Unleashing and Channeling Your Power To Succeed

Archive for the ‘General’ Category

I have created a new video that speaks to my passion for what I do and how I work with people. Please take a look and leave a comment:

Every manager has a leadership style. Just ask the staff. Great bosses understand they need to adapt their style to fit the situation.

This video lesson will help you understand the variety of leadership styles a manager can use and how they can adapt those styles in response to specific situations.

Welcome to the December issue of According to Marshall…

The purpose of this message is to share just a quick summary of some of the topics that I think are relevant to your personal and professional success.

I want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for your readership and your feedback over the course of this year. I wish you good health, happiness and  success in 2012. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can support your success in any way in the New Year.

If you have trouble reading this or seeing graphics click here for the online version.

Lessons in Leadership from Andy Bernard of ‘The Office’

By Julie Rains

“Underdogs inspire us. That’s the lesson Robert California, the fictional owner of the fictional paper vendor Dunder Mifflin, teaches us when he promotes Andy Bernard to branch manager of the Scranton sales office (aka The Office). Despite his Ivy League credentials, Andy is an unlikely choice to replace the departing Michael Scott. Watching Andy navigate his new accountabilities in the episode entitled “The Incentive” prompted me to consider how a less-than-perfect leader can inspire people.”

Click here to read the full story. . .

Best Gifts for Employees

By Helen Zhang

“During the holidays, giving the perfect gift is always a challenge. With tons of friends and family members on your shopping list, it’s easy for employees to get left behind. And let’s face it, it’s easy to dole out generic and thoughtless knick-knacks to your staff.

This year, take advantage of the holiday season to show genuine employee appreciation. We’ve talked about how important this is to your office morale, productivity and, ultimately, your bottom line. So why not use this time to show your employees how much you care? Here are 10 easy gifts, from affordable to high-end, for every type of employee.”

Click here to read the full story. . .

10 Innovative Ways to Reward Your Employees

By Kentin Waits

We often think that rewarding employees means big bonuses, which can affect the bottom line. But recognition for a job well-done can come in all shapes and sizes.

Small tokens of appreciation given at the right moment not only provide well-deserved acknowledgement—they can keep your employees motivated. Let’s explore the art of saying “thank you” in new and innovative ways.

Click here to read the full story. . .

Companies Hiring in Large Volume

By John Smith

“December often becomes a transition month for job seekers. As the busy holiday season approaches, calendars get filled with parties. Relatives come into town for a visit. Children have a few weeks off from school and need to be entertained. Plus, there’s probably shopping to be done.

In addition to this jam-packed schedule, many job seekers believe the myth that employers aren’t hiring new workers until next year. As a result, some job seekers decide to take a step back from sending out résumés and attending networking events and instead focus on how they will revise and improve their job search in 2012. You should always be thinking about how to tweak your job search, but don’t put everything on hold until next year. Employers aren’t.”

Click here to read the full story. . .

Focus on Others to Keep Social-Network Posts Professional

By Michael Crom

”Question: I work at a large financial company.

I have always maintained very professional behavior at work, and I believe this has led to respect from my co-workers. But like many of young professionals I enjoy social networking and I have built my profile on these sites. I recently started receiving requests from some of my younger co-workers, clients, and even higher-level professionals to add them as Facebook friends. Since I really want to maintain my professional image moving forward, I need some tips on how I can keep my profile on these sites as professional as possible.”

Click here to read the full story. . .

I also invite you to forward this to a friend.

Whether you’re learning to swing a golf club, baseball bat or tennis racquet, coaches always emphasize the importance of follow-through. It’s not just hitting the ball that matters, it’s how you continue your swing once contact is made.

The same thing applies in job interviews, networking, sales and almost any work situation: without purposeful follow-through on your actions and interactions with others, you won’t really be able to reach your professional potential.

“Failure to meet deadlines, honor commitments, monitor staff, return calls and keep track of long-term projects is the most underrated cause of chaos and failure in business life,” writes Stephanie Winston in Organized for Success.

