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| Volume 7, Issue 6 |
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In This Issue:
 Iacocca’s nine Cs of leadership
 Sample job interview questions for the employer
Be kind to your bad boss - Or pay the price
Eleven tips for managing millennials
Group mentoring: Strategies for success in mentoring
 The best places to launch a career
Gateway to better hiring
Orientation from the ground up
Storytelling and the art of persuasion
 The nine most common hiring mistakes
Keep your keepers: 16 cost-effective ways to grow your company
10 ways project management skills can help your career
Seven deadly sins of branding
I-mails or U-mails? Getting clients to respond to your E-mails
 Make every word count
Outsourcing and delegating: Two keys to excelling in your career
 Strategies to wage wars for talent
 Wasting time at work
 Why we aren't as ethical as we think we are
 Ten eating habits to avoid
10 fashion trends you can't ignore
Incredible italian villas
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Iacocca’s cine Cs of leadership
I've never been Commander in Chief, but I've been a CEO. I understand a few things about leadership at the top. I've figured out nine points—not ten [I don't want people accusing me of thinking I'm Moses]. I call them the “Nine Cs of Leadership” - says an excerpt from former Chrysler Chairman and CEO Lee Iacocca’s Where Have
All the Leaders Gone? Enter, Robert Nardelli, who private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management named the new Chrysler’s CEO and one with numerous sobriquets, including “The Turnaround Specialist”, “The Hatchet Guy”, “Tough Job, Tough Guy”. The list
goes on...When asked by Fortune in April, what he would be doing if he were to be back as CEO of Chrysler, Iacocca, in his characteristic style, put it bluntly:
[Here’s Iacocca’s C-list, not only for Nardelli, but for all corporate leaders, as listed in his book...]
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Sample job interview questions for the employer
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Many employers spend a lot of interview time asking potential employees questions such as, "what would you do if …" Now, I do believe some decent knowledge about the candidate's qualifications can come from such questions. I have even heard myself ask them in the past despite the fact that I know a better way to interview. I recommend that you kick the
concept of behavioral interviewing up a notch. You want to know, not just what the candidate predicts he or she will do in some future work situation; you want to know exactly what they have already
done in the past. These behavioral interview questions will help you know what to ask. Additionally, on the subject of cultural fit, there is a whole group of questions I have yet to write about. They are open-ended, challenge the candidate to come up with original,
unprepared answers, and tell you much about how the candidate will fit in your work environment. Several examples of these questions are...
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Be kind to your bad boss - Or pay the price
So you think your boss is inept, arrogant or just plain lazy?
You're not alone. A recent Gallup Poll found that a bad relationship with the boss was the No. 1 reason people gave for leaving their jobs. But if you want to keep moving up the corporate rungs, you better make nice....
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Eleven tips for managing millennials
The millennials joining your workforce now are employees born between 1980 and 2000, or 1981 and 1999, depending on the author. Unlike the Gen-Xers and the Boomers, the
Millennials have developed work characteristics and tendencies from doting parents, structured lives, and contact with diverse people.
Millennials are used to working in teams and want to make friends with people at work. Millennials work well with diverse coworkers. Millennials have a “can-do” attitude about tasks at work and look for feedback about how they are doing frequently – even daily.
Millennials want a variety of tasks and expect that they will accomplish every one of them. Positive and confident, millennials are ready to take on the world. They seek leadership, and even structure, from their older and managerial coworkers, but expect that you will...
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Group mentoring: Strategies for success in mentoring
Effective relationships and learning are the mainstays of organizational success today.
Organizations that find meaningful ways for their employees to connect are
more likely to realize greater productivity, enhanced career growth, freely flowing innovation and overall improvement in employee performance.
Group mentoring is a value-added tool for connecting employees and advancing
learning within the organization...
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The best places to launch a career
The surprise in BusinessWeek's second annual ranking: Accounting firms have raced to the head of the pack.
