Please check out the new site and send us your thoughts.

http://blog.blitzteamconsulting.com

Creating Virtual Value

Todd Rhoad — Tue, 01 May 2012 14:58:25 GMT

An excerpt from the ebook "THE MBA VALUE PROPOSITION"

An excerpt:

LinkedIn and Facebook are two of the largest pools of potential customers on-line today. Companies are tripping over themselves to find ways to market to them, turning sites that may have been designed to provide a little fun for us into major business tools. HR departments and recruiters were quick to pick up on the potential of these social networking pages and turn them into social recruiting and brand management platforms. These sites became the perfect hunting ground for “passive” candidates, otherwise known as the “currently employed happy candidates.” While this may make you feel like prey in a large hunting ground, this is actually great news for everyone, whether you’re employed or not. You can just create a great profile on-line as a kind of billboard that passers-by can view as they stroll through the internet. If they see something they like, you’ll be the first to know.

To this point, most of our discussions have been focused on creating value offline. Maximizing opportunity takes more than just shaking hands and kissing babies. You need to utilize every tool possible to increase your likelihood of being found. The Internet is certainly a great place for that. Building your brand and communicating value to others online is not too much different than doing it offline. While there are many techniques for building a branding strategy online, we’ll only focus on a few of them; more specifically, social networking and sharing your thoughts with the world.

LinkedIn. In this chapter, we’ll take a closer look at how MBAs can utilize social networking sites, such as LinkedIn and Facebook, to create the type of value companies are looking for in their candidates. To do this, we’ve talked with a few experts to find out what they see as the most valuable attributes of an online presence.

One of the top professional social networking sites is LinkedIn, which has over 100 million users. LinkedIn boasts adding a new member every second. It’s users are split geographically with about half the users in the United States and half spread out across the rest of the globe. Now that’s a good place for opportunity.

Mike O’Neil & Lori Ruff, The LinkedIn Rockstars™, are industry experts who travel the globe to demonstrate how to effectively and efficiently harness the business development power of LinkedIn. O’Neil and Ruff suggest that your on-line profile should maintain a consistent look and feel as your offline presence. It should mirror who you are. While we all have hopes of growing into someone with more accomplishments and success, your profile isn’t the place to start creating that “new” person.

When you begin laying out your profile, consider the following setting to help you get into the right frame of mind. Imagine you are at a networking event and you are holding a casual conversation with someone you just met. Think about the types of questions they will ask you and answer them somewhere in your profile. Your profile essentially replaces that initial interaction between you and a stranger (or your desired audience). You’ll want them to be able to review your profile on-line and them be able to find you in a crowded room of people.

O’Neil and Ruff propose you follow two basic principles in building your profile: stick with the norms of the site and make your profile look better than all of the others. Let’s take a look at how to do just that, section by section.

Headline. Your LinkedIn headline is the only customizable personal information people will see in listings, group discussions and homefeeds. When you appear in search results, for instance, your name, location and headline will be the only three visible pieces of your profile. The headline is your 120 character value proposition.

Your first step is to capture attention to your name when it shows up in search results. You can capture interest from Internet travelers visually, before they ever even read a single word. There are two ways to stir action: your photo and special characters.

The photo you use on your profile should be professional and of high quality. Why? People want to see you. They need to be able to put a face to the name. So you should avoid using a picture that has poor resolution, taken from 300 km away, or from 20 years ago. Your photo should be of sufficient quality that a potential contact could look at your photo and be able to pick you out in a crowded room during a networking event.

The use of symbols is another way to stand out in the search results. You can simply generate them in MS Word to separate titles. Once your wording is perfected, copy and paste it into the LinkedIn headline section.

Summary. Linkedin’s summary section in your profile is a 2000-character canvas that allows you to communicate your value statement and what you can give those looking for someone with your skills. Linkedin Summary should mirror an informal conversation at a networking event. Answer questions that people would normally ask but do so in short sentences that address a single point. Try to keep each line simple and precise.

Your summary should highlight the quality, benefits and value you bring to your desired audience. This value can be estimated by highlighting key skills and experiences. Now these aren’t just any skills and experiences but are ones that should be memorable to whoever is reading your summary. Just pretend they read your summary out loud, as if you were actually saying it. What would they hear? How does it sound? What would they remember? You can add the typical work experience and skills for the ‘Experience’ section of your profile.

O’Neil and Ruff suggest including an action statement at the end, such as “if you need me to speak at your event, here’s how.” This is a call to action for your audience. If you’re looking for a new job, then you want recruiters and HR professionals to find you. If they do, consider what you want them to do. You can give them an email address to reach you or send them to your blog or website to confirm the information listed in your profile. An action statement provides the final link to reaching you directly, which is what you want.

Facebook. According to Tessa Hood, one of the UK’s most sought after author, speaker, expert and facilitator on branding. Hood admits that LinkedIn and Facebook are the two best ways to be found on the Internet. She considers Facebook to be the more social of the two outlets; thereby, presenting the greatest challenge to professionals looking to build their brand.

Not only do your qualifications, experiences and the size of your network define you, your thoughts and words provide further insight into how you think and feel. Sometimes events stir our emotions and we have the need to share them with others, even our friends and family on Facebook. However, Hood advises you to avoid expressing your opinions too vigorously. Not only are harsh comments viewed as undesirable, they are permanent and hard to remove. Keep your comments professional and avoid controversial topics. As my dad would say “you don’t discuss two things with your friends: politics and religion because in matters of opinion, debate if futile.”

If you’re going to provide something to the Facebook world, make it positive. Hood suggests that you should “be a giver and not a taker. You should offer help and expertise before you ask for anything online. Give away a lot of information and you will be recognized as special, and grow your reputation online.”

As an MBA, you should focus on building a brand for your expertise. One of the best methods for showing the world what you’ve got is video. Your video should incorporate two important considerations: content and quality. Your content should be valuable to your audience and should demonstrate your command of your area of expertise. If you want to be seen as a great leader, teach your audience about leadership principles and theories. Maybe you could take a leadership role in a charitable organization and share your experiences online. The quality aspect of your presentation should resemble any presentation representative of someone at your professional level with the quality your audience has come to expect. Just pretend that each video you display will be used by your next employer to evaluate you as their next hire. If you’re professional, insightful and inspirational online, then everyone will expect you to be just the same in real life.

Lastly, you’ll won’t to consider many of the same things you do with Linkedin; that is, use a good photo of yourself, use good grammar and build a decent size network of friends. If you use both LinkedIn and Facebook, ensure your profiles support each other, with no conflicting information. You can use Facebook to share a little more information about your personal side, giving potential employers a chance to

Articles, blogging and discussion groups. Writing articles for online publications is a form of developing a personal brand and demonstrating expertise and knowledge. However, first time writers struggle with topics to write about. There are numerous venues for ideas. The first is local and national news. Can you draw a correlation between an event of the day and your area of expertise? Other ideas include:

Interviews – contact experts in your field for a brief interview on a particular topic you are interested in. Then, create an article and blog about the interview. Put each in as many places on the internet as you can to increase your exposure and develop a following.
Faqs – solving people’s problems by answering their questions is a great way to demonstrate expertise. Find questions on the most popular websites in your profession. Write articles and blogs to answer these questions. Rinse and repeat.
What you wish you’d known – share the lessons you’ve learned over the years from specific experiences. Guidance and advice are always appreciated by those who are experiencing what you did for the first time.
Trends – websites, blogs, ezines and magazines are always looking for the latest trends in just about everything. Pitch your ideas to publications and websites.

You can also tap into the general utility of answering questions on LinkedIn and other Q&A websites like Quora. In Linkedin, the section is called Answers. Here you can ask your own questions, such as to understand trends, or you can answer other people’s questions. Ideally, it’s good if you do both. I typically ask questions to understand certain aspects about my profession. For example, if I want to know what career barriers people are running into in a specific corner of the world, I ask a question to a discussion group in LinkedIn that is for setup for that geographical region.

Answering questions to help individuals is an exciting activity. You get to share what you know with others and hopefully, solve their problems. It’s a great way to build your network, hone your troubleshooting skills, demonstrate you’re a problem solver and simply help people overcome adversity.

Finally, though social media gets all the attention these days, a good "old-fashioned" blog focusing on a niche of expertise should not be overlooked as a potential online form of reputation building.

