Dressing to impress really can make a difference

The world of work and the way we go about doing business is always changing and evolving and rightly so. If you stand still then you are going to get tired and dull.

The inevitable march of progress means that companies have to force themselves to change and evolve if they want to keep pace with their rivals. There of plenty of examples of companies which have fallen by the wayside and disappeared altogether because they have refused to accept the need to evolve.

I am not just talking about business practices and thinking but I am also talking about the etiquette of the boardroom and the way we all deal with one another in the workplace.

Just a few generations ago the clichéd businessman wore a pinstripe suit and a bowler hat and the approach would have been very stiff and formal.

There is no doubt that the pace of change has speeded up over the last four decades and people are now far more relaxed in the workplace than ever before.

The way we talk to one another has changed and the old hierarchies which meant that there very clear divisions in the office have also largely eroded or disappeared entirely.

Thanks in large part to the influence of the high tech and creative firms in America on the Western seaboard people also take a much more relaxed to dress codes. In fact, if anything it has become fashionable for businesses in certain sectors to encourage their staff to dress down.

I long ago learnt that you should never judge a book by its cover when it comes to business people and in particular in the case of entrepreneurs. I have met some very successful and driven people over the course of my career and not all of them were particularly smart or interested in fashion.

But having said all of the above I have always believed from a personal point of view of the importance of dressing to impress at all times.

As the managing director of a firm with a large portfolio of businesses I have always aimed to make the right impression when I go out and meet existing customers and potential clients.

I never know who I might be meeting during the course of the day so it makes sense to always be prepared.

A large part of doing business is about instilling confidence and convincing people that you can deliver on your promises.

That is why it has always been important for me to dress as smartly as possible and I also like to encourage my staff to take the same approach. It gives the impression of a business that really does mean business.

The other important aspect of taking care of your appearance is about the way you feel about yourself as an individual.

Confidence is all about how you feel about yourself. It stands to reason that if you take extra care and attention over your appearance it is going to make you feel more confident and in control particularly in difficult situations.

Of course everyone can make their own choice when it comes to the way they dress but in a competitive environment it is important to give yourself as much chance of success as possible.

In other words dressing to impress could make all the difference when it comes to success in business. After all it can be those small details that make all the difference between success and failure.

http://hbprivateequity.wordpress.com/2014/04/29/dressing-to-impress-really-can-make-a-difference/

Want to be a better leader? Develop your self-confidence

Contributor: William Cohen, Ph.D.
Posted: 04/23/2014 12:00:00 AM EDT

No one starts right out in life accomplishing what we might think of as “big things”. We start as an infant and accomplish what we now consider to be small things like learning to walk, talk, read, write, and reason.

But are these really small things?

Think back. At the time you first learned to do any of these things you probably didn’t think it was so small. The truth is, even with these “small things” we started out by doing still smaller things first and slowly increasing the difficulty until we could accomplish the overall task.

Today, there is no longer any doubt that when you stand, put forth one leg and then another, you are going to walk. As you read this, unless you are just learning English, there is little doubt but that you will understand what you have read. You automatically expect these positive results.

Nobody starts out with greatness

With the more complex and challenging tasks and projects of adults, leaders fail to expect to succeed for only one of two reasons. Either they have been unsuccessful at similar tasks or projects in the past, or they have never tried to accomplish them in the first place. And by the way, those who have never tried usually haven’t tried because they feel they will fail if they did.

A Baby Must Learn to Crawl Before It Can Walk

How many infants have you heard of that simply took their bottles out of their mouths, placed them on a nearby table, hopped out of their cribs and begin to walk?

I don’t know about you, but I haven’t heard of any.

The correct sequence is that the baby begins to crawl, gains self-confidence enough to stand up, gains a little more self-confidence and takes a step. Usually the first step ends in disaster and the baby falls. But, the baby knows that at least it made a start, and so it eagerly tries again not long afterwards. Usually the parents are so elated about the attempt that they are full of praise and cheer the attempt, even though a detractor might say that the baby “did a terrible job” and didn’t even manage to take even a single step successfully.

This points out an interesting fact about why people in general – and many leaders – lack self-confidence later on in life. A baby usually has someone cheering him or her on. But even if not, who’s to say that that first step when he fell was a terrible attempt or an excellent one? The problem is, as we get older, there are others that discourage us either with or without malice. Many of these observers are very judgmental and are almost certain to let us know when they think that we did a poor job.

A child wants to help its mother and in the attempt drops a dinner plate and breaks it. Maybe mother is nervous and irritable. So, she yells at the child who was only trying to help. Is the child as ready to attempt to help with the dishes, or other similar tasks, in the future? Usually unless the mother reassures the child and attempts to cancel her previous response, probably not. Worse, what if the mother was nervous and so in addition to yelling she, berates the child as being clumsy. If the child accepts that as the truth, it may have serious consequences later.

As the child gets older and out of the house, things can become worse for his or her self-confidence. Children are very critical of failure. Some teachers can be even worse. Olympic Decathlon Champion Bruce Jenner says that as a child he was deathly afraid of being called on in school to read. His teachers criticized him, and the more he was criticized, the lower self-confidence he had and the poorer his self-image. And of course, the worse he did.

He was attracted to sports because one day a teacher told him and others to run between two points in the school yard. He was the fastest! For the first time, others were complimenting him. “I didn’t know you could run that fast.” “Boy are you good at running!” “I bet you could outrun anyone.” Jenner’s self-confidence soared, and of course it spilled into other areas. In his opinion, this was his first step toward winning an Olympic Gold Medal in the 1976 Olympics.

