Category Archives: Leadership Development

Leadership Development Topics and Resources.

Uplifted in the Down Economy – Guest Article by Bill Curran

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I don’t know about the best of times but these sure feel like the worst of them. It’s as close to Dickens’s London as I dare want to see us go. Dickens would have been hard pressed to pen an economic/social setting as ugly as the one we find ourselves in today. Eventually, we will tire of being reminded of just how tough things have become. Maybe I have reached the depths of despair and have hit a plateau. I am in search of finding something positive and, in a small way, I did early on Saturday morning. A great example of customer focus and personal leadership were about to appear in the most unlikely of settings…and then repeat itself twenty-four hours later!

It’s cold and cloudy and my son Dan and I are navigating Rte. 24 South heading to another hockey rink. The news on the radio is thoroughly negative as story after story describes the hellish business conditions the likes of which only my elderly parents seem to recall. Even sports radio piles on, railing about ticket price pressure in a recession. It’s all quite depressing. I retreat to an oldies CD and make my way onto Rte 104 in Bridgewater. Although I don’t drink coffee, I am a quasi regular at Dunkin Donuts and as any self respectful hockey parent can attest, a stop at DD is part of the game day ritual. I open my window at the drive-through and am staring through the outdoor menu board, still half asleep. The cold wind is biting as I wait to hear the tinny voice of the invisible employee going through the motions.

What happens next startles me. I am lifted from my funk by an energetic, enthusiastic, and pleasant voice wishing me a good morning and “welcome to Dunkin Donuts!” What catches my attention is that the voice does not sound robotic nor like a teenager who wishes she were still in bed rather than laboriously taking order after order from grumpy consumers. She has, dare I say, passion. I can feel it! My son, Dan, is a bantam in youth hockey. He’s fifteen, also half asleep, and convinced I was put on this earth to embarrass him. “Did you hear her?!” I whack him on the shoulder to get his attention. He rolls his eyes as he knows a mini-lecture is coming his way.

I work in both the corporate and academic sectors and my work (passion) revolves around leadership and customer-focus. I help organizations develop their leadership bench strength. Its hard work but the results are worth it. As a student of the topic, I am always looking for examples in my daily life. They are called leadership moments. The wrong behavior is easy to spot but positive role models seem more elusive. However, every now and then you hit the jackpot. Most people miss these seemingly inconsequential moments that brush past each and every day. We think of leadership with a capital L and think of moments of what I call ‘Churchillian’ proportions. Most leadership moments won’t determine the fate of the free world but they do define the person…and the company. If you’re paying close attention, you might just find one of these leadership moments in the drive-through!




The research today equating strong organizational performance and leadership is compelling. The bottom-line differentiator between great places to work and the rest of the pack is something called employee engagement. It is the degree to which an employee feels connected to the mission of the business and is reflected in his/her output. Workers have up to 25% of discretionary effort that they choose to give…or not. Great managers treat their people differently. They give the employee the sense that their job and effort matters and they’re darn good at saluting that effort and making the workplace fun. They tap into that twenty-five percent and it pays off. It’s the difference between employee compliance and commitment. Not only does the business profit, the environment is a breeding ground for future leaders or, in this case, store managers.

The voice behind the sign at Dunkin Donuts in Bridgewater was a sixteen year old high school student trying to earn some cash but she has decided to go the extra mile and deliver service with a smile – even if I couldn’t see her face. She is highly engaged. These people believe that one person can make a difference and her enthusiasm made my day. When I got to the window, I asked the young woman if she took my order. She said no and pointed, “It was Kelly.” I asked her to come to the window. My son is slinking down as far as the car’s front seat will let him. I yelled out, “Kelly, you are so good. I love your energy and customer focus. I wish everyone gave it like you!” I received my drink from the other employee and got my change. I hesitated then offered the dollar bill from the change and yelled, ‘Give this to Kelly…a tip!” Everyone but Dan laughed. Ok, I’m not the last of the big spenders but I felt the need to reward a kid who brings energy to the workplace and it was a spontaneous gesture on my part. As we left and Dan started to sit up again, I tried to provide my son with a teachable moment, “If she keeps that spirit and energy up with customers, she’ll go places. I guarantee it.”

As luck or fate would have it, I found myself in Brockton the next night at…yes…another hockey rink. My neighbor and I dropped our boys at the door and dutifully headed back to the Dunkin Donuts around the corner. Along the way, I told him of my customer delight encounter of the previous day. We entered the store and found ourselves to be the only customers. The young lady behind the counter greeted us by saying, ‘Hi. May I help you?” I jokingly responded, ‘How did you know?” We laughed. I described what I wanted. “I’ll take a medium hot chocolate with whipped cream in a tall cup.”

