Jennifer Davis' promotion was covered by AV Network.
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I wrote recently about Google’s efforts to provide the whole product in my article Y is for You: Google's Alphebet and Personal Branding. I learned recently that one of the founding father’s pioneered some of these strategies himself: Ben Franklin
Ben wanted to be a printer. His biographer (Isaacson) talks about the lengths to which he went to procure a printing press from Europe. He wanted to own a communication machine.
He started printing things for his friends and customers.
So, to use the machine, he started a newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette. If one flyer was good, then having a weekly or daily publication was even better. Those who wouldn’t afford to print a flyer, could afford an advertisement in a larger publication.
He printed books. The most popular book was the Bible. But most people only bought one of those in their lifetime, so how could he get people to want to buy a book every year. He started the Poor Richard’s Almanac which would have repeat customers every year.
Then he began to think bigger. He wanted people to read his books and magazines, but many people were far sighted and had trouble reading. So he invented bifocals.
He noticed that in the cold New England winters, people weren’t reading as much, so he invented the Franklin Stove.
He wanted to broaden his distribution channel to allow people outside of Philadelphia or the region to read his books and publications. So, he championed the US Postal System.
And realizing that it was inefficient to print things in Philly and move them around the country, he franchised and shipped the plates to a friend in the Carolinas so she (yes, she) could build a business serving that community.
A man with Ben’s broad curiosities and diverse background pursued these and many other ideas in service of his main themes and principles. What are your main themes and principles that are worthy of the height of your creativity, enthusiasm and focus?
Jennifer was listed in the "People on the Move" section of the February 26, 2016 edition of Portland Business Journal.
Every morning I unlock my computer with the keystrokes that I used to use to reboot it in case of terminal errors. CTRL-ALT-DEL were the keystrokes of triage and now they are “hello.” Maybe it’s a sad commentary on our world where “that was a disaster, let’s try again” is how we greet the day or maybe it is Microsoft’s way of reminding the computers that if they get sentient and go Terminator on humanity, we still remember how to do a hard reboot. In fact, we’ve been practicing every day.
Seth Godin sited a survey in a presentation on which students were asked if they wanted to be a CEO of a global company, president of a non-profit, or the personal assistant to a famous singer or actor. And over 40% of the respondents said “personal assistant.” He described that the role of a personal assistant is close enough to the action to have bragging rights and to be part of the fun, but far enough away as to avoid the responsibility and vulnerability that comes with being in charge.
Are you afraid of responsibility? Do you select roles where you are supporting others, implementing their ideas, or working their priorities? Teamwork is critical and collaboration important, but do you work on teams to avoid personal accountability for the results of your actions? Are you quick to blame others when things are not successful? Are you comfortable and confident enough in your skills and opinions to advocate for them?
As Theodore Roosevelt said in his speech “Citizenship in a Republic” given in France in 1910, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
See you in the arena!
You might feel unqualified. If you feel that way, consider it a good thing and get set to grow.
"We all want to be treated like insiders." - Chris Brogan
“Without a purposeful toolbox of culture, behaviors, and management training, you get drift and inconsistency.” – Andrew Quinn
It’s like an axle out of alignment.
This is the first year ever that my family is going to be out of our home country during the holiday season. Although not everyone will travel to exotic (and warm!) locales during this traditional vacation-laden time of the year, but there are three reasons why everyone should consider taking a proper break during the holidays.
It sounds strange for me to defend the value of a vacation, but the statistics are pretty alarming: US workers simply don’t utilize their time off. I assume it is similar worldwide. Vacation hours, even the “use it or lose it variety,” go unused. And in the modern era of always-connected, device-toting knowledge workers, even days of PTO can be consumed with email, texts, and keeping tabs on projects.
1. Vacations are a release valve.
We recently say the hosts of Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters in a live show at a local theater. While explaining how they caused a household water heater to explode magnificently, Adam Savage made a poignant observation. “Water,” he explained, “boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Unless it’s under pressure. Then it gets stupid and forgets to boil.” It is this expansion effect that can lead to magnificent explosions as the air trapped inside the water heater compresses and then releases.
I think we humans are the same. Under pressure, we can get stupid. We can get harried and stressed. We can do our own form of expansion as the negative parts of our personality, like our impatience or intolerance, are amplified. We forget what we were designed and gifted to do. What otherwise we’d do without thinking about (like treating strangers or co-workers with a degree of kindness), we forget.
Vacations can be a bit of a release valve. After all, pressure only builds in a closed system (like that of a sealed water heater). If some air can escape, then the water can return to it’s normal operating state. That is the hope of a vacation. To make people less stupid.