So often we feel we’ve completed a task because the action of it is “done,” but we underemphasize how powerful it is to continue developing, tracking and monitoring operations and relationships even after they’ve been set in place. As Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan note in Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, “Follow-through is the cornerstone of execution, and every leader who’s good at executing follows through religiously. Following through ensures that people are doing the things they committed to do, according to the agreed timetable.”

It’s Not Just What, But How

When we think of follow-through, we tend to think of taking action. But a large part of follow-through is about first figuring out how things will be done. Once you define your goals, set aside some time to decide just how you will reach them. What steps will be needed to accomplish them? Who will do which steps and when? What is the desired timeline? If a strategy does not address the how, it is almost certainly doomed to failure.

Take meetings, for instance. A plan for follow-through should be detailed at the end of every meeting. “Never finish a meeting without clarifying what the follow through will be, who will do it, what resources they will use, and how and when the next review will take place and with whom,” Bossidy and Charan suggest.

Organizing and Delegating

A good organizational system will support follow-through more than almost anything. If you are among the organizationally challenged, do one of two things:

1. Make a vow, buy an organization book or two, reserve a weekend or a week, and just do it. Get organized once and for all. You’re not likely to follow through well, if at all, when the disorganization gremlin has hold of you. Getting organized is one of the biggest keys to success; not doing so is an extremely common and most unfortunate form of self-sabotage.

2. Hire someone to organize you and keep you that way. The investment will pay for itself when you begin following through more consistently.

Delegating should also be part of an organizational system. “Getting things done through others is a fundamental leadership skill,” according to Bossidy and Charan. “Indeed, if you can’t do it, you’re not leading.” Delegating is an efficient way to ensure that the greatest number of tasks, including follow-up tasks, get done in the shortest amount of time. In other words, if you want to be successful, don’t be afraid to dole out the workload to others. The key is to always think in terms of the big picture instead of focusing only on whatever task is in front of your face at the moment.

Pro-activity and Integrity

Following through means taking action and keeping your word. Below are some additional considerations regarding follow-through.

•  When you say you’ll do something, be scrupulous in meeting your commitment, whether to a client, supervisor, customer or direct-report. If you can’t deliver it, don’t promise it.

•  In job interviews and networking, rapid follow-up can mean the difference between landing the job and/or client. Hiring decisions are often made very quickly after interviews. And getting in contact with people soon after meeting them means they will remember you, increasing the likelihood they will eventually buy from you.

•  Be sure to send a thank you note after you close a sale or receive any courtesy. This will make you stand out from the others, inviting an ongoing relationship to develop, or continue to develop. Also, a short thank-you note gives you a great excuse to add anything you forgot to say in a meeting or interview, or to highlight details you only glossed over.

•  All top salespeople are masters at follow-through. Lack of follow-through is the primary element missing when sales are not keeping pace with leads generated. You may have hundreds of leads with a great deal of potential. But unless you follow through and actively market/sell to these leads, they will not turn into sales.

•  Following through after sales have been made also makes good financial sense. Getting business from new customers costs significantly more than securing additional business from existing customers.

When it comes to follow-through, something is better than nothing. It doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing thing. The best is to follow-up as frequently and best as you can, a practice that can even affect productivity positively.

“On a day-to-day basis, consistent, automatic follow-through can deflect a lot of the firefighting that can push your day off course,” Winston writes.

If you’d like some support in honing your ‘follow-through’ skills, contact me today and let’s talk about how coaching can help you to achieve the life you desire.

Guest Blog Post By, Don Goodman

Networking is not about how many resumes or business cards you hand out, but how you establish rapport and build a relationship that can lead to opportunities.

Attending a networking event is only the beginning of the networking process. Effective networking takes time and builds lasting relationships where both parties can help one another.

Many job seekers I often speak with are intimidated by networking events. It’s not that they do not want to network; it’s that they don’t know how to approach people they don’t know.

As much as we all want to know how others can help us, when networking, it’s not recommended for you to go straight into pitching. It’s a turnoff to many people, especially when you don’t know the person.

