Category Archives: Adapt, Innovate, Win

Professional Growth: It is not how great you were yesterday but how great you are becoming that will determine your success in life. ~ www.jaywren.com

Professional Growth

Adapt, Innovate, Win, Job Skills, Success

Professional growth: things change so rapidly that you must develop the skills and learn the information that will continue to make you an asset to your customers or clients.

Success Stories

Learn from success stories. Learn about the changes people are making to become successful. Additionally, learn about the needs that people have for new goods and services. Start with the customer and develop the ability to give them what they need.

Failure Stories

Find out what or who is failing. Additionally, find out why these businesses or people are failing. Are they making mistakes that you can avoid? Do you need to do things differently from these businesses or people? Are they failing because the needs of their customers or clients are changing? Or, perhaps, they are failing because their methods or business model can no longer provide the goods and services to the customers or clients. Look for new ways of doing things to fill the void that these people once filled.

Be Strategic About Your Professional Growth

A tactical approach to your career is how you work and make decisions each day. A strategic approach is how you manage your career for long-term success. To draw an analogy, a company may build a facility to make the products they will sell this year. However, the company may already be looking ahead to what products they will make in future. Towards that end, they lay out a plan for building a facility that meets the requirements for future products.

Therefore, you should take time to lay out a plan for developing skills on which you can build new skills. With these new skills, you may become more versatile and more effective as your career grows. For example, you may be developing the skills to manage a project. Thinking strategically, you may focus on learning to manage projects that will grow and, as they grow, create the need for higher levels of management. So, you also focus on developing skills that empower you to move into those higher levels of management.

Professional Growth Challenge

Challenge yourself to find sources of information that will keep you informed on your need for professional growth. Trade journals, business websites, daily news, and Internet forums can provide you with information on changes that affect your business or your career. Additionally, develop a network of winners who can help you know what you need to learn or what changes you must make.

Job Security: Be the Best at Selling and Delivering what People Need.

Lifetime Career Success Requires the Power to Grow.

Lifetime Career Success Requires the Power to Grow

Adapt, Innovate, Win

Lifetime Career Success: Building a successful career is a continual process of expanding your skills and your network. Don’t fear change. Embrace it.

Move beyond your comfort zone. Self-doubt is a sign that I am growing. With growth, I gain greater confidence and marketability.

The Texas Ice Houses

At one time, ice houses sold one thing: ice. People who could afford them, had cabinet ice boxes that held large blocks of house.  With the invention of the refrigerator, the need to buy ice for the ice box disappeared. In most cases, these ice houses disappeared. However, in Texas, some ice houses survived the changed. They became open air public gathering places where people could sit and have cold drinks and salty snacks. Many offered sandwiches and burgers.

In my career as a recruiter, I saw rapid changes in my industry. Through mergers and acquisitions, an industry that once had thousands of companies evolved into an industry that had fewer and yet larger companies.

However, advances in technology created new potential clients with companies in marketing services and market research. I responded with an increase in my focus to these new companies.

Starting and Evolving

The first day that I sat down to start my career as a recruiter, I had no contacts. I had a telephone, an empty legal pad, and a box of blank 5 x 8 index cards.

On the other hand, my client base continued to broaden to include companies that you might consider for your career. Here are segments of industry where I recruited.

Marketing Services and Market Research Companies, Adult Beverage Companies, Soft Drink Companies, Food Products companies, Confection Companies, Household Products Companies, Cosmetics Companies, Food Brokerage Companies, Personal Care Products Companies, Natural Foods Products, Personal Products Companies, Apparel Companies, Photographic Products Companies, Battery Companies, Power and Hand Tools Companies, Yard and Garden Companies, Over the Counter Pharmaceutical Companies, Snack Foods Companies, Cosmetic Companies, Snack Foods Companies

Lifetime Career Success

To stay in business, I had to continue to grow with new clients and new candidates who had different skills.