Start with Small Successes and Work Up

Bruce Jenner was fortunate. What if no teacher had ever asked him to run? Would he have ever developed the self-confidence to compete in sports and go on to win a gold medal in the Olympics?

Perhaps so, perhaps, not. We’ll never know for sure.

But scientists have discovered that confidence generated in one area spills over into other area. We can use the same concept to build self-confidence in any area of life that we choose. All we need to do is select a relatively easy goal to accomplish to begin, and then go ahead and accomplish it.

Every time you complete a task or goal successfully, celebrate and congratulate yourself. Then set a higher goal or a more difficult task and just keep on improving and increasing your confidence.

It’s just like working out with weights or running. You build up the amount of weight slowly or run more swiftly as you develop your strength. Before long, you’ll be doing things that you never thought you could. You will have acquired that self-confidence you need to expect positive results as a leader.

Self-Confidence in One Area Can Carry Over Into Others

The military uses something called a “confidence course” to build self-confidence. It consists of man-made obstacles or events that each participant must traverse successfully. All are designed to be from moderately to severely difficult and challenging, but doable if done right.

One might require climbing down a 100-foot rope suspended from a cliff, for instance. Another might force the participant to jump out to catch a swinging rope suspended over a pool of water.

Do it right, and you catch the rope and safely reach the other side by dropping off before the rope starts swinging back. Do it incorrectly and you end up in the water. There are many others, but you get the general idea. Running such a course is not intended to be competitive with a battlefield adversary. Rather, soldiers acquire confidence which translates into better performance in battle.

Tony Robbins, who has led fire walks all over the country does the same thing. Yes, this is no misprint, I mean walking on a bed of white hot coals for a distance of twelve feet or longer. Robbins calls this seminar “Fear into Power,” and makes in quite clear that he isn’t teaching party skills, but rather using the fire walk as a metaphor, “If you could do this which you think is impossible, what else can you do that you also think is impossible.” Before you put this down to pure quackery, I should tell you that Robbins has been to Camp David and taught an American president do a fire walk.

Turn Disadvantages into Advantages

If you really want to build your self-confidence, start turning disadvantages into advantages. When you know you can do that, you know you can do anything. Back in the early part of this century, the richest man of his day, steel magnate Andrew Carnegie commissioned a young reporter by the name of Napoleon Hill to research success. Carnegie offered to provide introductions to some of the richest and most famous men in America if Hill would investigate and could the reasons for their success.

It took Hill twenty years, but he accomplished his mission. One of his discoveries was that hidden within every problem, drawback, disadvantage, or obstacle, there was an equally powerful opportunity or advantage. Hill found that successful people looked for these opportunities hidden within the problems and used them.

The man who invented the ice cream cone did so at the Worlds Fair in St. Louis in 1904. This man had several hundred galleons of ice cream the night before the fair opened. However, he had a problem, a big problem. His vendor had run out of paper cups to hold the ice cream. The man had lots of ice cream, but nothing for customers to eat it out of.

His wife came up with the idea of using a waffle iron to cook waffle batter and roll the cooked rectangle into a cone before it could cool. The ice cream cone was such a hit at the fair, that the man sold out. He made a fortune with his new invention as its popularity exploded all over the country. In the words of Mary Kay Ash who built the billion dollar Mary Kay Cosmetics Company, “he turned lemons into lemonade.”

All heroic leaders have self-confidence. But no one starts out with self-confidence and you can develop your self-confidence yourself using these methods.

http://www.processexcellencenetwork.com/lean-six-sigma-business-transformation/columns/want-to-be-a-better-leader-develop-your-self-confi/?utm_source=23052.001&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=PEX+Newsletter+24+April&utm_term=Newsletter&utm_content=24April&mac=SSIQ1-2XVOCG1&disc

Are You Networking Your Way To A Better Career?

James Caan
Serial Entrepreneur and Investor in People with Passion

People often have the perception that networking is only relevant to entrepreneurs who are looking to win new business. But I have long been of the opinion that whether you’re a business owner, a middle manager, or an employee just starting your career, networking should be a big part of your professional life.

If you are serious about progressing your career then you need to be proactive. Scouring recruitment websites and job portals are a crucial part of job searches, but a significant percentage of vacancies aren’t advertised. By connecting with the right people, you can find out about opportunities that you may otherwise have missed.

Of course not everybody is a natural networker – early on in my career I found it tough to walk into a room full of strangers and strike up a conversation. However I knew that it was important both for my brand and my contacts book, so I worked hard to improve my skills and become more comfortable.

There isn’t a massive secret to being a great networker – I believe you simply need to be a good listener and receptive to other people. There are some people who see networking as a sales opportunity and go to events with the intention of talking about themselves the whole time. This can be seen as boastful and usually negates any chance you have of building a quality relationship. Show an interest in other people, and when you follow up a few days later, remind them of the conversation you had. This shows them that you were paying attention and have a genuine interest in connecting with them.

It can be tempting to avoid networking events, but you never know who you may bump into or what opportunities may arise. For example, as somebody who regularly hires staff even when there are no vacancies, it is important for me to find people that I think can add value to my business. One of the best ways in which I find these people is through such events. A chance meeting with someone, or a recommendation from another business owner, has often led me towards key hires.

