Personal PR Inside the Corporation

Even if you are not an independent consultant or run your own business, personal PR is still important to advance your career and stay in the minds of others to take on new initiatives.

How do you go about staying top of mind in a positive light without bragging or brown nosing within the corporation? Here are some tips to help stay ahead:

1. Be pro-active with your boss and everyone you work with, including clients
Don't let an issue get to him or her without fair warning. Help him or her stay abreast of the great things you and/or your team is doing, and what needs to be improved.

Also stay on top of requests from others. If you can't help someone within 24 hours let them know you can't help till X date and either set a date to help and put it on your calendar or delegate to someone else to get to it. Remember you don't always have to delegate down, but to your peers and up to your boss.

2. Be a problem solver, even if it is not your problem
My boss reminded our team of a book called "The Oz Principle" which is about being accountable for not just your actions, but for the organization at large. So if you see a problem that may not be yours but indirectly impacts you or your organization, see if you can help to solve it. If anything it will get folks in other divisions see you be proactive in trying to solve problems that impact the organization.

3. Find initiatives that synergize with your interests
If you feel like you are not maximizing your talents, see if there are other ways to get involved in itiatives in your organization or other groups. Talk to your boss to see if he or she can help you navigate ways to connect with others.

4. Recognize and congratulate others in your company
Get a "congrats" from someone? Remember to thank them. See someone get promoted or rewarded for something great they did recently? Send them a person note congratulating them on what they did.

5. Stay On Top of Initiatives to Promote Your Team
Be it an internal recognition program to nominate members of your team for or a marketing initiative to gather case studies of wins in the field, remember, if not selected, to always submit people, artifacts and ideas.

6. Be Professional
No matter how laid back your company is, or stressful and finger pointing a situation may become, remember to always take the high road and look at situations via the facts for lessons learned and ways to improve. Keep out the emotions.

Pay It Forward

The banker reached into the folds of his gown, pulled out a single credit note.

"But eat first — a full belly steadies the judgment. Do me the honor of accepting this as our welcome to the newcomer."

His pride said no; his stomach said YES! Don took it and said, "Uh, thanks! That's awfully kind of you. I'll pay it back, first chance."

"Instead, pay it forward to some other brother who needs it."

- in Between Planets by Robert A. Heinlein

Earlier this week I helped a friend with her MySpace page. Tomorrow I will be helping with an event's logistics. I am sure there is more to do. I get nothing in return (other than some wine).

When was the last time you did something for someone and expected nothing from it - no reward later on, no membership in an organization due to the "obligation" of volunteering - nothing.

Find something you can give this week and pay it forward. Need an idea? Here are a few I've either done or have seen others do:

1. Provide a Free Meal

Chief Viewzer (CEO) of Viewzi Brandon Cotter provides his team lunch every Friday. He even invites others he knows in the community to join him at these home cooked meals.

2. Find an Organization to Give Your Time

Find a group, homeless shelter, boys and girls club, anything else that you are doing just to give back, not to get somewhere else in society.

3. Find a Group to Donate Money To

Even though most organizations need people's time to help them accomplish their mission, many are in need of additional funds. $25 can go a long way. Google on something in society you wish was better and you will probably find an organization already trying to do so. Give to them.

4. Bring Someone at the Office Flowers

It will brighten their day.

5. Do You Really Need That?

Have books, clothing or other household goods collecting dust? Donate it now.

We all get stuck in a rut to show up at work and run family errands. Do something for yourself by giving relentlessly to someone else.

But remember, those you help have to now help 3 other people versus paying you back.

Disappointment

No matter how much a situation just ticked you off, don't try to get revenge.

No matter how upset you got over not being selected for something, shrug it off and find a bigger and better project to be involved in.

If there is an issue that is frustrating you, but you know you can do something about it, then go do something about it.

Every day we each face something that disappoints us. Those that can roll with the punches, stay positive and see the silver lining in these occurances will be leaps and bounds ahead of the naysayers.

What Makes You Want to Take Charge?

Some who have a "desire to lead" have this desire due to having a greed of wanting more in life. If that is what you want, is "leading" the way to get you more?

Others have a "desire to lead" to make change, solve a problem.

So what causes you to get to a point where you are tired of following someone else to solve the problem and want to take the helm?