Yes, companies still come and go. People come and go, often into other industries and, sometimes, smaller jobs. Processes change. However, people who build new skills and expand their relationships will build security.

Success comes to you more easily when you can play to your mental strengths. www.jaywren.com

Mental Strengths: Aligning Your Career to the Way You Think

Adapt, Innovate, Win, Job Skills, Success

Mental Strengths: Some people are stronger at solving problems with one correct answer. They are convergent thinkers. Other people are stronger at solving problems with multiple solutions. They are divergent thinkers.

Aligning your career with the way your brain works will increase your ability to excel in the workplace. How can you shape your career around the way you think? Here are some ideas that may help you understand your strengths and weaknesses.

Mental Strengths

What Kind of Solutions Come to You More Easily?
To understand how your brain works, consider these two types of problem solving.

Convergent Thinking
Some people have terrific skills for solving problems that have only one answer.
2 + 2 =?
The specific answer is 4.

When people solve this type of problem, they are using convergent intelligence. Their reasoning converges or comes together to settle on this one answer. Their mental strengths can give them happier lives and more successful careers by working in roles that require convergent thinking.

Divergent Thinking

Divergent thinking skills enable people to see multiple solutions to the same problem. For example, many people climb a mountain by following a well-marked, well known path. This is the path most people know and the only path that most people take.

However, other people see multiple paths for climbing the same mountain. These people not only discover new paths.  Their discoveries may help other people find ways of doing the same thing in new and more interesting ways.

Their mental strengths can give them happier lives and more successful careers by working in roles that require divergent thinking.

What Type of Problems Do You Like to Solve?

If you like to solve problems with convergent thinking, developing careers for solving those types of problems should be enjoyable for you.

Nearly every industry needs convergent thinkers. Whether you are an English teacher grading papers or an engineer validating the structural integrity of a bridge, you must have the ability to see fundamental answers specific to individual problems.

On the other hand, some industries rely heavily on creative solutions. Inventors are people who have success with divergent thinking. They find better ways of doing things. These people innovate. They look at existing platforms like computers and create new solutions using this platform. In the case of building bridges these people can design new bridges and turn the convergent tasks over to architects and engineers who can solve the integrity issues.

When to Use Both Ways of Thinking

If you are starting a company, you may have to solve problems that require convergent and divergent solutions. You are alone or have a small staff.

However, as your company grows, you can outsource jobs that challenge your patience and effectiveness. Furthermore, you can become more successful working in the areas where your attention focuses on your mental strengths.

Career Intelligence

There is no rule that baseball catchers cannot develop the skills to play first base or that a pitcher cannot also be a pinch hitter. Likewise, broadening your skills in both convergent and divergent thinking can increase your career intelligence. You can play at a higher level in jobs that require both types of thinking.

In this case, career intelligence is viewing opportunities to become smarter and more capable by using both types of skills. Finding jobs where you can broaden your career intelligence (that is, convergent and divergent thinking) most effectively will help you become more successful.

Moreover, developing skills in areas of both convergent and divergent thinking will help you throughout your career.

At the same time, stick to your core strengths. Working in the areas where your mind is more powerful will more easily enable you to succeed. Natural catchers are more effective behind the plate than playing a secondary, more challenging position.

Summary

When are you most effective? What roles play to your mental strengths?

Some people are naturally more gifted to think convergently. These people learn quickly and can apply what they learn to solving problems

Other people are more gifted to think divergently. With less knowledge than convergent thinkers, the people see options intuitively. They excel in helping companies find new ways to succeed in failing conditions.

Rebel: The Power of Being Different

Adapt, Innovate, Win, Leadership, Success

Rebel: The world is full of successful people who conform to the norm. However, a rebel can blow past the norm and change the world.

I have never known a rebel who was boring. ~ www.jaywren.com

Companies have guidelines and rules.  But what do you do when the guidelines block you from achieving your goals? Do you have enough of the rebel in you to change your life and, perhaps, even the lives of people around you?

