Today's blog post will be a brief summary of my week. I apologise for any readers who have been expecting updates daily because I was on the road without the ability to email daily. Last Sunday, Easter, my blog post was about doing good, the true meaning of Easter. I compared and contrasted both the religious aspects of Easter - doing good unto others with the more mundane part - an egg/bunny chirping device to help your children locate their eggs. There is something too easy about egg finding gimics or job finding tricks that we're continuing to explore. While some would have you believe that it's that perfect resume, it's that branded tagline, it's that strong me in 30 seconds or power statements, it may include these but more importantly it's knowing your hiring manager and offering a solution to his/her problems.
I spent a week in KC visiting family while on a job interview. I had a medical concern with a family member that needed my attention so the visit had a two fold purpose. The interview was what I would call an application of all my key messages about job finding: e.g. business research, the right dress, marketing portfolio, posture, enthusiasm, solutions to problems, thank you notes, etc. So why wasn't I offered the position? Maybe it was due to my age, maybe my lack of experience with ATT, maybe my lack of rapport during the interview, maybe not having the internal connections (2 inside candidates typically trump an external candidate). I could list another dozen maybes. While it is important to do the post mortem to prepare for the next interview, it isn't wise to kick yourself and give up depressed but to move on.
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When contacting one of my potential connections from Sprint-about a reference, he asked which Black & Veatch position I was pursuing because he knew of some others that might be in the pipeline. So instead of licking my wounds, I'll respond to the recruiter with the lead that maybe I wasn't right for the job I interviewed for but maybe I could bring to the company extra leads or work due to my prior job connections. I feel getting a job may also include follow up after the sale with other business intelligence and leads.
My return flight to Salt Lake City from KC had a connection in Portland. It was the cheapest one way flight with short notice so the extra miles were a consequence. To prepare for this longer trip, I picked up a novel to read on the flight to pass the time. From KC to Portland, almost a 4 hour flight, I was engaged in conversation with an interesting person who has run more than 100 marathons since age 55. She indicated her $50K marathon jacket had nothing to do with the number of marathons, more than one per state, but the money she has invested in this hobby/sport. It's her passion but also her obsession. She's 67 and already looking forward to running more than 1 marathon a week. I've never run a marathon, experienced a skydive or been involved on the narrow path of mountain biking. I doubt that these thrilling events would be on my bucket list. I somewhat envy those with the passion to explore these ventures, especially later in their life. Their experiences are the fodder for a screenplay or book I'm someday going to write. But contemplating the thrill of the sport, I told the lady she should blog her activities not so much from the perspective of missing flights, not finding hotels, not about finding interesting locations or enjoying the beauties nature or the long boring streches of life (I've done my share of long boring drives through Nevada and Wyoming), rather she should talk about the interesting people she's meeting along the way. She was surely an interesting person I'll never forget.
However, as I was exploring other interests I wonder if sometimes we take up these time consuming passions and hobbies to block out other aspects of our lives that we should be enjoying or enriching. When talking about children, grandchildren and family reasons for my moving to Utah she couldn't relate. She has few fond memories of children or grandchildren. So is she really running for enjoyment or running away from life? What are we running toward or away from in our life? Are we closing or opening doors? Are we looking for opportunities to enrich the lives of others? In your 50K marathon of life, is it filled with events or people? During your job search or interviews, do you recite events or accomplishments managing people or working with them and enjoying their successes along the way? How do you tell your stories and do they engage your audience?
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Happy Easter Wish to my Followers - Don't Coddle - Lead by Example
This is the first year in many that I've not colored eggs, hidden Easter baskets or been able to celebrate an Easter dinner with family in many years being on the road. I've read little this season of the real meaning of Easter from the media but did come across a funny article from MSNBC about 10 slightly crazy Easter gadgets for 2011. Who even thinks about an Easter gadget? One of the less outragious items is included below for the parent who doesn't want to abandon Easter egg hunts altogether but doesn't want to find that old egg month later in the house or yard.
JoJo Easter eggsIt used to be that you had to work to find those hidden eggs. Why, I remember stumbling upon the remnants of an undiscovered Easter egg well into May one year. It was quite a mess by that point, but that's the price of failure. Today's parents can coddle their children by getting the JoJo and Friends electronic Easter eggs. The eggs call out to the hunters to give them hints. Once discovered, the children can open up the eggs to reveal a character surprise inside. $29.99 — Amazon
To lead by example not only on this special Easter Sunday but all year, emulate the example of the person for whom this special day is to remember - our Elder brother and exemplar. One such person who practiced this Christian service daily was Jack McConnell, MD. He grew up in humble circumstances in southwest Virginia. He recounts that each day as the family sat for dinner, his father would ask each of the seven children "what they did that day to help someone in need." The children were determined not to disappoint their father and looked for opportunities to serve others. Dr. McConnell relates that this was his father's most important legacy - inspiring the family to have the inner desire to serve others.