How To Maintain Focus On Your Career Goals

Todd Rhoad — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 00:35:00 GMT

If you had to identify the biggest challenge most of us have with achieving our goals, you’d probably guess correctly that most of us just don’t plan for it. Sure, we work hard to accomplish specific tasks but we do so with the hope that someone else will see these great feats and automatically make the connection to the next step in our career. We don’t think about what these connections might be or how to make them ourselves. It’s not an easy thing to understand and takes time and analysis to comprehend. But, we don’t take the time or is it that we don’t have the time.

With so many things competing for our attention today, how can we effectively wade through the barrage of information to sort out what is truly important to our career?

In order to understand our challenge a little better, I interviewed David Allen, author of “Getting Things Done,” to find out what we could be doing differently. While the question was directed at MBAs, David’s answer will give everyone the key we’ve been looking for. Here’s part of our discussion.

Todd: What do MBA graduates miss when they develop their career goals?

David: One of the biggest things they miss that they don’t get in their training is to create a personal systemic process to manage keeping their own work and lives under control and being focused on the right things at the right time. This is a core or a meta-behavior or a meta-set of best practices that make all other best practices viable. If you’re out of control and unfocused, you can read all the best “market yourself” books but you won’t be able to execute on it. The critical element is that when you think about going into a job or a career, in terms of how well you manage the stuff you need to manage, you must be able to keep track of it.

It comes down to the two aspects of self-management: control and perspective. The only time you think you need a better system of management is when you think one of these is suboptimal. Either things are not as in control as possible or you feel you’re on unstable ground. If you’re on unstable ground, there’s a part of you that has the inability to focus appropriately or execute appropriately. You don’t have any traction. Even if you’re on stable ground, are you pointed in the right direction? If you’re pointed at the wrong stuff, you’ll create instability again. There’s a direct correlation between control and perspective.

If you have good self management skills, you’re ready for anything. If you have these behavior sets, you are ready for surprises that show up or if things don’t go as expected, you can recalibrate yourself quickly to take in new data, new situations and decide what they mean. Then you can hold this up against everything else you have going on and re-point yourself in the right direction. Simply put, can you keep yourself only as organized as you need to be and no more? [End of Interview]

To maintain control and perspective, you must possess a method that you can refer to when you need it. It must be easy to use. It must be simple. We’re already too busy and a lengthy process would never find time in our calendars. Well, David has suggestions for that too. In his simple approach, you must take the time to understand what it is that is commanding all of your attention. What are all of the things that are living inside your head? When it comes to mental processing, your conscious mind does not do the hard work. Most information goes to your subconscious mind anyway, where your problems are really solved. Your conscious mind actually gets in the way when you have too many things you’re trying to focus your attention on. You subconscious mind wants you to just tell it what you want it to figure out and then forget it. It will do all the work and come back to you with an answer. If you’re constantly thinking about an issue, your subconscious can’t help you figure it out. Your task is to keep your conscious mind clear.

Here’s a tip you can do today that will clear your mind and free up some processor time to solve problems and plan your path. Grab a notebook and write down all the things that are occupying your attention. This could include some basic needs like paying bills, getting new tires for the car, homework for a college course you’re taking, meetings you must attend and so on. This activity can take you several hours to complete. Notice I didn’t mention any work-related, networking or other career-related activities. You must write them all down. Once you complete your list, you’ll find that you normally have a lot on your mind. Most likely, you have too much on your mind and you’re occupying thought time on things you probably shouldn’t be (but this will be addressed later in another step in David Allen’s process).

Well, I hate to leave you with only the first step in this great process but this post is getting too long. Stay tuned for our next ebooks to be released where we’ll share the rest of David Allen’s process for removing the clutter from your conscious mind and how you can put your subconscious mind in top performing condition. You’ve heard the old adage “that life is all about the little things.” Well, it’s those little things that can slow you down in achieving the goals you really want when you spend too much time thinking about them. Free your mind and let it work the way it was meant to.

Thanks to David Allen for a great interview and advice on how we can improve our mental performance. You can learn more about David Allen at www.davidco.com.

Your College Grad Must Read List

Todd Rhoad — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 20:24:44 GMT

As new graduates consider heading into the corporate world, it’s a good idea to begin to read a little about what the real world is really like. Being successful is going to take a lot more than what you learn in academia. Technical skills are important but are only part of the success equation.

To help you begin your list, I’ve highlighted a few below that must be on it.

Who’s Holding Your Ladder by Samuel Chand

Radical Leap by Steve Farber

Networking Unplugged by Thom Singer

What got you here won’t get you there by Marshall Goldsmith

Getting things done by David Allen

You don’t need a title to be a leader by Mark Sanborn

Change your thinking Change your life by Brian Tracy

The Secret Handshake by Kathleen Reardon

Blitz The Ladder by J. Todd Rhoad

I also want to remind you to consider reading a few of my latest. As you go into the world, the first year will teach you a great deal. You'll begin to identify problems with career mobility and will soon after go on a quest to find solutions. Often, this journey will have you questioning the sufficiency of your skills. If you consider getting a graduate degree or an MBA, you've got to read these books. They'll teach you why others felt the same way, what they did to solve their problems and how it worked out.

Joy of the MBA by J. Todd Rhoad

The MBA Value Proposition by J. Todd Rhoad

The MBA Guide to Networking by J. Todd Rhoad

There are 6 other ebooks in this series to help you and guide you throughout your career. The stories included come from graduates just like yourself. The major benefit to these books is that they provide a truly global perspective, as they are written by graduates from all over the world. You'll soon find out that the world isn't as big as you think it is, especially the corporate world.

Good luck on your journey. Stay hungry my friends!

What I didn’t get in College

Todd Rhoad — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 00:19:00 GMT

We all go to college to get those essential skills that will set us on course for a happy and successful career. We work hard to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities to achieve our goals. Yet, somehow, this preparation for our career is lacking. We are all familiar with that feeling we get when we graduate and have to truly embark on that journey to our dreams. The feeling is captured well by the question “now what?” So what’s missing here? Does college actually prepare us for the real world or do we simply fail to prepare ourselves?

Virginia Tech’s Career Services’ latest Post graduate report highlights a few areas that are overlooked by students. The report presents results of their survey of VT graduates for the 2010-2011 academic year where they asked students what were their regrets related to planning for life after college. The major findings are below.

More experience in their major or career goals. This was identified by over half the respondents. It’s hard to say where the failure is here. Could it be the schools for not identifying this need? Do the students listen to their advice? The important point to note is that experience is a big key and that students must seek it out, either through the college or on their own. College is a place for more than just classes. Find an internship, part time job or become very active in professional organizations to learn from other professionals.

Career Options. Almost half the respondents said they wish they had learned more about career options. Decades ago the corporate world didn’t change as quickly as it does today. Back then, spending four years in a degree program wouldn’t impact your timing into the corporate world because things were fairly steady. Today, the market seems to try to respond to every demand, resulting in a turbulent environment where industries may change drastically in four years. As a student of a particular occupation, it is wise to constantly monitor your chosen profession to ensure you are aware of any developments. If your degree is more generic, then you’ll need to work with career services, your own network and even career coaches to assess your options.

Job Search. Just less than half of the respondents wished they had started their job search earlier. This would avoid a long transition period after graduation. It’s not too unusual to begin searching in your final year but the economic conditions will have an influence on this. When unemployment is high, the amount of time it will take you to find work will be longer. Start searching for work your junior year. If you’re in grad school, start your first semester.

Advice. About 42% of respondents feel they failed to ask advisors and professors for advice often enough. This is understandable as many students don’t know what to ask, especially when graduation is a few years away. This is an area both colleges and students need to improve upon. Colleges emphasize being successful in the program early on because they want students to graduates. However, career services could be educating students on market trends, career options, major organization changes, government policies, etc. (basically, anything that changes the job market). Students need to set Friday nights aside for internal self-assessment to understand what it is that really motivates them and drives them to succeed so that they can then identify industries and companies that can meet that need. Just kidding! We know that won’t happen. Students should take time to visit their career services’ events, even if they are 2 or 3 years away from graduating. You must know what the college has to offer and begin using their services as early as possible. Lastly, students can consult professionals like myself. We keep track of trends around the globe and work with many students and graduates, so we’ve probably seen your situation before and will be able to provide guidance.

The Internet, Super PACs and Death of the Individual Approach

Todd Rhoad — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 14:55:00 GMT

Achieving personal success has never been more challenging than it is today. Unemployment is high, creating a highly competitive landscape for obtaining a new opportunity for which most seem to be given to those with unparalleled networks. Somehow, these people know how to reach right into an organization and grab the job, raise or promotion long before it’s ever known to exist. So is networking the key to success?