Accountants used to be spoofed as bean counters—dutiful, middle-aged, gray-suited men with considerable analytical expertise but little charisma. That was during the good times. After their uninspiring performances in the corporate scandals of recent years, accounting
seemed like a profession without much of a future, and the firms certainly no place to launch a career. Scratch that. This year accountants became sexy. Accounting firms dominated BusinessWeek's second annual ranking of the best companies for new college
graduates: Deloitte & Touche is No. 1, followed by PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young. The last of the Big Four, KPMG, moved up four spots, to No. 11. Why did the accounting firms do so well? Enormous demand. Across industries, there is a mad scramble to
recruit the best and brightest of a new generation, the much-maligned, heavily scrutinized Gen Y. Nowhere is the pressure more intense than in the Big Four. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act has so greatly increased the need for their services that the firms are facing an epic
talent shortage. That has put them in an unusual position...
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Gateway to better hiring
The ease of applying for jobs online means more competition for applicants and more work for recruiters. A "logical gate" would up the ante.
Technology is a great boon, except when it's not. Every working person has had at least one experience where technology let him down in a big way—whether it's the inexplicably dead cell phone during a crucial call, or the "blue screen of death" in the middle of a
presentation. I'm not advocating for a return to carbon paper and Wite-Out, but it's fair to say that at times our dependence on technology can create as many problems as it solves. Take the job-search arena. In the old days, it took a little time and energy to apply for a
position. You had to write a letter, get an envelope, and find a stamp. That small expenditure of effort might not have taxed any of us too much, but compare it to the typical present process...
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Orientation from the ground up
New employee orientations are both dull and overwhelming. It may be time to rethink how to welcome new workers and reduce their uncertainty.
In the business world, we take a lot of things for granted. Just as we don't need to be told that Paris Hilton is in the news today, we don't need to be informed that certain aspects of Corporate America's workplace are broken. We know it. We know that there is
bureaucracy and sloth, that organizations do silly things, and that not all employees love their jobs. And we know that certain processes are bad, and we don't expect otherwise. One of the worst is the new employee orientation. In most organizations the new employee
orientation is so bad that people look forward to it the way they look forward to a root canal. [When companies sit down to develop their plans and strategies for the
upcoming year, they seldom say, "Hey! I know! Let's revamp the new employee orientation so that it's helpful and pleasant!" But they should.] Stick to the basics...
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Storytelling and the art of persuasion
Our columnist talks to author and executive coach Robert Dickman, coauthor of Elements of Persuasion, about telling your story and making sales.
Robert Dickman is an executive coach who teaches about using stories and narrative strategies as they relate to corporate communication. I do a great deal of coaching myself and I have found his five story elements very useful for understanding why some leaders achieve long-term changes in behavior, while others do not. He and his partner, Richard Maxwell, both of whom have backgrounds in the entertainment business, have just written a book, Elements of Persuasion, that lays out their whole theory in a light, breezy style. I met with them recently. Here is an edited version of our conversation:
In the last few years storytelling has gone from something tolerated around the water cooler to a recognized skill in organizational communication. Why is that?
There are two things everyone in business does on a daily basis...
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The nine most common hiring mistakes
Mistake 1:Relying only on interviews to evaluate a candidate.
A study conducted by the International Personnel Management Association in February 1999 analyzed how well job interviews accurately predict success on the job. The
surprising finding: The typical interview increases your chances of choosing the best candidate by less than two percent. Mistake 2: Using successful people as models...
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Keep your keepers: 16 cost-effective ways to grow your company
Employees matter. No, really, think about it: Your competitors have access to the exact same resources as you—which means infinite choices exist for your customers, and for your employees as well.
According to Joanne G. Sujansky, Ph.D, CSP, if you're not seeking ways to nurture employees and meet their needs, they will seek greener pastures—and your customers will follow them over the fence.
"Many leaders don't realize that the rules of business have changed almost overnight," says Pittsburgh, Pa.-based KEYGroup's founder and CEO Joanne Sujansky. "The old paradigm says that your primary focus should be on keeping your customer happy. The new
paradigm says the employee has taken over that spot. Keep her engaged and she'll keep your customers happy. Neglect her needs and she won't be so concerned about keeping her end of the bargain. In the end, not only will she go elsewhere, your customers may follow suit."