Rebel: Is Conforming to the System Killing Your Career?

Following policies and procedures works great for many people.  They go to work on time and do what the company asks. To the best of their ability, they try to get along with everyone.

But what if you are frustrated with squeezing your way into the norm?  What if you want to break out of the mold in a bold and dynamic way? The way of the rebel may be the answer.

Every Pathway Involves Risks.

There are people who have great careers.  They work at a company for twenty or thirty years.  Some of these people are fortunate enough to move on to another great job.  Others have the good fortune of being able to retire early.

On the other hand, for other people, the life of the conformist moves along fine until they discover that their company no longer needs them.  Even worse, they learn that their skills are obsolete long after it is too late to develop new skills.

In fact, most people find that the security of a large company disappears long before they reach financial independence.

Rebels Find Success Through Their Authenticity.

The most successful rebels are authentic to themselves. They easily sustain and succeed as rebels, because what they are doing feels authentic.

The simple writing style of Ernest Hemingway, the descriptive writing style of F. Scott Fitzgerald, the complex writing style of William Faulkner, and the clever, honest writing style of J.D. Salinger are all different. What these different styles have in common is that they are consistent in the work of these different writers.

Furthermore, their styles are not only different from the style of each other.  Their styles were different from the styles of any other writers.  All four adhered to their idea of authenticity in their writing.

Moreover, don’t force yourself to be different. Simply, let your authenticity shine through your performance.

Rebel: Examples of Success

Cultural icons like Gorgeous George, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Muhammad Ali, Madonna, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and hundreds of others risked controversy to create success their way.

Innovative icons of technology: Nikola Tesla to Steve Jobs to Elon Musk have never let conformity to restrict their ability to fulfill their visions.

Iconic rebels of art: Van Gogh, Picasso, Jason Pollock, Joan Mitchell, and countless other great artists. A commitment to be innovative, sometimes shocking, and consistently authentic empowers great artist to change the way we view art.

In every field of endeavor, there are rebels who step out to create new pathways for others to follow.

Accomplishments

Accomplishments: Knowing the Purpose of Your Goals

Adapt, Innovate, Win, Leadership, Success

Accomplishments: Why is it that some companies and some people fail to achieve their goals? How can they define their goals better with stating what they hope to accomplish?

The Benefits of Knowing What You Want to Accomplish

Goals are the things we hope to do.  Before we set goals, we should ask ourselves what we hope to accomplish.

For example, a sales vice president may have a goal for the sales team to average 10 sales calls per day.  By making several calls each day, the sales team increases opportunities for increasing sales.

However, sales teams can go for days, weeks, and even years making presentations to buyers and do little more than deliver an order pad.

On the other hand, if before each call, the sales reps decide what they hope to accomplish on each call and design a presentation that will make their call far more successful.

Successful Companies

Successful companies start with an idea of whom they will serve and what these people want.

Case Study

There are two competing peanut companies (not real companies). The goal of each company is to meet consumer demand for peanuts.  However, Company A realizes that consumer satisfaction is the purpose that will create demand for the company’s peanuts. Company A focuses on taste, price, and availability to exceed customer expectation and builds greater customer loyalty. They focus on accomplishing consumer satisfaction in their product.

Career

For career success, turn the focus from what you can accomplish for yourself to what you can accomplish for your employer. ~ www.jaywren.com

In creating and updating your career plan, take a different view.  If it is your goal to make a lot of money, ask yourself, “What can do I have to accomplish earning money?”

A broader example: your career goal may be to become the president of a company. For some people, what they hope to accomplish is recognition. However, the best way to become president of a company is to accomplish the greatest sales and profits for your company. By aligning what you hope to accomplish with the needs of the company, you will have a greater opportunity to accomplish what you seek in success in your career.

Business Plan

No Job Plan: Why Long-Term Career Plans Fail

Adapt, Innovate, Win, Quotes, Success

No Job Plan: To increase your income, do you plan to change jobs every three years?  On the other hand, do you plan a career at the same company?

