All Entries Tagged With: "Career"

Who does not like the idea of being one’s own boss, calling the shots, managing assets (and may be people), and making money as unlimited as your talents and enterprise? Yet loving the idea of business ownership is one thing, and making the business a success is another.

We all know that when a speaker gives an address on stage, his or her choice of clothing is not whatever that was pulled out instantly from the wardrobe. In today’s business arena, image is everything and what a speaker wears is crucial to that image.

Some of you may be trainers already, or simply evangelists for success like I am. The rest of you are probably in a totally different profession – lawyers, doctors, engineers, fresh graduates, it really doesn’t matter. What’s important is that you have decided to read this article because a germ of an idea has entered your mind: Can I be a trainer?

There are several reasons why people procrastinate. Oftentimes, it is innate to an individual or it could be lack of self discipline. However, it is important to point out the reason for this unhealthy habit so as to know how to deal with it.

Two  critical skills which the highest performing managers have in spades are the ability to influence and persuade. The most obvious targets for your powers of persuasion are your team, and sometimes your peers in different departments; but just as you need to manage down or sideways , it’s also critical you know how to [...]

Choice of career, choice of spouse, choice of investment, the list goes on. Is it by instinct or “gut feeling” or do we actually analyse the important decisions we make in life?

There’s an old German saying that goes, “You have to take life as it happens, but you should try to make it happen the way you want to take it.” Are you planning to just let life “happen” to you or do you plan to play an active part in designing the life you want?

Most employees view training as medicine or worse, as punishment. As an outside trainer, I work with hundreds of groups in a wide variety of industries and most people enter the training room as if they are going to the gas chamber.

Employee Engagement has always been a burning topic amongst HR people. It is generally viewed as managing discretionary effort, that is, when employees have choices, they will act in a way that furthers their organization’s interests. An engaged employee is a person who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about, his or her work.

I don’t know about you but I’ve never heard a child who’s asked what he or she would like to be when they grow up, answer “Trainer.” They may say: doctor, lawyer or even astronaut but “trainer”? No, never! One is then tempted to engage in a lengthy discussion if a “trainer” is indeed a professional, as well as what exactly qualifies one to be a trainer.

Research indicates interesting facts about HR professional’s career span – less than 1.5 years at the junior level, less than three years at the middle level and up to 5 years at the senior level. Few organizations can boast of HR longevity. Is that a boon or a curse?

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do. – Eleanor Roosevelt In recent weeks, I have been getting calls from clients who have lost or are about to lose their jobs. It [...]

A young man went to Gautama Buddha and sought the Master’s guidance on how to achieve Enlightenment. The conversation, which in my opinion must be required reading for anyone, went roughly as follows: Young Man (YM): Master, how long will it take for me to achieve enlightenment? Gautama Buddha (GB): It all depends on you. [...]

Are public relations a big mystery to you? Have you avoided creating your PR plan because you just don’t know where to start? Well the good news is most PR is free and I’m going to show you how to begin. Here are 3 more success tips (see Part 1 of this series for the [...]

I’ve taken some time this month to clean out my Gmail inbox, the main goal being to have a completely empty inbox. I went through each email one by one, until I got to the very last entry. It was labeled “journal” and dated 12/14/06. I knew it was there for me to print and [...]

Are public relations a big mystery to you? Have you avoided creating your PR plan because you just don’t know where to start? Well the good news is most PR is free and I’m going to show you how to begin. Here are 3 success tips that you can implement RIGHT now to get the [...]

I do not claim to have been born with a halo, chanting hymns or solutions to life. After a lot of trial and error I did manage to stumble into a formula that worked for me and keeps me going. Along the path, several well wishers and mentors have given me interesting directions and inputs. [...]

Find yourself hating your job? It doesn’t have to be that way. Here are some steps to start enjoying work.

