5 Questions for Brian Garvey

Let's face it, most mentoring programs suck! We pair an upstart performer with a more Senior team member or an Executive. Two scenarios usually take shape:

1. The upstart preps for the meeting and the Executive asks to reschedule.

2. The upstart spends the mentoring sessions opposing the Executive's viewpoint and she puts him on the "people to fire" list.

There is an exception to every rule! 8 years ago my Boss asked me to spend a few minutes each week with one of our new hires. The intent was to answer questions and provide situational guidance....what happened was something completely different. Our sessions were highly productive for 2 reasons:
1. We spoke it terms of business solutions (not products and services).
2. We actually enjoyed talking to one another.

The Mentor was I and the Mentee was today's guest. Since our first mandated call nearly a decade ago, both of us have found different careers, but we have seldom missed our Friday evening call. This week's discussion involved the questions below.....which Mr. Garvey was kind enough to contribute to DFTR.

1. You are a project management professional – tell us what that means.

Technically, I am not a project management professional. That title is a professional designation known as a PMP by the Project Management Institute. I am, however, a Business Development Manager in the project management industry. Businesses rely on projects to sustain, change and improve their business performance. There is much to gain from choosing the right projects and completing them successfully. But that's easier said than done; most companies struggle with some aspect of their project portfolios. I work with a select group of companies to improve the way they manage their project portfolios, programs and individual projects.

2. You have an MBA in finance and could be a CFO by now, but you continue to endure the sales game….why?
Business exists to create customers, and I believe there are specific ways to create customers (through an organized effort on behalf of all members of a business for positive reasons that customers and employees love). I pursued my MBA because I wanted to learn more about business. I saw it as an investment in my personal learning and it has benefited me in many situations. But it's only one piece of many lessons I've learned about business. Why am I not a CFO by now...finance is interesting; accounting is not. I choose to endure the sales game because it's where customers are created. Sales is also the discipline where most organizational leaders come from.

3. People may not know that you are a culinary expert. How has your career as a chef complimented your experience in corporate America?
I do love to cook and contemplated a lifelong career as a chef. A restaurant is a business, and I've learned many lessons there as well; as many if not more than I learned in the MBA program.
Lesson 1- when everyone pulls in the same direction, a group of people can create amazing customers.
Lesson 2- don't let one bad review define your talents.
Lesson 3- I'll probably never like rice pilaf.

4. You are a guy who got married young, had kids, and have managed to stay married. What does that family foundation mean to your professional career?

Good question! I've heard thousands of managers over the years say employees need to keep personal lives away from work. I never understood that because my personal life is a huge reflection of what defines me. It's also impossible for me to keep my work life away from my personal life. My wife and I have many dinner conversations about work! One area affects the other. Admittedly, I believe the point is to keep the downside in check. If I'm having a terrible day at work then I don't go home and "kick the dog." The opposite is also true. So what does family foundation mean to my professional career? It's a very simple law of nature-- loyalty. I will do almost anything for those who have my best interests at heart.

5. There was a time when IBM was the training ground for a lot of other companies. These days, I think its Iron Mountain. What has being an Iron Mountain alumni meant to your career development?

Iron Mountain. The goose with the golden egg. I wonder if there's any other company 5 times larger than it's nearest competitor. The people I met at Iron Mountain have meant the most to my career development. They still impact my professional development today, even though it's been nearly 5 years since my resignation. It may seem unlikely, but I learn and grow every week because of the people I met at Iron Mountain.

Brian Garvey is a man who continues to win as a professional by the virtue of his tireless work ethic, solution oriented approach and his continual quest to try new things. 
 
Get to know Brian better @  http://www.linkedin.com/in/bgarv
 
Don't Forget to Remember!
 
- Dave Kovacovich

3 Ways to Love Your Job

Last week's post on Employer Branding ended with 3 vital questions.

I have been in sales for 15 years. My roles, markets, and client emphasis have evolved rapidly over that time. I got into Sales after spending the better part of the 90's at Arizona State University. I figured my leadership experience in student affairs coupled with my love for socializing would serve me well. It has. 