2. Vacations provide perspective.
Sometimes getting away from something can provide you a whole new perspective and a new set of solutions to draw from. Marcel Proust has been quoted that “the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” Many professionals in creative fields, find it useful to step away from their problems or work, to take a walk, work on something else, or even goof off a little, only to return to the work refreshed and ready to see the solution that might have been in front of them the whole time.
Although there is a temptation to get things “wrapped up” before leaving the office for the holiday, it might be wise to leave some tricky problems waiting for your return in January. You’ll return with new eyes and have a better chance of coming up with a better resolution than you might have under the pressure of deadlines in December.
3. Vacations allow us to appreciate normal
Despite the fun of the vacation and the excitement of news sights and sounds, there is always something nice about coming home again. Sleeping in your own bed. Being able to wash clothes and eat at home. The space to spread out after being cooped up in a hotel room or a car (a “little too much togetherness” at times). Sometimes getting away allows you to better appreciate “home,” even if you don’t travel far. The familiar routines take on new comforts. The places and people that you took for granted now seen through new eyes of gratitude.
So, whether you are fleeing the country for this season or staying close to home, I wish you a very merry and warm holiday! I will be seeing you and the world with new eyes this coming new year and I wish the same for you.
This article was published on LinkedIn.
Have you ever thought that each day you regularly do more than is humanly possible? You can do a load of laundry, bring in water, cook dinner, commute, and talk all at the same time, thanks to modern convenient appliances, innovations, infrastructure, and automated processes. You measure modern engines by how many equivalent horses they could replace. I wonder how many humans our modern lives could replicate on a day to day basis. No wonder the world seems to be speeding up. We are all living multiple lives in parallel.
Most things we do have a defined beginning and end. We keep appointments. We meet deadlines. We work on projects. We deem these activities worthy for a time. Like a sprint. From firing gun to finish line. But what things are worth doing for a longer duration? What things are your marathon?
Each of us will have our own list. It could include mundane things like flossing each day to maintain your dental health. It could include specific eating or exercise habits. It could include commitments to stay close to family and friends. It includes marriages, decisions to become a parent, or involvement in causes.
I got involved with a non-profit called Marathon Scholars earlier this year and they take a long-term approach to solving the access to higher education gap among low income students in the Portland area. High potential students are selected in 4th grade and given their first college scholarship. The organization then walks with them with mentoring and educational programming until they earn their college diploma. Most will be the first people in their families to graduate from college (many are the first to graduate from high school). The program has been around long enough to see graduates exiting the program at 7x the average rate, speaking to the power of the long-term approach. A marathon, for sure.
There are opportunities for individuals to get involved in short and long-term mentoring and sponsorships. One of the most popular programs is scholarship sponsors committing to give $100 a month for 12 years to fund a scholarship. Giving in parallel to the student’s academic progress, this approach illustrates the partnership between the students that do the work necessary to generate results and the organization and the organization and the sponsors that make the mission possible. Although this kind of commitment is not required, it is a beautiful metaphor to how problems are solved for good – they take time. For more information and to see how you can get involved, see www.marathonscholars.org.
Considering an Executive MBA or graduate school? These tips, that I recently published on LinkedIn Pulse, will help you make the most of the experience.
Recently I have found myself consulting with professionals looking for career advancement, professional credentials, and the insight that comes from an executive MBA program. I went through the same decision making processes myself and have been happy to share advice on how to make the most of these programs.
1. The class is the professor. Choose wisely.
Executive education programs appeal to working professionals who have years of experience to bring to the class discussions. As a result, you are likely to learn as much from your classmates as you are from the reading and the lectures in class. As a result, the constitution of the cohort is critically important to the value of the program. So, when you are deciding on a program, ask about who else will be in the class, what businesses or industries they recruit from, and what kind of alumni programs they have for graduates.
And don’t forget the value of the post-graduation alumni network you are building. I decided, for a variety of logistics and timing reasons, to choose to travel out of state to attend Pepperdine University’s executive MBA program, who operated a satellite campus in Santa Clara, California. I’d fly every three weeks down to class. Because of the location of the program in the heart of Silicon Valley, the program had a lot of technology companies represented. This was great for me, as I had begun a career in high tech and had intended to stay in electronics. However, I did miss out on networking opportunities with my classmates during our program and after graduation, because I lived and worked in Portland, Oregon, instead of Mountain View or San Jose. I have kept in touch with many of my classmates, but not as closely as I would have if I had attended a program in the Pacific Northwest instead. Some programs have well-developed alumni networks, that host events, share a job board, and offer opportunities to network and collaborate.
