Archive for the ‘Weekly Quote’ Category
June 30, 2008
“The only winner in the game is the one that walks away from the game”–Pee Wee, Superfly: The Untold Story of Frank Lucas the American Gangster
Here’s a quote that I can relate to. Are you playing a game you can be successful at? If you do become successful at the game you’re playing, will you be happy with the outcome? I’ve talked myself out of many new business ventures because I took the time to consider what my life would be like if I was successful. There are some games in life in which the participants are all losers. Are you playing in any of those games? If yes, maybe it’s time to change the game you’re playing.
Posted in Weekly Quote | Tagged career planning, decision-making, decisions, game changing, games, losers, quotes, winners | No Comments »
May 21, 2008
”The cemeteries are full of people who couldn’t be replaced” — Michael Gartenberg’s grandfather
This quote doesn’t just apply to life, it also applies to business. Everyone can be replaced in business. This is especially true in big companies. It’s easy to get caught up in thinking you will never be let go as it would take several people to replace you and your subject matter knowledge is too valuable. If you think this, think again. Everyone can be replaced. And it doesn’t matter if the company has to hire several people at a greater cost to fill in void if you left. Nobody will ever admit “you know, we should have given John Doe a 10% raise instead of paying 100% more to hire two people to do his job.”
The other thing to consider is the lack of loyalty companies have to their employees today. It’s no wonder that employees jump companies every few years for more money or a better title.
Given that you can be replaced, the question you should ask yourself is: Are you ready to be fired tomorrow? If not, what should you be doing today to make sure you’re prepared in the event that you become a casualty of a re-org, lay-off, or a bad boss? Here are a few things to consider:
- Networking: People wait until they need a job to start networking. At this point it’s too late. See my last post on Networking to Develop Friendships for more on how to network effectively.
- Benefits: Consider getting personal health insurance. My experience has been that it cost me less money to get my own personal health insurance plan for me and my wife than it did to pay extra to have her on my past employer’s insurance plan. One benefit of having your own insurance is you don’t have to change insurance every time you change jobs. I’ve also heard of some people negotiating a higher salary if they elect to get their own insurance.
- Savings: As the saying goes, save money for a rainy day. You should have no less than 6 months of your current salary in savings. 12 months is even better. You should never let yourself be 1-2 paychecks away from losing everything. Be ready so you don’t have to find a job in desperation in the case that you’re ever surprised by a lay-off or firing.
These are just a few things you can do to prepare for the possibility of being fired. I’ve been a solo consultant for the past 3 years and I like to tell people I get let go every 3-6 months by design. That’s part of being a consultant. For this reason, I plan ahead for it and it’s not a big deal if I don’t have a new consulting engagement lined up immediately following completion of another.
Bottom line: Prepare to be fired so you will be ready if/when it eventually happens to you.
Posted in Weekly Quote | Tagged career, Fired, Insurance, Jobs, layoffs, loyalty, networking, rainy day, re-org, Savings | No Comments »
April 30, 2008
I was talking with one of my friends yesterday about networking and how most people seem to approach it looking at what other people can do for them. I came across this quote today that applies:
“The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” –Ann Landers, American advice columnist
I think we should consider this in our approach to networking. Instead of looking for people who can help you, just look for good people. Then focus on developing a friendship and more importantly, being a good friend. This approach may or may not result in people helping you succeed but it will result in new friendships and that can be more rewarding anyway.
Suggestion 1: Set a new rule for yourself not to ask anyone for help unless you have met them in person multiple times and have been in contact within the past 3 months just to catch up. If you haven’t invested the time in a relationship, you probably shouldn’t be asking for help.
Suggestion 2: Focus on helping your friends. My experience has been that friends will return the favor without you even having to ask.
Posted in Weekly Quote | Tagged favors, friends, networking, quote, relationship, relationships | 1 Comment »
April 23, 2008
I’m giving special consideration to this quote as I think it applies by my business as a solo consultant and my strategies as an investor:
No one can possibly achieve any real and lasting success or get rich in business by being a conformist.” –J. Paul Getty, industrialist, oil tycoon
First, as a solo consultant, it’s easy to fall in line with the crowd and achieve a modest level of success. The standard model for solo consulting is to become an hourly contractor. This model is the path of least resistance as there are contractor agencies everywhere looking to broker relationships between the clients and consultants. This is ideal for a new consultant who doesn’t already have a network of contacts. After a few years of success as a contractor, the consultant will hit a ceiling on the hourly rate that is possible as a contractor. The only way to break through this ceiling and achieve real success as a solo consultant is to be a non-conformist and start charging based on value. I’m currently focusing on making this transition myself so I really appreciated this quote.
Second, I believe this to be true of investing. In order to be a real success in investing, you have to be a non-conformist. Think about it, if you conform with the crowd, you will only match the market’s performance (which represents the crowd). Achieving a different result requires you to go against the crowd. The challenge is in determining when the crowd is right and when it’s wrong. Warning: being a non-conformist can also mean you do worse than the crowd. I have found my most successful investment picks to be when a great company’s stock is punished for the wrong reason. For example, the whole market tanks due to a panic but you can’t find a single bit of bad news about a great company’s performance that would justify a lower stock price. Going against the crowd during a panic takes courage but in my experience it can definitely payoff. I’ve also lost big on a stock because I didn’t agree with the crowd and watched it nose-dive to the tune of 50%. All I can hope for is to be right more times than I’m wrong when going against the crowd.
How about you? How are you conforming to the crowd today and how might your chances of success be improved by taking a non-conformist approach?
Posted in Investing, Solo Consulting, Weekly Quote | Tagged Investing, investment, quote, success, non-conformist, achievement, different, consulting, consultant | No Comments »
April 16, 2008
“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the U.S.
This is a great quote and one that new managers should consider. Often, new managers try to control everything in their organization due to fear of failure in their new responsibilities. What they eventually learn is that they can’t succeed as a manager if they are caught up in the details of doing the work and not focusing on managing others doing the work. Also, everyone hates working for a micro-manager. Once you get a reputation for micro-managing, you will not attract the best people and will therefor limit your potential for success.
A better approach is to focus on leading by providing direction on the results to be achieved. Once your people have proven their trustworthiness on small things, give them big things and let them run with them. Encourage your team to bring problems to you early enough that you can help resolve them before they jeopardize the overall objective. As long as you keep your eye, and their eyes, on the end result desired, there’s no need to micro-manage every detail about how they get the job done.
If you can’t rely on your people to get the job done, then that brings us back to the quote. One of your most significant responsibilities is to pick good people. That makes leading and managing a whole lot easier. I know I’m just restating what hundreds of management books have already said but it’s surprising how many new managers don’t understand this.
This quote also reminded me of an article I read several years ago. It talked about management progression and highlighted four transitions a manager must make to climb the ladder to the executive level:
- Transition from doing the work to managing the people doing the work
- Transition from managing people doing the work to managing managers
- Transition from managing managers to managing an organization
- Transition from managing an organization to managing a business
Each transition is very difficult to make as it requires letting go of the things that were required to be successful at the previous level. I see this all the time with project managers. They can’t make the transition from doing the work to managing the people doing the work. They keep getting too involved in doing the work because that is what they were good at before becoming a project manager. I imagine it is just as difficult to transition from managing an organization to managing a business.
Bottom line: Climbing this ladder of management progression is much easier if you take Theodore Roosevelt’s suggestion above.
Posted in Weekly Quote | Tagged career, hiring, leadership, management, quotes, Theodore Roosevelt | No Comments »
April 9, 2008
“The man who does not work for the love of work but only for money is not likely to make money nor find much fun in life.” Charles M. Schwab, American industrialist
How often do you hear people saying that you should do what you love and the money will follow? I question whether this is really true. It may be true in many cases but I’d bet you could find an equal or greater number of cases where someone is making a lot of money in work they don’t love.
In his book Die Broke, Stephen Pollan suggests you should work only for money and do what you love outside work to get your fulfillment.
I think it’s unhealthy to pursue an extreme in either direction (only work for love or only work for money). I suggest considering a combination approach. Work for money early in your career to establish a financial base. As your net worth approaches financial independence, start working for fun.
Posted in Weekly Quote | Tagged career planning, money, work, work-life balance | No Comments »