It may seem like an unnecessary distraction and a drain on your time but networking is always well worth the effort in the long run. Opportunities won’t always come to you and it’s important that you are able to find them for yourself. By building relationships with key people within your industry you are giving yourself every chance of good career progression.

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140422091718-32175171-are-you-networking-your-way-to-a-better-career?trk=mp-reader-card/#22.04

Tips from a recruiter: How to stand out at your next career fair

Posted byMike Deissig

Make a splash at your next career fair with advice from TheLadders’ recruiter.

It’s easy to feel like a small fish in a big pond when you’re at a career fair. With hundreds of candidates all vying for the attention of the same recruiters and employers, you feel like you don’t stand out.

And I’m going to let you in on a secret: You probably don’t. As a recruiter, I can easily talk to more than one hundred different job seekers at a career event. At the end of the day, the names, faces, and occupations all blur together. The most important thing you can do at a career fair is take steps to distinguish yourself from the crowd.

After years of recruiting quality hires from these events, I’m giving you the top ways to distinguish yourself from the other candidates. They’re surprisingly simple.
1.Be confident and assertive. Please don’t mosey up to my booth and wait for me to say something to you. Walk up to me and introduce yourself with a firm handshake. This will guarantee you about two minutes of my time, so make sure you have your elevator pitch ready to go. Tell me a little about yourself, what you do, and what you’re looking for in your next employer or position.
2.Smile! I know you’re feeling the heat, but put your game face on, and make it clear that you’re happy to be talking to me and excited about your prospects. You probably like to work with people who are happy, and so do I. Grin, make a connection with me, and show interest in what my company does.
3.Bring copies of your resume. You’re at a career fair. This should be a no-brainer. And don’t tell me you’ve gone digital – I will just think you’ve gone lazy and didn’t bother to find some nice paper to print your credentials on. If I have your resume, I can scan over your information (please keep the document short) and engage with you about your experience. If you’re right for the job, you’re also making it easier for me to talk you up to your potential boss.
4.Send a thank-you note. It might sound crazy or old-fashioned, but a quick thank-you note goes a long way. Do this if you spent time at my booth and were genuinely excited about the company. Say it was great meeting me, and that you were the one with the red hair and goofy shirt, or the wacky tie. Remind me of who you were, say thanks, attach your resume, and ask to continue our conversation.

http://info.theladders.com/your-job-search/recruiter-advice-stand-out-at-job-fair

10 Things You NEED to Do if You Were Hired Today

By: James Altucher

The woman right next to me was alive one second, then a taxi came up on the sidewalk of 42 Street between 6 and 7 Avenue, hit her and veered off and now the woman was lying in the street, blood everywhere. This happened on the first or second day of my work when I started at HBO. I tried to call 911 in the payphone (there were still payphones in August, 1994) and then I had to go. The woman was dead.

And I had to go to work.

I loved HBO like I would love a parent. I wanted them to approve of me. And kiss me as I went to sleep at night.

Before I got the job offer to work there I would watch HBO all day long. My friend Peter and I would watch HBO or MTV for 10 hours straight. I’d go over his house around 1pm in the afternoon and by 10pm we would look at each other and say, “what the hell did we just do”. Everything from the “the Larry Sanders Show” on HBO to “Beavis & Butthead” on MTV. We couldn’t stop. I loved the product. I wanted to work there.

10 Rules If You Are Hired Today:

Rule #1: Love the product.

You have to love the current output of the company. If you work at HBO, love the shows. Watch every single show. No excuses.

If you work at WD-40, know every use of WD-40. Make up a few more that nobody ever thought of. If you work at Otis Elevators, understand all the algorithms for how it decides which floors to stop on when.

If you work at Goldman Sachs, read every book on the history, study every deal they’ve done, know Lloyd Blankfein’s favorite hobbies and how he rose through the ranks. You have to love the product the way Derek Jeter loves playing baseball.

When I started at HBO I would every day borrow VHS tapes from their library. I watched every show going ten years back. In my spare time I’d stay late and watch TV. I’d watch all the comedians. I even watched the boxing matches that initially made HBO famous. Which leads me to…

Rule #2: Know the History. When the business I started, Reset, was acquired by a company called Xceed, I learned the history of the mini-conglomerate that Xceed was created out of. There was a travel agency for corporations. I visited them in California. There was a burn gel company. I visited them and met all the executives and learned the technical details how the gel was invented. There was a corporate incentives company. I met with them to see if any of their clients could become my clients.

At HBO, I learned how Michael Fuchs (the head of HBO Sports at the time. Later CEO of HBO) in 1975 aired the first boxing match that went out on satellite. And how Jerry Levin (the CEO of HBO, later CEO of Time Warner) used satellites to send the signal out to the cable providers. The first time that had ever happened. Ted Turner had been so inspired by that he turned his local TV affiliate, TBS, into a national TV station, and the rest became history.

Rule #3: Know the history of the executives. At HBO I studied the org chart religiously. My title was “programmer analyst, IT department” and yet I was always asking around: how did John Billock become head of Marketing (he trudged around house to house selling HBO subscriptions in Louisiana when Showtime started up, for instance, decades earlier).

Where did my boss’s boss’s boss’s boss work before arriving at HBO (Pepsi). Where did the head of Original Programming get his start? (he was a standup comedian, later CEO of HBO, before being forced to quit when choking his girlfriend in a Las Vegas parking lot). It was like reading about the origins of all the superheroes. I was a fanboy and my heroes were the other executives. I wanted to be one of them. Or better.