Dr. McConnell had a distinguished medical career where he directed the development of the TB tine test, participated in the early development of the polio vaccine, supervised the development of Tylenol, was instrumental in developing the MRI; but most importantly in his retirement established the Volunteers in Medicine with now over 70 clinics across the US. While we can't all be Dr. McConnells, establishing medical clinics to help the poor, each of us can do something to lighten the load and help those in need.
King Benjamin provides a wonderful sermon on service - what we do for others, we do for God. He also talks about each of us being a beggar, owing all to God for our existence and our hope for redemption. His lesson of the beggar not extending to others his substance or service because he has little to share is appropriate for those now in job search. While we don't have extra cash, we do have time. While we may be heavily involved in our own struggles to find employment, we should not ignore those with less means and who have greater needs. The Savior taught his disciples: "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it."
Isn't that the lesson Dr. McConnell exemplified - losing his life for the service of others? In Matthew 25 the Savior teaches us: "For I was an hungred and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty and ye gave me drink, I was a stranger and ye took me in, naked and ye clothed me, sick and ye visited me ..." The righteous shall answer, when saw thee hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked or sick? And the King shall answer ... "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of my brethern, ye have done it unto me."
While we all try and help those that have helped us, look for ways to partner with those that can help us in the future, the true sign of discipleship and service is doing it for the least of your fellowman who cannot return the favor or reward you for your efforts. When you discover that gift of giving as did Dr. McConnell, you will discover that feeling of peace and assurance that you've done it unto the Savior. He is why we celebrate this special day - not to coddle our kids with chocolate eggs or marshmallow bunnies.
JoJo Easter eggsIt used to be that you had to work to find those hidden eggs. Why, I remember stumbling upon the remnants of an undiscovered Easter egg well into May one year. It was quite a mess by that point, but that's the price of failure. Today's parents can coddle their children by getting the JoJo and Friends electronic Easter eggs. The eggs call out to the hunters to give them hints. Once discovered, the children can open up the eggs to reveal a character surprise inside. $29.99 — Amazon
To lead by example not only on this special Easter Sunday but all year, emulate the example of the person for whom this special day is to remember - our Elder brother and exemplar. One such person who practiced this Christian service daily was Jack McConnell, MD. He grew up in humble circumstances in southwest Virginia. He recounts that each day as the family sat for dinner, his father would ask each of the seven children "what they did that day to help someone in need." The children were determined not to disappoint their father and looked for opportunities to serve others. Dr. McConnell relates that this was his father's most important legacy - inspiring the family to have the inner desire to serve others.
Dr. McConnell had a distinguished medical career where he directed the development of the TB tine test, participated in the early development of the polio vaccine, supervised the development of Tylenol, was instrumental in developing the MRI; but most importantly in his retirement established the Volunteers in Medicine with now over 70 clinics across the US. While we can't all be Dr. McConnells, establishing medical clinics to help the poor, each of us can do something to lighten the load and help those in need.
King Benjamin provides a wonderful sermon on service - what we do for others, we do for God. He also talks about each of us being a beggar, owing all to God for our existence and our hope for redemption. His lesson of the beggar not extending to others his substance or service because he has little to share is appropriate for those now in job search. While we don't have extra cash, we do have time. While we may be heavily involved in our own struggles to find employment, we should not ignore those with less means and who have greater needs. The Savior taught his disciples: "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it."
Isn't that the lesson Dr. McConnell exemplified - losing his life for the service of others? In Matthew 25 the Savior teaches us: "For I was an hungred and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty and ye gave me drink, I was a stranger and ye took me in, naked and ye clothed me, sick and ye visited me ..." The righteous shall answer, when saw thee hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked or sick? And the King shall answer ... "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of my brethern, ye have done it unto me."
While we all try and help those that have helped us, look for ways to partner with those that can help us in the future, the true sign of discipleship and service is doing it for the least of your fellowman who cannot return the favor or reward you for your efforts. When you discover that gift of giving as did Dr. McConnell, you will discover that feeling of peace and assurance that you've done it unto the Savior. He is why we celebrate this special day - not to coddle our kids with chocolate eggs or marshmallow bunnies.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Is Social Media a Fad? Why Use or Not Use it!
This tongue in cheek post reinforces the need for social media for even the businesses that typically aren't into websites. I know that having your own blog and website can drive traffic to your product if done right.
What’s with all this talk about social media? I’m sure it’s just a passing fad like carrier pigeons and the telegraph. Here are three reasons why you should NOT use social media.
