Who are you? What do you do?

You're at a cocktail party.  The COO for a large company approaches you to make idle chat.  With a firm handshake, he looks you in the eye and say, "So what do you do?"

"Uhhh....... ".  What do you say?  "I'm a developer."  Yawn.  Certainly not something that's going to make him want to send you his business or even talk to you for much longer. 

What is your professional identity?  How can you portray excellence with even the most mundane title?

Michael Hyatt talked about an interesting approach in one of his podcasts.  He discussed using the following approach.  To create your professional identity, use the following formula:

Your professional identity plus the target audience plus your unique solution equals your specific transformation.


I AM....
I HELP...
DO OR UNDERSTAND....
... SO....

Question:  What do you do?

My answer:  "I'm a web developer.  I develop custom web applications for mid to large scale businesses so that they can gain and maintain a competitive edge in their marketplace."

Give it a try.  Use the above formula to come up with your professional identity.  Then.... Try it out!  At the next social gathering, practice it.  It may seem forced and uncomfortable at first, but with time and practice, you'll soon be saying it with confidence.  Happy networking!

listen, Listen, LISTEN

Often times when I'm in a meeting or talking with someone important, I find myself doing a few things that I wasn't aware of until recently. 

When we are 'listening' to someone talk, often times we aren't really listening to what they say.  See if you are guilty of any of the following:

When a person is talking, I _________________

1. formulate in my head what I'm going to say next.
2. wait for a pause so I can interject my own story.
3. get distracted by my surroundings easily.
4. interrupt them to tell my own story/thought that theirs had reminded me of.
5. nod frequently and agree with them when they haven't even finished their thought.
6. interrupt them to finish their sentence, portraying to them I've already heard what they have to say and it's not important to me.
7. wait impatiently for an opportunity to arise where I can change the subject or leave.
8. fiddle with my keys or become anxious.
9. make plans in my head for things I want to do after this discussion is over. 
10. go on my cell phone and start multi-tasking.

Number 10 is probably the worst offense you can do during a conversation and it should probably be #1 because everyone does it.

The next time you find yourself in a conversation with someone, try to keep the focus on them and genuinely listen to what they have to say.

How does the world see you?

How does the world see you?  Interesting question.  I for one always catch myself trying to please other people.  I'm a people-pleaser.  But how do people see me?  If only there was a test I could take that would help me figure out some of my strengths that others might see in me.  Luckily, there is.  While listening to the latest episode of the EntreLeadership podcast ( highly recommend ), that was just such a topic.  How does the world see you.  At the end of the podcast, they give you a link to take a test.  The test/assessment is free!

Here's the link for you to try:

url:   http://howtheworldseesyou.com/you

code:    entreleadership

Answer 28 questions and find out how the world sees you.  Here's what I learned about me:

Combine your two advantages and you get what they call an Archetype.  Here's my Archetype:

Try it for yourself!

Treat your career like a Grape Vine

In terms of a Grape Vine, in order to increase the quality of the product, you have to prune the foliage, buds, shoots and spurs.  Up to 85% of the foliage is usually pruned from the previous season.

Your career, in this respect, should be pruned as well.  Are you spending too much time in areas that are watering down your career i.e. product?  To hone our skills and become really great ( not just good ) at something, you have to focus a majority of your energy in that area.  You can't become an expert at Web Development, Graphic Design or even Sales if your focus is scattered.  Spend some time each year to prune areas of your career that aren't allowing you to be great.

If it ain't broke... BREAK IT!

I was listening to a pod cast by Michael Hyatt, who was celebrating his 100th podcast episode { congratulations }, and he said "I kind of believe if it ain’t broke, break it."  I'm writing this week to say that I believe the same thing.

Often times, as programmers or someone in any profession, we tend to air to the side of caution when approaching the task of trying something new.  After all, what we've done has worked good so far.  Why change it?  I certainly was a firm believer in this theory.  I remember one time as a programmer in my earlier days I was asked what I thought about a certain up-and-coming technology.  I said without thinking that I didn't care for it.  That what I was doing was working just fine.  In this instance, the up-and-coming technology was Linq.  For those non-technical people, Linq provides a way for programmers to look through data directly in their own language, such as C# or Visual Basic.  For programmers like me, it opened a whole new realm of possibilities.  Now eventually I did learn to use Linq, which led me to it's more attractive kissing-cousin { maybe a bad analogy but it sounds good } the Lambda Expression.  This new technology allowed me to select, filter, join and compare any collection of objects very easily and quickly.  Something I would have never been able to do using my old methods.

So the outcome of this story is simple.  I tried something different and it worked.  Now maybe at first it didn't seem like a good choice, as I would have been able to knock out any task quickly with what I already had pre-written.  But by learning something new, I allowed myself to expand in my knowledge and understanding of how certain things worked.  By forcing myself to step out of my comfort zone, I was able to grow.

Working is not necessarily moving forward.  If a clock is working, it's really just spinning in circles.  Try something different.  Break away from the path of 'working' and break stuff.  You'll be glad you did... no matter what walk of life you're on.

Five-pointer in the NBA?

We received an email today at work regarding leadership and the NBA.  Obviously with one of the most successful and influential companies, it's no surprise that you can find excellent examples of leadership all around. 

Here are 5 take-aways from that email I got:  { it's easy to identify because they were numbered! }

1.  Leadership is about team progress, not personal statistics. The cliché is true: It’s about the name on the front of the jersey, not the back of it.
2. Leadership is about doing the right thing when no one is watching, not just during a game or performance. Good leaders have pure motives.
3. Leaders lose the right to be selfish. They see the bigger picture and focus on the whole. Their measuring gauge: Did I make my teammates better?
4. Leadership begins with an attitude of service, sacrifice and passion. It is more caught than taught to others.
5. Healthy leadership always adds value and is never toxic. It works like the tide on the ocean: As it rises, all the boats go up. Leaders improve team culture.

I especially believe that #4 is important.  If you're in a leadership position, know that your team members are watching you.  Every time you gripe about a customer, every time you complain about another meeting, every time you skip a meeting... it will be noticed.  But the good news is every time you give praise, every time you accept responsibility, every time you lead by example... it will be noticed!  Get noticed for the right things.

Haters gonna hate

Often I come across an article or a blog post and become inspired.  Then I just want to share.  Well this post is no exception.  I came across a blog post by Seth Godin that said,

"Do your work, your best work, the work that matters to you. For some people, you can say, "hey, it's not for you." That's okay. If you try to delight the undelightable, you've made yourself miserable for no reason."

I often find myself questioning my work all the time.  I try to do work that I think everyone will love.  And if I think someone might not agree with what I'm doing or won't like it, I'll discard the idea and move on.  This is a mistake... and I know it is.  But why risk putting yourself out there?  Why risk being shot down... having your idea discarded. 

The reason why it's worth it is the reward always outweighs the risk and we always learn from the experience, whether good or bad.

So the next time you have an idea, don't let doubters hold you back.  Often times, you may find that the biggest critic to your idea is actually the person in the mirror!