Same thing: know all of your colleagues and what their dreams and ambitions are. Get to work 2 hours before they get to work. If they need favors, do them. You have a whole two hours extra a day. You can do anything.

Rule #4: Make your boss look good. Your entire job in life is to make your boss look good. You don’t care about yourself. You only want your boss to get promotions, raises, etc. Remember, you can never make more than your boss. So the more he makes, the better he does, the better you will do. It’s the only way to rise up. Work hard, give him full credit for everything you do. Don’t take an ounce of credit. At the end of the day, everyone knows where credit belongs. But even then, thank him for everything and direct all credit back to him (or her). Here’s how you make your boss look good:
•Get to work two hours before him. If that means you have to wake up and go in at 5am then do it. Two extra hours of work a day is an extra 500 hours of work a year. None of your co-workers can compete with that.
•Walk with him to his car, train, etc when he leaves work. You need to know his goals, his initiatives, his plans, his family troubles, etc.
•And, again, give him full credit for everything. And thank him regularly for the opportunity to do the work you are doing.

Rule #5: Know all the secretaries. It’s a cliché but the secretaries run the company. They control all of the schedules. They dish out all of the favors. Take as many secretaries out to lunch as possible. Not just in your department but in every department.

Particularly HR. HR knows all of the gossip. Knows everything that is happening. Its not so hard to do this. First off, HR gives you all of your intro material when you join the company. Ask those people out to lunch after you’ve settled in for a few weeks. If someone writes an internal company newsletter, ask that person to lunch. Ask your boss’s boss’s boss’s boss’s secretary out to lunch. Nobody will think you are going over their head. You’re asking to lunch “just” a secretary. This was invaluable to me at every company I’ve ever worked at.

Rule #6: Constantly test your value on the market. The job market is like any other market. There’s supply and demand. And you’re just an item for sale at the great bazaar. Every year you need to find out what your value is on the market. For one thing, the best way to get an increase in salary and status is to move horizontally, not vertically. Second, you don’t want to get inbred. A good friend of mine was in HBO’s marketing department for 17 years. I set up a dinner between her, me, and the CEO of an advertising agency that was hiring. The CEO was one of my closest friends. Still, she couldn’t hire my HBO friend. “She’s too inbred,” she said. “She will never be able to get the HBO way of doing things out of her head.”

When I was at HBO I was constantly talking to people at other companies. I had lunch with top people at Showtime. I knew people from all the other divisions of Time Warner. I was always asking people to lunch of breakfast. I would get offers from the banking industry. I would try to work within different divisions of HBO. Everytime I got another offer, I got another raise and promotion at HBO. Sometimes substantial (up to 35% increases). My bosses would resent me for it, but then go back to “Rule #4” and often they would get raises also.

Rule #7: Study all the marketing campaigns. In 1996 they switched their slogan to “It’s not TV. It’s HBO”. That slogan lasted for 13 years. Before that it was “Simply the Best”, then “Something Special’s On”. When they switched to “It’s not TV”, Eric Kessler, the head of marketing, gave a talk on how they came up with the slogan. All his employees were in the auditorium. And me from the IT department. Nobody else would go with me. I knew every slogan HBO ever had.

Rule #8: Study the industry. What made HBO different from Showtime. From Cinemax? From non-pay cable? From broadcasting. I ready every book about the history of TV I could find. I would go to lectures at the Museum of Radio and Television on 52 Street (the best was a day that members of the MTV show “The Real World” gave a panel. After the panel I followed one group of other people in the audience for 30 blocks while they talked about the panel and the show. I wanted to break in so many times. They would be my new best friends. We would have parties around showings of “The Real World”. But I was too shy and eventually they all split off in different directions, leaving me alone). Jessica Reif Cohen was the Merrill analyst covering media. I knew nothing about stocks. But I read everything she wrote and would scan the WSJ for mentions of her name.

When I was trying to sell my first company, Reset. I called every company in the industry. Omnicom, Razorfish, Agency.com, etc etc. I read every SEC filing so I would know the nuances of all their deals and financings. When I was building Stockpickr I became obsessed with the mechanics of how Yahoo Finance worked and the ways in which she (Yahoo Finance is a “she”, and I love her) delivered traffic to all of her media sources. With HBO it was fascinating to me because at one point the CEOs of Showtime, Time Warner, Universal, Viacom, Fox Sports, etc were all former executives at HBO.

(MTV’s “Real World San Francisco” was their best season)

Rule #9: BECOME the company. I was a lowly programmer in the IT department. We were so far from the normal business operations of the company that they even put us in a different building. But that didn’t matter to me. I WAS HBO. That was my mantra. I became so absorbed in every aspect of the company that I knew that any idea I had would be a good idea for the company. At least I felt this (not sure if anyone else did). I never said, “I think this”, I said, “We should do this”. HBO and I were a “We”. Inseparable. Until you have that feeling of unity with the company you work for, you can’t rise up. Key, though: when you have an idea, make sure you know how to execute the idea also. In detail. Ideas are a dime a dozen. And execution is worth a million dollars. And I mean that specifically, if you execute on a good idea, you’ll make a million dollars or more from it.

