Billy Joel has song called Second Wind…here are some lyrics,
“We’re only human, we’re supposed to make mistakes –So take it from me you’ll learn more from your accidents–
Than anything that you could ever learn at school”
The reality is that we reward people who are ‘successful’ and think that ‘failure’ is bad. If babies thought that, they would never walk!”
“Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.” Bill Gates
I live in Rochester, NY, home of Eastman Kodak; another great American company that has filed for bankruptcy. Why? Because we (yes I worked there for 17 years) became arrogant. We stopped being hungry for change. Success spoiled our drive.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com CEO has a mantra, “every day is day one.” In other words, whatever we did yesterday isn’t enough to ensure success tomorrow.
Look at your organization or your job search or your family goals? Is there a sense of urgency (that’s different from desperation, exhaustion, hamster wheel running)? Be clear and energetic. It’s contagious.
If a beaver really thought about all the work it would take to build a new home (dam), (s)he might never start. But since the need, desire and drive to build are innate… he doesn’t stop before he starts.
Somewhere along the way, human beings, who start out curious and driven (just watch a baby learn to walk) – we stop learning new things. How many times have you stopped yourself from trying something new because you were afraid?
Is it looking, acting or sounding stupid or admitting you don’t know something? We think that if we act like we’re not sure that we’ve somehow failed. The older we get, the less likely we are to try something different. We need to recalibrate our ideas so that learning new things is what’s good!
Here are my suggestions for staying hungry. Those of you who know me, know I’m already foolish (thank goodness!)
Everyday do something you don’t want to do… just for practice. Don’t gripe or complain, just do it. If you say one word about it to anyone, it doesn’t count. Do it for 7 days in a row and then talk with someone about the experience.
If you have a chance, watch a child learn new things. Do they get frustrated easily?
Make a list of the last 5 things you learned. Is it an easy list to construct or did you have to think about it for a while?
Set a goal to learn something new and take one small step towards it.
If you want to be Steve Jobs (author of ‘stay hungry, stay foolish’ and noted perfectionist) then this post is not for you. If you’re a mere mortal, then please tell me…. how do you stay hungry?
Maybe you’ve heard of a company called Zappos. In 1999, they began selling shoes on the Internet. I remember thinking… no one will buy shoes online. I was wrong! In less than 10 years, Zappos hit $1Billion in sales.
What’s even more amazing about Zappos is their culture. It begins and ends with customer service. I mean real service. Sad that a focus on the customer is so unique.
But the real magic of the organization, according to CEO Tony Hsieh (pronounced “shay”) is in the hiring. When interviewing at Zappos you might be asked,
“What’s your theme song?” or “How weird are you?”
By asking these questions, Zappos finds out if you’re flexible, creative, funny and interesting. So would you want to work in a place where these were the interview questions? I would.
I’ve often said I’m a little too weird for the normal people but too normal for the weird people. So add this (maybe) to the list of interview questions to prepare. What’s your favorite interview question?
Whether you are employed, unemployed or self-employed, one thing is clear; this country needs jobs. If you are someone who lost your job (uh-oh) and then started a company (a-ha!) then you, like me, are part of an exciting national trend.
I am an entrepreneur– in year 2 of my second start up. While it is a lot of work (yeah, get the work, do the work AND run the business), it’s very rewarding. I like the boss (me), the flexibility and I get to choose who I work for (the customers).
Here’s an interesting article on people who give up their full time jobs to start businesses. What? They gave up the security and paycheck of a full time job for the risks of a start up? Read on. These folks actually think working for someone else is the riskier proposition.
If you are wondering whether you’d make a good entrepreneur or want to learn more about how to get started here are a few resources.
Entrepreneur magazine - Even if your not sure whether starting a business is for you, start by reading a magazine like this.
When was the last time you had a spectacular failure?
I don’t mean “oops”— I mean whoa, that did not work out the way I thought.
No one likes failure – BUT, I know if I’m not occasionally failing and — failing fast, then I’m not taking enough risk. Most of the good stuff in my life came to me because I could not get what I needed or wanted via ‘the safe road.’
But remember this. I’m a Capricorn; the goat. We do not leap or pounce; we plod.
So for all you who are thinking… yeah, it’s easy for her. STOP RIGHT THERE. Taking risks is hard, scary, unsafe at any speed.
Here’s what helps me take more risk:
– My mentors are in their 20′s & 30′s. I am eager to learn from them & they are patient and generous.
– I gravitate to people who are trying new stuff and look for opportunities to associate with entrepreneurs.
– I try to read books that challenge my thinking. (I know, books are long and take a lot of time to read but I skim.) I visit the library. You can add your review to your Linked In profile. Here are a couple of suggestions that I’m going for:
Change is good, timing is everything, patience is the key. However… the good Lord helps those that help themselves. If you always do what you always did… you’ll always get what you always got. How’s that working out for you?
The saddest and trickiest part about discrimination is that many people (myself included) are not aware when we’re engaging in it. This distinguishes us from the people who are simply bigots and don’t care. In both cases, however, if you are the ‘discriminee’ it doesn’t really matter.