A voice from around the corner said, “You like whipped cream?” I said, ‘I love whipped cream!” She filled my order and placed the cup and the closed lid in front of me. She decided to put her own signature to her work by placing a small mountain of whipped cream complete with a chocolate syrup design on top of the cup’s lid. I yelled, ‘Holy cow. It’s a work of art!” Two Dunkin Donuts in two days by two teenagers who, incredibly, get it when it comes to dealing with customers. There may be no odds for this. Working the window or the counter is not easy stuff. It is perfectly fine to perform the task at hand and do no more. It isn’t expected. But when someone goes above and beyond in this kind of setting, you are witnessing leadership in action. It’s what is known in customer service circles as WOW moments.

I told this story to several people at the rink and I suspect they thought my drink was spiked. For a few short moments I forgot all about the troubled economy and other world maladies and relished poetry in motion by a couple of teenagers. I was happy. I was uplifted. In an uncertain age where folks are keeping their heads down as a form of survival, these two chose to use their positions as a medium for shouting out their zest for life. There was no supervisor peering over their shoulders making sure policy was being adhered to but I suspect these two stores had strong managers, i.e. leaders. They decided to make their work an opportunity to express themselves to customers in a positive light thus allowing their employer to be viewed in a very positive light as well…no additional charge. Companies would and should die for this kind of behavior. Someone once said, “Leadership is doing the right thing when no one else is watching.” They served as terrific role models to young and older employees alike.

One person can make a difference. In this case…two did. Savvy employees don’t do just enough to get by. They bring their A game each and every day. They don’t hunker down and hope to survive. They stand tall…and stand out. To hell with this down economy. It, too, shall pass. There is hope yet for the future. These two employees are helping to lead the way. I’m off to the rink and in search of another Dunkin service-leadership moment.

Bill Curran is a senior leadership consultant. He has served in a variety of leadership development roles at companies such as PerkinElmer, EG&G, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Sensata Technologies and Marshalls. He has extensive adjunct faculty experience in leadership and organizational behavior at Boston College, Stonehill, Babson, and UMass-Boston. He’s also an unpaid chauffer to many hockey rinks throughout New England! He can be reached at www.BillCurranAssociates.com or at billcur@comcast.net

Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss – Dealing with Your New Boss

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How Do You Deal With a New Boss?

One of our regular readers – and someone who asked our advice very early on in the legacy that has become AskTheManager.com – AngelCakes from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan recently provided us with both an update on her management career and a new dilemma.

When we first heard from AC, she had just been promoted to a supervisory position in a retail shop and was facing substantial apathy and even antipathy from her charges. Not being one to quit in the face of such adversity, she turned to the Web for answers and stumbled upon AskTheManager.com. Desperate for advice, she gave us a shot at helping her cope with her new situation. (To read the advice we provided AC about her dilemma as a new manager, see our August 14 post.)

Back for more abuse, AC sent us the following this week:

I just wanted to send you the next challenge in the never-ending life that is retail management. But not without a little update first. Let me first add that the childishness of my store is no more. The resources that you gave me have left a huge impression in my memory and I practice what you preach every day. My staff has converted themselves into a well-oiled machine. They seek out the greater good and the bigger picture and that’s when everyone gets along the worlds a better place. The store itself has been running at full speed with a 25% increase in sales year-to-date (which is fantastic considering how “financially unstable” the world claims to be). All has been calm on the home front, and I have felt nothing but enthusiastic about the future and our successes and I strive to push the bar every day.
Until now I have not come to this mountain and I think that it is going to be my biggest challenge to date: Welcome the New Regional!

Most recently there has been a major rift in the tide at my supervisors’ level and they transferred my previous regional supervisor to the east coast, hired outside of the company a man with 35 years experience in the jewelry business, and made him the new regional supervisor. Needless to say the practices that my new regional demonstrates compared to my old one are dramatic and have everyone running for the hills and looking for new jobs. Demanding? Yes. Extremely high expectations? Yes. Respect and value for his new employees? No.

His reputation goes without saying that his employees are just numbers: that they are a dime a dozen and are expendable. He is overseeing every little thing that we as managers are doing, including hiring our own staff. I can understand his obsessive nature over sales and trying to make a good impression to his superiors, but he has taken almost any freedom that we have and are starting to find resentment in him because of it. Tomorrow he is flying in to oversee my hiring of a manager from another company to work for our store that I was extremely excited about until he said that I wasn’t allowed to hire him until “he met him first.” I feel like he is doing my job for me instead of letting me do the job that I was entrusted with. I also feel that he is hovering over my shoulder too much and that it is putting unnecessary pressure on me and my staff. Instead of over-boasting like every other manager is doing to catch his attention, how can I address the situation with my new boss and still make a good impression and respect his position? – AngelCakes, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Well AC, in the immortal words of The Who: Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. While Roger Daltrey and gang weren’t thinking of the retail clothing business when they wrote that song, it fits the advice we have for you on how to deal with your latest issues.