Rule #10. LEAVE. All good things must come to an end. From the day you start, you need to plan your exit. Not like in rule #6, “Know Your Value” where you are trying to figure out your corporate salary value. “Leave” means something different. It means you’re going to say goodbye forever. If you master Rules #1-9 at a company then you’ll know enough about the company and industry to start your own company. To either become a competitor or a service provider. And you will have built in customers because your rolodex will be filled with people from the industry. If you constantly think like an entrepreneur from the instant you walk into your cubicle on day one of your job then you will constantly looking for those missing gaps you can fill. This is how you jump into the abyss. You make sure the abyss has a customer waiting for you.

I did everything wrong my first few months at HBO. I didn’t know NYC. I didn’t know corporate culture at all. I wore the same suit five days in a row until I realized nobody else was wearing a suit and I never wore one again. I didn’t have the requisite skill set to survive at my job (they had to send me to a remedial programming school despite the fact that I had majored in programming AND went to graduate school for computer science).

I was obsessed with the Internet and HBO didn’t even own HBO.com at the time. My boss’s boss’s boss would say to my boss, “get him away from that Internet stuff and onto some real work.”

One time my boss came into my cubicle and with everyone listening from every other cubicle said to me, “we want you to succeed here but you need to know more or else it’s not going to work out.”

It was very embarrassing and nobody around me would meet my eyes for the next week or so. I was the walking dead. I was sure I was going to get fired every day.

But I survived then. And every day since.

https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140421134556-5858595-10-things-you-need-to-do-if-you-were-hired-today?trk=tod-home-art-list-large_0

Successful People: The 8 Self-Limiting Behaviors They Avoid

By Kathy Caprino | Forbes – Mon, Jan 13, 2014 5:16 PM EST

In my work, I’ve been fortunate to learn from amazingly successful, impactful professionals and entrepreneurs. I’m defining “success” here as achieving what matters most to you, individually and authentically – not as some objective measure of outer wealth, accomplishment or achievement. Observing people in action who are living fully on their terms and absolutely loving it, I’ve seen how they think, react, interrelate, problem solve, and lead. I’ve applied these lessons to my own life, and to those I coach.

I’ve noted that people who love what they do for a living and have created tremendous success and reward, not only engage continuously in life-supporting behaviors, but also avoid certain negative actions and mindsets that other, less successful people habitually get lost in.

The 8 self-limiting, negative behaviors successful people avoid are:

Engaging in “below the line” thinking

“Below the line” thinking refers to a particular mindset that shapes how you view the world in a limiting way. It leads to your believing that what’s happening to you is outside your control and everyone else’s fault – the economy, your industry, your boss, your spouse, etc. Below the line thinking says, “It’s not fair what’s happening, and I don’t have what it takes to overcome these challenges. I didn’t expect this and I can’t handle it.” Above the line thinking, on the other hand, says, “I clearly see the obstacles ahead, and I’m addressing them with open eyes. I’m accountable for my life and my career, and I have what it takes to navigate through this successfully. If I fail, I’ll still wake up tomorrow exactly who I am, and will have learned something critical.”

Mistaking fantastical wishful thinking for action

Successful professionals pursue outcomes that flow organically from their current actions. Unsuccessful individuals attach to fantasies that may relieve them momentarily of their situational pain but have no basis in reality. For instance, I’ve heard from corporate professionals who share, “Kathy, I really hate my job and desperately want to leave. I’ve been wanting to write a book and become a motivational speaker for several years now. What’s your advice?” I’ll respond, “OK, great. Are you writing and speaking?” and more often than not, the answer will be, “Uh…no.” You can’t write a book if you’re not writing anything, and you can’t speak in public if you haven’t developed any material to speak about. It’s critical to take bold action toward your visions, in order to create success. Successful people develop huge goals too, but they crush them down into smaller, digestible (but courageous) action steps that they then build on, which leads naturally to the end goal they’re pursuing.

Remaining powerless and speechless

Successful people are in touch with their power, and are not afraid to use it and express it. They advocate and negotiate strongly for themselves and for others, and for what they care about, and don’t shy away from articulating just how they stand apart from the competition. They know how they contribute uniquely and the value they bring to the table. In addition, they don’t wait to bring up concerns – they tackle challenges head on, speaking about them openly, with calm, poise and grace. They don’t hide from their problems. And they don’t perceive themselves as hapless victims.

Putting off investing in themselves

I see this behavior over and over in those who feel thwarted and unsuccessful – they are incredibly reluctant to invest time, money and energy in themselves and their own growth. They are comfortable only when putting other people’s needs ahead of their own. They’ll make any excuse for why now is NOT the time to invest in themselves or commit to change. They feel guilt, shame and anxiety over claiming “I’m worth this.” Successful people don’t wait – they spend money, time and effort on their own growth because they know without doubt it will pay off – for themselves and everyone around them.

Resisting change

Successful people don’t break themselves against what is or drown in the changing tides. They go with the flow. They follow the trends, and embrace them. They are flexible, fluid and nimble. They react to what’s in front of them, and improvise deftly. Those who are unsuccessful bemoan what is appearing before them, and stay stuck in the past or in what they “expected,” complaining about how life is not what it should be and why what is feels so wrong.

Honoring other people’s priorities over their own

Successful people know what matters most to them – their priorities, values, concerns, and their mission and purpose. They don’t float aimlessly on a sea of possibility – they are masters of their own ship and know where they want to head, and make bold moves in the direction of their dreams. To do this, they are very clear about their top priorities in life and work, and won’t be waylaid by the priorities and values of others. In short, they have very well-defined boundaries, and know where they end and others begin. They say “no” to endeavors and behaviors (and thinking) that will push them off track. They know what they want to create and the legacy they want to leave behind in this lifetime, and honor that each day.

