Thursday, January 14, 2010

What's so great about experience?

In looking around at the very few job postings out there, I see a lot of strange postings. One was looking for someone to work the front desk of a hotel but they had to have experience working in suburban hotels and anyone who has worked in downtown hotels would not be considered. Now I will be the first to admit that I read job postings I have no interest in applying for because I find them amusing and because job postings are often so poorly written that they are amusing. I have never found a great difference in the job skill set needed to work down town than out in the suburbs.

Yet we are conditioned to think that having some experience or familiarity with a certain market segment is essential to succeed in that market. While I can see that to be true in some areas I have to say that I believe it to be very short sighted in others. Now of course, if we have a heart condition, we all want to go see a cardiologist and not a ophthalmologist. There are dozens of examples just like this. But I find that for the majority of us who are working in service industries, we posses a certain skill set which is transferable and which in some cases may bring a fresh perspective.

There was a great example from an exercise run by the Army towards the end of the cold war. They were gaming what was generally believed to be how the war between NATO and the old Warsaw Pact forces would play out. In one exercise a group of ROTC students defeated a ground of Army War College graduates by using new tactics not previously in the planning. Many of the War College graduates had seen combat in Vietnam and needless to say were upset that they had lost. They protest claiming the ROTC students used unorthodox tactics to win and should forfeit. When Adm. William Crowe the then head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff found out about the dispute he commented that the enemy isn't supposed to do what we expect it to do. They are the enemy.

Experience often leads to a certain level of intellectual laziness and a comfort that with the experience comes a certain level of entitlement. Experience only works when it is constantly being challenged by a new and changing environment. The person who looks at the situation and claims, "that's what we have always done" is poison to the organization. This is not to argue for change for the sake of change, but it does argue for constant motion to stay ahead of the curve that is always changing.

Speaking as a public relations and marketing professional, I have to know not only what is going on in my own industry, but I need to understand how my profession is changing. I need to understand how this impacts my clients and what threats and opportunities it offers. In other words I need to keep moving. The major conclusion I hope you can take away from this is that experience itself is not anything great, it is how you evolve along with the environment and continually re-invent yourself as someone who offers a set of relevant skills. Experience is less impressive as how you react and deal with change!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Some goals for 2010

For those who don't know me, I have never been a big fan of resolutions. I personally consider them jokes and something that people make, fully knowing that they do not intend to achieve them. That being said, I am a very big fan of goals and believe that every person and organization needs to have goals in order to succeed and most importantly, the goals need to be something that can not only be achieved, but will result in a stronger person and organization.

So what can we set as goals for the individual in 2010? Well there are always the personal goals such as losing weight, quitting smoking, exercising more and so on. Let me say that each of these are excellent ideas but we should be doing them anyway. These are life choices and really not what I had in mind. Rather, I would suggest we all try and find a way to improve ourselves professionally in the coming year. There are a number of ways we can do this. Some of which include:

Education-The world is changing faster than ever before. I find myself amazed that my 12 year old nephew can often explain things to me that I have never heard of before. I thought my parents were bad for not using one of those old answering machines with the tape that needed to be replaced every six months or so. Now I am in fear I may be reaching that level of technology illiteracy. Even social media presents an interesting obstacle for most professional who have been in the industry for more than 10 years. It is a fascinating world that is always changing and we need to make sure we keep up with the changes or risk being left behind.

So the first goal for 2010 should be to educate your self on the latest breakthroughs in technology. While I write mostly for marketing and communications people, this goes for anyone in any field. Either you learn when the train leaves the station or you're left on the platform.

Network-Everybody knows that networking is important to success in today's hyper-competitive job market place. Sadly, one of the inverse or negative results of social media is we believe we can sit back at the key board and meet people that way. Let me be crystal clear in my own opinion. Social media is not networking. In order to network you need to be out and meeting people and learning more about them and engaging them in conversation.

There is a big difference between between knowing someone and being a friend with someone. Your friend is someone who brings a smile to your face as you recall a funny story or a great conversation you had with them. They are someone you know right away is intelligent and whom you can assess nearly immediately their strengths and weaknesses.