So, how does a job seeker tackle breaking the ice at networking events and approach people in a way that later affords relationships where they can help one another?

1. Change your mindset: Think of networking as a chance to get to know others and as a place where you can seek advice from someone who may come with a different point of view. As you show interest in others and ask for advice, the conversation will naturally redirect itself in a manner where others will be more willing to help you or connect you to people who can help.

2. Mind your appearance: Walk in to a networking event with the appropriate attitude. Appear approachable and be willing to approach others. The simplest things you can do is offer a smile to people you come in eye contact with and avoid poor body language such as crossing your arms or keeping your head down.

3. Ask a mutual acquaintance for help: Asking a mutual friend or acquaintance to help with an introduction is one of the easiest ways to help get a conversation started between two people who don’t know one another. After the introduction, it’s up to you to build rapport and find out possible commonalities that will help both of you establish a relationship.

4. Directly introduce yourself: If there is a contact you know something about, you may want to approach them directly with an introduction. Introduce yourself by full name and appropriately ask a question or make a comment. For example, the person may have just given a presentation, so you may ask a question or comment related to what was discussed. As the conversation between the two of you becomes more comfortable, steer the conversation toward a direction where you may ask for advice.

5. Ask a general question or provide comment: You are not the only one who may be feeling awkward at the networking event. If you see someone simply standing there or sitting at a table by themselves, be willing to approach them and simply ask a question or provide a comment they could relate to. It can be a simple statement such as, “Wow, this event has a big attendance turnout!” This opens the door for conversation. After two or three more questions or comments, you can go in and say, “By the way, my name is… what’s yours?” From there, your conversation can change focus where you learn more about the other individual and share information about yourself.

A key to breaking the ice during networking is to establish a relationship where the other individual grows to feel comfortable speaking with you. Keep all questions open-ended and leave comments that allow others to probe. A question or comment that leaves one to simply have room to say “yes” or “no” will not help build a conversation.

To succeed at networking events, leave people you meet with a good impression. You want people to feel your positive energy and to see you are willing to help others, as well as have a special area of expertise they will potentially want your advice and counsel on in the future. This will help ensure the relationship and conversation you have continues to grow after you leave the event.

Don Goodman, president of Resume Writing Service – About Jobs is a nationally recognized career expert.
Source: http://www.careerealism.com/tips-networking-events/

This is a special edition dedicated to honoring the memory of Steven P. Jobs, Co-founder, Chairman and CEO, Apple Inc. who passed away on October 5, 2011. Love him or hate him, Steve Jobs was a force of nature, and technology, our lives and our culture would not be the same without the ideas and influence of this legendary entrepreneur. In this special edition we will share articles that highlight the many contributions Jobs made in the area of entrepreneurship, technology and being a visionary leader.

If you have trouble reading this or seeing graphics click here for the online version.

Steve Jobs: An Extraordinary Career

By, Senior online editor Jason Fell, Entrepreneur Magazine

“Steve Jobs’ vision of a “computer for the rest of us” sparked the PC revolution and made Apple an icon of American business. But somewhere along the way, Jobs’ vision got clouded — some say by his ego — and he was ousted from the company he helped found. Few will disagree that Jobs did indeed impede Apple’s growth, yet without him, the company lost its sense of direction and pioneering spirit. After nearly 10 years of plummeting sales, Apple turned to its visionary founder for help, and a little older, little wiser Jobs engineered one of the most amazing turnarounds of the 20th century.”

Click here to read the full story

A Lesson From Steve Jobs: Branding Strategy Insider

By: Eric Tsytsylin

“Throughout his tenure as Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs would often send personal messages directly to his customers.  Whether he was expressing admiration towards a nine-year-old girl who used her iPad to combat a vision disorder or defending himself against a harsh critic, the message was always honest, clear, and  humorously succinct. To a 300-word diatribe on a new app that measures mobile radiation levels, he responds: ‘No interest.’”

Click here to read the full story

Notes on Leadership: Be Like Steve Jobs. . .

