RE:THINK

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I’ve received this article from a friend (Zac Angelowicz), a successful entrepreneur,with experience in Sales and Recruiting.

Are our institutions of Higher Learning Preparing graduates for the Real World? Not without teaching them to “Block and Tackle.”

Many of our colleges and universities are laced with coursework that follows a textbook. Students are asked to memorize and regurgitate information in exchange for grades. These students are being taught by “Theoritians” Teachers that have academic credentials, but have never “Applied” that knowledge in real world settings. A few lucky students are being taught by “Practitioners” Instructors that have stretched their “Comfort Zone”, are entrepreneurial by nature, willing to take risks and compete at the highest level while motivating students to do the same. How can a business professor teach marketing if he’s never had a door slammed in his face or lost his own money in a failed venture and moved forward?

Every person in any walk of life has “WIIFM” or What’s In It for Me, emblazoned in invisible ink in the middle of their forehead.  By being taught a “World Class Meet and Greet” a person can break down the barriers and overcome the fear of
“Face to Face” interactions. The Human Organism is born with only two fears, the fear of loud noises and the fear of falling. All other fears are learned and can be unlearned.

In the interview and hiring process of thousands of applicants wanting to learn to “Block and Tackle”, we use the Predictive Index (PI) as a guideline or measuring instrument. What the PI reveals is a graphic depiction and report of the underlying patterns of behavior that drive an individual.

By description an accomplished “Blocker and Tackler” is an engaging, stimulating communicator, poised and capable of projecting enthusiasm and warmth and of motivating other people. They have a strong sense of urgency, initiative and competitive drive to get things done, with emphasis on working with and through people in the process. They understand people well and use that understanding effectively in influencing and persuading others to Act. They are Actors not Reactors and they take personal responsibility in Daily Excellence.

“So, what’s in it for you”

After your initial training in “Blocking and Tackling” you might ask, “How is this going to further my career path?” Craig Barrett, CEO of Intel stated in a recent interview that “‘people’ are 90% of everyone’s business, but business only spends 10% of their time, finding and developing them.” Find a good senior manager of any major corporation that can’t recruit, train and motivate as well as communicate the company’s vision to his troops, in today’s competitive environment and he’s in trouble.

Many middle and senior managers of large corporations have forgotten how or never learned how to “Block and Tackle.
The have “lost touch” with what’s going on in the “front line.” That’s why corporation’s are hiring “outside experts” to help streamline, organize and facilitate increased results.

Time in the Trenches

There’s no substitute for Front Line experience. My career started selling Ford’s in a small town in upstate New York. I was a college basketball player and one of our backers was a Ford Dealer. I honed my blocking & tackling skills that I initially learned growing up in the streets of Brooklyn. I had a great mentor, EJ Connors. After a career at Eastman Kodak Co. in Upstate New York, he started selling automobiles. He sold on the average of 40 New Fords every month for 10 years. He taught me about meet and greet, sending thank you notes and birthday cards. With his help, I sold 250 Fords my first year.

In 1979our Family relocated to Scottsdale. We started up “Polyglycoat” a car care & window tint company, whose trade name we sold in 1997 to Quaker State Oil Co. We developed the trade name “Polyglycoat” to a 3 out of 4 household recognition factor before it was sold.

In the last 5 years, my career has been recruiting and head hunting sales people and managers for the automotive industry. That’s full Blocking & Tackling. I have to kiss a lot of frogs to find that prince.

Graduate to Free Safety

Now that you’ve taken the time to develop your meet & greet as well as “people skills” you evolve to “Free Safety.”

The Free Safety roams the playing fields of career development with an air of confidence he or she is an “impact” player that makes a difference to co-workers. He covers their back when they’re beaten, he helps them overcome obstacles. He moves to the action. He’s an actor NOT a reactor and exudes a quiet confidence. He stimulates and creates action, while being a mentor to new team members. A true leader,a department head or CEO in the making. He understands what ASU Sun Devil Baseball Coach Pat Murphy means when he says, “If you fail, make sure you fall on your face and not on your heels, then you are truly making progress.” A Free Safety has the drive and determination to pick himself up off the ground, dust himself OFF and MOVE FORWARD.