I came out of school doing tele-sales for a cigar company. I played the law of averages. If I call 100 people 2 of them will say yes. It worked....but my skill set never evolved. Two things are inelegant in this process:

- 2% is not a good ratio
- Hearing a bunch of NO's to get to YES does not foster any type of customer loyalty

Over time, my sales career has gone from transactional to consultative. It is no longer about the widget and now about the essential place I have in my customer's company culture. The law of averages no longer exists, the gift of gab has been dispelled, and the product/service/price is not enough.

In order to aid my professional development I have had to be aware of the 3 questions we pondered at the conclusion of last week's post:
•Which companies do you want to partner with because you know they cannot function without your partnership?
•What is your dream job and how can you get hired in 5 years?
•Are you willing to tell your CEO that from where you are sitting things are not working?

Gotta Have It!
There are companies out there whose products you might really love. There are other companies that might have a sexy culture that really intrigues you. But if you are not selling a sexy service said company probably does not have room for you on their 'vendor roster'. Just because a company has great product development and/or marketing does not mean they are a fun company to work with.

I go back to Simon Sinek's book, "Start With Why". In this book, Simon addresses the issues in this blog by dispelling what we seem to have convinced ourselves. You cannot pretend to be who you are not as a company. Your valuable time and effort will be wasted in chasing rabbits if they have no reason to stop and meet you eye to eye.

You need to find companies, prospects and new hires who match your WHY. The core values of your company need to match those of your desired prospects. You need to hire team players with common personal missions. You, as a job hunter, need to find that company whose business purpose matches your personal intent.

Where Is Your Rushmore?
Max Fisher had convinced himself that he wanted to be in high school forever. He had a school rich in opportunities that allowed him to form several student groups while developing himself as a leader. But, he neglected his grades and got kicked out of school. It wasn't the school that mattered. He just needed an organization that supported his ambition, trusted his intuition, and allowed him to experiment.

Too often, we think in direct extremes:
"My job sucks but it's work"
"That company is super cool but they would never hire me"

So we pass the time punching the clock and pretend that work is work.

In the movie Cool Hand Luke, our hero challenged the biggest guy on the lot to a boxing match and got his ass royally kicked. On his way back to the barracks as his constituents looked over him with shame he said, "at least I tried". Damn Right!

It's easy to hate your job because you settled for a company that would hire you. It is easy to have a job that does not challenge you but pays the bills well enough. It is easy to sit back and watch others fail...to shake your head and tell them they should have stayed off the radar. At some point, you owe it to yourself to go fight the bully!

Open Door
I bet you see things on the job every week that could be improved upon. I bet you either keep it to yourself or throw your hand up in a team meeting and bitch about it.

In a seminar I did earlier this year I asked attendees "how do you know what your employees prefer and how do you convey that to your CEO?"
The responses:
A. We take a survey (but never show the results to the CEO)
B. We do a focus group (without considering the participants)
C. We value our Executive directives and do not allow input from employees to effect our planning

Most CEOs do not know the nuances of their company culture. Does that mean it is incumbent upon line managers and employees to hide problems from their executives? If you happen upon the CEO at the water cooler and he/she asks how things are going, you will tell him/her "exceptionally well" and dart off in the other direction.

There has to be a way to inform the CEO of the issues that are causing turnover. There needs to be a way to eliminate the things that are not working and develop initiatives that make sense to the employee. When jobs are performed well employees should be rewarded, when employees stay late on a Friday they should be thanked, and if a middle manager protects employee feedback from the CEO...that person should be fired.

There are no easy answers but we need to keep in mind where our energy is best utilized.

If a company is a bad prospective customer they will be a terrible customer. This will waste valuable time and resources without producing sufficient revenue. This is an affect of pretending to be someone you are not. You cannot fit a whole donut in a coffee cup (take one bite at a time).

If you hate your job consider WHY. Are you paying attention to the right things? If someone is an a-hole...work around them. You don't have to freak out every time said a-hole attacks you....let them drown themselves. Focus on where your talent is best appreciated and make your current job, your dream job.