“The ability to articulate the vision—The Steve Jobs Attribute

Can the leader articulate a vision that’s interesting, dynamic, and compelling? More importantly, can the leader do this when things fall apart? More specifically, when the company gets to a point when it does not make objective financial sense for any employee to continue working there, will the leader be able to articulate a vision that’s compelling enough that the people stay out of curiosity?”

Click here to read the full story

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die

Video by: Stanford University

At his Stanford University commencement speech, Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple and Pixar, urges us to pursue our dreams and see the opportunities in life’s setbacks — including death itself.

Click here to read the full story

Apple’s Tribute to Steve Jobs

This is a website that captures the personal thoughts and tributes of a grateful public for Steve Job’s legacy.

Click here to read the full story

I also invite you to forward this to a friend.

Coaching as a profession has not been around that long, but in the short time of its formal existence it has had an undeniable impact both on business performance and the quality of individual people’s lives. But what kind of ROI can a person expect to achieve when they hire a career coach or an executive coach?

Because coaching is extremely personalized for each specific situation, in order to really measure ROI the coach and the client must take a look at the current state of affairs, establish a benchmark and then set specific goals that they would like to achieve. As the coach and the client work together towards achieving those goals the gains will be clearly measurable.

By taking advantage of the knowledge and expertise of a coach, the client gains several advantages that will save them time, help them to improve their career, give them guidance as they transition from one job or career to another, or even support them during a job search. Coaches help their clients improve their performance, which is a tangible result in exchange for the investment of buying access to their time and expertise.

The ROI for coaching has been studied extensively and studies have reported a return on investment of anywhere from 5 to 7 times the initial investment.

“The results tell us that corporations commonly identify their best and brightest and use coaching to turn them into more effective leaders. Coaches improve executive behaviors by pinpointing blind spots, altering management styles, and keeping careers on track.” Source: carolrossandassociates.com

Some of the benefits of coaching can include:

Individual benefits from career coaching

• Set and achieve goals
• Work through challenges more effectively
• Increased confidence
• Achieve better work/ life balance
• Improved decision making skills

Organizational benefits from executive coaching

• Increased productivity
• Better conflict resolution
• Higher employee morale
• Formalized grooming of new leadership
• Increased stakeholder loyalty

Coaching can help both individuals and companies stretch themselves and achieve much more than they ever thought possible. Having the guidance of an experienced coach can give you the confidence to attempt challenges that you might otherwise never take on. The return on investment when you hire a career coach to help you move to the next level, or when you hire an executive coach to help your company work through a challenging time can be both tangible in the measurable results you will achieve, but you will also gain many intangible results such as increased confidence and belief in your own ability.

If you are ready to consider working with a career or executive coach to help you overcome some of the challenges you are facing, contact me for an initial consultation to discuss how I can support you as you pursue your goals.

Quiz: How Well Are You Maintaining Your Personal Brand?

Developing and managing your personal brand—that which creates a clear and memorable impression about who you are and what you do—is practically a requirement in today’s economy. Doing so not only gives you greater control of your career and personal destiny. Take the Self-Quiz below to see if yours needs just a dusting off, or some full-fledged spring-cleaning.

1. I know what’s important to me, and I can list the values that inform my work and my approach right away when asked.

2. When colleagues (and those I work with at all levels) think of me, the idea that comes to mind is clear and consistent, from person to person.

3. I know how I create value for my company and/or my clients. They do, too.

4. My personal “brand message” is targeted and focused.

5. I put my brand, my unique contribution and/or approach, on everything I do: presentations, reports, meetings, deals, etc.

6. I look to connect my personal brand to every situation possible (and appropriate).

7. I consider myself my own CEO and have a vision by which I lead myself.

8. My emails are consistently opened, read and acted upon.

9. I focus on growing and nurturing my professional network, both through offline approaches (e.g., associations, speaking, etc.) and online strategies (e.g., LinkedIn, blog/forum participation, etc.).

10. I look to find what’s distinct about me and what I bring to the table, rather than try to conform to the norm. In essence, I create my own “unique selling proposition” (USP).