Does it work for a local automotive service center? I know it does. Here’s a case in point: Greg Buckley of Buckley’s Auto Care in Wilmington, Delaware. Greg has an amazing shop. They do awesome work, are very efficient and do well financially. Buckley’s has a state of the art website full of very useful content that informs and motivates his customers to take better care of their vehicles. Buckley’s drives traffic to their website and blog with Facebook and Twitter. (Links for all three follow)
Here’s what Greg reports: He’s averaging 22 new visitors to his website a day, generating 2,500 pageviews a month with each visitor averaging over 5 minutes on his site per visit. This translates into an average of 1.5 calls from new customers every day. This activity has pushed his website to the top of the Google search listings for his area.
What would 9 NEW customers a week do for your bottom-line?
Now I think Greg Buckley is one of the best shop owners at using social media, but he’s certainly not the only one. AutoNetTV provides social media content to hundreds and hundreds of shops across the country so I know it’s catching on. Starting with a basic library of videos and articles customized for the individual location, new content is automatically added weekly. New content can be instantly posted to Facebook and Twitter.
Whether or not you get your content from AutoNetTV, here are several things you can easily do right away using social media, blogs and your website:
Here are links to Buckley’s Auto Care sites: Note how much interaction they have with their Facebook fans.
Website
Facebook PageTwitter Page
A final word from Greg Buckley: “Content is king as they say, and no one is better at supplying content on-line than AutoNetTV. That’s the truth.”
3 Reasons to NOT Use Social Media
What’s with all this talk about social media? I’m sure it’s just a passing fad like carrier pigeons and the telegraph. Here are three reasons why you should NOT use social media.- I Believe in Traditional Values
I’m a salt-of-the-earth kind of guy. I don’t run with a fast crowd that’s always fiddling with their electronic do-dads in public. I mean business: I supply my shop with the latest diagnostic equipment, repair databases, sophisticated shop management systems and online parts procurement processes. My work stands for itself – if people use my lame website to judge my ability to keep up with the ever increasing sophistication of automotive repair and service – well a pox on them. If you want to communicate with me, just drop by – I’m usually here. Or send me a fax. - I Value My Privacy
The best thing about my Yellow Pages ad is that fewer and fewer people use phone books. I know people who haven’t “let their fingers do the walking” for years. They hardly ever bother me. And all those “hip” punks out there glued to their computer machines will never find me. Oh, the bliss. - Free Stuff is EvilGranddaddy told me that there’s no such thing as a free lunch and that you get what you pay for. How good can free social media marketing be? I’d much rather pay for newspaper ads (I know they say newspapers are having trouble, but as long as there are birdcages that need to be lined, people will buy papers). I know the experts tell me that most of my customers come from within a three mile radius of my shop – but when I hear my radio ad playing anywhere I drive in the tri-county area I know I’m getting my money’s worth.
Does it work for a local automotive service center? I know it does. Here’s a case in point: Greg Buckley of Buckley’s Auto Care in Wilmington, Delaware. Greg has an amazing shop. They do awesome work, are very efficient and do well financially. Buckley’s has a state of the art website full of very useful content that informs and motivates his customers to take better care of their vehicles. Buckley’s drives traffic to their website and blog with Facebook and Twitter. (Links for all three follow)
Here’s what Greg reports: He’s averaging 22 new visitors to his website a day, generating 2,500 pageviews a month with each visitor averaging over 5 minutes on his site per visit. This translates into an average of 1.5 calls from new customers every day. This activity has pushed his website to the top of the Google search listings for his area.
What would 9 NEW customers a week do for your bottom-line?
Now I think Greg Buckley is one of the best shop owners at using social media, but he’s certainly not the only one. AutoNetTV provides social media content to hundreds and hundreds of shops across the country so I know it’s catching on. Starting with a basic library of videos and articles customized for the individual location, new content is automatically added weekly. New content can be instantly posted to Facebook and Twitter.
Whether or not you get your content from AutoNetTV, here are several things you can easily do right away using social media, blogs and your website:
- Post regularly – at least once a week
- Take advantage of news, weather, etc. to make topical posts
- Cold front expected this weekend – post an article or video about battery testing and replacement Battery Video
- Link to your content in e-mails
- “It’s time for your factory scheduled transmission service – here’s a link to a short video on transmission service.” Transmission Video
- “Your son brought his car in for service today. Ford recommends the timing belt be replaced at his mileage. He asked me to send you this video so you can advise him on what to do.” Timing Belt Video
- “When you had your truck in for an oil change last month, we mentioned the factory recommendation to service your differential. This is a friendly reminder to schedule this important service.” Differential Video
- Link to your content in your electronic newsletter
- Use your online content at point-of-sale to educate and motive your customers to take care of recommended work
Here are links to Buckley’s Auto Care sites: Note how much interaction they have with their Facebook fans.