Let us pause, however, to congratulate you on making the most of a bad situation. Given your quick and successful transition from frustrated newbie to seasoned leader means you are no quitter. Your most recent description of your team’s dynamics would make Patrick Lencioni proud. I wish we could take the credit for the transformation you’ve made, but the fact remains that all the advice in the world is meaningless without execution. And you clearly executed (a 25% sales increase is phenomenal in any economy). Nice job, AC!

Now, back to your current dilemma…

The ABCs of Job Satisfaction

When you write about the others who are “running for the hills” because of the new regional supervisor, we are not surprised. Beyond the obvious issue that some of these might be immature managers who simply cannot deal with change, it sounds like your new regional manager is clearly violating the ABCs of Job Satisfaction.

While on the surface most people believe that salary is the greatest indicator of job satisfaction, the truth is that Autonomy, Benefit and Challenge (the AskTheManager.com ABCs of Job Satisfaction) are greater predictors of one’s contentment with one’s employment than any other factors. Let’s discuss these in reverse order.

Challenge

Without some level of challenge, any job can become boring and commonplace. As humans, we need varying degrees of intellectual and/or competitive challenges on our jobs to keep us stimulated and engaged.

The challenges created by your new boss, unfortunately, do not equate to the kind of challenging work environment that’s been known to arouse creativity and motivate individuals. In fact, by taking away your ability to make certain decisions, he has effectively removed many of the most challenging aspects of a manager’s job.

Benefit

When we speak about the benefit of your job, we’re not talking about dental coverage. Instead, we are referring to your ability to understand and connect your efforts with the benefit enjoyed by your company. A sales manager, for example, can easily see the results of her efforts; although a factory worker who is tasked with attaching widget X1298TWHQ to gadget G7JJN23 cannot. The factory worker is but a cog, while the sales manager is driving noticeable value. Additionally, the sales manager enjoys a more clearly defined report card; one that displays for all to see the level of benefit enjoyed by the company because of her efforts.

Lucky for you, your new boss won’t be able to effectively remove your ability to see the benefit of what you deliver. Of course, he could make life so miserable that you become passive-aggressive and end up not wanting to drive value.

Autonomy

The level of autonomy granted any employee is the single greatest indicator of job satisfaction. Simply put: where a worker feels like they are the master of their own domain, that worker is less likely to be unhappy with their job. Once our work is second-guessed by our supervisors (or once we have to ask permission for everything) we are ready to jump ship. It’s amazing how quickly this can alter one’s perception of their workplace: Take away someone’s autonomy and you take away their freedom.

This is where your new boss is having the most negative impact on your job satisfaction; and the primary reason you are uneasy and your peers are exiting faster than rats departing a sinking ship. By removing your ability to make decisions he is also removing your commitment to success. Sadly, it was this commitment to success that brought you this far.


Okay, But How Do I Deal With Him?

AC, (by our interpretation of your message) you are seeking both the return of your autonomy and some level of respect from your new supervisor. Let’s deal with the latter, first.

Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss

We’re going to assume that you and your old boss shared some healthy level of mutual respect, and that both of you were highly competent professionals (and both of you knew this fact about the other). We’re also going to assume that your old boss was generous in his/her granting of autonomy. Your old boss granted this autonomy because of your competence and his/her respect of you.

So what’s changed?

You are still highly competent; though your new boss either doesn’t know it or doesn’t care. Don’t worry – if he wants to succeed and grow with your company – he soon will. Gaining his respect, of course, will require a little more work.

First, no matter how distasteful it may be, you must respect him. You have to go out of your way to see the good in what he’s trying to accomplish and genuinely respect him. Respecting him requires that you suppress negative feelings, live (temporarily) with his micromanagement style and, in effect, kill him with kindness. Distrustful managers (it’s an understatement to say that your current supervisor is distrustful) have a difficult time respecting even those they consider competent. They will often, however, respect those who respect them.

Second, admire him without becoming a sycophant. Find a way to like the guy without kissing his ass. Distrustful managers especially have a difficult time respecting those they consider brownnosers.

In other words, treat your new boss the same as the old boss: with respect and admiration. (Even if this fails to sway the guy, you’ll find working with him will become more tolerable due to a psychological phenomenon known as cognitive dissonance – you’ll actually be forced to like the guy by your subconscious mind.)

What if Nothing Works?