2. Don’t wait to network. Use the alumni association before you are an alumni.
One of the reasons that you are likely considering an MBA is to build a professional network outside your current employer. It could be to broaden your business acumen to make a larger contribution where you are or possibly to make a career change. In any case, the network of your classmates and program alumni is critical to that effort, but you don’t have to wait until graduation.
Ask the recruiter for the school for alumni references for the program. If you are considering a career change, ask to speak to an alumni who used the degree or certificate program as a springboard to a new career. If you are wanting to change fields (from marketing to finance, from engineering to marketing, etc), ask to speak to an alumni who found the program useful with their own career moves. Not only will you start building your professional network now, but it will demonstrate to the recruiter your sincerity and resourcefulness and you are likely to learn valuable insights into program. Be sure to ask everyone you meet with for their advice on how to get the most out of the degree program. You are paying the tuition, so get the full education!
3. Use your capstone project to further your career
Most executive MBA programs include some sort of capstone project. Sometimes a team is asked to start a business. Some programs have individuals or groups do a full strategic analysis of a business, along with their recommendations. Some have projects that are presented to a panel representing industry partners, for feedback. In any case, I would encourage you to think about your assignment as a platform for your career development.
For instance, if you are looking to make a career change to a new industry, pitch a well-respected business in that industry the opportunity to work with you on your capstone project. They get free business consulting and you build your network and knowledge in this field of interest.
If you are looking to gain more responsibility at your current employer, use the capstone as an opportunity to get to know different executives and leaders at the company. For instance, if you are looking to make a move to finance, reach out to meet with the CFO and ask their advice about what finance projects might be worth your time and energy and offer to share the results with them and their staff. You gain instant visibility, you position yourself as a go-getter, and you get valuable resume-building experience that will serve you in your next role.
When considering my capstone, I met with several from the management team at my company to get advice about where I should focus. Looking back, I could have done more. I could have gone higher in the organization. I could have reached more broadly across different functions. I could have used the project, or any class assignment or the fact that I was in the program overall, as an excuse (and a good one) to connect across the organization. At the time I was enrolled in my MBA program I worked at Intel, who had 80,000 employees worldwide, and having a strong internal network helped you get things done and find your next opportunity. I see now, how I could have used the program to position myself as an emerging leader in the organization, even more than I did. My advice is don’t leave opportunities like that on the table.
Students are afforded great latitude in the business community, so if you take the risk to ask for advice or for opportunities, I have found that people are generous and will join you in your efforts to better yourself and better their business. Remember, you are helping them, while they are helping you!
An executive education is a valuable tool in your career. The purpose of education, especially the traditional case method format that is popular in business schools, is to benefit from the experience that others gained the hard way: through trial and error. You have a great opportunity to gain poise, confidence, to build your business vocabulary and skills, and build your network along the way. You will be able to measure significant personal and professional growth as you progress through your program. Identifying your professional goals is critical. Picking the right school is the start. The rest is up to you!
Does your phone or other mobile devices give you wings or are they an ever-present, ever-connected tether? Or both?
A few things that I learned from researcher, author, and TED talker, Brene Brown at the recent Inbound conference interspersed with thoughts from talks from Dharmesh Shah from Hubspot and others:
- If you recognize emotion in yourself or others, get curious. Seek to understand what is happening.
- The sense of relief when you think you understand what is going on is your brain rewarding itself to having a story that reduces ambiguity. However, reward is the same whether or not the story we tell ourselves is true or not.
- We are great at seeing patterns. Even when patterns don’t exist.
- Everyone has a poor quality first draft of explanations for the facts we perceive and the emotion we feel. Reveal it’s poor quality by writing it down. You might be mortified or amused by what you write down.
- After all a conspiracy theory is nothing more than a story with limited facts filled in with beliefs, assumptions, and fear. That is describes most of our first draft explanations, so we should hold them loosely.
- We don’t have to look any further than the constellations to find examples of how we have stretched stories to cover an unrelated and sparse group of facts. How did we get Orion’s Belt or The Little Dipper but someone filled in the blanks with their own beliefs.
- Address things directly by recounting the observable facts and the story you are making up to those involved. Get clarity and move on.
Rome wasn't built in a day. Your lifestyle and health are the choice of lots of small choices and habits. Your career has been built one day at a time. One day doesn't matter, but every day does. It accumulates. It builds upon itself. It all adds up.
I know many people are practicing gratefulness this month. The small act of counting our blessings and acknowledging our appreciation changes lives.
Students and professionals alike regularly hear about the benefits of networking. They may see it as some sort of punishment or obligatory task that would require them to introduce themselves to a stranger. In professional circles, “network events” are often nothing more than shameless vendor self-promotion hidden under the guise of free food and drink. This misconception starts with an improper definition of networking and a lack of understanding of how and why to build one.