Website
Facebook PageTwitter Page
A final word from Greg Buckley: “Content is king as they say, and no one is better at supplying content on-line than AutoNetTV. That’s the truth.”
Payback: Cash and Non Cash Rewards
While this is not a post about networking and finding jobs per se, knowing how a business thinks helps in preparing your resume, your marketing portfolio and your interview responses. You have to both have the skills, talents and abilities to make the company money or reduce costs plus fit into the team with your special personality. If you're a leader or manager, you'll have to be able to lead a team effectively through change. Your resume and marketing portfolio addresses the first, your interview the second. Do they feel you can address their pain points and make them money while being fun to be with?
A book I've read and just reread in the past few weeks (see my LI portfolio for reading list) addresses the cash curve and how to plan for, analyze and evaluate certain products and processes using the cash curve; and how to eliminate cash cows or projects that no longer are bringing in the needed revenue or customers. It also explained that certain initiatives are started for non-cash return reasons - to enhance the company's brand, to increae the employees' learning, and to build ecosystems (trusted partners). When analyzing the benefits of a proposal, the parties should determine the cash/non cash purpose at the outset and to not only consider cash proposals. In addition, the authors suggested that a review of the company's customers and whether they are high paying/profitable customers is important. Finally a point worth including is that most organizations are not lacking creative and innovative ideas, in fact, they may have too many. What they are lacking is Senior leadership's ability to pick those few ideas that will have the greatest payoff and scalability. With so much competition to get the product to launch first, having a yearly strategic planning process may not be often enough. Quarterly adjustment and the ability to be nimble is critical. Weighing market launch timing with the perfect product to launch is critical.
I attended an interesting Society of Human Resouces Management (SHRM) meeting this past week. The presenter was an expert in HR metrics that when properly implemented helps HR leaders get a seat at the table with other senior leaders. Since workforce costs and benefits are so critical, being able to measure effectively the cost of turnover, the cost of talent management, the cost of total rewards is critical in capacity and capability planning and organizational development. SHRM also provides data to compare the company's metrics with the industry so you can track progress against best practices. Another blog I read this past week talked about both the ethics and business case of withdrawing an employment offer once given and the employee quits, moves and relocates family only to be told by the boss that he/she is rescinding the offer. Whiile the attorneys on the blog talked about the issues from a risk, lawsuit exposure perspective, a senior and more credible HR leader talked about it from a brand and employee morale perspective. In an example mentioned, the HR VP was able to rescind the decision to cancel the offer convincing the CEO to look at the bigger picture of brand and morale decremental effects.
So while the finance professionals cringe at offering increased benefits or maybe at wellness programs that don't offer a substantial ROI, the HR professional must consider not only costs but improvements in presenteeism and productivity due to health and wellness issues. Having credible data is crucial to be trusted. But most importantly in wellness, Senior Leadership must walk the talk and participate.
I never feel that offering 100% (womb to tomb) benefits without employee involvement is beneficial to either the company or employee. It's because the employee must have "skin in the game" to feel a sense of accountability. Why do employees get more committed to weight loss when they have to pay a small fee to participate? Why do employees look out for their own health when they have copayments and deductibles? And finally they shop around better for medical treatments and options and maybe exercise programs when they know they can put the wellness/heatlth savings back into their pockets via a Health Savings Program. When we rolled such a program out in my prior organization, we saved 5% immediately in insurance premiums; more than 90% of the participants had money in the Health Savings Accounts at the end of the year and 20%, 30% and 50% of the employees participated in years one, two and three respectively.
How does your job provide either payback or the opportunity for improved branding or employee knowledge? How do you communicate that in your resume, marketing material or interviews? How do you work with your team and organization to implement positive change? How do your track and measure success? These are all things you must consider in your job search.
A book I've read and just reread in the past few weeks (see my LI portfolio for reading list) addresses the cash curve and how to plan for, analyze and evaluate certain products and processes using the cash curve; and how to eliminate cash cows or projects that no longer are bringing in the needed revenue or customers. It also explained that certain initiatives are started for non-cash return reasons - to enhance the company's brand, to increae the employees' learning, and to build ecosystems (trusted partners). When analyzing the benefits of a proposal, the parties should determine the cash/non cash purpose at the outset and to not only consider cash proposals. In addition, the authors suggested that a review of the company's customers and whether they are high paying/profitable customers is important. Finally a point worth including is that most organizations are not lacking creative and innovative ideas, in fact, they may have too many. What they are lacking is Senior leadership's ability to pick those few ideas that will have the greatest payoff and scalability. With so much competition to get the product to launch first, having a yearly strategic planning process may not be often enough. Quarterly adjustment and the ability to be nimble is critical. Weighing market launch timing with the perfect product to launch is critical.