Although we seem to be batting 1.000 with our advice to you AC, we have been known to be wrong before. If showing genuine respect and admiration for this micromanager fails to make him give you some leeway and focus his overbearing style on less fortunate managers, you needn’t panic. These situations are generally very short-lived. They may seem like an eternity when you’re trapped in the middle, but rest assured that no one can successfully micromanage multiple locations over the long term.

Because the stores he supervises are scattered across a large area, he will not be able to maintain control over every aspect of every store. He will either cede control to competent, respectful leaders like you or he will implode and be driven from company by his inevitable failure.

What is Your Goal?

The bottom line for you is to ask yourself “what are my goals?” Once you understand your short- and long-term career objectives, ask yourself if you are more likely to attain these by staying and fighting through the current unpleasantness or if you will be better off somewhere else. Because your last supervisor seemed like an enlightened leader, it is likely that your company rewards that sort of behavior, and equally probable that your current supervisor will either change or wither. Of course, if you choose to stay and your last supervisor was more the exception than the rule in your company, you could be in for a very unsatisfactory time.

Either way, just being curious and seeking advice from others tells us that you’ll be an effective leader no matter where you choose to serve next.

The Tazie Effect – Turning Life’s Defining Moments Into Personal and Professional Greatness

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TheManager’s Leadership Book Review

In what may become a regular feature of AskTheManager.com, we tackle the sometimes thankless task of reviewing the work of a published author. While you could argue that we’ve provided book reviews in the past with our Ten Best Leadership Books or our Ten Best Decision Making Books lists, this time it’s different… this time it’s about a single book: whether we love it or hate it, you’ll know where we stand.

The Tazie Effect, by Heather Whittaker

The first thing you realize when you are about to crack open The Tazie Effect is its incredible lack of girth. Just 66 pages separate the beginning of the first chapter and the end of the last – and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Too often leadership books are written for the glorification of the writer, not the education of the reader. The Tazie Effect focuses concisely on nine specific areas where leaders can develop their craft. More pages would be unnecessary.

Written with the belief that we can learn much about leadership from a six-pound blind dog who is called, among other things, Tazie Roo, The Tazie Effect attempts to weave solid leadership advice with examples about how this pooch lives her life. This, unfortunately, is where the book barks up the wrong tree. (Fortunately, this is the only place where it falters.) The connections between this little dog and the leadership advice doled out by Ms. Whittaker are tenuous at best. At worst, those who don’t love dogs the way the author does might be turned off by the amount of attention paid to and credit given this pup. In some ways it’s like the tail wagging the dog.




Stop Dogging this Book!

Okay, now let me throw the author a bone… Once I got past the precious Tazie Roo’s inability to teach me real leadership skills and simply read the material provided, I was impressed. Ms. Whittaker is clearly a gifted leader and a gifted writer, and her book deserves the attention it will surely receive.

Whittaker weaves in real world (human) leadership examples very well and provides lessons that any leader – young or old – can easily understand and incorporate into their work lives. Her words are well chosen and the advice she provides is solid. The Tazie Effect is void of unnecessary magic bullets, tips or tricks, and instead focuses on long term, life changing principles in the simplest form.

While The Tazie Effect is not the next One Minute Manager, I can see the value organizations will likely place on this book as a housebreaking tool for new managers and as a reinforcement of the skill sets of their senior leaders. (You can’t, obviously, teach an old dog new tricks.) It also seems likely that progressive companies could build their leadership development programs around its concepts, using the book as a cornerstone of their efforts.

The Recommendation

If you are a canine-loving leader who can’t resist speaking baby talk every time you come face-to-face with a four-legged friend, then this book is definitely for you. If you’re like most managers in the American workplace, and you’re more concerned about what happens to you than to some little dog, then this book is… still for you.

Let’s face it, with so much psychobabble BS passing itself off as leadership development; it’s nice to find a quick, effective read that meets the needs of its intended audience – even if they’re not all dog lovers. With that, I can confidently and doggedly recommend this book to anyone looking to improve their leadership skills.

(To order The Tazie Effect, visit Amazon.com.)

The Great Necession: Leading in Tough Economic Times

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It’s not a Recession, It’s a Necession

Anyone bothering to pay attention to what’s happening with consumer spending in the current recession can note one trend: that is, even those consumers who are likely to be unaffected by the economic downturn are helping fuel the recession because they’ve gone into wallet lockdown. They’ve declared that we are in the Great Necession of 2009.

While one could argue that in a free market no job is ever really safe, 92% of Americans who want a job, have a job. Moreover, most of those same 92% are likely to have little disruption to their income streams over the foreseeable future.

So why does the housing market continue to tank and why are new car sales sitting at their lowest levels in decades? People have been scared into a Necession.