Make no mistake: when employees start searching for greener pastures, it's a bona fide disaster. So the million-dollar question is: What are the secret little things
that will help you keep your employees engaged and productive? And how can you do it without breaking the bank?
Here are 16 easy-to-plant and inexpensive "seeds" that will help your pasture be the greenest for your future and current employees:...
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10 ways project management skills can help your career
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I know that I can always count on her to get the job done." |
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In today's digital world, what employers are looking for may surprise you.
They assume you're going to be technologically literate and that you have the skills that are specific to your industry. Once you have the basics, they want to know that you can perform, achieve results and play well with others. According to the "National Association
of Colleges and Employers Job Outlook 2007" survey, employers rated communication skills, and honesty and integrity equally at the top of their list of what they look for in potential employees. Following closely behind communication, and honesty and integrity
were: interpersonal skills, motivation/initiative, strong work ethic and teamwork skills. What struck me as I read those skills was that all of them are inherent in Project Management, and it emphasized what I've believed for years: Project Management is a career
accelerator...
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Seven deadly sins of branding
In the $36 billion dollar beer market, the brand strength of an American beer is sometimes its most powerful "reason-to-buy."
The Wall Street Journal recently had this to say about the Stroh Brewery, the nation's fourth largest brewer, now being sold off: "The sale of Stroh, a 149-year-old Detroit brewer that was once a strong contender in the beer market, is the result of poor brand
management in a flat market, distributors said…If [Stroh] didn't take advantage of its strong regional brands…" The above story doesn't just happen overnight. For every "right" a brand can do, it can also make multiple "wrongs"—actions that simply don't contribute
anything worthwhile to a brand's presence, personality, strength and, ultimately, its sales. So how do you know when you've made a wrong before its too late? To better manage the fate of your brand, here's a compiled things-not-to-do checklist that...
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I-mails or U-mails? Getting clients to respond to your E-mails
You've just had a sales call with a client who has expressed enthusiasm for your ideas and suggestions. Then you follow with an e-mail that either gets a brief noncommittal response or no response at all.
You follow with voicemails and e-mails go unanswered. Soon you see the high hopes of that original meeting fade away. What happened? Where did the magic go? "What we have here," as the famous line from the film Cool Hand Luke goes, "is a failure to communicate." And in
our e-mail era, it is imperative that we understand how to get attention and make it easy for our clients to respond. How do you do that? I'd like to offer a concept I refer to as
"Umail," a simple way to significantly increase the readership, engagement and responsiveness to your e-mail messages.
Imail vs. Umail
Umail is e-mail with a focus on the reader...
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Make every word count
Whether in a B2C or B2B setting, many companies struggle to create effective communications that build not only credibility and trust with their audience but also excitement.
So if we need help in communicating effectively to our customers, it only makes sense to turn to the author of Writing Copy for Dummies, Jonathan Kranz. Kranz helps his clients
clear the air by showing them how to realize and relate their expertise to customers. But he also keeps them from falling into the trap of talking about themselves instead of keeping the focus on the customer. Sounds like Kranz is no dummy, and there's a good chance your copy will sound a lot smarter if you give his advice a spin...
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Outsourcing and delegating: Two keys to excelling in your career
Marketers often lament, "If only I had more time." Improving your productivity by using something like GTD (Getting Things Done), which I have written about before, will take you part of the way there. But you also need to become "ruthless" at delegating.
The more effectively you delegate, the faster you will excel in your career. Even if you don't have any direct reports in your job function—perhaps you are in an entry-level marketing assistant position—you can still delegate by having one or more virtual assistants, or "VAs." There is a veritable army of MBAs in places like Bangalore who are ready and waiting to assume the role of your outsourced virtual assistant. Offload as many of your...
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Strategies to Wage Wars for Talent
Anyone involved in staffing knows we are in the middle of a labor shortage.