One of the biggest challenges to achieving our dreams is that the huge successes we are bombarded with on a daily basis have forced a mindset that big leaps have to be made for us to feel successful. Social Networking is one of those huge successes. If we look at Facebook, LinkedIn and other top social networking sites, they seem to do one thing very well; that is, they create a good stage for collaboration. These sites aren’t successful because they create tons of joy and happiness in people’s lives. They are successful because they bring access to a lot of people in one single platform which has phenomenal marketing potential. The collaborative nature itself is extremely valuable, if only because it houses so much potential.

Compare this to the success of the individual user in one of these sites. Let’s say you are networking with LinkedIn and spend a lot of time connecting with people you don’t know seeking that next opportunity that will help you to take a step up on the success ladder. You send out invitation after invitation with minimal results. That’s because this approach is slightly better than other mass marketing techniques in that the return on these activities is usually a very small single digit percentage.

I’m not trying to downplay the value of networking or collaboration. I think we need to tap into the idea more. Even the individual in the highest political office sees great value in tapping into the support of active groups, like Super PACs. President Obama seems to be considering the financial support of these outside groups to help get him reelected. These groups help tout the benefits of Obama and risks associated with bringing someone new in the oval office. It’s money that gets spent on his campaign that doesn’t come out of his campaign budget. Achieving success through the efforts of others is such a novel idea.

When you look at how social networks and even politics benefit so greatly from collaboration, why would anyone want to try to achieve success by themselves? The individual approach to success isn’t likely to achieve big results in a short amount of time. If we look at what we normally do to get success as an individual, we will realize that we are using up our most valuable resource (time) fairly quick. Research shows that those who achieve promotions early in their career are more likely to achieve more success later in their career. So, if we spend four years earning a college, work for four more years and then exert two more years getting a master’s degree, we’ve used up ten years of our working lives. If you haven’t made great leaps and bounds up the ladder before this, you’ll have to make them in the next five or ten years if you hope to avoid being viewed as a slow performer. Yeah, it’s not fair but it’s reality. There's only a limited number of positions at the top and we have to discriminate to fill them.

So how can you tap into faster success? You can use the power of collaboration and networking. You can build your own team of supporters who can help you define your career path, build the skills you need, find the opportunities, network into corporate grapevines to gain access and recognition, and fight off the competition. The method for building such a career strategy is called the Blitz Approach. I’ve studied this for years and have even created a map on how to plan out this strategy. You can find this map and supporting material in our book at www.blitztheladder.com.

How much longer will you fight to achieve your goals all by yourself? Tap into the power of collaborative groups to save yourself time and effort in making your dreams a reality. As Brian Tracy said “it will save you years in moving onward and upward.”

South Africa’s MBA Culture

Todd Rhoad — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:58:00 GMT

Finweek, in conjunction with MBAConnect.net, has just released their first research report on the impact the MBA has on the lives of students and graduates in South Africa. This survey probed the question on whether or not the MBA was a worthy endeavor and what impact this objective had on the lives of students and graduates. Over 1500 respondents shared their views on the good and bad of the MBA pursuit. Here’s a few of the key findings of the survey.

One of the more interesting findings was related to why students pursue the MBA. Popular opinion suggests that the MBA is sought for career advancement and better pay. This survey found that professionals obtained the MBA to “be more productive in a business environment.” However, 77% of respondents indicated they had received a promotion or greater responsibility after earning the MBA.

Is the MBA a positive force on their career? Over 95% of respondents felt that the MBA improved their decision-making abilities. Nearly 90% felt the MBA bestowed more credibility on their careers by elevating the perceptions others had of them and improving their ability to interact with others at various levels. The MBA also made them better leaders, with other 90% of respondents attributing their skills learned in courses, skills learned from group interaction and a heightened self-awareness as the main drivers for this improvement.

Career changers found some benefit from the MBA, as 56% of the respondents changed careers after graduation. Of these graduates, 65% said the MBA made the difference.

One of the more profound positive impacts identified was the change in their outlook on life. Over two-thirds felt the MBA opened their eyes to new opportunities, renewed their interest in the business world and improved their level of confidence and self-belief.

As you might expect, the MBA isn’t “all that.” There were a few downsides to its pursuit. Most students (68%) stated that the financial requirements forced them to cut back on normal lifestyle expenses. Negative impacts were noted with regards to diet (48%), sleep (82%), stress (81%) and sex (42%).

What about beyond the MBA? This survey found room for improvement within the universities for several key career-related activities for Alumni. These include access to MBA-level job opportunities and networking events, helping graduates start and grow businesses and building personal brands.

While these are only a few of the results, it’s important to note the overall message from the survey; that is, the MBA is worth the pursuit. Even though students and graduates felt the universities were failing to meet some expectations, they are still looking to the MBA programs to be a big part of their post-MBA career.

You can find the survey results at MBAConnect.net (http://www.mbaconnect.net/finweeksurvey.aspx).

The MBA Value Proposition

Todd Rhoad — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:42:00 GMT

What does this book offer?

How do you become successful with an MBA? Many professionals today are searching for that one key to a highly successful career...the MBA. After they’ve earned it, they struggle with achieving the success they expected. The problem is that they don’t learn to communicate their new value to managers, potential employers and many others. This book will provide considerable insight to what many MBAs have done. Also, you’ll learn how they’ve found the value and shared it with others to achieve the success they sought. Lastly, you’ll get a simple plan to follow to establish your own value proposition.

How do you become successful with an MBA?

This is a question asked by too many MBA graduates. MBA programs teach critical business skills but few teach you how to communicate the value of the combination of your new skills, knowledge and experience. Opportunities for great success don’t come often. Graduates must be able to respond to such opportunities immediately with no hesitation.

The value of this book

This book brings you many perspectives on the MBA. It isn’t slanted on one particular view but seeks to give advice from those who have the degree and have used it in business for years. The MBAValue Proposition will give you a clear guidance on how to create the value image you want and broadcast it everywhere so that everyone will get the message of who you are and what you can contribute to their organization.

The only book of its kind

You can search all over the web but you won’t find a book that will share such valuable insights. It’s not just a bunch of analytical data. It’s not purely academic. It includes the thoughts and feelings of professionals just like you but maybe a little further along in their career. Don’t miss another opportunity because you couldn’t communicate your value. Read stories from those who’ve found ways to share their value with companies and people around the globe.

Ordering information

Visit www.blitzteamconsulting.com to learn more. You can also order the book online from Amazon and Barnes&Noble.

Why won’t they help me?

Todd Rhoad — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:14:02 GMT

No one argues that networking is a vital part of your career. Brand new college graduates already know that their network is the biggest factor in finding their first job after graduation. If you’ve been laid off recently, you are fully aware of the power of having friends in other companies. Career mobility in periods of high unemployment is almost entirely driven by your ability to connect with other professionals. But what happens when you don’t have a big network? You’re forced to reach out to people you don’t know personally and ask them for help. It’s like mass marketing. You send out tons of emails and get very few responses. What should you do?

First, it’s not you. But it could be your approach. In this post, we’ll look at a few things you should consider including in your networking strategy.

Authenticity. Your request must feel genuine. Don’t be afraid to share the truth of your situation. Hiding the fact that you got fired or laid off will send signals up like roman candles. If your recipient gets that slightest sense that something isn’t right, they’ll just delete your request.

Action-oriented. You must ensure your request defines how you found the person, why you chose them and how they can help. Make sure they know what you want them to do. The email recipient will assume you’ve taken the time to assess what they do, what their company does and how you will fit in. Therefore, you should have some idea what you them to help you with. If you’re just sending it blindly with the hopes that they’ll figure something out, it won’t happen. Don’t do it.

Reciprocity. Giving back does work. However, your initial approach should offer something to the recipient rather than simply asking for help. As a writer, I'm always asking others for advice. I usually find a way to give something beforehand or in return for their support. It’s a sign that I value their time and effort and appreciate them spending it on me.

Likeness. Search for those who are like you. People who have the same background or upbringing are likely to share the same values as you do. Try to find some commonalities with those you reach out to as it helps establish a connection and give them a reason to consider helping you.

Validation. This is the most powerful tool you can use. If you're looking for help from someone at a higher level than you or in an industry you’ve never worked in before, get a referral. If you’re reaching out to a CEO and another CEO makes a referral for you, you’ve got a good chance that you’ll get a response. Otherwise, the CEO’s gatekeeper will stop your request from ever crossing their desk.