By knowing and instinctively following the basics of Blocking and Tackling you will get “lucky” in meeting and exceeding your goals and aspirations.

Branch Rickey, the First Commissioner of major league baseball had a definition of “luck” he said, “luck is the residue of planning, preparation & discipline!”

Whatever career path you choose, be it entrepreneurial, educational, sales related or corporate, enhanced people skills will make you “very lucky.”

ZAC’S ZINGERS

1)      Always continue to Block and Tackle- Remember your life in the trenches

2)      Follow the A³ Principle- Attitude, Approach, Action

3)      Don’t ever say, “It’s not my job” be part of the solution, not the problem.

4)      Understand the definition of “Insanity” doing things the same way and expecting different results. Be daring and Creative.

5)      Practice the 10 most important 2 letter words in the world on a daily basis

“If it is to be, it is up to me!”

By: Zac Angelowicz

for the last 12 years or so (whenever the first Toy Story came to our screens), I’ve been fascinated by the whole genre of computer animated movies. The clever people writing the scripts, are using cliches that in a regular movie, will likely to sound like ones, however because the characters are animated, and the movie is targeting young children, these cliches are OK.

Funny, isn’t it? We are trying to convey this subliminal message to our kids, which we, as “adults” have long forgotten, or (unfortunately for us) don’t really live by. How sad!

In this short clip, Rodney is leaving his dead-end existence, in pursuit of his dream. Like in any “normal family”, the mother can’t let go….
The DAD, grabs the opportunity to teach his son the lesson from his own pitiful existence.

For most of us, it is not too late…
Lets learn from Rodney!

This is real, folks! this is how creative you have to be to get a job now. I’m sure if you have a job, in a secure and established company - you’ve got nothing to worry about. But if you’re a bit worried, keep reading!

This story came out yesterday on CNBC.com (7.1.09).  It is quite long, and you’re welcome to read the whole thing, I’ll just give you the gist:

Among the iconic images that summed up 2008 was that of Joshua Persky, the unemployed investment banker who slapped a sandwich board over his suit that said “Experienced MIT Grad for Hire” and hit the streets of New York to try to reclaim his place on Wall Street.

 

Cynthia J. Kohll Tip No. 1: Be Creative. A sandwich board over your suit to catch the eye of employers? That’s definitely creative. And effective!

Well, now he’s an iconic image of how to dig out of the mess that was 2008: After 12 long months of job hunting, having to give up his Upper East Side apartment and send his wife and kids to Nebraska to live with her parents, Persky has landed a job. He was hired by accounting firm Weiser LLP in December.

And, despite the fact that a lot of Wall Street jobs are drying up and may never come back, Persky managed to get a job doing the same thing as before, valuations.

So, how did he do it? Mr. Persky have 6 suggestions (and I’ll add the obvious, at the end) :

 

 

1) Be creative. You have to think outside the box to make others aware of what you need.

He had been going along, interviewing and networking for the first six months — even with executives from some of 2008’s casualties, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch.

 

The Perskys  made some sacrifices: wife and kids went to stay with the parents, while Mr. Persky continued his job search..

He  decided  had to do something different: after having drinks with his wife he came up with the crazy idea to put a sandwich board on and hit the sidewalk at lunchtime.

 

 

So, he figured if he had the sign on, people might approach him. “You have to try to stand out as much as possible,” Persky said. “That’s more important than ever, given this job market.”

2) Be open to change. It’s easy to wedge yourself into a tight spot, where you’re search is stuck on one field or one location. But given the jobs that have evaporated that may never come back, flexibility is the key.

“You have to be ready to change careers, locations and industry,” Persky said. “To reinvent yourself.”

 

 

“You really just have to expand your horizons,” he said. “Our dream was New York City but we were willing to go anywhere in the world there was an opportunity — internationally or nationally,” he said.

3) Get professional help. A lot of people poo poo professional help, declaring that they are capable to do it on their own.