I attended an interesting Society of Human Resouces Management (SHRM) meeting this past week. The presenter was an expert in HR metrics that when properly implemented helps HR leaders get a seat at the table with other senior leaders. Since workforce costs and benefits are so critical, being able to measure effectively the cost of turnover, the cost of talent management, the cost of total rewards is critical in capacity and capability planning and organizational development. SHRM also provides data to compare the company's metrics with the industry so you can track progress against best practices. Another blog I read this past week talked about both the ethics and business case of withdrawing an employment offer once given and the employee quits, moves and relocates family only to be told by the boss that he/she is rescinding the offer. Whiile the attorneys on the blog talked about the issues from a risk, lawsuit exposure perspective, a senior and more credible HR leader talked about it from a brand and employee morale perspective. In an example mentioned, the HR VP was able to rescind the decision to cancel the offer convincing the CEO to look at the bigger picture of brand and morale decremental effects.
So while the finance professionals cringe at offering increased benefits or maybe at wellness programs that don't offer a substantial ROI, the HR professional must consider not only costs but improvements in presenteeism and productivity due to health and wellness issues. Having credible data is crucial to be trusted. But most importantly in wellness, Senior Leadership must walk the talk and participate.
I never feel that offering 100% (womb to tomb) benefits without employee involvement is beneficial to either the company or employee. It's because the employee must have "skin in the game" to feel a sense of accountability. Why do employees get more committed to weight loss when they have to pay a small fee to participate? Why do employees look out for their own health when they have copayments and deductibles? And finally they shop around better for medical treatments and options and maybe exercise programs when they know they can put the wellness/heatlth savings back into their pockets via a Health Savings Program. When we rolled such a program out in my prior organization, we saved 5% immediately in insurance premiums; more than 90% of the participants had money in the Health Savings Accounts at the end of the year and 20%, 30% and 50% of the employees participated in years one, two and three respectively.
How does your job provide either payback or the opportunity for improved branding or employee knowledge? How do you communicate that in your resume, marketing material or interviews? How do you work with your team and organization to implement positive change? How do your track and measure success? These are all things you must consider in your job search.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Getting Business Intelligence prior to your call/meeting
Sam Richter, a LI connection who provides valuable business intelligence supportm has a new post on how to search on Google using its full potential. See his know more blog: http://www.knowmoreblog.com/more-google/
Thanks Sam for your wonderful advice. We all need this in doing our business intelligence.
Thanks Sam for your wonderful advice. We all need this in doing our business intelligence.
More Google
You already recognize the value of information. My guess is prior to a prospect or client meeting, you probably already do a little Google searching. But are you really getting the full power of Google?
When I deliver my training/keynote speaking, if there are 1,000 people in the room and I ask how many have ever clicked on the “More” button, at best, maybe a dozen hands go up. Yet it’s this simple exercise that can take your Google searching from hundreds of thousands of results to the few dozen that really matter.
When you conduct a Google search, on the left side of the results page, your results can actually be sorted by type. If Google recognizes that it has many different types of information related to your search, it will offer you those types, (e.g., news, blog posting, videos, images, etc.). For the most part, Google does a nice job of showing you only the relevant types of information it has gathered. Note that Google limits the options it immediately shows you to only the most popular ones related to your search. To see all of the different types of results, you’ll need to click the “More” link.
To see how this can benefit your sales efforts, prior to meeting with a company, conduct a Google search, click on “More” link and then the “News” link, and read up on recent press releases and articles about the company. Use that information during your meeting to show your understanding of what’s going on at the company, with the industry, etc.
When you click on some of the links, you can do further sorting by date range. Choose one of the provided options and limit your results to only information that Google has indexed in that specific time period.
The various types Google offers are intuitive. When you click on “Books” you get information on books related to your chosen topic. Click on images and you get pictures. Especially as it relates to business searching and locating information on companies, industries, and people, three types that deserve further mention are Blogs, Discussions, and Updates.
Blogs, or online logs or diaries, often contain a great deal of information that can be very beneficial when searching for business information. There are industry blogs on just about any topic. Do a Google search on “medical devices” and then click the “Blog” link and you’ll find more than 250,000 blogs that mention or are about medical devices. Many companies have a blog (some have multiple blogs) where you can read about what’s going on inside an organization. Other people such as employees, shareholders, partners, or other interested individuals also may write about a company, or even a person, in their blog.
Clicking on the “Discussions” link delivers results where people are engaged in online forums, or discussions, where your search terms appear. For example, a search on “3M jobs” delivers more than 100,000 unique discussions related to finding a job at 3M, the company culture, etc.