A network is simply a collection of people or resources that connect for mutual benefit. It could be the members of a club pulling together to accomplish a big vision. It could be a work team. It could be a group that joins up because of a shared interest or cause. A network effect occurs when there are enough members of the network to have the scale and reach to allow each member to contribute and benefit.
You build a network because you can’t do everything alone and neither can members of your network. Even with the wealth of the internet at our fingertips, it is useful to learn from others about what college to attend, what clubs to join, or how to improve your 5k time. It is satisfying to offer your own expertise for the benefit of others. You don’t build a network just to take. You must be purposeful about giving as well.
You have heard the adage, that to have a friend, you must be a friend. The same is true to building your network. Start by connecting to people you respect or appreciate by telling them so. Use social media invitations or a personal invitation complimenting them and saying that you’d like to stay in touch. Then simply do what you said: stay in touch. Let your network know what is going on with you. Ask questions. Ask people to refer others who might have expertise where you need it. Answer questions. Offer your expertise or make an introduction to someone you know who is a relevant expert. Be a catalyst that brings people together to discuss big ideas or practical projects to make the world a better place.
Remembering that networks are just people that are helping each other be more successful, makes it easier to build and keep your network strong.
This article was published by Saturday Academy.
Presentations are increasingly part of academic and professional life. Don’t bother trying to fight it. Instead, use your poised and polished presentation style as an opportunity to shine. Here are three easy techniques that will dramatically improve your presentations.
1. Practice out loud
Whether or not you have a script, practice by reading or reciting your speech out loud. Not only will this allow you to make sure it is long (or short) enough to fill your allotted time, but it will help you memorize your speech or have it flow better. Reading words on a page might be great for visual learners, but hearing your own voice say the speech and by using your real gestures and movement, you reinforce the speech through your other senses. You will also be able to identify and correct awkward word choices, rushed transitions, or tongue-twisting sentences before you are on stage.
2. Record yourself
An audio recording (from your phone) is helpful because it allows you many of the benefits of practices out loud without the hassle of having to find a private space. Record it until you get it the way you want and then listen to it using headphones. The benefits, however, of videotaping yourself are substantial. Practice your gestures, pacing off different points during your speech, making eye contact, and projecting. And for an advanced lesson, play back the video in fast forward. This is the best way to identify repetitive, and often distracting, hand motions.
3. Feel your feet
Nerves are natural. The comedian Jerry Seinfeld once noted that more people are afraid of public speaking than death, which means people would rather be in the coffin than delivering the eulogy. If you feel this way, it is perfectly normal. Sometimes that apprehension takes the form of nervous movements or rushed pace of the speech. You literally can’t wait for it to be over and it shows as you rattle off your points too fast for anyone to understand. And some of us have a lot of “performance energy” that can make us a little too bouncy during presentations. All of these can be helped by a simple move. When you take the stage, feel your feet in your shoes. Feel the shoes upon the firm ground of the floor or platform. This simple mental move will instantly quiet your body and has a calming effect that will help you slow down and keep your nerves in check.
Follow these rules and you’ll be giving your own TED talk in no time!
This article was published by Saturday Academy.
I remember an interesting and impactful article I read in college in the Atlantic magazine about the different cultural norms in the generations in the U.S. We have added a few more named generations to the progression since that article was written and got my attention. The business world is in a tizzy about how to attract, retain, and motivate the famously free-spirited “millennial” generation as increasingly we are losing members of the “greatest generation” every day. We wonder about the shift in our population, work forces, and voter ranks based on these changing demographics.
I heard Perry Hewitt from Harvard University talk recently about how some corporate cultural attributes like collaboration acted as “millennial nectar,” helping organizations attract new talent like colorful and fragrant flowers would attract bees and birds to a plant. Conversely, an insistence on fixed job structures, long-term and slow-building career paths, and corporations that act too “corporate” act something like a millennial repellant. I suppose each generation has their own nectar and repellant.
As part of the ill-defined “Generation X,” I am intrigued and puzzled by these generalizations. I think each generation has faced its own impactful events and infrastructure. Some things are consistent and many things have changed dramatically from generation to generation, leaving the “young people” of each generation to find their way. A second world war, which came to US soil, demanded that the greatest generation develop a sense of duty and a fight for the common good and we wondered by in other times it wasn’t replicated by their children or grandchildren. Today the world’s knowledge (and misinformation, as well) can fit in our pocket and we are puzzled when children raised with any answer only a click away, might feel impatient with corporate career paths and having to “pay their dues.”
As I think of my own children, who have never known a world without the internet, cell phones, and on-demand entertainment, I am excited and curious what they will take for granted and the implications of this to their psyche and culture.