That’s how Persky felt for the first six months of job search. But, he saw the light after Paloma Bowland, a career counselor who does business development for JibberJobber.com, contacted him and helped him revamp his resume — and his approach.

“Most people’s response to my resume is ‘Wow!’” Persky said. “Before, I wasn’t getting a job,” he said.

 

Bowland made him take the time to make changes, revamping his resume, working out a marketing strategy and helping to keep his spirits up.

 

4) Redo your resume. You may think your experience sells itself, particularly if you’ve been on Wall Street for a couple of decades.

Yeah? Wrong.

You’ve got to organize the information in a way that sells you for the position you want. And, as Persky found out, sometimes that means a nonchronological resume.

 

You have to figure out what your goal — what type of job, what industry, what city — and organize the information on your resume to fit that to a “T,” including everything about you and your experience that is applicable.

“You think about how you would like it to be,” he said. “Nothing is too small or too big to be in there.

5) Figure out your brand and sell it. A lot of people do marketing as part of their job, but when the job is gone, they don’t realize they have to apply those skills to marketing themselves to future employers.

Based on the publicity generated by his sandwich-board strategy, Bowland determined that Persky’s brand was integrity, creativity and bravery.

 

“I never thought I was creative or brave,” he said. “That’s the brand that came out.”

Sometimes, as was the case with Persky, it’s easier to have someone from the outside help you figure out what your brand is.

The next step was to unify his offerings on Facebook, Linked In and his blog.

Persky had already been doing a blog, www.oracleofny.com, to chronicle his unemployment. He admits, it was his kids who got him on Facebook. But it was Bowland who helped him unify his offerings to make sure that they seamlessly — and professionally — dispersed his marketing, his brand.

 

And, of course, it’s not just the marketing — you also have to sell it.

“Really successful salesmen don’t follow up once, they follow up 101 times until it’s impossible to do more,” Persky said. “Just because someone doesn’t answer an email or phone, doesn’t mean the answer is no or they don’t care it just means they haven’t gotten to it yet.”

6) Perseverance. Persky went through a lot of hardship in the 12 months he was unemployed, including having to pack his wife and kids up and ship them back to Omaha while he slept on a couch. But through it all, he never gave up.

“Don’t give up,” Persky said. “In the end, that’s what did it,” he said.

“It wasn’t because of the sign or the blog. I stuck it out and I didn’t give up.”

Indeed, when his networking and interviewing strategy wasn’t working in the first six months, he adapted with creativity, flexibility and some professional help and just stuck with it. His efforts drew the eye of a career advisor, who helped him take it to the next level — the level that landed him the job.

At the end of the day, an expert is not someone who knows a lot.  A real expert is someone who’s KNOWN for what he knows.

You gotta make yourself known, with creative PR and marketing strategies, and then you have to learn how to sell yourself. the competition is fierce. And you have to beat it! otherwise - you go hungry.

What are you gonna do?

 

Guy is, according to him: a founding partner at Garage and co-founder of Alltop as well as a husband, father, author, speaker, and hockey addict. He’s written 9 books, the latest one is Realty Check.

In this book, Guy  is explaining a few fundamental issues when starting a business. Guy is sharing his experience as a VC (Venture (some call them Vaulters) Capitalist, and trying to get rid of (or at least reduce) his Tinnitus, which is a rare illness, which causes constant ringing in his ear.

The book is written in humor, however I recommend taking the advice in the book pretty seriously.

From my understanding, the book stands for these things:

• The KISS principal (Keep it simple, stupid)
• keep learning and educating yourself - cause you don’t know what you don’t know
• don’t be too clever in your documents - have a clever product, and super clever team, which leads to the next point
• You shouldn’t operate on your own - surround yourself with the best people you could find.

I subscribe to the same: I always involve other people, good people in my ventures, (example: www.timetorethink.com). it is a lot easier than working alone, and you get the pleasure of having other people’s input and opinions.

Hopefully you’ll read this book, just before you start your business, and this book will steer you in the right direction.