Google’s “Realtime” link is one that I find very cool. When you click on “Realtime,” you’ll see the real-time online messages related to your specific topic. Google is searching sites like Twitter and others to find its real-time information (meaning be careful what you post because it is searchable and archived theoretically forever). Enter a popular term like “President Obama” and watch the messages scroll in as they’re posted online. For business searches, enter a person’s name to see if he or she Tweets, or a company name and see what people are saying about the organization.
Once you select a type, you’ll notice that Google expands its left-side menu to include additional options related to each type. For example, on a “News” search, you’ll see that Google expands to include date options, news from blogs, and even the ability to sort by date or relevancy.
Also try clicking on the “More Search Tools” link. This expands the left-side options bar even further and you’ll notice a variety of very cool Google result tools.
If you’re searching for a company or person, by clicking on the “Nearby” link, you’ll find people or companies that are physically located near where your person or company’s address is. You’ll note that the “Nearby” tool also provides additional tools that allow you to further narrow the geographic location.
Clicking on “Related Searches” is a little like shopping at Amazon. When you shop at Amazon, after you select a book for purchase, you’re usually presented with an up-sell stating something like “people who have bought this book, have also bought these books.” You are then presented with a list of other books for you to buy. When you click “Related Searches” the Google result list expands showing other suggested terms related to your original search. Click on a suggestion and you’ll see new results related to that search. This can be a very helpful tool when you’re not necessarily sure what you’re searching for, and/or it helps you reframe your search and provide you with additional search ideas.
Google Wonder Wheel is another helpful resource that provides additional search options and again, helps you reframe your search criteria. When you click the “Wonder Wheel” link, Google provides a graphical representation of searches that are related to your original search. For example, if you search for a company and then click “Wonder Wheel,” you’ll find suggestions like company divisions, competitors, industry information, etc. Click on any of the Wonder Wheel suggestions and expand the Wheel to include even more related results.
Google Timeline tool is one of my favorite Google search tools. Click on the “Timeline” link and you’ll see a graphical representation of a timeline showing the date ranges where information has been published related to your search. For example, enter a company name and you’ll see news items and the date when the item was published. Enter a person’s name and you’ll see articles about that person. Click on any of the decade-based bar graphs and the chart expands to the years within that decade.
Click on any of the bars themselves and you’ll see the news related to that year and month. The taller the bar, the more news during that particular time period. Google Timeline is a very easy way to quickly find information about people, companies, and industries and how things have changed over the years. Prior to a meeting, you can conduct a Timeline search, and with a few clicks have a good understanding of how things have evolved within a company, an industry, and/or even a person’s life and career.
Once you get used to Google’s “More” resources and how they work, you’ll start finding better business information to help you turn your “cold” business meetings (where you don’t know anything about the other person and what they care about) into valuable “warm” interactions where you’re focused on items that the other person cares about. Because you Know More!
When I deliver my training/keynote speaking, if there are 1,000 people in the room and I ask how many have ever clicked on the “More” button, at best, maybe a dozen hands go up. Yet it’s this simple exercise that can take your Google searching from hundreds of thousands of results to the few dozen that really matter.
When you conduct a Google search, on the left side of the results page, your results can actually be sorted by type. If Google recognizes that it has many different types of information related to your search, it will offer you those types, (e.g., news, blog posting, videos, images, etc.). For the most part, Google does a nice job of showing you only the relevant types of information it has gathered. Note that Google limits the options it immediately shows you to only the most popular ones related to your search. To see all of the different types of results, you’ll need to click the “More” link.
To see how this can benefit your sales efforts, prior to meeting with a company, conduct a Google search, click on “More” link and then the “News” link, and read up on recent press releases and articles about the company. Use that information during your meeting to show your understanding of what’s going on at the company, with the industry, etc.
When you click on some of the links, you can do further sorting by date range. Choose one of the provided options and limit your results to only information that Google has indexed in that specific time period.
The various types Google offers are intuitive. When you click on “Books” you get information on books related to your chosen topic. Click on images and you get pictures. Especially as it relates to business searching and locating information on companies, industries, and people, three types that deserve further mention are Blogs, Discussions, and Updates.
Blogs, or online logs or diaries, often contain a great deal of information that can be very beneficial when searching for business information. There are industry blogs on just about any topic. Do a Google search on “medical devices” and then click the “Blog” link and you’ll find more than 250,000 blogs that mention or are about medical devices. Many companies have a blog (some have multiple blogs) where you can read about what’s going on inside an organization. Other people such as employees, shareholders, partners, or other interested individuals also may write about a company, or even a person, in their blog.
