Dresscode

Why is it that whenever I dress casual that I end up meeting with senior management? There's a lesson in this

The get out of jail free card

Kelly's thoughts on changing career tracks....there are really 2 'get out of jail' free cards in your career..

1. BLDP
2. MBA


play them carefully

It is what it is

so just get on with the job & execute

Trust & verify

Interviewing

- neutral open ended questions
- don't let the source get away with a nonanswer
- always go into an interview knowing that no person has to talk to me, even public officials
- use the columbo routine (ask dumb questions)

Reading

1. Skim
2. Vocab
- underline every phrase / word don't understand
- find out what these mean
3. Comprehension
- section by section
4. Reflection & Criticism

Shoes

Goes along with knowing your audience & "why?" but it's always helpful to take 2 steps back and see things from other people's perspective.

Know your audience

Know who you're presenting, their background and objectives. Invaluable to structuring the presentation.

WHY?

Perhaps the question I get asked the most nowadays. But it's always different depending on who's asking. And they why everything :)

Don't waste words

So what?

I get asked this a lot. It's actually a good question and when said in the right way makes you stop, take 2 steps back and think. what is the "so what?" of that...

What's the story?

Perhaps one of the most important things to think about and articulate. It's not the history. It's not the (point) of the story. Part of it is how you connect the dots.

Things must be able to stand on their own

Go Open Kimono

Not literally of course but this one is funny. Another way of being open and transparent. Sometimes just need to go open kimono to get the problem solved.

Can't tell arse from elbow

Love this one. It was used said "I took a day off and now can't tell my arse from my elbow".

Funny stuff.

Elevator pitch

It's kinda sad that I find that I should be preparing these. However it's a true fact that capturing a person's attention, in particular a busy person such as your boss, is often won (or lost) in the first minute. Secondly you need to be able to pitch your idea anywhere - in passing, in the wash room or even on the elevator :)

What I'm hearing you say...

A technique from second city and used often in by members of my team to clarify things.

Make meaning from the experience

At the beginning of this year I had a week long workshop with all the other members from my leadership program. One of the toughest things (and most thought provoking) thing that we were asked to do was to articulate the learnings of our last six months and what that meant to us. Not as easy as we all thought but an important question....

Great efforts don't necessarily mean great results

I heard this one whilst listening to a podcast on the return of Michael Dell back to helm of Dell. One of the first things that he did when he resumed control was to cut bonuses. He praised the hardwork of the employees however he reminded everyone of an unfortunate truth in the business (& real) world - at the end of the day you are measured against your results.

So what's my takeaway from this? Well I still believe that there is no substitute for hard work, but that work needs focus and a bit of luck to yield results.

&btw Dell employees, if it's any consolation you're not the only employees of a big American corporation to receive a zero or close to zero bonus.

What is the itch we're trying to scratch

A great one from Kelly

Perception

Perception is another word that reminds me to:

- take 2 steps back and see the bigger picture
- see things from other people's shoes

It kinda ties into the proverb "seek first to understand before being understood"

Fundamentals

The wotd tag stands for Word of the Day. Often as I go through my work day a particular word comes to mind. Usually this happens after I make a mistake.

Fundamentals is a word that I like because it's often the most basic things that make a difference. A solid handshake followed my a full name greeting. Posture. A goodbye handshake. Stuff like this. The fundamentals.

Seek first to understand before being understood

I like this saying a lot. It was introduced to me by Kathleen from the BLDP core team who spent a few years working in Asia. She said it's originally a Chinese proverb. It's one of those things that I must remember to do whenever coming into a new situation.

Welcome

I've started this blog to capture the thoughts/learnings/lessons that I pick up on the never ending journey to becoming a leader. My memory is not as good as it used to be and I find that I have to write down everything otherwise I will forget. You may not agree with things that I post here and in time I may see things in a different light, but the main purpose of this blog is to record my experiences. So far I have been quite lucky in my work life to work with some great minds and I've learned a lot from them. Let's hope that I can recall the right things at the right time.