Doubting themselves and their instincts

Those who doubt themselves, lack trust in their own gut or instincts, or second-guess themselves continually find themselves far from where they want to be. Successful professionals believe in themselves without fail. Sure, they acknowledge they have “power gaps” or blind spots, and areas that need deep development. But they forgive themselves for what they don’t know and the mistakes they’ve made, and accept themselves. They keep going with hope and optimism, knowing that the lessons from these missteps will serve them well in the future.

Searching for handouts and easy answers

I can often tell from the first contact I have with someone if they’ll be likely to succeed in their new entrepreneurial venture and career, or not. How? By the nature of their expectations, and how they set out to fulfill them. Here’s an example – if a complete stranger reaches out to me expecting free help without considering what she may offer in return, it’s a bad sign. Let’s say she asks something like this: “I’m launching my new business and wondered if you can give me some advice. I can’t pay you because I’m a startup, but I hope you can help me anyway.”

From this one email, I know she’s not ready to make it happen in her own business. Why? Because successful professionals (and those destined to be) wouldn’t consider asking for help in this way. Instead, they: 1) understand that they have something important and valuable to offer in any situation, 2) are willing and happy to share or barter that in return for what they want, and 3) they treat others exactly as they would like to be treated.

Successful professionals are respectful, resourceful, curious, competent, tenacious, and they figure out how to get the help they need without asking for handouts. That doesn’t mean they don’t seek assistance when and where they need it , or make use of the many free resources available to them (like Score.org, etc.). It means that they don’t expect something for nothing. They treat others equitably and fairly and know they deserve the same. Successful professionals realize that if they’re not willing to pay for products and services they want, then others won’t be willing to pay them (yes, it works like karma).

They also know that their success is directly proportionate to the effort they put in. Most of all, they understand there are no short cuts or easy answers on the road to success.

If You Don’t Prioritize Your Life, Someone Else Will

By: Greg McKeown

“A ‘no’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.” So said Mahatma Gandhi, and we all know how his conviction played out on the world stage. But what is less well known is how this same discipline played out privately with his own grandson, Arun Gandhi.

Arun grew up in South Africa. When he was a young boy, he was beaten up twice: once for being too white and once for being too black. Still angry, Arun was sent to spend time with his grandfather. In an interview with Arun, he told me that his grandfather was in demand from many important people, yet he still prioritized his grandson, spending an hour a day for 18 months just listening to Arun. It proved to be a turning point in Arun’s life.

I had the opportunity to apply Gandhi’s example of prioritization to my own life, hours before one of my daughters was born. I felt pressure to go to a client meeting the next day. But on this occasion, I knew what to do. It was clearly a time to be there for my wife and child. So, when asked to attend the meeting, I said with all the conviction I could muster…

“Yes.”

To my shame, while my wife lay in the hospital with my hours-old baby, I went to the meeting. Afterward, my manager said, “The client will respect you for making the decision to be here.” But the look on the clients’ faces mirrored how I felt. What was I doing there?! I had not lived true to Gandhi’s saying. I had said “yes” to please.

As it turned out, exactly nothing came of the client meeting. And even if the client had respected my choice, and key business opportunities had resulted, I would still have struck a fool’s bargain. My wife supported me and trusted me to make the right choice under the circumstances, and I had opted to deprioritize her and my child.

Why did I do it? I have two confessions:

First, I allowed social awkwardness to trump making the right decision. I wasn’t forced to attend the meeting. Instead, I was so anxious to please that even awkward silent pauses on the phone were too much for me. In order to stop the social pain, I said “yes” when I knew the answer should be “no.”

Second, I believed that “I had to make this work.” Logically, I knew I had a choice, but emotionally, I felt that I had no choice. That one corrupted assumption psychologically removed many of the actual choices available to me.

What can you do to avoid the mistake of saying “yes” when you know the answer should be “no”?

First, separate the decision from the relationship. Sometimes these seem so interconnected, we forget there are two different questions we need to answer. By deliberately dividing these questions, we can make a more conscious choice. Answer the question, “What is the right decision?” and then “How can I communicate this as kindly as possible?”

Second, watch your language. Every time we say, “I have to take this call” or “I have to send this piece of work off” or “I have to go to this client meeting,” we are assuming that previous commitments are nonnegotiable. Every time you use the phrase “I have to” over the next week, stop and replace it with “I choose to.” It can feel a little odd at first — and in some cases it can even be gut-wrenching (if we are choosing the wrong priority). But ultimately, using this language reminds us that we are making choices, which enables us to make a different choice.

Third, avoid working for or with people who don’t respect your priorities. It may sound simplistic, but this is a truly liberating rule! There are people who share your values and as a result make it natural to live your priorities. It may take a while to find an employment situation like this, but you can set your course to that destination immediately.

Saying “yes” when we should be saying “no” can seem like a small thing in the moment. But over time, such compromises can create a life of regrets. Indeed, an Australian nurse named Bronnie Ware, who cared for people in the last 12 weeks of their lives, recorded the most often-discussed regrets. At the top of the list: “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”

“I have a vision of people everywhere having the courage to live a life true to themselves instead of the life others expect of them”

To harness the courage we need to get on the right path, it pays to reflect on how short life really is, and what we want to accomplish in the little time we have left. As poet Mary Oliver wrote: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

I challenge you to be wiser than I was on the day of my daughter’s birth. I have great confidence in the good that can come from such a decision.