Executive leaders appreciate confidence, concise language and solution oriented thinking. You can tell the CEO of a issue in the workplace if you have the above mentioned 3 traits in mind.

Your job will be awesome if you love your customers and co-workers (and they love you). Your job will be awesome if you ignore the a-holes and focus on the good stuff. Your job will be awesome if your well-educated opinion is respected in the board room.

Don't Forget to Remember!

~ Dave

Worst Practices

A few weeks back I blogged about workforce commodity. I work in Human Resources ~ possibly the most restricted department in any company. If we seek change it does not look like thought leadership. Even change needs to look like a commodity:


Step 1: Develop a Committee
Step 2: Author an RFP
Step 3: Collect bids from 'defensible' potential vendors
Step 4: Select a 'safe' partner
Step 5: Write a policy
Step 6: Train
Step 7: (finally) Implement a 'new' program

...after we've navigated this 7 step process, the cutting edge program has become dated. When our employees actually touch the program it is watered down. No one is willing to make a choice without 8 other people to defend the choice. Hours and hours are dedicated to meetings about meetings, calls about calls, and pseudo on-the-job training (to give the less experienced another hole in the punch card). We call this developing people....it is really systematic dulling down. Compartmentalization. Checks and balances. Safe, uninventive, predictable. In an interview we ask what you did at company X that can benefit company Y. When 'vendors' come in to present their solution we ask what other companies in our industry are doing....

It's a copy cat culture replicated to look the same everywhere with a different logo....and we call them Best Practices.

What happened?

How did we go from a creative culture to a cog burning factory of predictability?

When I was a young up-start I couldn't wait to get to work...to learn, to evolve, to have an opportunity to share ideas, to develop my path for development. I figured that if I worked my ass off I would be rewarded. I thought that if I introduced new ideas I would help the company evolve. I thought I worked for a company that welcomed employee feedback as a means to more fully form our organizational strategy.

Boy, Was I Wrong!

In actuality, I was pee pee whacked for sharing new ideas (aka rocking the boat). If I challenged authority in a meeting I was cast off as 'negative'. The people I looked up to as leaders were professional anglers. The company did not want to evolve...we wanted to stay simple, programmable, systematic.

The way to 'climb the ladder' was to accept every directive and pass along the idea to others. There was no originality, nothing innovative! So, you take young talent, have them report to those who pretend to be leaders, and destroy their motivation. It is massively unfortunate but it works most of the time. The idealists are driven to become lemmings because their thought leadership is admonished instead of celebrated.

I remember my first day of High School football camp. I went into the weight room and immediately went to work. I hit every machine...an elder statesman came up to me and said, "slow down dude, it's a marathon not a sprint". Just then, I knew I was going to be massively successful as a member of that school. If the most respected member of the team was telling me to "slow down", I was going to lap him twice.

Some of us are blessed with talent, others try really hard to measure up ~ both have the opportunity to sell out. The little guy can do steroids, the big guy can set a standard of under-performance....that's what we have become, a tribe of followers: "tell me what to do and I'll do it". It's easier to sit on the side lines with arms folded than to get in the game.

Your unique thought is all you have. If you allow 'them' to take that from you, you become one of 'them'!

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave

Desire Driven Work

This is the final installment of the Employee Purpose Perspective (EPP). We embarked on this journey together to find relevance between clock punches.


Today we ponder the final step to freedom:
Professional purpose is a willingness to fulfill personal desire



We have talked about engaging your team by making it personal, you have been sequestered to make your work a practice in passion. Yet, fulfilling personal desire through work is a seemingly absurd ideology.

What Does It Mean?

Desire is a drive within you that is of irreplaceable importance: that long term goal, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, your personal 'bucket list' objective. Assume you have made your employer happy, food is on the table, and your career path is secure.

What do you DESIRE?

Maybe it's the opportunity to start your own company, the idea of sailing around the world, or a 1967 cherry red Ford Mustang. You know you don't need any of these things, but when you have given all you can to those who matter, you will need something for yourself. Or will you?