Persistance. Never give up on what you want. People respond to passion. If you’re trying to get a contact in a particular company, don’t quit until you get one. Try different methods for contacting people in the company, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or direct email. I once sought a contact for 18 months. I did get it. Be persistent.

Help others. Many roads to success have been paved with this strategy. Offer your support to others without regard for reward or payment of your efforts. Good things will come to you. This was Oprah’s claim to fame.

Networking is the key to opportunity in today’s economy. Having all of the other ingredients, such as knowledge, skills, abilities and a college degree, are just part of the admission price to the game. Networking is a skill that can be learned. If you don’t have a big network, you’ll have to practice a lot. But once you find something that works, you can quickly build upon it to find that next great opportunity.

Why We Struggle With Networking

Todd Rhoad — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:21:34 GMT

In this post, we’ll hear from speaker and author, Thom Singer, who is an expert in social networking and personal branding. After you read this post on our flaws in Networking, make sure to check out his site to gain a lot more insight on how you can become a much better networker. Thom can be found at www.thomsinger.com. As an MBA student or graduate, you’ll want to read his book, “Some Assembly Required: A Networking Guide for Graduates.”

Now….a few words from Thom Singer.

First of all, we live and serve the ‘John Wayne Cowboy’ society, which is a culture where everyone believes we have to achieve success alone. We think success is for loners but this is hardly true. In reality, it doesn’t matter who you are, from Bill Gates to the president to a person running a successful chain of chicken restaurants, you can’t do everything. Our society is driven by a mentality that we can’t ask for help, because we believe no one is out there to help us. Mentally, we start out totally wrong. There are people who can and will help. Success comes from long-term and mutually beneficial relationships.

Secondly, networking has gotten a bad name over the years. Can you believe it? When people think of networking, they think of ‘takers.’ We think that people only show up when they have a need. For example, “I just got laid off and I better go network because I need a job.” Another common example is with Sales people. When they are not making their quotas, they will call everyone in their network to ask them to make referrals for them. They don’t keep in touch the rest of the time.. On the flip side of this argument is that networking is always happening. It’s a give and take. It’s not something you just do when you need something because people see right through that really quick. So you have to be constantly engaged and be willing to help and serve other people. Don’t keep score. But that’s not the way many people think of networking.

Another problem with networking is the definition. If I ask ten people to give me a definition of networking, I’d probably get 7 or 8 different definitions. The definition I like to use is “the creation of long term and mutually beneficial relationships between two or more where everyone involved succeeds more because of the relationship than they would without the relationship.” The key is that it is mutually beneficial and everyone is successful. People too often overlook this aspect of networking, and fear they might just look needy or like a taker. But if you’re doing it right, you won’t because you’ll be giving far more than you are getting. That never looks bad.

The final reason we struggle with networking is that we often witness many successful people who have law degrees, MBAs and engineering degrees and who are mostly left-brained. They are thoughtful, study hard and do research. They never would be confused as the social butterflies of their world. They are self-identified as introverted. They think it is hard to go out and talk to people, so they do not place a priority on the activity. The surprising reality here is that introverts are better networkers. If we go back to the other examples I mentioned when all you’re doing is talking about yourself, no one is going to like it. No one likes a braggart. Unlike the extroverts, Introverts ask questions and listen intensely to what others are saying. Extroverts can sometimes be focused on what they are going to say next while the other person is talking, missing the entire message. When you are listening to the other person, you are more likely to see where you can make the connection to help them. Most introverts tell me after they get to know someone they are more comfortable in talking about themselves. If an introvert goes in and asks a lot of questions, then they’ll learn something about that person. Knowing a little about someone breeds familiarity and so the introvert becomes more comfortable in sharing things freely.

Networking is your key to career success. Do it incorrectly and you go nowhere. Become proficient at it and you’ll fill your life with opportunity.

Thanks, Thom. We appreciate the time you’ve spent with us. You can find out more about Thom, his books, articles, speaking events and blogs at www.thomsinger.com.

An interview with Dr. Samuel Chand: How to become a change agent

Todd Rhoad — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 23:43:17 GMT

My latest interview brings you phenomenal insight into what it takes to become a change leader in a world that is full of change. In this interview, we talk with Dr. Samuel Chand. As a Dream Releaser, Dr. Samuel R. Chand serves Pastors, ministries and businesses as a Leadership Architect and Change strategist. Dr. Chand has served as senior Pastor, college President, Chancellor and President Emeritus.

He personally consults, mentors and coaches some of the country’s largest church Pastors, speaks regularly at leadership conferences, churches, corporations, Leadership Roundtables, Minister’s conferences, seminars and other leadership development opportunities. He was named in the top-30 global leadership Gurus list. His singular vision for his life is to Help Others Succeed. Being raised in a pastor’s home in India has uniquely equipped Dr. Chand to share his passion – that of mentoring, developing and inspiring leaders to break all limits – in ministry and the marketplace.

We are truly privileged to bring to you the following interview on Leadership.

Todd: How can MBA graduates become change leaders?

Dr. Chand: The old adage “ the only constant in the world is change” is still true. The challenge with most MBA programs is that they are taught by people like me; that is, boomers, for whom stability and consistency is a mantra. How do we keep the environment stable? How do we make changes or translate changes? The risk threshold for my group is not as great as the risk threshold for students coming up in current MBA programs. To be a change leader is this environment, the professor or mentor has to be a person that transcends their generational stability and consistency issues and be willing to go above and beyond them. Change really is a more constant art. You can’t teach people to change. It is the environment that allows people to change. I mean an environment where change, risk taking, innovation, creativity and new ideas are not frowned upon but are seen as experimentation. That’s what creates the leader attitude. But it has to begin with what happens in the classroom and the environment students find themselves in.

Todd: What skills do students and graduates need to focus on to become a leader?

Dr. Chand: Students and graduates need to build both hard and soft competencies. The hard competencies include project management, strategic planning, implementation, team creation. The soft competencies are far more important than the hard ones. Soft competencies include skills like listening. Listening is one of the top priorities where you are not just hearing biologically but are listening internally, not only to what is being said but what is being omitted. You must go after the omissions because what is not being said is a whole lot more volatile than what is being said. Another soft skill is the idea of having organic conversations. That is holding a conversation that doesn’t begin with the end in mind. You got into the conversation open minded and let the conversation take you where it is going to go. Most people that come out of management or business schools come out with strategic conversations where they have formed some type of mental template. This means that if they take the conversation down a certain road or path, they will get a certain result or outcome. Lastly, a great soft skill is putting aside what you have to bring to the conversation aside and not letting your contribution be the centerpiece of the interaction. It is not about getting this account, getting the job or what you’ll get out of it. It’s about helping others succeed. It’s about going into a situation where you are thinking about what can make this other person successful. It’s about a win, not a win-win. A win-win is a 50% proposition. A win is a 100% proposition. Every promotion or raise you’ll get will come because you have created significant value for someone else, so much so that they want to continue to take you along on their journey. If you make them successful, you will be successful.

Being a change leader today requires the development of some unique soft competencies. They are unique in the fact that these aren’t the type of skills business schools teach. Taking from one of today’s leadership gurus, who has tested these skills in many different environment with many different audiences, the soft side is your ticket to greater success, even if you aren’t focusing on making yourself successful. Good luck on your journey.

Thanks, Dr. Chand for sharing your time and experience with us. You can learn much more about Dr. Chand at www.samchand.com. You can capture more of his wisdom from his many books and CD sets located on his Resources page.

The Joy of an MBA

Todd Rhoad — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:58:22 GMT

Our first ebook "The Joy of an MBA" has been released!

The first book in the Henry Series for MBAs has been released!

This book is for all who've thought about getting an MBA and what it could do for your career. It's also for those who have the MBA but haven't felt the impact of it yet. While the MBA is touted as the credentional to have to build real career success, few have learned how to use this key to unlock the door to success.

The Joy of an MBA will take you deep into the minds of MBA graduates and students from around the globe. You'll learn why they got their degree and what they are doing with it. It's a look into the career paths of others who share the same dreams as you.

This book is not a bunch of statistics about the MBA that, while interesting, are not useful in helping you plan your path to success. Experience is learning by trying. That's what you'll get from this book. You'll feel the years of experience and you will take the lessons to fold into your strategy for making your dreams come true.

