8 Pieces of Professional Advice I Didn't Want But Definitely Needed

8 Pieces of Professional Advice I Didn't Want But Definitely Needed

(Original article posted via Jeff Haden on Linkedin.com and can be located here.)

Since screw-ups tend to be magnets for advice, I've received a lot of painfully direct -- yet ultimately very helpful comments -- along the way:

"Express your individuality on your own time." In my first job after college I sometimes let my personality overshadow my responsibilities and duties and it definitely hurt my performance and limited my opportunities.
We're all servants (in a good way) and our customers, peers, bosses, and direct reports all have needs. Meeting those needs -- on their terms -- is more important than somehow "staying true" to ourselves.
Maintaining your integrity is vital, but there's a big difference between staying true to yourself and "just being me."

"Face value has no value." It's easy to view the actions of others through the lens of how that behavior impacts us, especially if those actions impact us negatively.
Still, most employees don't try to do a bad job. Most customers aren't intentionally difficult. Most bosses aren't simply out to get you.
There is always more to the story. Fail to look deeper and you miss an opportunity to make a bad situation better -- for everyone.

"They're just as scared of you." I wrestled in high school and traveled to summer tournaments where other wrestlers often seemed larger than life. I assigned them a near-mythical status because they came from different states and wore t-shirts from high-profile camps and wrestling clubs.
I never imagined they might see me the same way.
The same is true in business. Under the Armani and Wharton School and high-profile name-drops is a guy or gal just as nervous and insecure as you. Symbols of success are often just a mask.
The playing field is always more level than it seems.

"When you fire someone and need to say more than, 'We have to let you go,' you haven't done your job." Except in unusual circumstances, firing an employee is the last step in a longer process. If along the way you've identified sub-par performance, provided additional training or resources, set targets and timelines for performance improvement, and followed up when progress is lacking, then there are no surprises, no additional conversations necessary, no arguments to have... the employee knows.
And you've done your job as well as you can. But even so...

"If you can sleep the night after you fire someone, something is wrong with you." Even if you've done everything right, firing an employee feels horrible. (I know they "fired themselves," but still.) You've impacted their career, their life, their family... you should feel awful.
If you don't feel awful, it's time to step out of a management role.

"Always sell harder than you think you should." I'm fairly shy and often insecure so "selling" is hard for me. I felt more comfortable waiting for bosses to discover my talents and promote me. I feel more comfortable waiting for potential customers to somehow discover me.
That's a problem, because success in any field or profession is at least partly built on salesmanship -- the ability and willingness to determine needs, overcome objections, provide solutions, and to be charismatic and convincing.
Be enthusiastic. Be especially about yourself. People will respond positively.

"Seriously... just shut up." I used to talk a lot. I thought I was insightful and clever and witty and, well, I thought I was a hoot. Very occasionally I might have been.
Most of the time I wasn't.
Truly confident people don't feel the need to talk -- at all. I hate when it happens, but I still occasionally realize I'm talking not because the other person is interested in what I have to say but because I'm interested in what I have to say.
Never speak just to please yourself; when you do you end up pleasing no one.

"Pick something you believe in and stick to it." When I first started racing motorcycles the then-500cc world champion (this was before today's MotoGP; remember, I'm really old) told me he always walked an unfamiliar track before riding any laps. It was a ritual that allowed him to spot surfaces, bumps, and potential racing lines he might otherwise have missed.
Good enough for him, good enough for me, so I started doing the same thing.
Did it work? I certainly thought it did... and therefore, placebo or not, it did.
Think about a task you perform frequently, choose something you can do that actually helps you perform better, and start doing it every time: Whether it's how you prepare, how you follow-up, how you'll double-check your work, etc. Soon performing your "ritual" will give you more confidence, especially when the stakes are high, and as a result your performance will improve.
Think of it like wearing lucky socks... except in this case it actually makes a difference.
I also write for Inc.com:

• 8 Things You Should NOT Do Every Day
• The Huge Step Every Great Boss Takes
• 6 Habits of Remarkably Likeable People

(Photo courtesy flickr user martij)

Just Got Hired? 100 Days to the Perfect Start

Just Got Hired? 100 Days to the Perfect Start

You’re starting a new job. You’re good at what you do... or at least you were good at what you did at your old job. But now you’re unproven.