Years from now when you are on your death bed you may still have regrets. But seeking the way of the Essentialist is unlikely to be one of them. What would you trade then to be back here now for one chance—this chance—to be true to yourself? On that day what will you hope you decided to do on this one?

Even Leonardo da Vinci had a résumé

Bongiorno,

Before he was famous, before he painted the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, before he invented the helicopter, before he drew the most famous image of man, before he was all of these things, Leonardo da Vinci was an armorer, a weapons guy, a maker of things that go “boom”.

And, like you, he had to put together a resume to get his next gig. So in 1482, at the age of 30, he wrote out a letter and a list of his capabilities and sent it off to Ludovico il Moro, Duke of Milan.

So to celebrate Leonardo’s birthday tomorrow on April 15th, I’d like to share his wonderful resume with you. You can click on the link below to see the full-size version.

The translation of this letter is quite remarkable:
“Most Illustrious Lord, Having now sufficiently considered the specimens of all those who proclaim themselves skilled contrivers of instruments of war, and that the invention and operation of the said instruments are nothing different from those in common use: I shall endeavor, without prejudice to any one else, to explain myself to your Excellency, showing your Lordship my secret, and then offering them to your best pleasure and approbation to work with effect at opportune moments on all those things which, in part, shall be briefly noted below.
1. I have a sort of extremely light and strong bridges, adapted to be most easily carried, and with them you may pursue, and at any time flee from the enemy; and others, secure and indestructible by fire and battle, easy and convenient to lift and place. Also methods of burning and destroying those of the enemy.
2. I know how, when a place is besieged, to take the water out of the trenches, and make endless variety of bridges, and covered ways and ladders, and other machines pertaining to such expeditions.
3. If, by reason of the height of the banks, or the strength of the place and its position, it is impossible, when besieging a place, to avail oneself of the plan of bombardment, I have methods for destroying every rock or other fortress, even if it were founded on a rock, etc.
4. Again, I have kinds of mortars; most convenient and easy to carry; and with these I can fling small stones almost resembling a storm; and with the smoke of these cause great terror to the enemy, to his great detriment and confusion.
5. And if the fight should be at sea I have kinds of many machines most efficient for offense and defense; and vessels which will resist the attack of the largest guns and powder and fumes.
6. I have means by secret and tortuous mines and ways, made without noise, to reach a designated spot, even if it were needed to pass under a trench or a river.
7. I will make covered chariots, safe and unattackable, which, entering among the enemy with their artillery, there is no body of men so great but they would break them. And behind these, infantry could follow quite unhurt and without any hindrance.
8. In case of need I will make big guns, mortars, and light ordnance of fine and useful forms, out of the common type.
9. Where the operation of bombardment might fail, I would contrive catapults, mangonels, trabocchi, and other machines of marvellous efficacy and not in common use. And in short, according to the variety of cases, I can contrive various and endless means of offense and defense.
10. In times of peace I believe I can give perfect satisfaction and to the equal of any other in architecture and the composition of buildings public and private; and in guiding water from one place to another.
11. I can carry out sculpture in marble, bronze, or clay, and also I can do in painting whatever may be done, as well as any other, be he who he may.
Again, the bronze horse may be taken in hand, which is to be to the immortal glory and eternal honor of the prince your father of happy memory, and of the illustrious house of Sforza.

And if any of the above-named things seem to anyone to be impossible or not feasible, I am most ready to make the experiment in your park, or in whatever place may please your Excellency – to whom I comment myself with the utmost humility, etc.”What a fantastic piece of personal marketing! There’s none of his famous backwards-mirror writing here – this letter was intended to be read and to persuade.

I’m a hopeless pedantic, so here’s what I think we can learn from Leonardo’s resume:

You’ll notice he doesn’t recite past achievements. He doesn’t mention the painting of the altarpiece for the Chapel of St Bernard; he doesn’t provide a laundry list of past bombs he’s built; he doesn’t cite his prior employment in artist Andrea di Cione’s studio.

No, he does none of these things, because those would be about his achievements, not the Duke’s needs.

Instead, he sells his prospective employer on what Leonardo can do for him.

Now imagine being the Duke of Milan and receiving this magnificent letter from the young prodigy of Florence. The specific descriptives paint a vivid picture of siege engines and bombardments and mortars and trench-draining and bridges to defeat the enemy. You can imagine the scenes that ran through the Duke’s head as he held this letter in his hands and read through Leonardo da Vinci’s bold statements of capabilities.

What Renaissance Duke wouldn’t want “kinds of mortars; most convenient and easy to carry; [that] can fling small stones almost resembling a storm”? Sounds pretty enticing.

And that’s exactly what your resume needs to do, too. Not the laundry list / standard bio that talks about you, but the marketing piece that talks about the benefits to your future employer and how you fit into his or her needs and desires.

So it turns out that even on his 562nd birthday, this remarkable fellow Leonardo da Vinci is teaching us about the future. What a genius…

Here’s wishing you an illustrious week, Readers!

As the Italians might say…

Sto tifo per te!

Marc Cenedella, Founder

Drop me a bomb on @cenedella.