Forget for a moment that the credit markets have tightened; there aren’t any tire-kickers on dealer lots or looky-loos at the Sunday open houses to apply for credit. Why? Because no one in their right mind is going to buy a new car or house until they need to buy one.

How do you know we’re in a Necession?

Traditional large discretionary purchases (like cars, boats, vacation homes) are based on emotion and impulse, not on necessity. Cars, for example, are built to last for a decade or more, yet many Americans habitually traded in their cars every 18 to 36 months. This is what fueled more than 16 million new car purchases a year as recently as 2006. (Read our related post on the auto industry here.) We’re now at half that amount; and because of the Great Necession of 2009, we predict the auto industry won’t see the 16 million mark again before 2020. People just don’t need to buy a new car, regardless of the availability of credit, and now they know that.

The economic realities of today have taught those of us who’ve lost jobs and those of us with good jobs that we need to live within our means. One colleague recently told me he will never again have a monthly financial commitment (he called it his “monthly nut”) greater than he can cover working for minimum wage. I believe him. His spending paradigm has been forever shifted from one of excess to one of “necess.” He is a New Era Necessionist, helping fuel the Great Necession.

How to Lead in a Necession




The unfortunate reality of being in a Necession is that even when the credit markets relax and the layoffs subside, retail spending will not return for a very long time. Consumer confidence may return, but consumer spending – that is, spending like drunken sailors on shore leave – will not. The generation that lives through the Great Necession will be much like the one that lived through the Great Depression: they will change their habits forever for fear of a return to bad times.

The only remedy for leaders is to instill confidence. You must reek of confidence when dealing with your acquaintances, your employees and your customers. (It certainly doesn’t help when the media seeks a negative slant to every story – but great leaders know to control what they can control, and to limit the influence of that which they cannot.)

People are simply not productive when they fear their jobs are in jeopardy. Lacking confidence, otherwise sane managers can literally become paranoid – rendering them ineffective. The rumor mill – fueled by negative thoughts and doomsday predictions from the rank and file – runs rampant. Job dissatisfaction from an uncertain future begets customer dissatisfaction; while customer dissatisfaction begets even lower sales, leading to a further erosion of employee confidence.

It’s our job as leaders to keep all of this from happening. So let’s agree on few easy paradigm shifts:

  1. The times are challenging, but our future looks great. Believe this and live this, then use this as a standard reply to anyone (especially employees and customers) enquiring about your business.
  2. The best part about a recession is the thinning of the herd. You need to believe this and live this, as well. Feel free to speak to your employees in these terms and let them know you appreciate their hard work, because it is their hard work that will help them and everyone else at your company keep their jobs.
  3. We cannot wish our way back to prosperity. Too often we see managers looking for magic pills to solve a crisis. The truth is that anything worthwhile takes hard work – otherwise, everyone could do it. You need to gain a solid commitment to best practices from everyone in order to save your company.
  4. Sales cures all ills. While it was this very saying that partially got us into this mess (we didn’t realize we had bad leaders, because times were good and revenues were growing), returning our teams to a “selling culture” is one of the quickest ways to right any ship. Unfortunately, many businesses have focused too heavily on cost-cutting and not enough on the fundamentals of selling. Get your teams back to basics: focus on selling activities, not results, so that when the market turns, your team will get more than their share.

 

Top Ten Resume Tips for Managers

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The Top 10 Resume Tips for Out-of-Work Leaders

One of our loyal readers sent us an email this week that included their resume. As has likely happened to someone you know, this manager got caught up in the current economic turmoil and their position was eliminated. No notice. No severance. No clear prospects.

Since it’s too late to council our reader to adopt the absolutely necessary survival trait known as networking, we thought we’d dissect his resume (confidentially) and deliver him (and you) our Top 10 Resume Tips:

  1. Filename – Quick, take a look at the resume on your computer. Is it called “myresume.doc,” “SalesManagerResume.doc,” or simply “resume.doc?” Do you have any sense of your audience? I can guarantee that the hiring manager doesn’t want to download 50 resumes all titled “myresume.doc.” Believe it or not, it becomes hard to find the one you’re looking for when all the files are called the same thing. Additionally, when you name your resume file based on job title (like SalesManagerResume.doc), the hiring manager knows you’re probably fibbing a little because you likely have other versions that you send to other job openings (like OpsManagerResume.doc). There’s only one recommended filename structure for all resumes and here it is: Lastname.Firstname.Resume.doc. Your resume file will stand out because of its clarity to, and consideration for, the hiring manager.
  2. Software – Two words: Microsoft Word. Okay folks? While using some cheap Word knockoff is probably fine for an entry-level salesperson resume, your manager resume will look absolutely bush league if it arrives via any format other than Word. If you simply cannot afford the $80 to buy Microsoft Word, then create your resume in Word Perfect or Open Office or whatever other word processing software you can get your hands on, and “print” the document as a PDF. There are literally thousands of free PDF creators available. Start by looking here.