What if every day you received your 'bucket list' rewards. What if right now you could embrace lifetime achievement. What is stopping you from having the life you want? Are you a slave to your lifestyle? Are you drown in expenses? Have you been trained to be afraid to take chances? Have you been following for so long that you forgot how to lead? Are you such a good employee that you have neglected to build your personal irreplaceable talent?

It's never too late to be everything you wish to be in life. It is never too early to start living life in the sunset.

It's not your job that matters, it's how you live your work. It's not your company's duty to inspire you...it is your duty to inspire yourself. Don't wait for instruction, CREATE your future...now.

The Employee Purpose Perspective is an Empowered Mission. I came upon it because I lived a life of misery for far too long. I was always uptight, I had a retort to every instruction, I was entitled, I was selfish, I gave advice without being asked, I offered my assistance only to elevate myself, I bitched and complained and made everyone around me miserable. I was not confident, I was afraid. I blamed my inefficiencies on others because I was too afraid to commit to greatness. I wasted the part of my life I should have most enjoyed...locked up in a self-created prison.

I don't want that to happen to you!

Be aware that we condition ourselves to follow the system. To do our work well in an effort to earn more work. Unfortunately, all roads lead only to a wall. We have been conditioned to turn around when we hit the wall and navigate the maze again.

TEAR DOWN THE WALLS!

The key to the EPP is to find a way over, around or through the wall. Very few will be willing to break out of their routine to help you get over the wall. You need to get creative in your thinking. To find new ways to do things. To realize that a wall...is really a door.

I leave you with 3 ideas to put DESIRE into your work:
Take Action
Find Outside Influence
Debrief

Act Now, Apologize Later
People want to hire people that they don't have to coddle. If your boss is always telling you how to do your job, you are more of a burden than an asset.

You will always be commended for taking initiative. YOU MUST, however, make sure you do not repeat the same mistake twice.

Barkeep...
Bartenders, Baristas and Valets make for great advisers. Don't ever underestimate anyone's advisory ability. Determine your audinece, present your challenges, and chew on it together.

Better to fumble through an idea with your Barber than your boss!

Action without strategy...
...is like swinging at shadows. You have to learn from each and every day. Develop the ability to debrief. Learn from your mistakes, bounce ideas off informal 3rd party advisers...and (most importantly) look deep into YOURSELF to find the answers.

Every day must be capped with a few minutes of silent reflection. Retrace what you have done, why you succeeded, and what you could have done better. Take what you have learned, make it part of tomorrow, and grow from it.

I don't write a blog to improve my resume or enhance my job prospects. This, I do, to help YOU. I don't want you to make the mistakes I have. I want you to recognize your worth and to stick up for yourself. The EPP is designed to help you find meaning in this life, not while you are on vacation, but while you are at work.

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave

YOUR Mission

It's the 6th Installment of the Employee Purpose Perspective (EPP). Thus far, we have introduced the following principles:
Collaboration
Purposeful Intent
Personal Relevance
Unique Value Proposition
Embrace Impossible

Today we ask the question: Is it possible to lead a group of individuals within a common system?

Answer: No!

70% of first time Managers fail. The number one reason Managers fall short is because they fail to engage their workforce. This is because Managers are told to throw a blanket over 10 completely different people and expect consistent results.

Work becomes synonymous with boredom because it is not given applicable relevance. You have team meetings twice a week...why? That's what your employees are asking....why are we here, again..? What's the Purpose?

The answer from the Manager's corner is usually....because....(that's it). It is what it is (the worst phrase ever and an insulting misinterpretation of a Buddhist philosophy). Manager's have their marching orders, they are instructed to bestow them upon their teams, and all march together to increase stock points. Rats in a maze without purpose.

We Can Do Better Than That!

The real question is: What separates Leaders from Managers?

Answer: the ability to give every one of their team members a personal mission.

Jason will have different motivations than Jennifer. We need to invest in understanding individual motivations and help the individuals find purpose. You cannot do that by setting group goals. You have to make THEIR goals ~ YOURS.