How To Get Your CV To The Top Of The Pile

James Caan
Serial Entrepreneur and Investor in People with Passion

I have written in the past about the best way to get your covering letter noticed when it comes to applying for that dream job or promotion. This is a hugely important part of the application process; it is what initially piques the interest of any recruiter or hiring manager. But it is equally vital that your CV really sells you and your abilities.

I have seen thousands of CVs during the course of my career and there are always some common mistakes that candidates tend to make. There are also some absolutely brilliant examples of people that have done exactly what is required – convinced employers to bring them in for an interview. Here are some of my key tips:

Tailor It

As with the covering letter, there is nothing more frustrating for an employer than reading something that is clearly generic and sometimes not even totally relevant to the vacancy. Jobs and companies are not generic, so I would always urge candidates to adapt their CV accordingly. This doesn’t have to mean mass changes – it can be a simple case of adding in key skills that would be especially useful for certain jobs, or talking about particular achievements that are more relevant. It can be a time-consuming process to tailor your CV a number of times, but when you weigh that up against the prospect of getting the job you want, it should be an easy decision.

A Winning Summary

As in any walk of life, first impressions count. Having a summary which succinctly and creatively states your experience, abilities and goals will give your CV a far better chance of being read further. It is particularly important that you do state what your career goals are in this section. Some people believe this is of no interest to an employer, as they are more interested in what you can do for them. However, I am personally always looking for people that are ambitious, so I certainly wouldn’t be disappointed to see a candidate’s future objectives stated in their summary. It tells me that they are driven and know exactly what they want.

Clear the Cliches

There are certain words and phrases which always seem to crop up on CVs and the more employers see them, the less value they have. The whole point is for you to stand out from other candidates so try to avoid the cliches which you know everybody else will use. Be creative with the way you describe yourself; you don’t want to be seen as someone who is simply using buzzwords they think employers want to hear.

On the theme of creativity, anything which makes you stand out can be a good thing and for certain positions and industries, this can mean video CVs. One of my recruitment businesses specialise in the digital, media and creative sectors, and many people believe video CVs will get more popular over the next few years. At the moment it is still a bit of a novelty, so provided it suits the role you are going for, it can add a unique quality to your application.

Quantify Your Achievements

Employers want to know about your achievements so don’t be vague. Tell them exactly how you have added value in previous jobs. I have always believed that every member of an organisation, whether it’s a sales director or a receptionist, can have their contribution measured in some form. It could be financial – you may have generated a certain amount of revenue, or made a certain amount of cost savings – in which case I want to know how much. It may be that you were in charge of managing a whole team, or were responsible for managing key clients – again, tell me how many. Attaching a number to what you have achieved gives me a greater idea of your value-add.

The JC Twist

One final tip I’d like to give concerns the way you deliver your CV. 95% of applications are done online and there is absolutely nothing wrong with this. But what if you are speculatively applying for a company where there is no vacancy? An emailed CV may get ignored, or put on file but then forgotten about. Why not consider posting, or even hand delivering it? This is outside of the box thinking and gives your application a far better chance of being seen by the relevant person. 15 years ago, somebody who emailed a CV rather than posting it would have grabbed the attention of a hiring manager. Now, it is very much the other way around.

4 Questions You Should Ask Yourself Every Day

Joris Toonders

Many people just start the day by following their to-do list and checking their e-mail. I learned that the most effective way to coach yourself is to ask yourself 4 powerful questions every day. Ask yourself 2 questions at the beginning of the day and 2 questions at the end of the day. It makes sure you’re much more focused on things that really matter and makes every day more fun.

Take 15 minutes to ask yourself 4 questions and write down the answers. It’s the most powerful way to train your brain. It gives you a better understanding on what things you need to improve and gives a better feeling because you’re working towards your long term goals.

The 2 questions to ask yourself at the beginning of every day:

1. What are my goals today?

Most people have goals in the long term, but don’t translate them to the short term. If you want to grow your business by 20 percent in the coming year, what are you doing today to reach that long term goal? Are you really doing the right things today to reach those goals? The only way to reach your long term goals is to work on it on a daily basis.

Ask yourself every day: What are my goals today?

2. What are my challenges today?

Successful people set themselves challenges every day. It’s a way of living. You have to challenge yourself every day, to get the most out of you and become better, faster and smarter. It will make life much more interesting. Set yourself challenges and enjoy the journey.

Ask yourself every day: What are my challenges today?

The 2 questions to ask yourself at the end of every day:

1. Have I reached my goals for today?

Of course, only setting yourself goals at the beginning of each day isn’t enough. You have to evaluate yourself. Make sure you don’t get lost in excuses, by telling yourself that you weren’t able to reach your goals today. The goals you’ve set by yourself in the morning, were the goals you wanted to reach. Have you succeed?

If yes, take a moment to enjoy the fact that you reached it and ask yourself what you’ve done good today to reach your goals. If not, ask yourself what you can do better the next day to make sure you reach your goals. If you fail to reach your daily goals day by day, try different ways of working to improve it. Don’t give up. If you reach your daily goals day by day, try giving yourself more ambitious goals and look what’s happening.

Ask yourself every day: Have I reached my goals for today?

2. What have I learned today?

To become better, faster and smarter, you have to learn every day. Take a moment every day, to ask yourself what you’ve learned today. It can be everything, as small or as big as you want. If you don’t learn enough, take a critical look at the goals and challenges you set every day. If you learn a lot, life will be much more fun.

Ask yourself every day: What have I learned today?