In this ad for Nivea skin products, the company created an ad campaign for African Americans called, “Recivilize Yourself.” Hmmm. Bad move. Implying that people are civilized or uncivilized based on their race is well… infuriating. And yet, Nivea paid, I would guess, millions of dollars to put it’s prejudice into full color! Note the ‘head’ (presumably the model’s uncivilized self). WOW. How could something like this get approved in 2011? By the way, Nivea did apologize (on Facebook!)
“It was never our intention to offend anyone, and for this we are deeply sorry. This ad will never be used again. Diversity and equal opportunity are crucial values of our company.”
Don’t know about you but I’m not feeling it….
I think the bottom line for all of us is that we need to be diligent in examining our beliefs and stereotypes. Discrimination is rampant these days is against 20 somethings. I implore you to think again about this generation. As digital natives, they have skills we desperately need to learn and understand.
As a woman in business, I have experienced discrimination many times; sometimes overt, sometimes subtle. Like all those before me who have felt this sting, I have a couple of choices. I can either be upset and let it affect the way I conduct myself or I can look the person in the eye, speak my peace when appropriate and move on. There’s too much good in the world to let ignorance or someone else’s opinion of me change how I live my life.
People in transition are at different stops along the “finding work again” route. What stage are you: denial, anger, why me, who cares, yikes I need money, holy smokes why didn’t keep up my network, this is cool, etc. Do you think of this as an opportunity or are you fighting it? You have a chance to learn many new things, so go for it!
Interviewing is a skill, like cooking or swinging a golf club. To be good at it you need to practice. So whether you’re in an active search or not, you need to practice interviewing.
At your next interview think about:
Asking, ‘why this is a great place to work?’ Watching body language for signs of discomfort from the interviewer? Asking about culture? technology?
Are you leading the conversation in a way that is to your advantage or are you letting the HR person/hiring manager set the agenda?
Here’s another great question to ask:
“Are there any skills that you would have liked for me to have but we haven’t discussed yet?” (Seems a little risky right?) When my contact (thanks Jason!) asked this question in a recent interview… the person mentioned business writing skills. He had a chance to send a writing sample along with the thank you note. By the way, they scheduled his next interview before he left the first. How’s that for results?
I had the good luck of being born into the family of Dorothy Fitzgerald. She was my great aunt but I considered her my grandmother. She lived at home until 3 months before she passed away at the age of 99.
Here she is in Gloucester, Mass. in 1929. She was a working woman (she worked for the IRS) and was the single finest human being I have ever known. Let me tell you a bit about her.
- She was kind to everyone. No exceptions. Race, age, economic status– everyone was treated the same. With respect.
- She never passed judgment. Dorothy was intelligent and well read and if asked, she would give a thoughtful, considered opinion but more often than not, she’d say she really didn’t know much about x or y (even if she did). She was open to hearing what others had to say.
- She was fiscally responsible. She had money and spent it wisely but she was also generous. She had impeccable taste. Her home was beautiful and welcoming. We often shared holidays with people from other countries who found themselves in the US. She knew that the best gifts were time and love.
- She was helpful when she could be and knew when to keep her mouth shut.
It was my privilege to know her and be part of her family. She was gracious without being phony and always generous of spirit . If I can be half of the person she was, I will consider myself a success.
Will you tell me about your role model? I am looking forward to the inspiration!
Last week I was speaking at a big event and had the pleasure of meeting many people. I was, however, unhappily struck by the number of people who don’t realize the negative impression of their fishy handshake.
What do I mean by a ‘fishy’ handshake? Well, when you offer just the fingers of your hand or when you fail to grasp the other person’s hand and shake it with confidence; you run the risk of having people think you are weak. This especially goes for men shaking hands with women. It is disrespectful to barely shake hands with a woman. It makes them think that you don’t think of them as equals.
You’ve probably heard the story about why we shake hands, i.e., to show that we have no weapons in our hands. Aside from the way we dress and eye contact, our handshake is another very important signal of our confidence.
When you shake hands, please, oh please I’m begging you, look the person in the eye and give them a gentle but firm handshake. This isn’t a strength contest but it is a chance to make the other person sit up and take notice of your positive manner. So ladies, put your hand out there and shake firmly. Guys, do the same. it’s so important!
“If you don’t risk anything, you risk even more…” Erica Jong
Last week I made a presentation to the Western NY chapter of the Product Development Management Association (PDMA) on how Social Media is radically changing the world of product development. I have been working on the ideas for this presentation and getting to know people in the group for nearly a year. When the time came for me to make this presentation, I believed I had something valuable to share.
But some little part of me thought, uh oh. What if they disagree? What if the material isn’t interesting? These are just my thoughts and ideas; maybe I’m wrong. In other words, I knew I was taking a risk and suddenly the reality of the risk hit home. A few minutes later, I pushed these thoughts from my mind, knew that I was well prepared and then hoped for the best. You’ll be glad to know that everything went well.
In my mind, if I’m not taking a fair number of risks in my professional life, then I’m not learning and growing. The important thing is to take calculated risks; ones that I know from experience, have a fairly high probability of turning out in my favor. Years ago I heard this quote and decided that I would embrace the philosophy…”The best way to cope with change is to create it.”
And here’s another very interesting way to look at it… “If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevancy even less.” General Eric Shinseki, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army
Billy Joel has song called Second Wind…here are some lyrics,
future of work, Life Transitions, skills | Deborah | 
January 31, 2012 11:11 am | 
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