Relationships matter most. Relationships take personal investment. Work is seldom personal. Therefore, our investment is not in the PEOPLE that make up the system but the SYSTEM itself. Discard the people and plug into the spreadsheet - Cowardly!

Here's how to get to know your people:
Engage
Differentiate
Quantify

Paul Westerberg, where have you been?
We each have our artist of choice. Let's say you are a die hard Mats fan, if your boss sighted a lyric from Paul Westerberg in a sit down meeting - how much would that mean to you?

I get it, you can't pretend to love something you don't, and pretend it's personal. But the effort to genuinely understand means more than you know.

Togetherness
Boss #1 + Employee A = Two people with common frustrations and a need to make better. Why not talk about it?

I once had a boss who taught me how to be a man. He had been through the ringer, his life was difficult, and he spent countless hours listening to me complain. When he left our company, he told me in honest terms that he thought his advice was lost on me....that hurt.

What does it all mean...
Money isn't everything. You get to a point in your career when you come to understand that. Then what...?

What would you be willing to accept more than dollar bills? To some it means freedom to create their own schedule, for others the opportunity for advancement.

Your challenge is to determine what really matters to your employees, to help them make it part of their life, and to incent their courage accordingly.

Our core values speak to:
Integrity
Innovation
Accountability
...these ideals are something different to everyone.

We spend far too much time convincing others of what WE believe in. Why not invest in THEM and fashion your advising from there?

Micro-Management is dead, the rules are changing, and everyone has options.

Everyone is willing to put money aside to be part of something that they believe in.

All you have to do is understand what makes me, me...and incent accordingly.

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave

Embrace Impossible

It's the 5th Installment of the Employee Purpose Perspective (EPP) and our task today is simple:
Embrace Impossible

When you join a new company the outstanding performer pulls you aside and lets you know, "how things are done around here".

Some see the extending of the olive branch as an honor. Others see proposed limits on the standard for success. It is simple to look at the best, admire their talent and strive to be like them. You can also understand that top performers want to stay at the top and every new team member may serve as a threat to their throne. Don't get me wrong, I despise internal competition, I also dislike the abuse of tenure!

Everyone has a plateau and it is horrifying to see the great fall from grace. Those who cling to the past do so because they have lost their ability to repeat greatness. Allow not proposed limits to keep you from exceeding the norm and redefining the standard. There is nothing impolite about doing the best you can, it helps everyone get better! If ever you are told to 'slow down' you know you have victory in your clutches. Never Slow Down...re-establish the standard.

Possibility is merely a metric of what has been. That time is past and there are no limits to where we go from here! If you are willing to accept the norm, you should stay in bed. If you are comfortable playing second fiddle, you shouldn't join the band. You belong on the field not on the bench. Allow no one to set the standard for you.

3 Keys to Achieving the Impossible:
Consider the Source
Give Yourself Credit
Do Not Entitle

The Best?
The team's number one producer is often not the most credible resource. Some people get lucky, others know how to work the system, there are those who use their resources well, and others that are massively disciplined in their approach. There is nothing wrong with succeeding by the means that fit your personality.

Warning: Do not assume 'top producer' means most knowledgeable!

What Got YOU here?
I was once told to go to the team's top producers to understand the formula for success. None of the advice I received made sense. I asked an employee in another department what he thought? He said, "If they define success, you should consider yourself a leader already"!

It made sense...be humble in seeking advice but don't take it as gospel. Don't forget who you are, what got you here and the achievements that got you hired. Don't think because you are the 'new girl' that you cannot be a leader.

Round Here....
Titles, tenure and earning statements don't tell the whole story. You do not need a trophy to prove your worth. You don't need to be at the top of the ranking report to know you are great at your job!

Think about who you really want to be and start from there. No one reserves the right to define boundaries for you. Maybe you have failed to establish the success you had five years ago....that does not mean you cannot get back there. Maybe you are the best on the team, that doesn't mean you have plateaued.

Think of your life's greatest achievements, keep them in your heart, and take the Glory back.

There is nothing you cannot achieve if you define, for yourself, what is possible.

When you get to the top of the mountain turn around and do it all over again.