Now you need to get off to a great start... and you don’t have a lot of time to make that happen. If you’re a senior executive you probably have three months to stake out your position and take a few major – and visible – steps.

If you’re lower on the corporate ladder you might have even less time.

I haven’t started a new job in forever, so I found someone better to give advice: Jim Whitehurst. He’s gone from a management consultant at Boston Consulting Group to Treasurer and then Chief Operating Officer of Delta Airlines and is now the CEO of Red Hat, the $1.1 billion open source software company.

So yeah, he’s successfully started a few new jobs.

Here’s Jim on how to get off to the perfect start in your new job:

Deeply understand how the business creates value.

Obviously you need to learn how to do your job well, but more than that you need to understand the company’s competitive advantage and underlying value proposition to make sure those things happen.
Don’t assume your predecessor did.

When I reflect on what I do at Red Hat and what I did at Delta it’s absolutely night and day. I didn’t think about it at the time, but when I think back to Delta I realize I was pretty hard on people. An airline is a pennies and nickels kind of business with single-digit margins -- if you’re lucky. So I would challenge and direct and correct… I was extremely focused on execution and spent the majority of my time going through the details.

At Red Hat my focus is on talking to customers, to M & A prospects, to partners, to CIOs to find out where they think the future of tech is going…. We’re outward facing, customer facing, and all about the future, while the airline business is pretty well defined and the goal is to optimize within that box. Strategic long-term planning is a much bigger part of what I do now than it was at Delta.

Don’t assume the way you did your old job, or the way your new job was done before, is the way it should be done now.

If you want to succeed – and move up to higher levels – take the time to figure out how the company truly creates value.

Learn how to serve all of your constituents.

You may have direct reports. You may have external customers. You definitely have internal customers. Often many of your constituents have little to do with what you might think is your job.
In my role, over half of my time is not spent “running the business.” Talking to the press, to board members, investors, analysts, engaging in civic responsibilities (because you can’t be a leader without being a leader in the community where that company lives and works)….

At first I got frustrated by those demands. Then I realized I couldn’t run a full schedule the way I once did. I needed to be on the phone talking to legislators about issues. I needed to be on the phone with the governor-elect when he asked if I would host a session to get input from business leaders. All that "stuff" is really important to our company and our community.

You’ll start a job with certain expectations, but once you understand the needs of all your constituents you must redefine how you see your job and the way you perform it.

Learn about all of your constituents and determine how to serve them while creating value for your company. That might sound contradictory, but when you deeply understand how the company creates value and you deeply understand your constituents, it's not.

Stay focused on what you do best.

You were hired for a reason. Don’t lose sight of that reason as you take on your new duties.
Sometimes a company hires a new employee because they need specific things done and that person has done those things before. Sometimes a company hires a new employee who has the attributes they need instead of the person with the “right” set of skills experiences.

Often it’s a blend of both: You’re hired because of your skills and qualifications… but also because you bring qualities and attributes the company needs.

Never lose sight of what makes you different. You possess qualities and attributes other people don’t. That’s why you were hired.

Use them. But make sure you also...

Show what you will do differently.

Never assume what made you successful at one job will make you successful at your new job. Many executives fail because they try to apply what was successful in the past to a new business.

Understand the company’s competitive advantage, understand the needs of all your constituents, and decide how you can leverage your skills, experiences, and intangibles to stake out a position and take the job to another level.

Work extremely hard to deliver value... and soon the company may decide to take you to another level.

I also write for Inc.com; here are a few related articles:

• How to Spot a Remarkable Employee
• 5 Questions Great Job Candidates Ask
• How Much to Pay Outstanding Employees

(Photo courtesy flickr user Haonavy)

Authored and originally posted on Linkedin.com by:

   Jeff Haden