No Job Plan: Why Long-Term Career Plans Fail

Are you basing your career on changing jobs every three years to increase your income?  On the other hand, do you plan to build a long-term career with the same company.  Plans are great.  You can’t know how to reach a destination without knowing where you are going.

But the world changes.  Industries change.  Career opportunities and options change.  What should you really be doing in a world of career uncertainty?

Are You Risk Averse?

If you are risk averse, setting up a job plan to reduce risks is smart.  You find a company that has stability.  The company has guidelines that reduce the uncertainty of your job requirements.  You love what you are doing.  Furthermore, you feel safe.

What Are the Risk of Playing It Safe?

However, playing it safe can also lead down blind alleys.  For example, you develop a specific set of skills for a job with a well-established company.  Then, another company buys your company and outsources your work to another country.

You will find that playing it safe has created anything but safety.  Playing it safe can leave you with a limited set of marketable skills in a world where job skills change often.

What Are the Dangers of Job Hopping for Income?

Frequently, I read articles that highlight the income advantages of changing jobs every two or three years.  The idea is that you get a larger pay raise through a job change than you get through merit raises with the same employer.

There are several problems with this theory.  One, you are giving up increasing benefits that come to long-term employees.  Furthermore, you are creating a resume that shows that you are less reliable than people with career stability.

No Job Plan

Everybody has a plan.  Sports team have a plan to play against other teams.  Consumer companies have marketing plans to compete in the market place.

To quote Mike Tyson, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

What the “no job plan” means is the flexibility to make changes to your career as conditions change.  If you have stability at your current job and continue to learn new skills that make you more marketable over the long-term, changing jobs for a pay raise is a mistake.

Furthermore, if you find that you are in a job where you are overqualified, you can begin to explore new jobs that match your skills and pay you for those skills.

The important thing is to remember that career assessment is an ongoing process.  You don’t focus on a plan.  Rather, focus on the changes conditions and adjust to make the most of the conditions that will help you throughout your career.

Fun: Fun: Some Things are More Fun Than Others

Fun: In What Way Can Fun Increase Productivity?

Adapt, Innovate, Win, Leadership, Success

un: What are the things that you can do to reduce stress in the workplace? In what ways can we enjoy our work and can increase our productivity?

Fun: In What Way Can Fun Increase Productivity?

I enjoy my work.  The requirements of the job are simple yet fast paced.  The tools are a lot of fun:  email, Internet, desk phone, and a smartphone.  The clients and applicants are bright and creative, often very successful.  The information in my industry evolves in refreshing ways.

Saying “No” to Distractions

For me, to enjoy my work, I must say “No” to distractions.

Calling friends, surfing the web, playing video games are all distractions.

These things distract from my work. Furthermore, they from the things I enjoy in my work.

Distractions, of course, make me less productive.  They also create tension with the things I enjoy about my work.

By saying no to distractions when I am working, I can focus on the joy of work itself

The Present Moment

When we live in the present moment, we are not ruminating about the past. Nor are we worrying about the future.

In the present moment, we are using a part of our brain where thinking becomes a flow.  Our mind stops analyzing the details of our work.  We can enjoy doing our work.

How to Be Serious

People associate work with toil, stress, and pressure.  And, work can be filled with toil, stress, and pressure.

However, people who think this way are the people who choke when facing a challenge.  They are the place kicker who misses the extra point.  In basketball, they are the player who misses the winning layout.  They are the closer in baseball who walks in the winning run.

People who see challenges as fun still take their work seriously.  However, these people focus on their work and trust that the results will take care of themselves.

Branding When the Lowest Price is Not Enough wwwjaywrencom

Branding: When the Lowest Price Is Not Enough

Adapt, Innovate, Win, Interviewing, Job Skills

Branding: When the Lowest Price Is Not Enough

I worked as a recruiter in the consumer-packaged goods industry. Every day I talked with job seekers and hiring managers who sold consumer products through retail stores.