Clicking on the “Discussions” link delivers results where people are engaged in online forums, or discussions, where your search terms appear. For example, a search on “3M jobs” delivers more than 100,000 unique discussions related to finding a job at 3M, the company culture, etc.
Google’s “Realtime” link is one that I find very cool. When you click on “Realtime,” you’ll see the real-time online messages related to your specific topic. Google is searching sites like Twitter and others to find its real-time information (meaning be careful what you post because it is searchable and archived theoretically forever). Enter a popular term like “President Obama” and watch the messages scroll in as they’re posted online. For business searches, enter a person’s name to see if he or she Tweets, or a company name and see what people are saying about the organization.
Once you select a type, you’ll notice that Google expands its left-side menu to include additional options related to each type. For example, on a “News” search, you’ll see that Google expands to include date options, news from blogs, and even the ability to sort by date or relevancy.
Also try clicking on the “More Search Tools” link. This expands the left-side options bar even further and you’ll notice a variety of very cool Google result tools.
If you’re searching for a company or person, by clicking on the “Nearby” link, you’ll find people or companies that are physically located near where your person or company’s address is. You’ll note that the “Nearby” tool also provides additional tools that allow you to further narrow the geographic location.
Clicking on “Related Searches” is a little like shopping at Amazon. When you shop at Amazon, after you select a book for purchase, you’re usually presented with an up-sell stating something like “people who have bought this book, have also bought these books.” You are then presented with a list of other books for you to buy. When you click “Related Searches” the Google result list expands showing other suggested terms related to your original search. Click on a suggestion and you’ll see new results related to that search. This can be a very helpful tool when you’re not necessarily sure what you’re searching for, and/or it helps you reframe your search and provide you with additional search ideas.
Google Wonder Wheel is another helpful resource that provides additional search options and again, helps you reframe your search criteria. When you click the “Wonder Wheel” link, Google provides a graphical representation of searches that are related to your original search. For example, if you search for a company and then click “Wonder Wheel,” you’ll find suggestions like company divisions, competitors, industry information, etc. Click on any of the Wonder Wheel suggestions and expand the Wheel to include even more related results.
Google Timeline tool is one of my favorite Google search tools. Click on the “Timeline” link and you’ll see a graphical representation of a timeline showing the date ranges where information has been published related to your search. For example, enter a company name and you’ll see news items and the date when the item was published. Enter a person’s name and you’ll see articles about that person. Click on any of the decade-based bar graphs and the chart expands to the years within that decade.
Click on any of the bars themselves and you’ll see the news related to that year and month. The taller the bar, the more news during that particular time period. Google Timeline is a very easy way to quickly find information about people, companies, and industries and how things have changed over the years. Prior to a meeting, you can conduct a Timeline search, and with a few clicks have a good understanding of how things have evolved within a company, an industry, and/or even a person’s life and career.
Once you get used to Google’s “More” resources and how they work, you’ll start finding better business information to help you turn your “cold” business meetings (where you don’t know anything about the other person and what they care about) into valuable “warm” interactions where you’re focused on items that the other person cares about. Because you Know More!
You are the CEO of yourself (Be that Yellow Bear revisited)
Personal branding is the first thing you need to focus on in your job search. Here is another post that reinforces that message.
You Can Be A CEO.
That’s right. I’m not kidding.Today . . . this minute . . . this second . . . you can be a CEO. In fact, you always have been a CEO and always will be a CEO.
You never realized it.
You are the CEO of YOU, Inc.
And if you don’t start regarding yourself that way, you’ll never attain the success you deserve.
Here’s the skinny — Even if you work in corporate or own your own business, you need to shift your thinking towards a more centric state of mind when it comes to work. If you are the CEO of YOU, Inc.:
- How’s your stock doing? Up, down, flat? What are you doing to get it to rise?
- Who knows about your company? Do you frequently market YOU internally and externally to key movers and shakers?
- What’s your message? How is it being interpreted? Is there any misinformation out there?
- Who are your competitors? How are you mitigating their threats? What are they saying about you?
- Who are your customers? What are they saying about you?
- Who are your partners? Are you educating them regularly on how they can help your company?
- How is the marketplace for YOU, Inc.? Is there a high demand for your services? Is it waning? Is it dying?
- How can you clone YOU? Delegate non-essential duties to subordinates?
And you’ll start to see your new company do better and better and better. Try it. I promise you, you’ll like it.
This has been another installment in my ongoing series, “Are You A Catalyst?” — today’s focus is how to “Be A CEO”.