Here are some things to think about the next time you are approached to take the "lead" on something new:

1. Are you skilled to solve the problem at hand?

2. Are you interested in the problem enough where you would do the work unpaid?

3. Do you "gel" with the people you would be working with and leading?

4. Do you have a vision to get from today to tomorrow?


What makes you want to take a lead on something? Drop me a comment!

The Bluebird

It's Friday afternoon, 4:30 PM.

Yup, you guessed it. A whole new file to process comes in and your boss tells you it is due before you leave today. You know processing will take over an hour and you are in a hurry to get to your son's Friday Lights football game.

What do you do?

1. First, set an environment with your boss when you begin to work with him or her on your normal work hours. If there are days where you need to leave early let him know at the beginning of the day.

2. Ask your boss, or who ever gave you the file, why it is needed so fast. Will it really be a problem to get to it first thing Monday AM?

3. Is there someone else who could complete the work, especially someone in a different timezone who still has a few more hours in their day?

4. As a last resort, refuse with explanation and let your boss be aware of the situation. Why? You don't want to get into a habit of being a "sucker" for last minute work as this will not be the last. Set your parameters now for people to respect you later.

Gettin Physical

In preparing to deliver one of your most impactful speeches you need to remember not just what you are saying, but also, the physical parts to the speech. What do I mean by physical? Movement - hand gestures, walking around the stage, eye contact and anything else you do with your body.

Sometimes you can have too much, or, too little physical items built into your speech. Here are some tips:

1. Only walk to a different part on stage when you are changing gears/topics.

2. Use hand gestures that add to the conversation and help you make a point, versus distract from what you are saying.

3. Even though you may want to look "above" the audience, make it a point to make eye contact with different audience members throughout the conversation.

Remember to build in these aspects to your speech so they are rehersed.

Meetings That Matter

Do you often feel like you just lost an hour of your life when you enter a meeting that doesn't serve a purpose, bring an item to closure or help make progress for you or your organization?

What if you held a meeting like that, would people want to come to more of your meetings?

Here are some tips in getting through organizing what could not just be a tough meeting, but a tough meeting that could get you somewhere within your organization.

1. Publish an agenda
This includes purpose of meeting, goals and objectives. Make sure there are tangible things coming out of the meeting.

2. Take notes
Capture conversation, outstanding open items and action items. Determine when you are going to meet again and potential topics for the next meeting.

3. Know when to cut off conversation
Topics could get heated and dominate the conversation. Know when to "take something offline" so that you do not keep people beyond the time you set for the meeting.

4. Don't let a meeting run over
Stay to the schedule you proposed.

5. Recap action items/next steps before closing the meeting
Make sure everyone knows what is next.

Even though we think everyone knows how to properly organize and run a meeting, we don't.

Remember, only organize a meeting to make progress, not give status reports.

Calm Leadership

What type of leader attracts you more to follow:

1. The "in your face", bold, brash, reactive, the "sky is always falling leader", or
2. The cool, calm and collected leader who takes everything in stride?

A few of us reflected on this topic the other night as we replayed the "Clinton versus Obama" campaigns of weeks past, as we saw the more calm Obama keep a collected course through the elections. I think it is fairly obvious which side of the spectrum each presidential candidate leans (ok, maybe Hillary is somewhere in between, but I think you get the point).

Why are we attracted to calm leaders, and why more often then not female leaders in particular aren't as "cool, calm and collected" as their male counterparts? Is there something inherent to our chemical makeup or did we miss some sort of training along the way?

Our Attraction to the Calm?

Think about it - would you rather be led by someone who can hold their composure in tough situations or blow their top off?

Why Different?

This is due to nature at work - men and women have different chemicals and parts of the brain triggered in tough situations that come up as a leader.

So if you find you are more of an "on fire" passionate leader pushing the envelope maybe a bit too much, how do you go about calming your presence when your body wants to react differently? Here are some tips in calming your approach to leading:

1. Smile - Be Happy and Positive
2. Count to 10 - Calm Down Before Doing, or Saying, Anything
3. Think Before Reacting - Be Strategic Before Making a Tactical Move
4. Don't Jump to Conclusions - What Does Assume Do?
5. Keep the Fire Inside - Put That Energy Towards Your Next Project
6. Have a Coach/Mentor to Bounce Approaches/Ideas - They've Been There
7. Align Your Actions with Your Values - Consistency Re-enforces Your Leadership Message

No matter how well our intentions may be, peers and followers around us may not be ready for an "in your face" type of leader, at least, not today.