Persevere-It is easy to say things are too hard and move on to something different. Speaking as a former hiring manager, if I was looking at two people and one person had better technical skills than the next, but the latter had stuck to their guns through thick and thin my first instinct would be to go with the one who persevered. There is a lot to be said for people who have passion and love what they do and don't see it as simply a pay check. These are people whom you can count on when times are tough to provide you with solid advice.

Having said that, you need to be sure you are not sticking to someone who for lack of a better word is the typical cockroach. Every organization has one. They survive ironically not because they are good at what they do, but because they spend as much time on self-promotion as helping the organization succeed. Fortunately I have found two sure-fire ways of warding off these people. Much like cockroaches and vampires, they hate direct sunlight. Ask them one or both of two questions, tell me about your greatest personal failure? When did you help the organization succeed but let someone else receive the credit.

Stay optimistic-This is one of those things that will be easier said than done! Being optimistic in tough times is extremely difficult but equally important. Discouragement can result in mistakes and missed opportunities. Remember that every opportunity is a gift and by opening it, we can achieve great things.

Go for it-I know HR people will hate me for saying this, but if there is a job you think you are qualified for then go for it. What is the worst that can happen? They can say no which as well know is more likely in this day and age. But if you do your homework, and prepare a well thought out appeal and present yourself as the problem solver they all need you will be surprised at how strong the positive response is.

This is only a partial list of my own goals for 2010. I am sure once I post this I will think of several more. But the important thing I believe is that we need to focus on what is going to happen, what we can contribute and most importantly why we are needed. To quote the Kink's "The past is gone and ain't coming back no more." Focus on what you can bring to the market and pretty soon you will be bringing them to it!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Let's get this decade right

Well I am sure we all agree that the first decade of the century and millennium was a failure by even the most optimistic measure. It is pretty obvious that it was a total failure of leadership by government and business. The short sighted CEO's who managed the economy into the gutter by thinking they work for Wall-Street share the blame alongside the fat cats on Wall Street who thought their bonus checks were their IQ's and let's not forget the total lack of leadership in Washington where the idea of, "If I don't admit wrong then I am not wrong" prevailed along side a total lack of interest in the national well-being.

So now we're in a new decade and hopefully we can turn things around. It may seem highly unlikely now but with the right set of circumstances we might be able to do so but like any task it will take work and sadly thanks to reality TV, government officials and Corporate CEO's we've been taught that hard work is wrong and we should be going for the fast and easy buck. Well thankfully for all of us the days of easy money are over so let's see if we can get the teens, my name for this decade, right.

First of all the biggest change needs to come from the corporate world. Corporate leadership in America does not exist and is driven by really stupid people who think they work for Wall Street and don't care about anything beyond the next quarter. Believe it or not there was a time when companies cared about things like customers, products and yes employees. Companies like IBM and Dow used to brag about how they hired only the best and the brightest. We need to get back to the days of treating employees as valuable assets rather than expendable tools. Employees need to be treated as an asset and not a liability on the balance sheet.

Companies also need to realize that they can anticipate events but can not control them. More effort needs to be put into flexibility and planning rather than trying to cover all possible scenarios are just working under the assumption that we know everything and that events will just work out perfectly because we're super smart and can plan anything again. The goal for the coming decade is an idea I call planned flexibility. Let's be ready for the changes in the marketplace but lets also keep in mind that despite all media hype, the world does not change all that quickly.

As for the other two legs of this stool of stupidity, we need to restore a sense of balance. I laugh at the concept that these firms need to pay these bonuses because if they don't they will lose these oh so valuable souls to the competition. That would be like your local baseball team looking at the player who consistently failed in the clutch and gave up home runs or struck out with the bases loaded and saying, "we really wouldn't want the competition to have this gem." Actually, I think that is exactly what you want! Strengthen the gene pool by getting rid of the weakest link. On the Serengeti in Africa if a gazelle is too slow or gets too close to the watering hole then the gene pool is preserved because the gazelle is some lion's or croc's lunch.

As for Washington, can we tear it down and start over? I think Nebraska gets it right, no parties. Everyone is non-partisan so they have to work together! Let's do that and maybe if we can get people to work together and set one seven year term for all members of congress maybe we can see some real reform.

I hope that we can see the errors of our way during the past ten years and make the changes that are necessary. Sadly, the people best in position to make the changes are the ones who got us here in the first place so forgive me if I am not overly optimistic.