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FREE bimonthly newsletter dedicated to your career development.

It will take less than 10 minutes to read this newsletter. This investment will pay off, if you choose to apply the tips.

Childish Idea

Have kids at home? If yes, you would already know that children are great copycats. They copy everything from how you brush your teeth to how you switch on the TV to how you talk on phone. From the very early days, they know how to learn by observing and copying others.

Now we might not pay too much attention to this phenomenon, but there in lies a great clue to learning: You can learn a lot by simply paying attention to what others are doing and copying them. In fact, many girls learn cooking by simply observing their mothers in the kitchen.

Indeed, the word "copying" sounds rather repelling. How can we copy others? But think about it. How did you learn so many things when you were a kid? You did it just like any kid does: observing and copying others.

We are born to learn by copying.

>>CAREER TIP: Look around in your organisation and beyond. Who impresses you? Who are your role models? Who are the greats in your field whom you would like to emulate? Latch on to these people. Spend more and more time with them, if possible. Or read about them. Observe how they perform and try to copy them. If you really unleash your hidden copying talent, you would soon find yourself transforming for the better in many ways.

By the way, I have copied this copying idea (but not the actual content) from Tony Buzan's book "Brain Child." So the idea itself is not that childish after all - it comes from the man regarded as the world's leading authority on the brain and learning.

Let Your Eggs Not Break

Lee Iacocca, the former CEO of Chrysler and one of the world's most respected businessmen, would never be able to forget the one presentation he made in 1956. He was then working with Ford as an assistant manager.

t was a year when Ford had decided to promote auto safety as its USP and had introduced a new safety feature: a new type of crash padding on the dashboard of cars. The company
claimed that in the event a passenger hit the dash board, the new padding would provide necessary safety. In fact, the ad film from the company claimed that the new padding was so
thick that even if an egg was dropped on it from a two story building, it would not break.

Iacocca, who was making the presentation to Ford dealers, decided to give a live demonstration of the new safety feature. He arranged for a ladder and a few eggs. He put the padding on the stage. He then climbed the ladder and started to drop the eggs. Guess, what happened?

The first egg missed the padding itself and splattered on the wooden floor. The audience found it funny.

Second one hit his assistant who was holding the ladder and then hit the floor, missing the padding again.

Third and fourth landed on the padding, but broke on impact.

Luckily for him and Ford, the fifth egg landed on the padding and it didn't break!

Writes Iacocca in his autobiography "Iacocca: An Autobiography":

"I learned two lessons that day. First, never use eggs at a sales rally. And second, never go before your customers without rehearsing what you want to say-as well as what you're going to do-to help sell your product."

>>CAREER TIP: Do you walk into meetings/presentations, either internal or external, without adequate preparation? Many people do. In fact, some take pride in their ability to "handle" meetings without prior preparation. Well, it may work at certain levels with certain people. But when the stakes are high, it can be too risky as Iacocca learned.

Encourage yourself and those around you to make it a habit to prepare before any meeting/presentation. Why let your eggs break when a little preparation can make all the difference?

See you again after two weeks.

Atul Mathur

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FREE bimonthly newsletter dedicated to your career development.

From this month onwards, you will be receiving Career Tips twice a month.

It will take less than 10 minutes to read this newsletter. This investment will pay off, if you choose to apply the tips.

Knowledge-based, skill-based or hybrid

Lawyers get paid for knowing about the various laws. Teachers get paid for knowing about their respective subjects. Management consultants get paid for their knowledge about the business management. These are knowledge-based occupations. People who work in such occupations get paid primarily for what they know (i.e., their knowledge).

Actors get paid for their acting skills. Sales people get paid for their selling skills. And a typist for her typing skills. These are skills-based occupations. People working in such occupations get paid
primarily for what they are capable for doing (i.e., their skills).

Surgeons get paid for both knowing about the medical science and doing the surgery. Chefs get paid for their knowledge about food stuff and their cooking skills. Architects get paid for both knowing about and designing buildings. These are hybrid occupations. People involved in such
occupations get paid for what they know (knowledge) as well as what they can do (skills).

Basically, all occupations can be divided into three categories:

1. (Predominantly) Knowledge-based
2. (Predominantly) Skill-based
3. Hybrid

>>CAREER TIP: Look at your occupation. Which category it falls into? Are you paid predominantly for your knowledge, skills or both? What are those one or two specific pieces of knowledge/skills that are at the heart of your work?

Further, are you doing anything to enhance your knowledge and/or skills? Accomplished surgeons, lawyers, athletes, singers and actors do it all the time. What about you?

Also, look ahead at the positions you aspire to reach one day. What kind of skills and/or knowledge you will require to arrive there? Why not start acquiring them now?

Handling mistakes: When Jack Welch nearly got sacked

It was a nice spring morning in 1963 when Jack Welch, then a young engineer with General Electric, was sitting in his office in Pittsfield. Suddenly, he heard an explosion. The explosion was loud enough to make him run out of his office immediately.

With the sound of the explosion still ringing in his ears, Jack ran toward GE's pilot plant just across the street. What he saw there made him sick. The pilot chemical plant for developing a new type of plastic PPO had just exploded.

No one was hurt, but the explosion shook everyone around, especially Jack who happened to be the in-charge of the pilot plant. He could feel the pounding of his heart. Streams of sweat flowed all over him.

As the boss, Jack felt he was clearly responsible for the disaster.

Next day, Jack was summoned to meet the corporate group executive, Charlie Reed, at GE's office at Bridgeport, Connecticut. Jack knew his job was on the line. His confidence was at a low ebb. He was prepared for the worst.

But a total surprise awaited Jack when he entered Reed's office. From the moment Jack walked in, Reed made him feel completely at ease. Then, instead of showing any signs of anger or anxiety over what had happened, Reed asked Jack what he had learnt from the explosion and if he thought he could fix the reactor process.

Reed discussed whether GE should continue to move forward on the project. There were no emotions, no anger, no personal attack. Just pure focus on what was the learning. Finally, Reed expressed the relief that no one was hurt.

Charlie Reed's handling of the explosion on that day made a huge impression on young Jack. Says Jack in his autobiography "Jack: Straight from the Gut":

"When people make mistakes, the last thing they need is discipline. It's time for encouragement and confidence building. The job at this point is to restore self-confidence. I think 'piling on' when someone is down is one of the worst things any one of us can do."

He also adds:

"Of course, arrogant people who refuse to learn from their mistakes
have to go."

>>CAREER TIP: How do you handle mistakes? Do you focus on the person or what could be done to minimise the damage, learn from the mistake and prevent it from happening again? And do you take care that the person involved doesn't lose his self-confidence?


See you again after two weeks.

Atul Mathur

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A bimonthly newsletter dedicated to your career development.

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Career Tips. It will take about 10 minutes to read this newsletter. This investment will pay off, if you apply the tips provided.

Pygmalion effect: Power of expectations

This is an interesting story of an educational experiment, which revealed the power of expectations.

At the start of an academic session, a teacher was given a list of IQ levels of all the students in her class. The list was in descending order, with highest IQ student placed at the top and lowest at the bottom. The teacher was told it was only for her reference and she was not supposed to reveal the IQ scores to the students.

There was one catch, however. The list given was wrong. It was inverted. The student with the highest IQ had been placed at the bottom and the one with the lowest at the top.

It was obvious to the researchers that the students' performance had been influenced by some factor other than their IQ scores.

It turned out that the teacher, who knew the IQ scores of all students, tailored her expectations from the students according to their IQ levels. She expected superior performance from the high IQ students and did not expect much from those with low IQ levels. And the poor students? They simply performed according to her expectations.

Moral of the story: Expectations affect a person's performance.

This phenomenon gets its name from George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion. In the play, a teacher's high expectations led to a sterling performance by an otherwise ordinary student.

CAREER TIP: Check out how your boss's expectations are affecting your own performance. Does he/she expect great things from you? If not, why not? Do you expect great performance from your colleagues/subordinates? If not, why not?

Seek the best performance from everyone including yourself.

Four factors that affect your career growth

Many of us work sincerely and to the best of our ability, but don't seem to enjoy the kind of career growth that we deserve.

Why?

Though there can be many factors affecting a person's career growth, the following four often play a pivotal role:

1. Your department's health
2. Your company's overall health
3. Your industry's health
4. Your country's health

Let us look at each of them in detail.

If you work in a department or are involved with a product line that is growing fast, your growth will automatically be fast. Vice-versa is also true.

If you work in a company that is growing rapidly, won't you also grow fast? On the contrary, if you work for a company that is sluggish and struggling, won't it dampen your growth too?

If your company belongs to an industry sector that is growing fast, obviously your company, your department and you will have good chance of growing fast. But if the whole industry is struggling (like IT industry some time back), you can't expect good personal growth.

Finally, if your work in a country that is enjoying sound economic health, the prospects of your industry, your company, your department and your own growth will be much brighter. Reverse is true again.

If you do not believe that these factors can affect your career growth, meet someone who has worked in a company that closed down a product line or itself. Or meet someone who has been subjected to roller-coaster ride of the IT industry's fortunes. Or meet someone who has worked in a country whose economy went through a recession.

Moral of the story: Your career growth is affected by the growth of your department, company, industry and country.

CAREER TIP: Read and pay close attention to the following: your department's performance report, your company's annual report, newspapers, trade magazines and business magazines. Keep track of your department's, company's, industry's and country's economic health and make your moves accordingly.

Managing boss: Focus on strengths

Trouble with the boss is nothing uncommon. It happens everyday, everywhere and at every level. Is there a way to enjoy a good, productive relationship with your boss?

Try the following strategy:

1. Realise that your boss is also a human being. And therefore, boss has his own strengths and limitations, just like you.

2. The key to your effectiveness lies in recognising your boss's strengths and then enabling him/her to use the strengths.
If your boss is good at cultivating contacts with outsiders, help him to do so. If your boss is good at negotiations, involve him whenever you want to strike a deal.
If you consciously apply this technique of focusing on your boss's strengths and using them, you will find your own effectiveness multiplying many folds.

3. Do not focus on his/her weaknesses. It doesn't help anyone, especially you.

CAREER TIP: Observe your boss closely and identify his/her strong points. Actively help your boss to use his/her strengths.

Expand your perspective

Have you ever helped someone in need? If you have, you know how satisfying it is to be of service to others.

What about the work you do? Do you derive the same kind of satisfaction? May be not. Barring some occupations such as nurses, doctors and social workers, most occupations do not offer that kind of satisfaction or even something close to it.

But if you can expand your perspective, you would realise that, ultimately, regardless of the work you do, you are also touching the lives of others. It may not be so obvious like in nursing or social work, but indirectly every piece of work ends up affecting someone else.

If you design air-conditioning systems for a building, you must realise that ultimately the building will be occupied by patients, office workers or some ordinary people. You will be affecting their comfort and well being.

If you are marketing a software for mobile phones, you must realise that ultimately ordinary people will be using your software to communicate. Mothers will speak with their children. Businessmen will talk to their customers. They will be able to do so because of you.

If you work in a manufacturing plant, producing semiconductor chips, your product may end up in hospital equipment, in home appliances, aircrafts and what not. Again, thousands or millions of ordinary lives will be affected by your work.

CAREER TIP: Look at the work you do and expand your perspective as far as possible till you are able to relate your work to the ordinary people. How do you feel when you realise that your work is not just about earning a living but also about making a difference in the lives of others? Always keep this perspective in mind when you are working. Be proud of whatever you do.

See you again next month.

Atul Mathur

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