You can find "The Joy of an MBA" at Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites. If you're considering the MBA or are a student, this book will serve as a guide through your program and into the business world. If you’re an MBA graduate, you'll enjoy the stories told by other MBA graduates from around the globe on how they use their MBA to improve many aspects of their career.

http://www.amazon.com/Joy-MBA-Henry-ebook/dp/B005OD6TB2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1316608323&sr=8-4

Stay tuned, Book #2, The MBA’S VALUE PROPOSITION, will be released at the end of this month. In this book, students and graduates will learn how to communicate their value as an MBA holder to potential employers, bosses, admissions and many more audiences.

Dakota Meyer Raises the Leadership Question

Todd Rhoad — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:16:00 GMT

Dakota Meyer was recently awarded the Medal of Honor by the Commander in Chief for disobeying his leaders' orders. This is an interesting contradiction. The highest level military leader awards the highest honor to a soldier for disobeying an order. We all understand why he did it and certainly commend his bravery. But why was this necessary? Several officers had the opportunity to make the right decision and save lives. But they didn't. Meyer saved 36 lives. His leadership failed to assess the situation accurately. Officers are trained to be leaders, right? At the very least, they are in a position that must make decisions for others.

I know you are thinking what I am. Just because you are college educated and put in a leadership position, are you really a leader? Officers are trained. Intentional efforts are made to develop specific skills in the area of leadership. This type of activity falls in line with the belief that leadership can be taught. Let’s dig a little deeper.

Are leaders born or made? This question has been asked a million times. We’ve just looked at one simple example of making leaders and have found that there are some serious issues with that approach. Let’s take a look at a few situations to see if we can better understand the question.

Let’s now consider the corporate environment. How many times have you been in a corporate M&A where the bigger company buys a smaller one and brings their leaders in to take over your company? After a few weeks, you realize the new leadership doesn't know anything about your business; much less, the competition, the market, the technology and so on. A year or two later, your company has been downsized and is making less revenue than before the acquisition. The smaller company is either sold, shut down or left holding on to the end of their rope with both hands and a death grip. Often the leadership will restructure the management ranks in an attempt to spark some life back into the company. In Ken Blanchard’s book, “Leading at a Higher Level,” he mentions that some of the best leaders in industry set their sights on the right targets and vision. Can you teach someone to be a visionary?

What about politics? Yes, I know, I usually don’t talk about this stuff but it’s too easy to use them as an example. Leaders in the white house and congress are supposed to bring people together to resolve issues. Yet, every time you see them on the news (because we never see them in public), they just seem to be blaming someone else for their lack of progress. John Maxwell mentions in his book, “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, “ that leadership ability determines a person’s level of effectiveness.” If congress can’t get results on anything (i.e. not effective), what does it say about their ability? Arthur Carmazzi, author of “The 6 Dimensions of Top Achievers,” suggests that leader requires an understanding of how YOU as a leader affect the Psychology of a group, and how the group’s reactions affect you and each of the individual members of that group. Carmazzi also suggests that a leader’s actions and reactions not only affect the psychology of individuals, but affect the entire culture of the organization or group. So do you think blaming others has an impact? Does it help or hurt? Have we filled our government with real leaders?

Ok, enough examples. In looking at whether leaders are born or made, we might want to consider some characteristics of leaders. Daniel Goleman, in his Harvard Business Review article “What makes a good leader?” states that “Without [emotional intelligence], a person can have first-class training, an incisive mind, and an endless supply of good ideas, but he still won't make a great leader.” Emotional intelligence can be learned but the problem is we aren’t good at identifying it in the workplace and based on our history of developing leadership, we probably couldn’t teach this in the workplace anyhow. Remember, we hire the right people in the first place (i.e. someone we don’t have to train).

Stephen Covey identifies effective communication as a key characteristic. Communication skills can be taught but does it make one an effective communicator? John Maxwell talks about the Law of Intuition. Can we teach intuition? Look around the web and you’ll find thousands of characteristics for leaders, such as empathy, respect, vision, passion, purpose, and so on. Can we teach all of these?

Are leaders born or made? I think the answer is convoluted by our interpretation of the word ‘leader.’ When we think of this word, we usually envision a great leader, not an average one. It’s true that we can teach many people specific skills and put them in a leadership position. If that’s the definition of a leader, then we can make them but I wouldn’t expect spectacular results. If we expect a leader to deliver extraordinary results, then we better find people who are gifted in many of those leader characteristics. This difference would lead us to the comparison between talent and skill. Such as, you can teach a guy to play basketball but you can’t make them the next Michael Jordan. Regardless of our definition of the word ‘leader’ or whether they are born or made, the world needs more of them.

What do you think?

Personal Branding: Really?

Todd Rhoad — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 14:51:15 GMT

I’ve always wondered why employees really need to be concerned with personal branding. It’s certainly a hot topic on the web. I’ve watched people write blogs that eventually became books and magazines. Heck, some even grew into businesses. So why does a regular employee in a company concern themselves with branding? You would think that their performance against their goals should be sufficient to determine their value to the company, unless business has gotten more complicated. I can’t see that as being the case. However, I do think change has come. Actually, it has diffused from the top echelon to the lowest levels of the organization. Here’s my pitch.

Henry Mintzberg performed an amazing study in the early 1970’s for his PhD dissertation at MIT analyzing the actual work habits and time management of chief executive officers (CEOs). He found that CEOs performed ten managerial roles. I don’t want to go into much detail here on each role. You can read his book by HarperCollins, entitled “The Nature of Managerial Work” if you want to know more. The point is that of these roles, the CEOs spent most of their time looking outward. This means they don’t spend a lot of time analyzing the internal workings of the company or developing the next level of leaders. They are the face of the company and consider themselves challenged to grow the company by interacting with potential customers, partners, etc.

Since they are CEOs and just one individual in the company, their absence from the day-to-day work is tolerable. Now, let’s look just below the CEOs. In the 1980's, top managers and practitioners began to question middle managers' importance. At the same time, environmental changes such as the globalization of the economy and the development of information technology fostered variations in organizational structures. These changes, often associated with downsizing, probably resulted in a modification of middle managers' roles. You think?

Pavett and Lau performed a study in the 80’s looking at the other level of managers and compared them with Mintzberg’s results on CEOs. They found that the lower level managers emulated the higher levels of managers. Why? One startling conclusion was that managers that performed the duties we would normally think a manager should perform, such as training and development of employees, were promoted far less than managers that emulated the top brass. This is a breakdown in design. If managers can get promoted by avoiding the activities that were originally designed into their job, then they will undoubtedly abstain from doing that work. You get what you reward, right?

So here’s my thinking on branding today. The same trend that went from the CEOs down to the lowest levels of management has diffused further into the ranks of the salaried and even hourly workers. Performance isn’t something we are graded on anymore. Just look at your last performance review. It’s all social or soft skills that we need to be good at. But why? That seems more like a skill for those outward facing, like a CEO, than it does for the lower ranks of the company. Employees should be focused on their tasks and ensuring they perform effectively and efficiently. However, if they aren’t graded on that performance, then you won’t get it. Lower managers are focused on acting like a CEO. It’s on their minds. It’s how they grade themselves. Have they passed this down to their own employees? Could we now be faced with a system that’s totally based on social awareness? Are we now in a society were social prowess trumps technical prowess at all levels?

Share your thoughts.

The Goal of an MBA: An Interview with Brian Tracy

Todd Rhoad — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 21:14:43 GMT

In this post, I share some advice from my recent discussion with Brian Tracy. Brian Tracy is Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a company specializing in the training and development of individuals and organizations. Brian Tracy has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 4,000,000 people in 4,000 talks and seminars throughout the US, Canada and 40 other countries worldwide. As a Keynote speaker and seminar leader, he addresses more than 250,000 people each year. Brian Tracy has studied, researched, written and spoken for 30 years in the fields of economics, history, business, philosophy and psychology. He is the top selling author of over 45 books that have been translated into dozens of languages.

Here’s a few notes from this interview.

Todd: What are the most difficult aspects of the career to set goals for? How do can MBAs get around them?

Brian: You start off with your income. Make a five or your ten year plan. Then you say “what will I have to contribute for them to willingly pay me this amount?” What MBAs have to understand is that the MBA degree is a like a merit badge in the Boy Scouts. It indicates to the employer that you have certain abilities to achieve goals. It doesn’t indicate that you can, just that you have the ability. Most companies take two years to detrain an MBA to get them to the point where they can contribute something worthwhile. The job of the MBA is to short circuit that learning curve. The key focus to MBAs has to be results, not just the goals you get from your employer. The most important results are financial results. You have to increase sales or revenue, or either reduce cost, depending on your area of specialization. A great opportunity in business today is to put great focus on increasing revenues through marketing and sales. You have to find some way to have an influence on revenues. That has to be the central focus of the MBA. Now remember that 80% of people that graduate from college never use what they learned for the rest of their lives. Therefore, all the courses you take are what I call mental pushups. They indicate you can do mental pushups. Now you have to get results to to help your company get more results today. That has to be the focus. With the law of indirect effort, the giver results in higher pay, job security, faster promotion and greater attractiveness in the market. The indirect way of impressing another person (Law of Indirect Effort); however, is simply to be impressed by the other person. The more you are impressed by the other person, by who he or she is, or what he or she has accomplished, the more likely it is that the other person will be impressed by you.