  3. Borrow Liberally – Why reinvent the wheel? Smart leaders are efficient and they don’t waste precious hours recreating what has already been invented elsewhere. Go online, search for resume samples, then start reading and lifting those phrases and sentences that best describe you and your abilities. Don’t lie – integrity matters – but certainly be smart enough to let someone else articulate what you really want to say about your experiences. Better yet, use your last $12 and buy a book with sample resumes and better resume tips than you’ll ever get from some crummy management blog. We highly recommend Jay Block’s 101 Best Resumes.
  4. Cover Letter – Yes, you include one. Again, if you’re applying for an entry-level gig, this is less important. The higher up you go, however, the more critical it is to have a great cover letter. Use the same tips we delivered here for your resume that you use for your cover letter. And just like that great resume, we recommend if you want a great cover letter you should invest a few bucks in a good book. Not surprisingly, we recommend Block’s 101 Best Cover Letters. If your cover letter is included in the body of an email, please remember to avoid our common email typos detailed here.
  5. Watch Your Formatting, and Check Spelling and Grammar – Yikes, we’re embarrassed to even have to write that, but we counted no less than four glaring typos and half a dozen grammatical errors in this manager’s resume. Ouch. Hard to hire someone to lead others when they appear to be unable to manage themselves. When we speak about formatting, we’re referring to how your resume lays out on a page. If you find yourself using tabs and spaces to format your paragraphs then STOP. While your resume might look great on your screen, it will likely open up as a jumbled mess on the other end. The reason this occurs is because you cannot guarantee that the hiring manager is using the same version of Word that you are using. Additionally, if you use an odd font because it looks cool, that font could be very well rendered as Courier on the other end, screwing up your beautiful formatting. The bottom line: format properly and use a standard font. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, hire a professional resume service. It might be the best $200 you ever invested.
  6. Aim High – While it’s often true that companies who are hiring leaders want to get more than they pay for, it’s especially true in a down economy. If your resume aims too low, that’s where you’ll surely end up. If you aim high, both with your resume objectives (yes, you include these) and with your description of past duties, you stand a much better chance of landing high. Be sure to make yourself and your ambitions sound as important as possible – keeping everything accurate, of course.
  7. Titles Matter More than Responsibilities – It’s sad, but true. If you were a VP at your last job, chances are you’ll be a VP on your next job. If your title was manager, you’ll likely be a manager when you land your next gig. We’re giving you this little piece of advice not to have you lie on your resume, but rather to make sure you clearly express your title in words that relay the importance of the position. Quick tip: Adding words like “division” can make a title seem more important, while allowing you to keep your integrity. For example, if you were a manager in the widgets group at ABC Company, you could list your title one of two ways: Manager, ABC Company or Widgets Division Manager, ABC Company. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather hire the latter than the former.
  8. Quantify Your Accomplishments – You didn’t “grow sales” at your last job, you “improved operating revenue by 33%.” You didn’t “cut costs,” you “discovered and enacted operational efficiencies that led to a 17% decrease in year-over-year operating expenses.” Numbers are easy to understand and will help your accomplishments stand out.
  9. Use Commanding Language – As you can read in Tip #8, there are both weak and strong ways to say anything. Use a thesaurus (quick tip: In Microsoft Word you can right-click on any word and see synonyms) to ensure you use the most powerful terms you can to describe your accomplishments. (We’re not going to bore you with a list of weak and strong words – you are a leader, after all.)
  10. References Available Upon Request – Never, ever include references on your resume if you are vying for a leadership position. Lists of references unnecessarily lengthen your resume. Additionally, you stand the chance of alienating your audience if one of your references is disliked by the hiring manager. In case you do happen to know Jack Welch – and he wants to vouch for you – ask him to write a brief letter (or, better yet, you write a letter on his behalf and ask him to sign it). You can always include these letters with your cover letter and resume.

While there are thousands of other great resume tips we could share, too many of them are too granular for a site like AskTheManager. If you can get these Top 10 Resume Tips down, you’ll be well on your way toward finding a great new career.

While we don’t often ask for advice from our readers, we’d love for you to share your resume tips with others by posting a comment below.

Young Owner, Old Manager: Who Wins in the End?

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Questions… we get Questions

One of our readers, Anant, posted the following after reading our article from August 2008 titled The First Time Manager Dilemma, How Do You Gain Respect?:

hi, i am facing a similar problem as mentioned above with one of my older employees, the only difference is that i am the owner of my company.

Last year i joined my father’s company after finishing my engineering and have started to handle the correspondence and marketing of the company.

