That Time of Year

I live in a town just outside of Providence, RI. Of course, now that I think about and given the size of RI, I guess almost any town in RI is "just outside of Providence.

Be that as it may, I am happy to report that despite its size, Providence still has a daily newspaper; actually a pretty good one by my "lay person" standards which are pretty much made up of a criteria that includes large print, very little coverage of the Yankees, the virtually daily stories reporting with great color commentary which local politician has been arrested for what, and really good forecasts as to when the blues will be running.

There is also a columnist named Mark Patinkin who is syndicated around and about, but happens to live in Providence. Not that his living there is of any real import, just something for us to get puffed up about and living in RI, hopefully readers will understand that we need all of that we can get.

Anyway, to the crux of the post; Patinkin recently wrote a piece called Best advice? The simplest which as you might guess it being this time of year was what he called his own "low-key guidance".

I don't want to spoil it for those who might want to check out the whole column, but how far wrong could anyone go by knowing things like: "..Life is easier if you hang clothes instead of stuffing them in drawers" or "..It's all right to ask for a fork in a Chinese restaurant."

By this point some of you may be wondering where the business/career leadership point is since much of what I post here ends up in that arena in one form or another. Well, I thought there really was one.

Mr. Patinkin also had a couple of other pithy "tweets" that anyone who aspires to a leadership role in the years ahead or who may be in one now could do well to keep in mind:

- "A key test of character is how you treat salespeople."

- "It doesn't count as listening if you're thinking what you going to say next."

- In both hockey and life, skill matters but it matters more to really want the puck."

I think this sort of stuff applies equally well to the classes of '10 as much as it still rings true for those of us of with rings from '61.

You Are Better Than You Think

Dave,

I have been in the nonprofit sector for 24 years and am looking for a new career challenge.

What is the best way to do this?

I have been the CEO of a Foundation in Ohio for the past 10 years. I have achieved every goal set for me over the past 24 years. (I have boxes of awards)

Please advise a plan for me.

I am interested in working for UPS but I have done nonprofit work for so long I don't know how to market myself to a for profit company.

With not too much by way of changing some of the variables in the note you see here, the issue raised by this member is not unlike that with which many of our members wrestle and who contact us virtually on a daily basis. And given the current environment in which we find ourselves there are an awful lot of executives worrying about where I could go if.....

Not being a certified career counselor, I am not sure I could "advise a plan", but I guess I could share what I think based on my experience with ExecuNet for the past 21 years and which I have tagged onto the 25 years running around Corporate America before that.

So if I were talking to this guy, I would probably say something like this:

I don’t care if you have been working in the NFP world or not, the fact of the matter is that you have been running a business just like any other CEO has had to and I also suspect that if your organization doesn’t “make a profit” it would be out of business just like a company in the public or private sector would be. Said a different way, I think this is more about mind set than anything else.

I would guess if you thought about it, you would find that many of the problems faced by UPS or anyone else for that matter you have in some form or another faced in your career as well. It is a matter of degree to be sure, but the issues are not all that much different.

I am being a bit simplistic on purpose to try and make the point that the things that have made you successful as an organization head is what you are selling. Where you applied those skills really is beside the point. Yes it will be a challenge in some case to get some people to see that, but with some thought and practice, you will be able to find what resonates with those who in fact can be influenced, be they at UPS or somewhere else.

Is it easy to do? No. Is it possible? Yes.

Shape Up Or Be Shipped Out?

If you are anything like me, if someone asked you how you would describe how you have approached the management of your professional work life, you answer would be something like "well, best case I would put me under the banner of the happenstance method of career planning." In other words I pretty much have found myself in the position of the world happening to me rather than vice versa. Not something I am particularly proud of for sure, but that doesn't change the fact that it's true.

I was reminded of this yet once again when I got my copy of Peter Weddle's newest book Work Strong: Your Personal Career Fitness System.

I have to admit that this got my attention for a couple of reasons. First, about the only thing I do outside of work is to try and get myself into the gym 3-4 days a week. It obviously is both something that has become a priority in my life (I have been doing it for more than 30 years) as well as something that I felt was important to my physical well-being. As I have already indicated, however, trying to bring the same sense of priority and commitment to my professional life is a different story for sure.

That said, when I stopped to think about it, the investment that I have in what I do for a living you would think ought to get at least something that approximates similar importance to my trying to be reasonably physically fit. For sure it is something in which I invest far more time and emotional energy than I do in trying to wear out a treadmill.

I guess this same thought must have crossed Pete Weddle's mind as well, but in Pete's case he actually did something about it not only for himself but for others as well.

Knowing Pete as I have for many years, I guess I should not be surprised, and if you knew his background, especially the part that talks about the fact that he is "... an avid athlete, (who) successfully completed both the Airborne and Ranger programs while on active duty with the U.S. Army. He also led an expedition which scaled the Cervino (Italian) face of the Matterhorn, one of Europe's highest mountains, and a team which represented the United States in international long distance marching competition." a reader would not be surprised either.

The man clearly knows something about fitness in the physical sense and anyone who follows the experts in the career management and recruiting space knows that he clearly understands career fitness as well.

If you can relate to physical fitness you will relate to career fitness as well. Pete says the book won't hit the book stores until May, so if you don't want to wait, you can click here and it is available on his site.

What Dad Said

Anyone who reads this blog can guess by the title of this post that yet once again I am "borrowing" someting from GL Hoffman better known as the "Dad" who blogs under the title of What Would Dad Say.

Well, believe it or not, I am not really "borrowing" this time around, but rather trying to add my voice to those of any number of other folks (e.g. Marshall Goldsmith, Penelope Trunk, Nick Corcodilos, et al ) who like myself were asked to review "Dad's" PDF book that officially comes out today.

The title of the book is Dig Your Job: Keep It or Find a New One and if you are a fan of Hoffman as I am, you will know that what he has put into this effort is time-tested wisdom sandwiched within layers of sophisticated wit.

Given the jobs numbers that came out over the weekend, and the forecast for '09, if there was ever a time we needed to be both thinking and doing when it comes to our careers this feels like it.

You can buy the eBook (PDF) for $9.99 or via Amazon for $7.99. Talk about a useful stocking stuffer.