There is no Finish Line!

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave

Purposeful Intent

Last week we introduced The Employee Purpose Perspective (EPP). Today's Second Installment of the EPP examines Purposeful Intent. You may ask yourself, "are not purpose and intent of the same ideology?". They are exactly not....which introduces our problem. Too often we are given a directive, which formulates our purpose, and we perform said directive...without intent.

This makes our lives a collection of meaningless tasks between clock punches. This is a waste!

What's Your Purpose?

Next week we will examine the inability of most organizations to bring meaning to the never ending task list. Today, I am going to ask you to define purpose for yourself. You cannot rely on your organization to assign Purposeful Intent, so you have to create it.

When you develop the ability to find personal meaning in every chore you free yourself to choose the life you wish to have.

It is a fairly simple process: When assigned a task ask yourself is what it means to you...and prioritize accordingly.

We have seen studies that convey that 70% of all workers are actively disengaged. That's probably a low estimate and the premise could be flawed. If we are honest with ourselves we have to admit that our company will open the doors, turn on the computers and supply some coffee. The rest is up to you. I repeat...

The Rest Is Up To You!

There is no such thing as the perfect job. Every company has people who have become irrelevant and seek to destroy the ambition of the optimistic. But, we don't need to sell our belongings and journey to Alaska to find our purpose.

We find ourselves caught up in the myth of work hard, play hard. That we have the determination at work to win and then we take off our tie and escape to lunacy. This creates a double life: stress out and decompress. Make money, spend it and hide in your cubicle until the hangover subsides.

There is one absolute in every day: If you think today will suck, it will! If you find the ability to put your energy into that which matters you will be 100 times happier at work.

Here's how you can develop Purposeful Intent:
Avert Your Ego
Set Sensible Priorities
Have a Back Up Plan

Leave it!
Every task will take twice as long if you are intent on having your way. How our egos drive our goals and how silly that is. We have calls about calls, meetings about meetings and the only reason for this is so someone can receive confirmation that their opinion is valued....who gives a shit!

You will be amazed how much less stress exists in your day when you stop caring about having your name on the slide show. Let the insecure fisherman cast their dwindling line...and keep feeding them bait.

Your opinions will not be missed, you will spend less time doing things you wish not to, and you can get on with what actually matters.

Get Over It!
"I just want to get it over with" - this premise means you don't want to do it, so why do it? When someone tells you they are too busy it means they are willing to do a bunch of things that are not applicable to their grandiose intent. More precious living moments wasted!

...at some point you have to push back and just not do it!

Playing With the House's Money
Fact: if you have 100 prospects in your pipeline you will not care if one of them goes in another direction.
Fact: the mundane tasks of your job are avoidable if you don't care about losing your job.

I mean not to inspire a careless attitude...in fact, the opposite.

You can perform your job the way you want based on what is important to you. If you are genuinely great at what you do, your company will value your personal intent to empower organizational success. And if they don't, someone else will.

Our problem is that we forget our awesomeness...and we let others pretend to determine it for us.

Don't Undervalue Your Existence...Determine YOUR Worth...and Let That Drive You!

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave

Will Work for Peace

Career progress is an interesting thing. We all want to advance ourselves professionally: to make a few more bucks, to learn, to lead, to be part of something bigger. Unfortunately, our metrics for progress are often skewed. Very few companies have well defined progress planning. It seems developed mentoring programs are a means to pacify ambition not encourage it. Far too many leaders fail to pass the torch for fear of losing their sphere of influence.


We tend to get ourselves caught up in the task list for advancement without clearly defining our personal vision for professional progress.

Do you want to progress because you believe in what you are doing or are you simply charting the next 'logical' step? Do you seek advice from your 'superiors' because you genuinely respect them or because you are looking for shoulders to stand upon? Is the advice you are afforded in-sync with your personal professional vision?

Based on the success of my father, I took to Corporate America with the intent of climbing the Corporate Ladder. Without personal purpose in my intent, I sought promotions and advancement as validation for my hard work. I was told that in order to make it on the 'fast track' I should do the following:
* Perform to my revenue goal
* Be willing to relocate
* Find a leader on the 'fast track' and attach myself to him/her

...bad advice....

