$50 Dollar Tips

Several years ago I was fortunate enough to run into and become friends with Dave Morris. When I met Dave, he was with WTW Associates Executive Search. To say that he was a very engaging personality would be to understate the case. Among other traits, I was drawn to his sense of humor that went along with a "directness" that was in-your-face, but in a "nice" way in order to help make a point. As a long-time professional he had also been the past Chairman of IACPR - International Association for Corporate & Professional Recruitment) and in a prior life had been with Citibank.

Over the years and as we got to know each other better, I had asked Dave to be a speaker at ExecuNet's New York networking meeting which he did on more than one occasion to rave reviews. Aside from the fact that he had well honed communication skills, he also had the experience to translate to listeners the do's and don'ts of executive career management, including job search. One of the highlights of any presentation he would make would be what he called "$50 dollar tips," and as I was looking over some of the handouts Dave had from some of those meetings, I came across some of them again, and as I read through them, even though some of them are things we have all heard before, it still seemed to be a pretty powerful list and worth sharing, even in a digital age:

Dave Morris: $50 Dollar Tips

There is no right or wrong way, only the best way.

Dates on the right

If you keep doing what you've been doing, you're likely to get what you've always got.

Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it. (Henry Ford)

You are as good as you're afraid you are.

Resumes empower the reader not to see you.

In so far as possible, resumes never precede you.

Reading a resume is a negative experience.

Face to face meetings are always positive.

Eliminate "no" from your vocabulary.

When you expect less than the best, you often get it.

Networking isn't about Christmas card lists.

You only know you get where you got when you know how to go.

Nothing happens that you don't make happen, or what to have happen, you’re in control.

Interviews are not just conversations.

Nobody cares about you like you!

If the world made sense, men would ride side saddle.

I know in the end timber grows not with ease, the stronger the wind, the better the trees. (Wm. Marriott)

Only the mediocre do their best all the time.

Dave, if you're listening, these are under-priced.