Learning from our Mistakes
In a previous blog I commented on the need to quickly accept our situation if in job transition and move on after trying to understand if we had anything to do with it so we can avoid the same problem prospectively. Don't dwell on trying to fix blame or hold angry thoughts. However, if you're on a team trying to roll out a new product or process, you shouldn't wait until the project is complete to do your post mortems/after action reviews. It should be a part of the project manager's action steps during the project. However the team should analyze the team's successes and key learnings for improvement at the end so as to learn from the process. While the blog thread suggests the need to do after action reviews when there is a problem, I'd suggest that every time we rollout a major initiative or even an annual event or training program, a plus/delta or review of what we can do better the next year be part of the process and documented for future events.
Blog Post:
Can mistakes become a competitive advantage?.
I suggest that mistakes, which are bound to occur, give you and edge when they are:
- accepted as a fact of life
- expected to occur
- unique, revealing something innovative
- learned from.
Richard Blakemore responded:
Years ago, I learned a lesson from a mistake that my boss knew would happen, but decided to let me make it anyway. I found it really frustrating, humiliating, and completely avoidable, and was thoroughly ticked off that my boss let me blunder into it when he could have alerted me to it. So my view is somewhat jaded on this front.
Suffice to say, if my team are trying things within the boundaries, and they make what I'll call "discovery" mistakes (as opposed to dumb mistakes), then I am all for it, because we all learn from them. If they want to play outside the boundaries, then they need to let me know first so that I can run a risk assessment of the proposed course of action, because the boundaries have been set for a reason, and sometimes, staying within them is critical to the development of the team.
Otherwise, if my team are likely to blunder into mistakes because of a lack of knowledge that I have and can give them, then I would rather not waste the time of recovering from the mistake, and let them in on the secret ahead of time. That way, no-one feels betrayed, and we can all move forward together.
Frank Feather, host of the blog writes:
To learn from a failure, we must do so intentionally and methodologically.
It is a good idea to carry out an objective post-mortem. This is not to be a witch hunt to point fingers, but a collective effort to understand all possible contributors (human and other factors) to the failure or the less-than-successful result/outcome.
If a project, innovation, or change initiative failed or fell short of expectations, we need to know why, with comprehensive answers and analysis. A failure is not a matter of merely falling short on an ROI or other target. Maybe the target setting was faulty or overly-ambitious.
We need to learn what elements of the strategy design and implementation execution fell short, and why. Plus we need to discern the lessons that will help the organization perform better next time.
Then you need to document these findings to create a knowledge base that can be drawn upon when planning future projects.
In addition, you should develop a set of criteria under which the failed project might be revived, should the underlying internal/external conditions change in your favor. Then, with any needed modifications, the failure might become the success it was intended to be.
.
Let me know if you have experienced any benefit from a mistake you've made on the job.
Blog Post:
Can mistakes become a competitive advantage?.
I suggest that mistakes, which are bound to occur, give you and edge when they are:
- accepted as a fact of life
- expected to occur
- unique, revealing something innovative
- learned from.
Richard Blakemore responded:
Years ago, I learned a lesson from a mistake that my boss knew would happen, but decided to let me make it anyway. I found it really frustrating, humiliating, and completely avoidable, and was thoroughly ticked off that my boss let me blunder into it when he could have alerted me to it. So my view is somewhat jaded on this front.
Suffice to say, if my team are trying things within the boundaries, and they make what I'll call "discovery" mistakes (as opposed to dumb mistakes), then I am all for it, because we all learn from them. If they want to play outside the boundaries, then they need to let me know first so that I can run a risk assessment of the proposed course of action, because the boundaries have been set for a reason, and sometimes, staying within them is critical to the development of the team.
Otherwise, if my team are likely to blunder into mistakes because of a lack of knowledge that I have and can give them, then I would rather not waste the time of recovering from the mistake, and let them in on the secret ahead of time. That way, no-one feels betrayed, and we can all move forward together.
Frank Feather, host of the blog writes:
To learn from a failure, we must do so intentionally and methodologically.
It is a good idea to carry out an objective post-mortem. This is not to be a witch hunt to point fingers, but a collective effort to understand all possible contributors (human and other factors) to the failure or the less-than-successful result/outcome.
If a project, innovation, or change initiative failed or fell short of expectations, we need to know why, with comprehensive answers and analysis. A failure is not a matter of merely falling short on an ROI or other target. Maybe the target setting was faulty or overly-ambitious.
We need to learn what elements of the strategy design and implementation execution fell short, and why. Plus we need to discern the lessons that will help the organization perform better next time.
Then you need to document these findings to create a knowledge base that can be drawn upon when planning future projects.
In addition, you should develop a set of criteria under which the failed project might be revived, should the underlying internal/external conditions change in your favor. Then, with any needed modifications, the failure might become the success it was intended to be.
.
Let me know if you have experienced any benefit from a mistake you've made on the job.
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