I didn't care about the company I worked for at that time. I didn't know what achieving my quota was doing for the world. Relocation was not a means to make the company better, it was a test of commitment. I certainly didn't respect the 'leaders' who gave this advice. I thought I wanted to be a Manager because it was a perceived vertical move.

I pondered the aforementioned advice, quit the job, and came up with my own metrics for success:
* Have the freedom to interpret my job as applicable to the world around me
* Join an organization that trusted me
* Find a role with flexibility

Moving, making more money, taking on more responsibility, and influencing others to fall in line was replaced by one mission:
Allow me to live my job by my own motivation!

I had been dishonest in my pursuit of what didn't matter to me, and so, I vowed to be honest in the pursuit of what did.

At some point in your career, you will discover the following:
Honest Matters Most
You Must Find Purpose in Every Task
Certain things are unavoidable....give them your least attention

Consider Your Sphere of Influence
In sales, you are generally asked to create recommendations to your customers and prospective customers. Sometimes this is your chance to showcase your expertise. Other times this is the measure by which your BS barometer is put to the test.

We face loaded questions from Managers and Customers alike. We often are not prepared for this pre-framed nonsense and this is where we get caught up.

A customer cannot trust you to be an expert if you haven't considered all the angles

Your boss will not be willing to leave you alone if you haven't proven your ability to self-regulate

Make it Matter
If you are waiting for the perfect job you will forever spend your life in the waiting room.

Fact: There are great people and terrible people in every organization
Fact: A good or bad Boss can make any job good or bad
Fact: Only YOU can determine how the aforementioned factors effect your genuine motivation

Learn to be Ignorant!
I am a hard working man who is fiercely competitive. As such, I tend to freak out when I do my part and others do not. These actions, to my own detriment, reveal my insecurity and work against my effort.

The best advice I have received is to ignore that which is out of my control. It was impossible to accept this passive resistance at first. My mind frame of mutual accountability forcing me to believe that my effort needed to be met and replicated.

Then, something annoying happened and I chose not to give it the power of my influence. Strangely enough, life went on....over time I learned to give little (or no) attention to mundane distractions. And Life goes on.....

If you develop the ability to know where to put your energy (almost) every thing you do has a motivation driven by positive results! Hard to believe, but undoubtedly true. You should give it a try.

I am carried away by Martin Luther King and his words of Freedom. The times in which he spoke were loaded with turmoil. If America emerged from the standoff of civil rights a bolder and better nation, why can't you choose to work the way you like?

YOU choose what fuels your day!
YOU have the ability give attention to what matters!
YOU have the choice to empower or deter the naysayers!
YOU make a masterpiece or trash heap of every given day!
YOU can be FREE!

...and so our task is simple....

Ignore what distracts and empower what motivates!

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave

What Do You Really Want?

I have seen case study after white paper regarding what people look for in a an employer. What benefits are necessary to entice top talent. The bigger question is what really matters to you?:
- Every company has benefits
- Jobs come with a pay check

...the real thing that drives retention is work environment. Call it culture, call it corporate structure.


Culture as it applies to job satisfaction is driven by 3 key factors:
* My Influence on My Success
* The Light at the End of the Tunnel
* Thank You!

You Drive
Would it seem awkward that YOUR motivation would be driven by someone else? The stigma with business motivation is that we ask for tasks from our Manager, they give us a check list, we complete said list ask for another. Is our metric for success limited to paperwork?

You need to expect more...What do you really want?

When you wake up in the morning and think about your ideal job what comes to mind? Are you doing that today? Do you have the ability to do so?

You don't have to quit your job and run off to Alaska. You can, however, apply the following:
1. Find your personal mission in every task
2. Ignore insignificant busy work that does not speak to your larger goals
4. Think big picture
5. Don't allow the miserable to drag you down to their level
6. Stay Positive

What's Next?
- What career path lies in front of you?
- Is there a logical progression to ascend your organization?
- Do you want to ascend your organization?