Initially i thought because i was a new, they treated me as like a new kid on the block and would probably fade out once i am long enough with the organization.

Most of them did change, apart from our general manager. He still thinks he is an authority over me. I didn’t mind his reactions till the time recently when my father had gone out for an industrial trip. He had asked me to get some work done before he comes, which were like level 1 jobs and could easily be done on the phone/personally meeting, nothing laborious. Its been almost 3 days since i told him and he has still not been able to complete the task. Apart from this whenever i tell him something he looks at me, giving me that expression “why is he telling me? who is he to tell me?”

This behavior of his has actually ticked me off. Kindly give me a solution to handle such kind of employee – Anant, February 8, 2009

Young man (I’m going to assume you’re a young man, as Anant means “bliss” in Hindi and is traditionally a male name), it’s time for you and your GM to face several tough realities:

  1. Every generation gets overtaken by the next;
  2. Youth is the only trait a manager cannot learn;
  3. You can attract more flies with honey than vinegar;
  4. Blood is thicker than water;
  5. Money is thicker than blood; and
  6. Your written communication skills are horrendous.

1. Every Generation Gets Overtaken by the Next

It’s the circle of life my friend: It’s exciting and great when you’re young; and it sucks when you’re old. Your father’s general manager is having a tough time facing this fact… that’s expected. Your job is to make sure that you maximize short and long term profits for your father, not to make the GM feel good about himself.

If he fails to grasp this fact, he should be shown the door.

That said, you and your father’s company might be better served if you followed the advice in point number three, below.




2. Youth is the Only Trait a Manager Cannot Learn

This fact is likely killing your GM from the inside out. It eats at him everyday, and his own fear of being replaced is going to force him to do one of two things: 1) seek other employment (not likely); or 2) go into passive-aggressive mode when dealing with you (highly likely).

Until you came along, the GM was your father’s right-hand man. Today, he sees you as the greatest threat to his existence (see point number one, above). Following the advice given in point number three might help make the situation more tolerable for you (and the GM). If it fails, it’s probably time to show him the door. (Do you see a pattern emerging?)

3. You Can Attract More Flies with Honey than Vinegar

Of course, you can attract the most flies with dog shit, but we’ll forget that for a moment, because it doesn’t really fit with this whole analogy.

I think the best way to introduce this concept is to have the great Dalton (Patrick Swayze) from Road House explain it:

All you have to do is follow three simple rules.

One: never underestimate your opponent. Expect the unexpected.

Two: take it outside. Never start anything inside the bar unless it’s absolutely necessary.

And three: be nice.

…until it’s time to not be nice.

Generally every human can figure out Dalton’s numbers one and two on their own. Dalton’s tip number three, “be nice,” takes some practice.

Anant, if you want to be nice, then it’s time to become “The New Anant.” The New Anant is a guy that loves everyone and everything. He smiles are everyone (especially his GM), and nothing ever gets him down. If you become The New Anant, you are going to be so nice to the general manager that people are going to think the two of you are dating. In fact, your father may become jealous of your relationship with the GM.

Seriously, If you want to get the most out of the general manager, you need to hang on his every word. You should ask his advice on every topic (where it makes sense) and you should strive to make him the hero at every turn. If you do everything in your power to make him look good, he will (usually) work hard to prove you right. At worst, you’ll have made it incredibly hard for him to treat you poorly – his subconscience won’t allow him to be an ass; just as your subconscience will drive you to eventually like and even respect him. (If nothing else, you’ll begin to see the world as he sees it, which will give you great insight into how to manage him better.)

If this fails, show him the door.

4. Blood is Thicker than Water

At the end of the day, you can always tell your father to fire him. After all, you’re blood and he’s just an employee. This strategy is great provided a) you are ready to lead the company as the new general manager; and b) this GM really wasn’t that effective.

5. Money is Thicker than Blood

This is where things get sticky for your dad. If the GM is strong and delivers value for the company – and the two of you cannot get along – then it’s time for Anant to find a new job.

Blood is pretty thick, but money is a whole lot thicker.

Face this reality right away and begin “working” for the GM if he’s any good. If he stinks, refer to number four, above.

6. Your Written Communication Skills are Horrendous

Seriously, Anant, I know you were writing informally when you posted a comment on this blog, but it’s important to always communicate clearly and correctly in business. Business associates (like the GM), subordinates, customers and leaders of other companies will respect you more if your written communication skills are always strong.

The good news is that you already form strong ideas, you just need to put them into a written form properly. Start by writing everything in Microsoft Word first, then running the spelling and grammar checkers before you send any correspondence. Next, you may want to read our posts covering email etiquette. There might be some overall business writing tips you can take from these.