Maybe it is “too late” and you already run a business. If you think you know it all, and there is nothing to be learned from other people, you wouldn’t be reading this blog in the first place.

I don’t think this is the case, hence you’re reading this blog. Reading The Art of The Start as a business owner, will shed some light on how things are working (and why other things don’t work).This book will also expose you to some brand new thinking patterns, teaching you “how to fish” as the old saying goes:

Give a man a fish - you’ll feed him for a day; Teach him how to fish - you’ll feed him for life!

Enjoy the book - I am!

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Dorothy Tannahill Moran wrote a thought provoking guest post over at Tickled by Life asking this question?

Let me pause here to a make a comment.  People that are facing behavioral issues like procrastination or anxiety follow the same process as anyone making any kind of change.  I have noticed that people often time feel more resigned to these aspects in them, thinking that because it is something internal, they can’t be helped.  Let me tell you, it’s all internal.  It all requires work but the payoff can be worth the effort…read more

Dorothy makes some great points about;

• Change
• New behaviours
• Maintenance

All the things we talk about at RE:THINK!

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Business is more competitive and challenging than ever which means we need to continually improve our skills if we want to maintain a competitive edge. Upgrading your skills is critical to your long-term success.

The most common mistake that I see is that many sales people think that they don’t need to update or upgrade their skills because they attended a program or training workshop sometime in the past.

Many companies who say they’re not interested in a training program because they “did one” a few years ago.
People rely on their employer to either foot the bill or initiate something. If you’re not willing to invest in your future you won’t reach your full potential. I’ve noticed that self-employed or independent sales professionals are more likely to invest in their personal development more so than employees of a company.

I recommend doing a quick self-evaluation to determine what specific areas they need to improve. Then, decide what you’re going to do to improve. This could mean attending a training workshop, a tele-seminar, or perhaps a conference to hear different speakers. If you get just one good idea that helps you improve your results, then it’s worth the investment.

“Why is this so important for sales people to maintain a positive attitude?”

Sales is a great career but it’s also a challenging one. The attitude we display is contagious and our prospects pick up on it. But, even more important, is the fact that a positive attitude helps us get through the difficult times and occasional slumps we encounter from time-to-time.

“What can we do?”

First, we have to choose to be positive. No one can tell us how to behave and we can always choose to be in a great mood or a negative one. Now I’m certainly not suggesting that this is easy because it’s not. However, when you put negative experiences into perspective and look at the big picture, you can often see why it’s more important to focus on the positive.

Next, associate with other positive-minded, goal-oriented people. Too many people are quick to bring you down so it’s essential that the people around us are also positive and optimistic.
I also recommend starting your day with something positive like reading or listening to motivational material instead of reading the newspaper or watching the news. Other things like exercise, yoga, meditation are also a great way to start your day. It’s like tending a garden. If you don’t remove the weeds they will eventually take over and choke the flowers. Starting your day with something that is inspiring will kick start our day and keep the weeds away.

Improvements don’t happen overnight. Each change, even if it’s small, makes a difference and can improve our results.

It’s like physical fitness. You can’t go from a being a couch potato to competing in an Ironman competition in a week or two. It takes time to build your stamina and strengthen your body so it can handle the stress effectively.

Have you noticed that some workers receive more promotions and greater pay than their colleagues, despite the fact that they are apparently not as competent as you? This doesn’t seem fair. Why should some people get ahead when others, who seem to be working much harder and even longer hours, get passed over for promotion and the additional rewards that go with it? The fact is, to be a great success, it is important not only to be good at what you do but also to be perceived as being good at what you do.

Human beings are creatures of perception. It is not what they see but what they think they see that determines how they think and act. If one person is perceived as being more promotable, then it is very likely that he/she will get additional responsibilities and more money, even though there are others that can do a better job, if given the chance.

Fortunately, there are several things that one can do to increase visibility and accelerate the speed at which they move ahead in their career.