I have two competing ideologies on the subject of organizational advancement:
* Don't put yourself on the fast track if you are happy where you are
* If you are promised advancement, and passed over, it's time to move on

I know literally hundreds of career salespeople who have admitted their worst professional mistake was going into management. The best individual contributors make more money than their bosses with far less busy work. Managers are often nothing more than baby sitters....careful what you wish for.

Hard Fact: if you have been given a six month window to perform the tasks of your position to ensure a promotion and you do not get that job in 6 months - sharpen up your LinkedIn profile! You are a victim of the old bate and switch...keep talent on board by dangling a carrot. You are either on the list or you are not. If you are not the first choice, success is impossible. Jack Welch would advise otherwise - he is wrong!

Thank You
I don't care which generation you come from. I don't care which role you serve or which industry you are in. The best thing you can hear at work is: Thank You!

The key to retaining top talent: Thank You!
The phrase more important than a pay raise: Thank You!
The ticket to life long loyalty: Thank You!

But you gotta mean it...if you truly appreciate your people they will be perfectly happy with the role they are given, perform beyond expectation and stay at your company forever!

Say Thank You!

In my next posting we will put direct metrics to the aforementioned career objectives through a survey I have conducted.

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave

The Genuine Article

I remember being in my boss' office....the news relayed that I had (again) been passed over for a promotion. Nearly in tears, I told him I wished that 'they' understood how hard I worked and how much 'this place' meant to me.

I had performed to my quota year after year, was the first to volunteer for any new initiative and never missed a day of work. My problem? I wanted something for every inch of my effort...I was selfish and it was transparent.

The people around me recognized my hard work. They also recognized my false motivation and the volatility that fueled it. The same manic energy I put into 12 hour work days, I put into searching for kudos for everything I did. Through melt down after melt down, I eventually turned to slush.

I wish someone would have had the wherewithal to help me channel my motivation. I am here to help you do that through the following advice:
Let Genuine Intent Guide Your Actions
Ask Not for a Pat on the Back
Do Your Talking in the Ring
Understand that Promotions may not be a Good Thing

Get Real
One cannot act without purpose. The 'look busy the boss is coming' technique may only work once. You need to set a purpose to every day that involves taking organizational directives and giving them meaning to your life. You have to find meaning in every thing, understand why it is important to you and carry out said task with true intention.

People love those who carry themselves with confidence. You get to confidence by understanding the WHY behind every task and always pursuing a grandiose purpose.

Without Thank You
Yes...you will bust your butt on a project for which someone else will get credit. This does not happen more than once. Eventually a flood gate opens and the pretenders are revealed. It is better to be discovered behind the curtain than to be in front of initiatives you cannot expand upon.

If you expect to hear 'thank you' every time you perform, you will become a professional foot tapper. Some companies and managers are not good at recognizing achievement...that's not your fault. The key to keep from getting discouraged is to discover your personal achievement in everything and reward yourself.

The only validation that really matters is your own!

Results Shout Out Load
In a Radio interview I did, the host was freaked out to hear my technique of keeping my mouth shut for the first 6 months at a new job. I stick by that recommendation.

No one likes a person who comes in a room and starts talking about their 'past achievements' at high volume. Ease your way in...

You don't have to talk about how great you were or how great you will be...just be great!You need not talk a mean game, play a mean game. Eliminate the bravado, don't pre-frame your work, do your fighting in the ring!

Casting Call
I used to believe I wanted to be promoted to management because I saw that promotion as an ascension up the corporate ladder. When I finally got a promotion to Manager, I realised how much I disliked managing. The a-holes who held me back from promotion were right...I wasn't the guy for that job.

The bottom line is this:
You cannot let others determine what is right for YOU.
You need to pursue your career with YOUR best interest in mind.
By being true to yourself you will represent others in a more genuine fashion.

The worst thing you can do is pretend to be someone you are not, be miscast, get in over your head, under-perform, act out of character and lose your dignity.

There are many things far more important than your job. But, you spend most of your life at work...do it the right way:
Be True to Yourself!

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave