Could Your Strengths Actually be Liabilities?
I do a lot of work with my clients as a career development specialist to recognize their strengths as they relate to their career. We may use strengths in identifying career paths, or in work with how to best brand yourself, or how to discuss strengths within the context of an interview. More recently, I […]
If I Were Lloyd Dobler’s Career Coach
Oh how I wish I could be Lloyd Dobler’s career coach. Before you begin to worry about me, I fully recognize that he is a fictional character. Lloyd is the star character in the movie Say Anything starring John Cusack. This film was a huge part of my adolescence and has stayed with me since. […]
Employee Engagement: It Doesn’t Have to Be Bad To Be Better
I was speaking to a friend of mine recently about employee engagement and organizational culture. He is an executive at a small company in Austin and was talking about how happy and engaged his employees are. He and the other executive team members worked hard to create their culture and take pride in what they […]
The Push You Need to Fix Your Business or Job Search
If you are going to be an executive, an entrepreneur or an effective manager, you have to constantly develop new ways of looking at your business and then learn the skills to solve them. The most challenging part is just seeing the issues in your business that need changing the most. This is followed closely […]
Making Your Job Application Stand Out
We all have unique gifts or talents that we bring with us to a new job. These might include: tangible skills (i.e. how to utilize a specific piece of software) intangible skills (i.e. fast learning agility) personal characteristics (i.e. strong work ethic) When you are looking for a new job and combing through bullet after […]
Tailoring Your Personal Brand to a Job Description
It is natural during the job search process to paint the best possible picture of your fit for a particular position. This is called “personal branding”. Personal branding is a necessary part of the job search process. You have to get noticed and you do so by demonstrating and pointing out your qualifications for a […]
Don’t Focus on Your Career Weaknesses. What Are Your Strengths?
What are your strengths? I’m not posing this question in the context of a job interview but rather, as a career coach. Think through your skills and strengths and list them out. What do you bring to the table that others don’t? Your Current, Actual Skills For many of my clients, this is a much […]
Malcolm Gladwell Seminar on Success – Part 2
In my last blog, I discussed Malcolm Gladwell’s comments on effort. In this blog, I will focus on on his discussion on overcoming difficulty. Malcolm Gladwell discussed two leadership strategies: Capitalization Strategy – building on strengths Compensation Strategy – compensating for weakness – extracting lessons from that weakness to get stronger It is much more difficult […]
Malcolm Gladwell Seminar on Career Success
A week ago I had the opportunity to see Malcolm Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers; staff writer for the New Yorker magazine) present his ideas on the secrets of success. Below are some of the points that really struck me and how applicable they are to the career cycle . . . […]