I am sure the sentiment is shared by many who have a rather…er… chequered career. And questions abound. What gets one closer to the seat of power? And the fruits it has to offer? To begin with the answer is darn simple. It’s only made complex by know-alls or know-nothings or know-half or know-half-but-don’t-know-which-halves. That [...]

Many a time we are swept by that overwhelming feeling to bare all. Not to be mistaken with confession which is done after ensuring that there is nothing further to lose on account of reputation.

I was privy to many an enlightening conversation in my lifetime; not by invitation but by virtue of being a very ordinary and colourless individual who can blend in the background and can be easily ignored. I am like your ubiquitous taxi/auto driver, housekeeping staff, waiter in a bar or a fly-on-the-wall. It has its [...]

New recruits or executives kicked upstairs are usually in a tearing hurry. They want to bring in sweeping changes: change SOPs, unveil new pyramids or Venn diagrams and what not. All even before the first circular about them is mailed. Let me admit, it’s a trait that should be encouraged, a spirit to be applauded [...]

(Thanks to Subroto Bagchi, for bringing “The Professional” to the world, and to my loving son Janardhan for getting me lay hands on “The Professional” last evening) Mahadeva came to cosmopolitan Bangalore, as his dear mother walked out of her native village and her own family in a huff. Mother and the child Mahadeva took [...]

Your creative powers are infinite. Yup…think about it. You come from the same source as all of nature around you. Look at fruit trees. How do you think those fruit push themselves up the trunk, through the branches and then hang themselves like beautiful ornaments in just the right place? Well we don’t really know [...]

Here are a few sparks of The Burning Questions that I ask my Fire Starter clients: 1. What do people thank you for most often? What do they come to you for, or say about you most frequently {“positive” or “negative”}? Gratitude leads you back to your strengths. The greatest leverage you have for a [...]

In his brilliant book titled Job-Shift: How to Prosper in a World Without Jobs, William Bridges says we are living in a jobless society. What you ask? There are no jobs? Let me explain. In the US, the concept that we have of jobs has only been in existence for about the last 150 years. [...]

You are a beautiful essence expressing your own unique genius. Yes, I said genius. And no, I don’t mean like Albert Einstein. We each have something that delights us, that we enjoy doing and most times a yearning to share that with others in some way. This essence that wants to manifest itself, leads you [...]

In career services we preach that you need to find yourself a mentor.  A mentor is someone who guides you, gives you their insight and their professional advice.  I have been very lucky to have had some GREAT mentors during the course of my career in education.  Betty Wilting, my former Dean at the technical [...]

If I live to be a hundred, I’ll still remember Friday, January 28, 1983. It was a bright sunny day, and I blissfully sang “I’m on the top of the world!” off-key as I dressed for work.  The day before, the company physician had confirmed what I’d suspected for weeks–I was three months pregnant–and after [...]

A working group is a team effort. One wrong paddler can result in losing the race. An efficient cohesive group can take a company to undreamt heights. A discordant note in this orchestra can spoil everything, even ruin. It is surprising how fast a discontented employee can sink a boat. Worse than having an unhappy [...]

I’m not quite sure why we do it to ourselves but it never ceases to amaze me just how much abuse people are willing to take from their jobs! The stress, the time away from family, the money spent just to be able to work a full day on gas and daycare…and for what? A [...]

How can anyone forget yesterday’s test match of India vs. Australia. That was a winning moment for sure but more than that that was a very emotional moment also. It was the last cricket playing day for our dear dada… Saurav Ganguly. The way the present captain MS Dhoni paid his gratitude towards two former [...]

It was Conrad Hilton the founder of the world famous Hilton chain of hotels who said, “Success is made to order.” He was right – for an achievement is a sum total of many things – talent, aptitude, knowledge and desire. If we analyze each of our achievements we will soon discover that it all [...]

Want to know the most important quality that top selective universities look for when admitting undergraduate and graduate students?  What do you offer that is different from everyone else? When most people are creating their undergraduate or graduate school applications, they look at the list of admissions requirements and focus on figuring out how they [...]