11. I have a personal brand plan, and I execute the strategy and tactics in it.

12. I establish appropriate partnerships that will extend my brand and help me get complementary brand value.

13. I make sure that everything that surrounds my brand (my office, my website, my customer service, etc.) communicates the same brand message.

If you answered true to at least eight statements, you’re well on your way to building a powerful personal brand. But don’t forget: it’s not only about creating a distinct personality, but also telling the world about it. Don’t hesitate to contact me if  you’d like support shining up your personal brand.

“If you don’t believe in the messenger, you won’t believe the message.” —Jim Kouzes, co-author of Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It

When people trust and believe in you as a leader, they’ll follow you far and without much question. But without credibility, that critical foundation of leadership, you face an uphill battle, because you’ll have the extra strain of trying to pull people along with you. And whether you’re the one pulling or the one being pulled, pretty soon you’re both weary and ready to give up.

Credibility stands on several legs: expertise, trustworthiness and integrity.

Expertise is an objective judgment, determined by such things as your credentials, your rank in the company and your prior accomplishments.

Trustworthiness is a subjective judgment, formed over time from a person’s experience interacting with you. Do you do what you say you’re going to do? Do you know what you say you know? How does it feel to work for you?

Integrity is another subjective judgment, formed over time from a person’s observations of you. Do you walk your talk, or do you say one thing and do another? Are you honest? Do you admit and take responsibility for your mistakes?

You may think you have a pretty good sense of your credibility among your team members, but what are they really thinking?

One of the best ways to truly know how people are experiencing, observing and judging you as a leader is to conduct a 360° assessment. Named for the 360 degrees of a circle, this type of assessment measures your performance from the perspective of everyone you work with, including your direct reports.

It takes courage to enter into this process. You may not like everything you hear, and it may highlight some things that need changing. And that’s exactly why bringing credibility issues to the surface is such a crucial matter.

On the other hand, you may be doing most everything right, but your credibility in the eyes of your team members is still not where it needs to be. The most likely cause is that they don’t see what you’re doing.

In this case, it’s time to become more visible in the organization. Turn your office into a fishbowl and reveal what’s been going on behind closed doors. Then, get more involved and aware of what everyone else is working on. Practice “management by walking around,” the successful Hewlett-Packard strategy that Tom Peters and Bob Waterman popularized in their book, In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies.

A 360° assessment will reveal how credible you are in the eyes of your team. Then you’ll have the opportunity to improve that rating. It’s not enough to have the expertise and credentials. Your team members need to observe and experience your trustworthiness and integrity for themselves. So open up the office door more often, and get out and interact with people more. Show them you’re someone they can believe in.

Author’s content used under license, © 2008 Claire Communications

(Originally published in, Branding: There’s More Than Meets the Eye, by Marshall Brown)

Step 1: Examine the Competition One of the keys to creating a successful brand image is to separate yourself from your competition. You will need to know how consumers see your competition. You need to recognize how your competitors differentiate themselves from others. Also, you should know your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses. Your business can benefit from knowing this information by learning from their weaknesses, and learning how to differentiate your company from the competition.

Step 2: Identify Your Strengths Now that you know your competition’s weaknesses you can begin to focus on your company’s strengths. Perform a target market analysis, learn from it, and use it to your advantage. This is a useful tool to confirm your company’s strengths are in fact important to your target market. Once you’ve realized your strengths, and what strengths are important to customers, you can think about ways to successfully market these to the public and involve them in your branding campaign.

Step 3: Know Your Customer Learn more about the customer. Know their purchasing behavior. How often do they buy? Do they buy only during sales or promotions? Do they buy an array of products or services or just a select few? These are questions you should ask to better market to your customers. Also, know your customer’s lifestyles, needs, mindsets, and attitudes. Knowing and working with these personality traits are also key to marketing success.

Step 4: Be Your Brand Make sure your company truly represents what your brand identifies you with. For example, if one of the traits your brand identifies your company with is politeness, be polite. This means every employee from the receptionist all the way up to the CEO needs to live your brand.