When I reviewed qualifications, I was assessing a job seeker’s ability to make brands successful. Themes recurred in the profiles I recruited. The hiring companies were seeking people who could design and conduct successful brand campaigns.

Interviewing

When you are interviewing, you might find these ideas helpful to show companies how you can make their brands successful.

Targeted

Walmart, Costco, and Walgreens all sell pharmaceuticals. Walmart targets customers who want to buy sustainable quantities at the best price. Costco, on the other hand, targets customers who can afford to buy larger quantities to get the better price. Walgreens (and CVS) have stores in every neighborhood. They charge higher retail prices for the convenience of shopping locally.

Simple Calls to Action

Calls to action are statements that bring the customer to act. They may be explicit like the statement “Save now.”

Or the call to action may be implicit: “Offer is good while supplies last.”  The statement implies that you must buy now to reap the benefits.

Consistent

Once you know your audience, you hit them with the same message over and over. Advertising is like the Colorado river. Even when navigating through the rapids, you are not likely to see the river eroding the walls and floor of the Grand Canyon. Over time, however, the canyon becomes deeper, wider, and changes course.

Logos and Icons

The use of logos has taken on even more significance as social media has created icons and identity for their brands. Just the following letters alone are enough for people to identify major social media sites:  in, f, G+, P, and t. In order, those iconic letters represent LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, and Tumblr. Twitter, of course, is the iconic birdie.

Slogans

Slogans are memorable. Here are examples.

“Expect More. Pay Less” (Target Stores) ™

“Ace is the place with the helpful hardware man.” (Ace Hardware™)

“The Most Interesting Man in the World” (XX Dos Equis™)

“Save Money. Live Better.” (Walmart™)

“Glasses in less than an hour.” (LensCrafters™)

My favorite slogan is the iPod launch slogan:  “A thousand tunes in your pocket.” (Apple™)

 

4 Questions of a Successful Career Plan

Adapt, Innovate, Win, Job Search

4 Questions of a Successful Career

Here are four questions to ask yourself in planning your career and in adjusting your career plan over time.

What do you want to do?

Write down what you want to do on the job. Write down where you want to live.  Write down whether you want to work from home or go to a place outside of your home to work. Write down whether you want to work for yourself or for someone else.

You should use this process or a similar process every time you evaluate the progress of your career.

These are your career goals. If you don’t know your goals, how can you possibly achieve your them?

What are you capable of doing?

Write down your experience in managing projects, managing people, creating innovation and change, processing data, writing software or publications, and using applications and tools.  Make a list under each category.  These are your abilities.

What jobs match your goals and your abilities?

You can research this information from job descriptions that you find on Internet job listing sites.  There are also career aptitude tests. ” Take the Career Aptitude Test | Rasmussen College” and “Career Aptitude Test | What Career is Right for Me” are two popular tests.

For a video of the Fastest Growing Occupations 2014-24, click here.

Who is hiring for the jobs that match what your goals and your abilities?

Now you are getting to an actual job search.  If you have narrowed down the industries you want to pursue, you can start to approach companies in these industries directly. Many companies list their jobs on their company website.  If you know someone working at a company where you want to work, contact that person directly.  Identify recruiters in the industry you want to pursue and contact those recruiters.  Check newspapers for job listings in your preferred field. Check trade journals specific to your industry for jobs.

The best way to find jobs and jobs descriptions is in a search engine and not a job board or job search engine.

5 Simple Techniques to Get Rid Of Job Interview Anxiety

Adapt, Innovate, Win, Interviewing

5 Simple Techniques to Get Rid Of Job Interview Anxiety

LISA EVANS, Fast Company contributor and freelance writer, uses her technique of helping readers make small changes for huge results in this article.  She writes,

Don’t let your nerves stand in the way of landing your dream job. Here’s how to put your best foot forward.

Source: How To Get Rid Of Job Interview Anxiety | Fast Company | Business + Innovation