Work, success, and meaning at every stage of your career
Building skills on the job
In a previous post, I wrote about author Rita McGrath’s theory of the “transient advantage,” the idea that if you are constantly thinking about what’s next, you’ll be more successful. Everyone should have a reactive and proactive strategy for your next career move. McGrath provides a great quiz to determine if you are ready for … Continue reading Constant Career Planning Part Two
McGrath, who is a professor at Columbia Business School, says that what she calls “transient advantage” – constantly innovating and trying to determine which skills will be most valuable next—is what will make you successful over time in your career.
We watch our male colleagues take risks, while we hold back until we’re sure we are perfectly ready and perfectly qualified. We fixate on our performance at home, at school, at work, at yoga class, even on vacation.
You may just be having a bad week, but you’ve been feeling something in the air at the office. Trust your instincts; your job may be in jeopardy of any of these things start happening on a regular basis.
Finding common ground with new people is a powerful way to increase your visibility and influence, and it only takes a few hours each week to build a strong network.
Brown and Fenske identify some characteristics of people who have what they describe as “winner’s brains”: brains of high achievers who have beaten enormous odds to succeed or come back from adversity. Keep in mind that even our “average” brains are miracles of observation, processing and computing.
Managers are continually wondering how to motivate workers. Brown and Fenske would argue that the best employees, the winners, motivate themselves. The write that “motivation is the fuel that keeps your Effort Accelerator going and keeps you…trained on the things that are important.”
Americans, British, Germans, Israelis, and people from colder weather places like Scandinavia and Russia tend to be low context communicators. They also tend to value being on time and efficiency in meetings and business communications. High context cultures include Asian countries, Middle Eastern cultures, African, Polynesian and warmer countries anywhere. In these cultures, people understand much more than they say; body language, gestures and the speakers’ rank in relation to one another all provide a hidden context that may be a complete mystery to a foreigner.
In 2014, the worst waves of the recent economic slowdown have passed, and the job market is heading down the long road to recovery. In cities where 2008 and 2009 unemployment reached record highs, employers are now reopening their doors and sustainable, promising companies are beginning the application review process. But this isn’t comforting news … Continue reading Unemployed Long Term? 4 Ways to Regroup & Get Hired
If your personality is a great fit for the way the team or company thinks, it’s likely that you be able to succeed and enjoy your work. Personality assessments like the Culture Index can help you and your manager understand why things are working (or not) and may be able to help you communicate better and become more effective. Even without a formal tool, you can learn about company culture during the interview, and up your chances of getting a job you’ll look forward to every day.
Your Work, Your Way 