The reasons for this are complex, but it is becoming increasingly clear that the number of skilled workers entering the job market is not keeping up with the growing number of skilled jobs in the economy. This shortage is exacerbated by increasing numbers of job
vacancies created as baby boomers start leaving the full-time workforce.
The Impact of Hiring Shortages on Staffing Practices
The current hiring shortage is causing a variety of changes in staffing practices. Companies are spending more resources to recruit employees, redesigning jobs and compensation plans to attract a wider range of candidates and investing greater energy into
retaining their current employees. Most of these changes reflect improvements in talent management practices, but there is one trend associated with the labor shortage that should keep organizational leaders and staffing professionals on their guard...
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Wasting time at work
A recent survey shows the average U.S. employee wastes about 20 percent of the workday -- an average of 1.7 hours during an 8.5-hour day. And younger workers are the most likely to be ones wasting time.
Conducted by Salary.com, the 2007 Wasting Time Survey polled 2,000 employees across all job levels about how they spend their working hours. The top time-wasting activities included using the Internet for non-work-related purposes, socializing with co-workers and
conducting personal business. The average time wasted represents a decrease from the previous year's survey, when workers reported wasting an average of 1.89 hours a day. In the survey, 20- to 29-year-olds admitted they waste an average of 2.1 hours a day, with the
wasted time dropping with age: Those aged 30 to 39 reported wasting 1.9 hours a day while those 40 to 49 wasted 1.4 hours. But some of the differences may be a question of semantics...
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Why we aren't as ethical as we think we are
Max Bazerman is the Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.
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Abstract
This paper explores the biased perceptions that people hold of their own ethicality.
We argue that the temporal trichotomy of prediction, action and evaluation is central to these misperceptions: People predict that they will behave more ethically than they
actually do, and when evaluating past (un)ethical behavior, they believe they behaved more ethically than they actually did. We use the...
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Ten eating habits to avoid
You've probably heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But did you know it also tends to be our most habitual?
Many eat breakfast--typically a heavily time-constrained meal--in the same place every day, and as a result, make the same kinds of nutritional choices.
For some, that's a bowl of cereal and fruit, while for others, it's a glazed doughnut.
In moderation, doughnuts are fine. Everyday? Not so much. But bad habits like this are hard to break. Whether you started eating poorly because of your hectic schedule, as a way to deal with stress or if you grew up on fast food, the
impulse becomes ingrained over time. Changing these behavioral patterns also takes time, as well as motivation and patience, says Jenny Lindsey, a registered
dietitian at Virginia Tech...
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10 Fashion Trends You Can't Ignore
David Wolfe, creative director of The Doneger Group, a fashion-forecasting firm in New York City, is like a typical 20-something.
He spends his time listening to the latest indie bands, hanging out with hipsters in the park, watching countless hours of MTV and browsing trendy boutiques, trying to spot the next fashion trend.
But one thing sets Wolfe apart from his peers: He is almost 70 years old.
"Just because I am well past retirement age doesn't mean I can't see a trend," muses Wolfe. "I've been doing this since the '60s. I can spot a trend before you can say 'Wow, that's cool!'"
As one of the nation's leading fashion forecasters, Wolfe advises companies like Liz Claiborne Inc. on what executives, designers and creative directors should be paying attention to in fashion. The big trends he is predicting for 2008:...
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Incredible Italian Villas
In late 2006, Maria Teresa Berdondini was frantically juggling multiple clients hoping to lock in their dream villas for their 2007 vacations in Italy. July in Umbria? August in Amalfi?
Hardly. The Tuscany-based luxury travel consultant, owner of Tuscany by Tuscans, wasn't receiving requests for villas during the summer months. Instead, her upscale clientèle were asking for rentals in September and October. "Italy is full of grand villas, and renting
one is an authentic way to experience the country," she says. "But the secret to enjoying your visit here is to come in fall, when the mass of tourists are gone. In fact, upscale travelers who have visited Italy before don't even bother coming during the peak season
[June, July and August]." Going to Italy in the fall means...
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