It sounds like you’re well on your way to becoming a great business leader: you’ve clearly identified the major hurdles in your business and you’ve sought advice on how to rectify them – that takes guts and shows your leadership – congratulations. Please keep us posted, we’re dying to know how things work out for you.

 

NY Times Hardcover Business Best Sellers – January 2009

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New York Times – Hardcover Business Best Sellers – January 2009

 

A quick review of the January 2009 New York Times Hardcover Business Best Sellers list and you wouldn’t know we were in a recession. Where are all the financial survival guides? Where are all the “end is near” and Nostradamus tomes?

 

Instead of the expected flight to junk journalism full of the “how to” books that actually apply to no one, this month’s list is surprisingly loaded with many decent biographies, smart historical perspectives and controversial statistical analyses that require a deeper level of thought than we need for, say, Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover (Number 8 this month).

 

Of the quality highlights on January’s list, Outliers at Number 1 could be one of the best books released in 2008. In this great read author Malcolm Gladwell poses the question: why do some people succeed, while those with more talent/brains/brawn never reach their potential? For those of us who still think we can grow up to be anything we want, Gladwell’s challenge of our belief in the self-made man is as uncomfortable as it is depressing. Like we do with the rest of Gladwell’s work, the editors of AskTheManager highly recommend this book.

 

Another January highlight can be found in a great Warren Buffet biography by Alice Schroeder at Number 2. In fact, The Snowball is not only in the Top 5 on the NY Times list, it was also named to our list of the Ten Best Warren Buffet Books of All Time. Why would we release a list of the Top 10 Buffet Books? At last count, there were forty-seven Warren Buffet biographies currently in print, so we felt you needed a guide to decide which ones are worthy of your time. (To see our list of the 10 Best Warren Buffet Biographies, follow this link.)


 

The overall best read on this month’s list (showing its staying power more than three years after its release) is Number 11’s Freakonomics. As loyal readers of this blog know, Freakonomics is expected be released as a feature-length documentary later this year. (To read our recent interview with Freakonomics producer Chad Troutwine, follow this link.)

 

The Top Five – NY Times Business Hardcover Best Sellers January 2009 (to view the entire list, follow this link):

 

This
Month

 

Last
Month

1

OUTLIERS, by Malcolm Gladwell. (Little, Brown, $27.99.) Why some people succeed — it has to do with luck and opportunities as well as talent — from the author of “Blink” and “The Tipping Point.”

1

2

THE SNOWBALL, by Alice Schroeder. (Bantam, $35.) The life of Warren Buffett.

2

3

HOT, FLAT, AND CROWDED, by Thomas L. Friedman. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $27.95.) How a green revolution can renew America, by the New York Times columnist.

3

4

THE ASCENT OF MONEY, by Niall Ferguson. (Penguin Press, $29.95.) A financial history of the world, stressing the link between politics and economics.

5

5

CALL ME TED, by Ted Turner with Bill Burke. (Grand Central, $30.) The entrepreneur’s personal story.

4

 

Catch Your Limit: Management Consultancy, Leadership Blog and Fish Cleaning Service

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Great Leadership Blog Worthy of Special Mention – CatchYourLimit.com

As our regular readers know, we produce four semi-regular Blogwatch series covering Time Management, Sales Management, Management Training and Leadership Development. In these series we attempt to help you cut through the clutter and discover great writing and great advice.

While we think we do a pretty good job of culling the crud, we sometimes overlook great blogs. When we do, we’re excited when readers bring these wonderful sites to our attention.

One of our readers turned us on to a great Leadership Development website that had not been a part of our Blogwatch series, called CatchYourLimit.com. This site and its accompanying blog are the brainchild of an innovative leadership consulting company known as Catch Your Limit.

What makes Catch Your Limit so innovative is their approach to management and leadership consulting that moves away from the starched shirts and toward what really matters: coaching; accountability; consistency and cleaning fish. (Long story, you have to read their About Us page to understand.)




Based on what we learned about this innovative consultancy and their great blog, we hereby amend yesterday’s Leadership Development Blogwatch and add the following post:

Transparency is to Employee Engagement as Failure is to Innovation

Leaders will never gain the trust of their employees, especially in uncertain times without a significant level of transparency. As innovation needs experimentation and failure, employees need transparency from leadership for engagement to take place.

One of the difficulties many organizations are facing is transitioning from a “corporate memo” top down communication culture to having honest and candid conversations with their employees. The former creates an environment of rumors, gossip and anxiety while the latter allows employees to feel a certain level of security remaining engaged and productive.

Like improving the economy it’s easier said than done. It isn’t easy to tell people they may lose their job. It isn’t easy to discuss a negative financial outlook…

(To read the rest of this article and other great posts on CatchYourLimit.com, please follow this link.)