Develop Competence

Determine what parts of your job are most important to your boss and to your company and then make the decision to become very good in those areas. You must be perceived as being very competent at what you do. That perception alone will bring you to the attention of more people faster than you can imagine. The perception of excellent performance will open up opportunities for greater responsibilities, higher pay and better positions. Becoming good at what you do should be the foundation of your strategy for gaining higher visibility and rapid advancement in your career.

Pay Attention to Your Overall Image

How you appear to others makes a real difference. A recent survey of personnel executives found that the decision to hire or not to hire is made in the first 30 seconds. There are many elements of your life over which you have no control. But your external dress and appearance are totally a matter of personal preference. Through their choice of clothes, their grooming and their overall appearance, individuals deliberately make a statement about the kind of people they are. The way you look on the outside is a representation of the way you see yourself on the inside. It’s a good idea to dress the way the senior people in your company dress. Dress for the position two jobs above your own.

Join Professional Associations

Research professional associations connected with your business or field. Begin by attending meetings as a guest to carefully assess whether or not a professional association can be of value to you. Determine if the members are the kind of people you would like to know and are well established in their careers. Then, if you have decided that becoming known to the key people in this association can advance your career, take out a membership and get involved. Pick a key committee and volunteer for service. Find out which committee seems to be the most active and the most influential in that organization and then step up to the plate. Volunteer your time, expertise and energy, and get busy. Attend every meeting. Take careful notes. Ask for assignments, and complete them on time and in an excellent fashion. This gives you an opportunity to perform for other key people in your profession in a non-threatening environment. You give them a chance to see what you can do and what kind of a person you are. You expand your range of valuable contacts in one of the most effective ways possible. The people you get to know on these committees can eventually be extremely helpful to you in your work and in your career.

Join a Well-Known, Charitable Organization

Become active by donating your services to its annual fund-raising programs. You may not be wealthy now, but you do have time, and your willingness to give of yourself will soon be noticed by people who are higher up. Many men and women with limited contacts and limited resources have risen to positions of great prominence as the result of getting to know the key community leaders who participate in charitable organizations and professional associations.

Be Able to Set Priorities

Learn how to separate the relevant from the irrelevant when facing the many tasks of the day. Managers place very high value on a person who can set priorities and move quickly to get the job finished. Dependability in job completion is one of the most valued traits in the American work force. When your employer can hand you a job and then walk away and never worry about it again, you have moved yourself onto the fast track, and your subsequent promotion and pay are virtually guaranteed.

Upgrade Your Work-Related Skills

Continually look for ways to keep your skills current, and make sure that your superiors know about it. Look for additional courses you can take to improve at your job, and discuss them with your boss. Ask him/her to pay for the courses, but make it clear that you’re going to take them anyway. Also, ask your boss for book and audio program recommendations. Then follow up by reading and listening to them and asking for further recommendations. Bosses are very impressed with people who are constantly striving to learn more in order to increase their value to their companies.

Develop a Positive Mental Attitude

People like to be around people they like and tend to promote them. A consistent, persistent attitude of cheerfulness and optimism is quickly noticed by everybody. When you make an effort to cultivate an attitude of friendliness toward people, they, in turn, will go to extraordinary efforts to open doors for you.

In the final analysis, taking the time to become an excellent human being will do more to raise your visibility and improve your chances for promotion than will any other single thing that you can do. You can do it if you really want to.

One of the greatest tools of communication, growing widely in the past 5 years or so, is a part of the internet called: Social Networking.

Social Networking is a social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services.

Social networking has created new ways to communicate and share information. Social networking

websites are being used regularly by millions of people, and it now seems that social networking will be an enduring part of everyday life. The main types of social networking services are those which contain directories of some categories (such as former classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages), and recommended systems linked to trust. Popular methods now combine many of these, with MySpace and Facebook being the most widely used.

from Wikipedia

There are a lot of social networking sites, and even more Business Networking sites, bringing together professional communities, to share ideas, concepts and other relevant information.

Business networks been around for many years, such as BNI and Chambers of Commerce, however the online networks are very powerful in bringing together professionals from around the globe, to connect and share information. It is truly - a Global Village!