Todd: How should MBAs set priorities for achieving their goals (e.g. effort, time, reward)?

Brian: The most important qualities for success with the MBA are focus and concentration. You must have absolute clarity about what you are trying to accomplish. Then, concentrate on just these activities. So, I’ve deemed what I call the Law of Three. There are basically three tasks that we engage in that contribute 90% of the results or value in that job. Everything else is in the other 10%. So what you have to do is to make a list of everything you do in the course of a week or a month. Then ask yourself if “I can only do one thing on this list which activity contributes the greatest value to my business?” Put a circle around that. Then, ask the question again, if I can only do two things? Then, try three things. The answers should pop out at you. If you don’t know the answers, you haven’t got a chance. One of the ideas I share when teaching teambuilding is that you are not only competing with every other company, you are personally competing with your counterpart in every other company. There’s an old saying that goes “if you’re not constantly learning to get better, somewhere some else is.” If you are doing this, when you meet that person you will lose. Therefore, you are competing with your counterpart who is doing the same job trying to get the same result in a competitive company. Just like in the Olympics, you’re competing against athletes from other nations. Your competing against business athletes from other companies. The other thing is you’re also competing with the people within your business, who also want the same rewards, promotions, perks and opportunities that you do. Don’t forget that while teamwork is working together, loving, hugging and sharing, every person you are working with wants to get more and better rewards, So you are going to have to outperform the people to the right and left of you. The only way you can do that is first by focusing on the really valuable things that make a big difference to your boss and company and continually getting better at what you do.

So I say with regards to the Law of Three, do fewer things but do more of them, do them more of the time and get better at it. Getting better is one of the most important skills for an MBA; that is to continually get better at the most important things. If you don’t know what they are, just go ask your boss. Just say “Hey, I just got my MBA. If there were a few major things that contribute 90% of the value to the company, what would you say I could do to make the biggest contribution I can?”

Our thanks to Mr. Tracy for taking time to speak with us. More tips and advice from Brian Tracy will appear in our upcoming ebooks for MBAs.

Go to www.briantracy.com to learn more. You can also capture some great advice from his blog at www.briantracy.com/blog.

Success by Running In Circles

Todd Rhoad — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 13:22:50 GMT

John Adair is the Chair of Strategic Leadership for the United Nations and one of Britain's foremost authorities on leadership and leadership development in organizations. In this post, you'll learn about one of his most important contributions to the understanding of leadership.

Before Adair, and arguably still today, people associate leadership with the so called 'Great Man Theory.' In other words, we see leadership as one charismatic individual who uses his or her personal power and rhetoric to mobilize the company. Even Adair admits that this mentality needs to change.

Adair approaches leadership from a more practical and simple angle; by describing what leaders have to do and the actions they need to take. This is a warm welcome to many MBA graduates who seek to be a high achiever and are looking for a path to greater career success. Knowing what to do and how to act is one of their largest hurdles.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), about 156,250 MBA degrees are granted each year in the US. MBA students represent about 25% of all Master’s graduates. That’s a lot of potential leaders heading into the corporate world every year. But many graduates have little leadership experience and are cast into organizations that hold the perception that MBAs are created to lead.

Where should MBAs graduates begin? “It is absolutely essential that MBAs take on board the relatively recently discovered generic role of a business (using that term in the widest sense) leader. For that centres on the three circles of task, team and individual. So it forms the basis of effective leadership at all three levels: team, operational and strategic,” says Adair.

These circles are part of Adair’s Action-Centered Leadership Model. Each circle overlaps and influences the other. A good leader recognizes that a healthy interaction between the team, the task and the individual is vital. So for example, if you’re leading a project, then you, as the leader, would need to think about:

Task: what are the goals, what are the resources needed, what are the timelines, etc.

Team: how will the tasks be divided amongst the team, how often will they meet, how will they interact with stakeholders, how will they measure success etc.

Individual: are the team members working to their strengths? Are they learning from each experience? Are they being listened to on the team? etc.

Basically if one person is to run a group of others, then the size of the group will be determined in the first place by the task requirements of the job. This is the first area of need that a leader must to look at, i.e. task needs. They also have to try to use the expertise and talents of their subordinates and more importantly, coordinate one person with another and create an effective working group or team. Success is achieved by balancing all three circles.

We can see through our own experience in everyday life, how these three areas interact with each other and how sometimes one area can be ignored, resulting in disruption in the other two. In organizations, such disruptions invoke a leader mindset failure that if ignored for a length of time can easily derail your personal success.

As an MBA graduate, you’re expected to be a good leader. If you remain focused on Adair’s three circles, you can prove your worth at almost any level of the organization.

If the three circles aren’t providing you enough clarity for proper execution, you may want to take a step back and engage in introspection. Adair has provided many great resources to aid in creating more success. Among these are his ‘100 Greatest Ideas’ series which includes ‘100 Greatest Ideas for Being a Brilliant Manager’ and ‘100 Greatest Ideas for Effective Leadership’.

We would like to thank Dr. John Adair for taking the time to share his expertise with us. You can learn more about his work at http://www.adair-international.com and http://www.johnadair.co.uk.

Please stay tuned for more of his expertise in our upcoming ebook series for MBA potentials, students and graduates.

Action Centred Leadership and the Three Circles (words and image) are trademarks™ used by John Adair and Adair International Ltd. ACL is a registered trademark® of John Adair.

Success Through Positive Difference

Todd Rhoad — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 21:06:46 GMT

A major challenge for young and brilliant professionals is learning to create their ability to influence. Way too often talented graduates seek influence by demonstrating their knowledge, proving they are right and demanding credit for their smarts. After all, they spent many years developing their expertise in the hopes that they will be able to make a significant impact on the organization and will be promptly rewarded for it. However, most organizations don’t provide the right environment for this type of behavior.

Organizations need top performers as they can be a huge force in solving problems, growing the business and reducing cost of operations. Unfortunately, these high performers engage such opportunities with the mindset that the reward for such accomplishments should be theirs. While this may seem like a fair assessment, one must realize that employees are hired to help build the organization and provide reward to the stockholders, not solely for themselves.

After numerous attempts to be seen for their expertise, high performers can become discouraged and even demotivated. Gaining success in their career becomes more challenging as their attitude becomes evident to those around them. Despite what you can do, a negative attitude is always seen as a bad personal characteristic. No one cares how it was developed, whether they were treated unfairly or if their efforts constantly went unrewarded. A bad attitude is still bad.

In an interview with Marshall Goldsmith, I was reminded of the power of a positive attitude. Marshall shared his thoughts from a recent experience.

“The greatest leaders I’ve ever met are always up, always positive, always focused on the mission and always focused on service. I had the privilege of having dinner two weeks ago with Alan Mulally, who just won the CEO of the year in the United States. Alan went into Ford during some very adverse conditions where he did a spectacular job of leading a turnaround. Instead of becoming down and depressed, he was always focused on service and how to make a positive difference. He wasn’t focused on whining or himself, he was always focused on what he could do to help others. “

The power to make a positive difference begins with a positive attitude. Unfortunately, there are many obstacles to sustaining a healthy positive attitude, which I'll list only a few shortly. Positive attitude is obtained through a simple 4-step process. The four steps are:

accept that they exist - denial won't make them go away.
recognize them - the faster you see them coming, the more time you have to maneuver.
refuse to respond negatively to them - don't give in to emotional response. Drive with logic.
quickly work around them - don't waste time on obstacles. Don't get consumed either, your happiness depends on it.

Some of the more common obstacles to your development of a positive attitude and your growth towards making a positive difference are listed below. Throughout your career, you will encounter many things that will attempt to derail you or slow you down. It is rare that you will find yourself in a corporate environment that makes personal growth, learning and your career development a priority. Remember, making money comes first. Now to that list of obstacles.

Money comes first - This is what companies want. If you can help them get more, you’ll be better off.
Bad managers exist – You’ll find managers who only have their interest at heart and will do just about anything to limit their competition. You may be smarter, but they’re the boss.
Companies don’t develop talent – It is unlikely that you’ll find many companies that will hold your hand and guide you to the top. Besides, most of the people at the top want to stay there.
Competition is fierce – With unemployment so high, more people will be seeking greater qualifications and skills. Then, they’ll be chasing higher level positions too.
Advanced degrees are entrance tickets – Great knowledge is only a ticket to the game. It offers no guarantee of anything. You must use it to accomplish great things for the company and others.

Once you’ve found positive attitude, you can move on to making a positive difference. High performers have great skill, knowledge and ability. It is their responsibility to utilize these things to make the world around them a better place. For example, if I made everyone around me into millionaires, I wouldn’t need to be one. The positive impact I would have on others would be reciprocated to me in times of need. Positive difference is creating positive change no matter what the situation or circumstances may be. It is proactive. It is deliberate. It is also difficult and challenging and it will challenge you all throughout your career. But high performers who’ve found their way aren’t intimidated as they have learned that positive difference will lead them to the achievement of their goals and dreams.

Many thanks to Marshall Goldsmith for sharing his expertise in our recent interview. You can read more from Marshall in our upcoming eBook series for MBAs. Stay tuned for their release.

For more advice from Marshall Goldsmith, you can go to www.marshallgoldsmithlibrary.com.

5 Elements of a Healthy Networking Strategy

Todd Rhoad — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 21:11:47 GMT

In her white paper “Connected Citizens: The Power, Peril and Potential of Networks,” Diana Scearce shares with us some characteristics of over 70 experiments that focused on helping people connect, be heard and engage in action. Before I list the 5 key elements and how it can apply to your career, it’s important to note that these elements require engagement of both sides of the network brain: off-line and on-line interaction. You can’t do it all on the web and you limit your reach if you try to do it all in person. An effective use of both sides will undoubtedly give you the best results.

According to the U S Bureau of Labor Statistics 70% of all a jobs found by networking. Even college students realize this. The GMAC reports that the number one source for employment for MBA graduates is their own personal network. That’s right, not even the colleges can produce better results and they setup programs to work with employers directly. Networking is without a doubt the most critical skill for long term career success. Here are a few considerations for building today’s network centric career strategy.

Consulting the masses. This element focuses on actively listening. If you’re online, you’ll want to listen to conversations and openly asking for advice. When I first began developing my career plans, I would just read what people were posting on the web and try to incorporate it myself. This could be as simple as copying the format of a resume that looked good to me. Yet, this simple step seemed to be lacking something. Results weren’t impressive. There’s so much to applying such advice that is left out of the articles. So I began to contact other people for support, mostly by email. You know….that multiple perspectives thing. This improved things somewhat. The difficulty was that it was hard to find someone willing to help. Little did I know I was looking for support in the wrong environment.

It wasn’t until I truly engaged in discussion groups that I began to really learn what it takes to build a real plan. LinkedIn discussion groups became extremely useful as I engaged in debate and commentary on topics that were important to me. As I ran into the same people over and over online, I began to develop relationships with them. NOTE: You need numerous interactions with people to begin developing a relationship. Not just a single email. Eventually, these people began referring me to others. This is growing your online network.

At the same time I was engaged in online discussion groups, I began the same activity, except this time I was meeting folks face to face. Strangely enough, the number of interactions is fairly similar. You make an initial contact, then you follow up with and stay in touch periodically to maintain the familiarity. Hopefully you find something you are both interested in so that you have the opportunity to work together. I develop activities all the time where I need support from others, giving me a reason to contact my network. However, you can’t just constantly ask people for support. You must give back. Reciprocity is vital.

Striking a creative plasma. A plasma is a unique environment where, under the right temperatures, pressures and ambient gas, atoms will collide with each other and generate ions; thereby, making it highly conductive . You see the results when you look at the sun or the stars at night. Now, imagine yourself among a group of like-minded, eager individuals like yourself. Everyone is discussing career topics with great interest and drive, bouncing ideas off of one another and eventually creating ingenious solutions to the problems. How much brighter would your future be if you could create this type of environment or network you could tap into as needed?

It can be done. Take my friend, Chris Perry, for example. He started the site CareerRocketeer, a site for great career advice. He started out very small and now has a huge following. You should be able to find many sites like Chris’ that have numerous authors, experts and coaches that you can reach out to for advice. These sites give you access to a lot of people wanting answers to the same problems you have. Post your comments, email questions and most of all get engaged. To do this offline, you need to find groups and associations that mimic this same online behavior. Of course, you’ll need to do more than just become a member. You must be energized and willing to bump into people. This is how energy is shared and new things are created.

Embrace diversity. Most people approach their networking strategy the way they address their marketing strategy. When we create a marketing plan, we identify a specific group of people with very specific characteristics that we target. Why? Because this helps us narrow down the world into a small group of people who are most likely interested in what we have to share. We often engage in networking the same way, except that the characteristics of our target audience are the same characteristics we have. We seek out people just live ourselves! As Einstein once said, “solutions are not found within the same paradigm the problem was created.” If we continue to always consult like-minded people, we may always get the same answer. If your network isn’t providing you the answers you seek, you may be suffering from a lack of diversity of thought. I’ve improved my network online by joining international groups. Their perspectives bring new insight into my assessments and even the definition of my career related issues.

As an engineer, I always sought to consult engineers when making career changes. They were just like me so their experience should be similar. It was. So were their suggestions and my results. Most of us struggle to understand where our skills can take us in our career because we have such a limited view of the world. While you may find that the problems you see with your career are fairly common, the approach others take can be very different. I have found much of my career to be trial and error. Now, I use the expertise of my network to learn about pitfalls before I unknowingly dive into one.

Mutual Support. Have you ever joined a group on LinkedIn where nothing really seemed to be happening? There were no engaging discussions, useful links, job leads and articles. You probably didn’t stay with that group for long. People usually stay engaged when they see some benefit. In the previous example, my network was normally engaged with a bunch of engineers to solve a single problem. However, in networks that promote mutual support, members often find more reasons than the single issue they initially sought to resolve. The network provides opportunities to engage with other members, by providing solutions as well as finding them. Quality exchanges of ideas will also lead to the development of trust, where you will find that the network will respond favorably and open itself up a little more to expose you to more growth opportunities.

Readily applicable knowledge. Have you ever read a book that you could never figure out how to apply to your situation? There’s little that is more frustrating than advice you can’t use. A real network-centric strategy will offer solutions that can be implemented right away. No one wants the “take two aspirins and call me in the morning” type of guidance. This type of give and take will allow you to create a network that lasts over your whole career because we all bond to people who genuinely help us.

In solving issues in a network, it’s very important to clearly outline what the goals are, what you need people to do and provide some sort of feedback path so that learning can take place. Leave little to interpretation. However, you’ll need to give members of the network room to stretch out their creativity for solving problems. Some of the best networks I’ve seen are almost like a fish tank. You throw the idea in the water and all the fish rush up to the surface to chomp on it.

Peter Drucker once said “more business decisions occur over lunch and dinner than at any other time, yet no MBA courses are given on the subject.” You could infer from Drucker that the path to career success is heavily dependent upon your network and something that you aren’t taught to develop. The best way to begin is to just start. Find a group online and offline as your starting block. Engage heavily in the conversation and drive to the solutions you need. Focus on helping others along the way. They’ll remember you for it and reciprocate. The greatest advantage about learning to create your network both online and offline is that you’ll never be disconnected from your knowledge source.

Why High Achievers Fail

Todd Rhoad — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 13:44:07 GMT

Stagnant high achievers are those exceptional professionals that avoid challenging situations. This is the latest analysis from the Harvard Business Review. In their June issue article, “Managing Yourself: The Paradox of Excellence, “ Thomas and Sara DeLong state that high achievers focus more on protecting their image and performing routine activities than on taking risk to experience personal growth. I want to take some time to explain why these results aren’t universal, as my clients don’t exhibit these characteristics. This is a look at what we have instead of what we need.

What is a high achiever? I assume by the term high achiever, the DeLong’s are referring to someone in upper management or the executive ranks of an organization. I think it is important to recognize that a high achiever, by this definition, may be someone who managed to be promoted up the ranks of an organization but may not be necessarily gifted. There is a big difference. We all know that many people are promoted to their level of incompetence, and then some (refer to Dr. Lawrence J. Peter’s principle published back in 1969). If you look at some of the descriptions of behaviors from the individuals outlined in the article, you realize that these types have to be included in their pool of data. For example, they tend to shy away from a challenge. Really? I’m glad professional athletes don’t follow this model. Other characteristics include a refusal to ask for help, obsession with self, willingly does the wrong thing, struggle with insecurities, confide in those who tell them what they want to hear, and stay in their comfort zone, to name a few.

This really sounds more like a politician than a corporate warrior. It makes you wonder why they were promoted to such a high level position, doesn’t it?

In my experience with high achievers, personalities are much bolder. High achievers know what they want and they take the time to define it. This provides their vision. They align themselves with their passion, which typically promotes lifelong learning (not an avoidance of it). This is the fuel that drives their efforts to achieve. Influence is also very important for achieving goals so they are good at attracting and motivating others towards a common goal. This puts them in the right environment to be successful. Finally, they are brilliant at the basics. You can’t make it in the pros if you don’t have game. This ensures they have the skills to perform, no matter where you put them.

Let’s look at some of the points the article makes.

Living in the past. Too often we are held back by misinterpreted failures from our past. Maybe the risk we took some time ago was a failure but not for the reason we attached to it or maybe it wasn’t as bad as we thought it was. Looking at it from multiple perspectives helps us understand it better so that we don’t allow these memories from holding back our risk-taking. I agree with this but feel that it most likely impacts everyone, not just high achievers. However, I feel that high achievers are driven to succeed so they will find a path to the right solution. After all, how many times can you fail in companies today and still keep your job? I think you know that answer.

Support networks. The DeLong’s note that high achievers are individuals and avoid other people’s opinions. Hmmmm....I wonder how they got to the top? Networking is the quickest way to the top. I know we are supposed to say that you must get a great education, work real hard and do great things to get ahead. That’s all you need to do. People will recognize you and push you to the top. Unfortunately, we work with people and they all have their own objectives and I won’t give you a position that I want. Nothing personal.... just business, right?

Some of my clients have branched out to start their own companies around the globe before completing their graduate degrees. That’s not an easy task for an individual. In my book, Blitz The Ladder, I show you how to create your own network that will help you build your success. I even show you how to draw a map to your goals. We can’t give ourselves the rewards we seek. They must come from someone else. When we get a reward, we’ve successfully networked. My clients, as mentioned above, plan their path so their rewards are too (and even the people who will give it to them). Networking is critical, not an option.

Vulnerability. It’s okay to communicate small failures that you’ve made. It will make you seem human and people will respond to that. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. It’s a shame it’s come to this. High achievers don’t really admit failure. It’s a learning experience which makes us more prepared for the future. DeLong mentions a story about leaders being embarrassed that they didn’t understand the financial products they sold. Wow! That’s a high achiever? I can see why they wouldn’t tell anyone about that.

Now a certain amount of humility is important. Admitting failure isn’t a flaw. However, real leaders teach people how to drive through failure to find success. If the leader doesn’t understand what they are doing, everyone below them will know it but those above them probably won’t because they won’t let them know about that. This dives right into a lack of integrity and an obvious focus on self and not the company. This is not a characteristic of a high achiever. It’s part of someone who’s in a position they shouldn’t be in. I consider this an exception, not the rule.

Long term vision. High achievers avoid short term risk for fear of failure, or so they say. I agree with Delong’s that long term success can require short term risk. I also think that highly educated professionals suffer from a tendency to avoid risk, mostly because they analyze it too much. My experience has shown that high achievers are fairly savvy at handling risk. They don’t assume it all. They attract top performers who will share it, giving up a little reward to ensure a big success.

The DeLong’s article does a good job of defining the characteristics of those struggling in upper management and executive positions. However, my definition of the high achiever is a little more complicated than this. High achievers are focused leaders who set the example and drive to their goals until success is achieved. Sure failure occurs but it is a learning activity that points us in the right direction. Real high achievers are gifted and understand what they are doing. I sure hope my definition of high achievers is correct; otherwise, I think I know why the economy collapsed. Of course, fixing that problem would be a much bigger issue.

Success: Talent or Bling?

Todd Rhoad — Thu, 19 May 2011 22:19:17 GMT

After I graduated from college, I had big expectations for success. It would be on a meteoric climb up the organizational ladder. I’d sit in the corner office with several aids at my beck and call. Half of my day would be spent counting my money and the other half would be on playing golf, or something more fun than work. Sure, I knew I would have to work my way up, but that wouldn’t take too long once people witnessed the power of my knowledge, skills and abilities. Okay, maybe my credentials would impress them too. I do have two graduate degrees. That’s got to be considered as ‘career bling,’ right?

Well, it didn’t take too many years on the job to figure out that I had assessed the environment incorrectly. I mean….I was really wrong. But all of those people on TV managed to achieve great success, why can’t I? What can they do that I can’t? As it turns out, there are quite a few things that have contributed to their success that I never considered early on. Here’s a few you might want to write down somewhere and think about how it fits in your idea of success.

They’ve got natural ability. Some people are just got at a certain things and most times it’s very obvious. One of my wife’s high school classmates, Brent, was in this group. He was one of those people who could walk into an auditorium and sing without the need for a microphone. It was amazing. So much so, he was invited to attend Juilliard in NYC. The important point here is that some people can provide a return on investment much faster than others. I love to sing too but it would take too many years to teach me to do it better with no guarantee that I could even get close to sounding as good as Brent. To put this into today’s corporate terms, if I’ve got to train you, I’ve hired the wrong person. Companies don’t have training budgets anymore. I’m not sure they’ve ever wanted them. They want people who can walk into a job and be fruitful from the first day.

Are you in a job that aligns with your natural abilities? Are you using your talents? If not, you’ll find it hard to be highly successful. Write down your natural strengths. Talk to others to verify what they see in you. Do they see your natural strengths?

They practice a lot. This may seem a little unexpected but those highly successful and talented people we want to emulate put a lot of effort into their craft. One of my former colleagues was a golfer. He was good at it and qualified to play in the Buy.com golf tournament for amateurs. A good performance at this event would ensure a great start to a highly successful career, or at least he would have put himself in the right environment where his performance would determine his path. Wouldn’t we all like to be there? One day I asked him about his game and how he became so good at it. He mentioned that he would hit thousands of golf balls each weekend. My arms fall off after two buckets of ball at the driving range. He said it was to develop ‘muscle memory.’ This is essentially performing a movement so many times that your muscles don’t need a lot of sensory input to perform the task successfully. You see this phenomenon on TV a lot when you see basketball players make jumpshots from great distances without even looking at the goal. How do they do it? Memory.

How many of us can say that we can do our jobs successfully and consistently with very little effort? Have you honed your skills to such a professional level? Great success requires great sacrifice.

They do what they love. How many of us aren’t sure what we want to do but we are sure it isn’t what we are doing now? I’ve certainly been in that situation a time or two. It’s an easy trap to fall into. You get a new job with a good salary. After six months or so, the novelty wears off and you realize you are in a job, not a career. However, the pain isn’t bad enough for you to change jobs again. You live with it for longer than you should. Your challenge is that you put yourself in a position where your natural abilities aren’t allowed to flourish. You’re a brilliant college graduate working in an environment that has too much structure. There’s a process or procedure for everything. You’re told how to do it, where to do it and when to do it. So, you’re results are less than perfect. The highly successful are a little more fortunate in that they love what they do. Their natural abilities and constant practice make them good at it. Most people like things they are good at. Now imagine you are paid to do something you are really good at. It makes you want to be better.

Are you doing what you love or are you just doing something to pay your bills hoping that someone will stop by to offer you the opportunity of a lifetime? Are you excited to go to work? If not, you’re success may be a reflection of this attitude.

They’ve been found. There is something to be said for being in the right place at the right time or even just being in the right place. There are people with great talents all over the world. Are they all highly successful? Probably not. I’m sure one of the greatest basketball players in the world will never be seen on TV. Why? He’ll never be found by agents. Many of us grow up in environments that aren’t overflowing with opportunity. Even, Chris Langan, the guy with one of the highest IQs in the world (195) never finished college and spends his time on a horse ranch. His choice of environment has been the limiting factor to his success. The horses won’t pay him a lot of money for better feed, even if he could invent it. Just as with those athletes that are never found by an agent, you won’t find the highest levels of success if you’re in an environment that doesn’t want it. You have to go where your skills and abilities are really needed, appreciated and rewarded.

Are you in a company that rewards great talent? Are they constantly seeking out the most qualified individuals or do they only seek someone to fill the position? If not, you need to find the right place. Start your quest by talking to the right people. Who are they? Stay tuned.