The Art, and Science, of the Jockey

As the democratic primaries come to a close, and a fun day of ensuring my team's hard work and thought leadership doesn't get stolen by others, I thought it was time to post on...

The Art, and Science, of the Jockey

No I'm not talking about becoming a sports athlete, but a business athlete.

What can help you stand out as a great business jockey of all time, versus just being one of the pack? Here are 10 tips to help you win at office politics.

The Art
1. Build Connections
You never know when someone in your company you meet can help position you and/or your team for great things. Or, you help them.

2. Establish Trust via Delivery
Harvest references.

3. Position "The Other" to Be Part of the Solution
Don't squash the other guy, instead, take the lead on collaborating with the other.

4. Determine Your Allies and Enemies
Nurture the Allies. Try to make the enemies your friends even if it hurts.

5. Guess the Counter Play from "The Other"
Good athletes compete. Great athletes second guess the upcoming moves of "The Other" to stay ahead.


The Science
6. Know Your Team's/Business Unit's Statistics
How has your business grown over the last year? What are you tactically doing to continue to grow?

7. Tout What Your Team Does
If you have truely done something before you say you have, prove it.

8. Calculate Your Next Move
How will you ensure your team stays ahead? What's the plan to stay the course?

9. Stay In Shape by Creating New Opportunities
Or what is known as "blue ocean strategies".

10. Don't Over Do It
You need to rest and jockey in moderation, otherwise you'll burn out and lose the art and science of it all.

Are you ready to play?

Do You Nurture Or Throw Into the Fire - Or Do You Even Know?

After chatting with one of my managers from a long week of trying to determine how we are going to staff all the work we have to accomplish this summer (which is a wonderful problem to have!), we embarked on a great conversation about "nurturing" new hires versus the proverbial "throw 'em into the fire".

If you are a manager, or an independant entrepreneur getting ready to hire contract workers, do you realize and know how you bring up to speed new people working for you?

Nurturers:

• Give new hires a plan from day one


• Meet with new hires regularly to ensure questions and needs are met


• Provide clear goals and objectives

Fire Throwers:

• Provide a few recommendations on how to get started


• Expect a new hire to come to them when needing help


• Has the new hire create their own plan and objectives

So are you more of a nurturer or fire thrower? Even if you are one versuses the other, there's a trick - it's not how you want to bring someone up to speed, but more so about how your new hire needs to be brought into your team's culture.

For example, more junior resources need to be nurtured where more senior can be let loose. Or, you have a particular project at hand you know how it needs to get done versus a new opportunity looking for someone new to look at tackling it from a different perspective.

It's important as you grow your team, and your self as a manager, that you learn how to manage and cultivate a diverse team of talent and experience, where you are capable of sensing which type of ramp up you need to deliver and then knowing how to deliver each method.

So when you look to bring on a new person remember to

1. Recognize what you need to have accomplished in the first 3-12 months


2. Understand the strengths and experiences of the new hire to tailor your ramp up style to him or her

Did Gaming Nurture My Leadership Style?

Though I'm not a millennial and did not grow up on MMORPGs (Massive Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Games), I did however grow up on Atari, Nintendo and other gaming devices. As an only child and independent learner, these devices kept me entertained for hours on end, and out of trouble.

• Did gaming help me hone my strategic skills?
• Did gaming teach me how to be responsive, faster?

A few business professors recently studied this and began to forecast how the future business world may be more like a MMORG due to the environment being more dynamic and game like, requiring tomorrow's leaders to

• Have speed
• Be risk takers
• Accept leadership roles as temporary

I found the last comment interesting. It means title will no longer entitle you to always take the lead, or not take the lead. It means peers/employees of the company select who will be a leader for a project or initiative, but it's not permenant and others will have a chance to lead as well.

I believe that is already happening in many companies - for example where I am we have different types of governance and advisory councils for different types of projects and peers/others select "who" will take the lead either till the next year or when that project comes to completion.

This made me ponder on if we are just trying to morph corporate america into a world millennials could live in. What do you think?

• Should we be educating more junior colleagues on the ins and outs of the "corporate game" to help achieve what one wants to do and/or accomplish while in a career for one company?
• Is the "game" a new, more modern, acceptable term for what we know as today for "politics".

Now if only Zelda or Mario could lead corporate america...