Recent statistic have shown, that 83% of recruiters used search engines to learn more about

candidates in 2007, up from 75% in 2005, according to Execunet.com.
43% eliminated candidates based on the search results.

What does it mean? I think it is quite simple - if people want to know more about you, they’ll look you up on Google!
it could be your future employer (in my case it was my ex-employer who suspected I was involved in “extra curriculum” activities), or your future (or existing) spouse, or their family!!

The more information people find online, the better!

why?

In most cases, you can control what people find about you. and you can do that by joining Social and/ or business network, and expose the parts of your life you want people to find out about. In the “Glitz and Glamor” world they use a spotlight, or an angle to showcase what they want you to see.

OK, so what do I do? where to start?

Good question!

1. Start by deciding who you are, and what is it that you do, and you want people to know about:

If you are a small business owner, you might want to get people’s attention to your business, to create business opportunities for your self.
If you are passionate about bird migration routes, you may want to talk to other people who share your passion, and maybe one day go meet them in person, where ever they are in the world!

You may be a home maker, with a Teddybear collection, and you’d like to exchange information about garage sales with great potential, or new designs to make a bear.

2. Once you’ve decided Who you are and What is it that you’re passionate about, set up a profile that best showcases your self, and your passion. Put together a Bio (short for Biography), that extenuates your skills, experience and direction.

3. Register on the appropriate networks, and upload your Bio.

4. Most networks will help you to find your friends who already using the network, and encourage you to invite your other friends along.

Whatever it is that you do, or interested in, there is a good chance you would find a pal online, in a social, or business networking website.
There are also great ways to communicate with your existing friends around the country, or the world, share your thoughts, ideas, pictures, videos  - as much or as little as you want to share.

But what about my privacy????

Another FANTASTIC question!

No easy answer here either. The truth is, once you “go public”, you are giving away part of your privacy - people can now search (online)  and find you!
But, and this is a BIG But: you can now control what you want people to find, and you could also control (with privacy settings) who can see what information: some sites will have very low, if not no-online presence, like dating sites, or restricted networking sites.

Others, like MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn, will have great Googebility (presence in Google - to make sure people will find you). If you’re new to this world, it is a good idea to seek advice (Try Google :))

If you’re serious about Getting Noticed, and you think it will be beneficial for you professionally, check out Mr Personal Branding, and he could help,  or just leave a comment below.

Happy Socializing!

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We all have them: dreams, aspirations, bucket lists. We see something nice, we wish it could be ours. Sometimes it is out of our reach (now), so we just let go of it, because “there is no way I can own an Aston Martin”. The thing is - people do! people buy nice things, and expensive things, all the time. Why can they, and not us? People also do things that we say “we can never do”. Why not???

You can dismiss this and say: “well, they are smarter/better looking/ born rich, that’s why”, and move on with your life.
Or you can say: “hold on! I’m smart. I’m good looking. I can get whatever I want!”
The truth is, you can get whatever you want, however remote you think your dream is from where you are, if you put your mind to work.
If you LOVE something, and it is really important to you, you’ll do whatever it takes to have it. If you don’t - it is not important enough for you.
There is no right or wrong. This is just it. Once you have defined, in your own mind, what it is that you want - all you need is a plan to get there, and to make the first step.
We’ve all heard the common saying: the longest journey starts with the first step. Think about it for a minute, and let it sink in.
One other thing to consider: suppose you’re standing in a busy shopping center, or the center of town, and you stop! and look around.
What you’ll probably find are big brands, large signs on rooftops of sky scrapers : they have all started with the first step - an idea, and a passion of one person, to make it happen!
Get this: Banks, property developers, electronics companies, shopping centers, EVERYTHING you see around you, started with an idea, and someone who pursued his idea. That is all it takes.
The following video, tells the story of a mobile phone salesman, working in a shop, which his mother would probably think is gorgeous, although other people may have different opinion (including himself).
This guy, had a dream in him, and one day it clicked, and he made the first step, to fulfill his dream.
My point is - so can you.

If Paul’s story touched you, please share below: