Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom

Book Review: Dig Your Job

G.L. Hoffman has long billed himself as the wise, older mentor.  He’s behind the successful blog What Would Dad Say?, and like most highly educated fathers, he always gives excellent advice.  G.L. is a 25 year veteran of the business world.  He’s also a serial entrepreneur who has created and consulted for dozens of start-ups and has lived to tell about it.

The point behind G.L.’s latest book, Dig Your Job: Keep It or Find a New One, is that while most of us have been working in some capacity since we were teenagers, how we do our work is mostly left up to us.  Over years of working, each of us learns what works at work, and what doesn’t.  We apply those lessons starting about mid-career when we become the most productive and valuable to our companies and bosses.

Dig Your Job includes hundreds of easy-to-read essays that each contain a pearl of wisdom about the work world that most people don’t learn until they’ve made a big mistake or two.  Among them: How to make chicken salad out of chickens (or how to be positive), why you should interview for the job you don’t want (practice), and why to be wary of people who want to negotiate on your behalf (no one cares as much as you do).  I particularly appreciated the quick and dirty lessons for would-be entrepreneurs. 

Some of the press for the book touts it as a non-serious career book.  I beg to disagree.  While G.L certainly communicates with a personable and often comical style, his lessons are far from frivolous.  Whether you want to get ahead in Corporate America or in your own business, you’d be well served to read Dig Your Job today. 

2008 Career Lessons From High Profile People

For the third year, I was invited to weigh in for Yahoo! Hot Jobs’ annual assessment of career lessons learned from high profile people. Here’s the article, and what I had to say about each of editor Tom Musbach’s picks:

DO stay focused on achieving your goals, despite adversity or distractions. (Barack Obama): We can all learn from Barack in this respect. No matter how many times he was called the underdog, or how many people spoke out against him, he believed in himself and his cause and kept his attention focused on the most important goals to achieve at that moment. He took one day at a time, delivered messages consistently, and refused to get embroiled in silly and irrelevant arguments. In always appearing "presidential," Barack was already doing the job he was campaigning for, and this is the surest way to a promotion in any job situation.

DO find your niche and be consistent. (Rachel Maddow): Rachel proved that if you continuously do good work and provide a service that people value, eventually you will be recognized and rewarded for it. There is typically no such thing as an overnight success in competitive fields such as media and entertainment. What separates those who make it from those who don't is persistence.

DO accept setbacks with grace; learn from them and bounce back. (Roger Federer): Even high-achievers must learn eventually that careers are not linear, but rather progress in fits and starts and as such, look more like a heart rate monitor. Even if you're lucky enough to be on top for a brief time, there will always be someone better who will eventually outshine you. Instead of letting a setback cripple you, pick yourself up as soon as you've had a chance to recover, and assess what you can learn for the future. It's your task to and reinvent yourself so that you are in a position to achieve once again.

DON'T take advantage of expense accounts or corporate credit card privileges. (Sarah Palin): Never be so arrogant as to assume that because you have an important position, you are entitled to over-the-top perks. People are watching, and you must always be mindful of their impressions - especially in tight times. In addition to Sarah Palin, just look how the AIG executives were viewed when they attended an expensive corporate retreat in the midst of bankruptcy.

DON'T let anyone tell you you're too old for the job. (Dara Torres): While often not as obvious as the Torres situation, age discrimination is a reality in today's workforce. Combat it by creating a resume that highlights accomplishments rather than chronology, and in interviews, appear earnest and eager to leverage your years of experience to improve the company's bottom line. Enthusiasm and energy will help to negate the perception that you have one foot out the retirement door.

DON'T assume clients or coworkers will share your sense of humor, especially on controversial topics. (David Remnick):  When it comes to humor in the workplace, if you wouldn't feel comfortable sharing it with your grandmother or religious officiant, mums the word. Even if you're sure everyone present will agree with your point of view, avoid topics such as race, drugs, or politics as I guarantee someone will find a reason to be offended. It's simply not worth the potential damage to your reputation.

Making a Case for Telecommuting

In order to encourage better work/life balance, and as a response to technology that allows workers 24/7 accessibility, many organizations are implementing telecommuting policies.  In fact, according to The Telework Coalition, more than 45 million U.S. workers currently telecommute from home at least once a week. Chuck Wilsker, president and CEO of the Coalition, recently told Payscale.com that he has seen a three-fold increase in the number of calls he fields from employers, employees and media wanting to know more about the reasons for telecommuting.

How can you make telecommuting work for you?  Your first step is to talk with HR and/or read your orientation materials to understand how your organization’s flextime or telecommuting procedure works.  Note that even if the company doesn’t have an official policy in place, if there are other people in your department who are already telecommuting, it shouldn't be unreasonable for you to hop on the bandwagon – provided you can honestly say you have the self-discipline to work productively without direct supervision.  

In making an argument for telecommuting, prepare a written proposal that puts the company first and addresses, upfront, the issues you know your boss will be concerned about.  For example, if you want to work from home one day per week, tell your boss that you plan to get more work done in less time due to the minimization of distractions and not having to commute.  Explain how your home office will be set up and assure your manager that you will have a clean, quiet, child-free and supply-enabled work environment in which to complete your duties.  Ask for a trial of the new arrangement, and prove the cost-savings by working much more efficiently on that home day than you do during your in-office days. 

Once you have the green light, make sure that you are always accessible via e-mail/PDA and cell phone during the business day, and report project status often so it’s easy for your boss to keep tabs on you.  And telecommuting full time shouldn’t mean that you never see the inside of your office building again.  If you supervise other employees or occasionally make presentations about your initiatives, you should show up occasionally so that you can practice the most effective form of personal communication – in person.  Don’t allow telecommuting to compromise the critical workplace relationships you’ve spent time and energy building. 

5 Ways to Be Productive Between Christmas and New Years

If you have to be at work during the “dead” week between Christmas and New Year’s, what are you planning on doing with yourself?  For corporate employees, this is traditionally a time where people sit at their desks and twiddle their thumbs because the majority of business associates aren’t around to do business with.  I’m willing to bet that Facebook surfing and online shopping are at an annual high.  Here are a couple of tips to get through this week without driving yourself to mindless distraction:

1)       Write down your goals for 2009:  Think hard about what you want to achieve next year at work, and specific steps you’ll need to take to make it happen.  If your boss is around, set up a meeting to talk through what you’ve come up with so that you’re both on board.

2)       Have lunch with a networking contact:  Now that you actually have some down time, why not use it by spending a little more than an hour with a person you’d like to get to know better and who could possibly help you in your career?  After all, informal, in-person networking is the most effective kind.

3)       Organize your files:  If you haven’t read an e-mail from January yet, you’re not going to.  Clean up your Outlook inbox and the hard drive of your computer so that you are able to start fresh in 2009.  Make sure important files are backed up and archived for safekeeping.

4)       Walk down the hall:  If you had to process some financial paperwork for a client, would you know how to do it?  The dead week is a great time to better understand how certain systems in your company work and the people you should talk to to most efficiently get things done.

      5)       Read neglected industry publications:  And unless you’re in the entertainment industry, I’m not talking about People.  Stop by the mailroom and pick up the December issues, or hop online.  Focus your attention on trends pieces that will help you better understand where your field is headed. 

Should You Take a Voluntary Severance Package?

Way too many of my friends and acquaintances have been faced with this dilemma recently:  my company has given me the option of leaving the company voluntarily with a severance package that sounds pretty good.  Do I take it and run, or stick around and risk getting laid off later?

If this applies to you, I can’t really tell you exactly what to do.  I don’t know what’s going on at your company, or what your personal financial outlook looks like.  But I did think about what I would do if placed in this situation, and here are a few thoughts:

If the company is offering employees voluntary severance packages, that must mean that things aren’t going particularly well.  After all, the decision to downsize is a risky and expensive one, and management wouldn’t be doing it if it didn’t foresee serious trouble ahead.  I’d also be willing to bet that if involuntary layoffs do eventually occur, the deals for those people won’t be as sweet.  Taking a voluntary package will likely give you more control over your career and next steps since you will know exactly what’s going to happen and when.  All this means that you may be better off getting out while the going is good. 

On the other hand, there are advantages to staying put.  Right now, a ton of companies have laid people off and the job market is flooded.  The economy is bound to improve at some point in the next year and you will likely have more options at that time.  Also, if your organization has been in business for a long time, is generally pretty stable, and is continuing to hire in certain areas, you may be able to make lemonade out of the lemons of a re-organization.  If your career has been in a rut, once the storm has cleared you may have the opportunity to re-invent yourself for the company good.  These factors too are worth considering in making the decision to stay or go. 

Book Review: The 29% Solution

Says Ivan Misner, the founder and chairman of BNI, the world's largest business networking organization:  “It’s not Net-SIT or NeT-EAT, it’s Net-WORK.  Successful networking is about learning how to work the networking process, not just letting it happen.”

True enough.  And when I received a copy of Misner’s new book, The 29% Solution: 52 Weekly Networking Success Strategies, from his smart and persistent publicity team, I was intrigued by the title.

Early on, the book explains that Misner and co-author Michelle Donovan’s title stems from a study that spawned the six degrees of separation theory, which revealed that only 29% of the population is actually connected to this extent.  We are not born into a web of worldwide, valuable connections.  Rather, one must acquire skills and work at becoming part of that elite 29% and staying there.  It also provides the answer to two conflicting questions that business owners and salespeople face every day:  How can I tend to my existing clients while devoting enough time to network for new business?  Should I place higher value on my current clients or on new clients? 

The best thing about The 29% Solution is its practicality.  You don’t need to spend tens of thousands at business school to learn this stuff.  For a price of under $20, you have access to a course consisting of 52 weeks of assignments, assessments, and worksheets from CNN’s “father of networking” that will lead you to master everything from diversifying your contact list to hosting purposeful events.  He encourages readers to develop the top traits of master networkers, including timely follow-up on referrals, good listening skills, helpfulness, and gratitude. 

There has never been a better time to hone your networking skills.  It may or may not be possible to make it into that top 29%, but Misner and Donovan’s book can surely help you inch closer one day at a time.

Free Agency: Are We Talking Near Future or Far Future?

If the journalism world is any indication, one would think free agency is just around the corner.  I’ve heard through word of mouth that nearly a dozen of the top media outlets have announced layoffs in the last month, and lately, when I do an interview, at least half the time it’s with a freelancer.  I suppose this is good news for me.  I’ve wanted to break into the freelance newspaper writing business for a few years now, but persistently contacting editors and forwarding clips always seemed like an uphill battle.  But now that papers and their online counterparts are increasingly unwilling to pay full-time employees pricey salaries and benefits, it looks like this is the right time for writers to pitch themselves as free agents.

Futurists have said that free agency will be commonplace in all organizations in the next ten years, but I’m wondering how practical that is.  While it’s true that independent workers save companies money and are able to seamlessly assimilate into teams via their online devices, only a certain subset of the population will be more productive as a result of replacing a structured work environment with a flexible one.  Some people are just better at getting work done when they have a boss physically looking over their shoulder.  Also, in order to be a free agent, you have to be entrepreneurial at heart.  You have to be willing to go out every day and catch your own dinner, so to speak.  People who prefer to work predictable hours and receive a predictable paycheck every two weeks can’t possibly do well as free agents. 

Perhaps in the future, all workers will develop the attributes and constitutions to be successful free agents, but this will require a major shift in our society’s thinking.  The mass retirement of the baby boomers will certainly help, but I still think we’re a long way off. 

 

Should You Accept a Counteroffer?

My friend Anita Bruzzeze has a terrific post on the perils of accepting a counteroffer.  You might not think this applies to too many people in this rotten economy, but you’d be surprised.  The counteroffer dilemma is something that faces nearly every halfway decent employee at some point in their careers.  Anita interviewed DeLynn Senna, executive director of permanent placement services for Robert Half International, and she reported these valuable insights:

Most of the time, accepting a counteroffer is short-term fix for both the employer and employee,” says Senna. “More than 90 percent of those who accept a counteroffer end up leaving the job less than a year after they accept it – either because the company lets them go or they leave on their own.”

Senna says that while your boss may indeed offer you more money or better title to hang onto you, the truth is, he or she may only be doing this to buy time.  “An employer wants to minimize disruptions or lost productivity in this economy, so they make a counteroffer to keep the person,” Senna says. “But the trust has already been broken with the manager and the employee’s colleagues.”

If your employer has made a counteroffer, Senna advises that you think about why you thought about leaving your employer in the first place. Accepting a counteroffer may not fix the reason you were considering the exit in the first place. 

If you do your research and believe that the job offer is worth taking, then tell your employer and don’t waffle when a counteroffer is made. Senna suggests saying something like: “I appreciate it, but I’ve made a commitment. I’ll do what I can to tie up loose ends here before I leave.”  Also, remember that your reputation is the most important asset you have.  You run a real risk of damaging it if you renege on your agreement with a new employer to accept a counteroffer from your current employer. 

New Episode: 30/20 Vision

Tune in Monday, December 15th at 2:30pm EST for a new episode of my monthly radio show and podcast, 30/20 Vision.

This series is for the 20-something woman who wishes she had three big sisters to clue her in on the ins and outs of life after college. This month, my co-hosts Christine Hassler (20 Something Manifesto), Lindsey Pollack (Getting From College to Career) and I will chat about how to cope productively with the holidays, both at work and in our personal lives.

Hope you’ll tune in live or download the podcast later!

How to Tell a Joke in a Business Setting

I have never been good at telling jokes.  I rarely remember the good ones I hear, and when I do recall one, I don’t know the appropriate time to share it and the right tone with which to deliver it.  I am trying to get better at expressing humor beyond the anecdotal, self-deprecating kind, because I understand from speaker training that today’s business audiences want to be entertained as well as educated.  Here’s what Paul Sloan at Lifehack had to say on the subject:

Many people shy away from telling jokes because they once told one that fell flat or they are afraid of appearing silly or of offending someone.  However, when told well, a joke can cause great amusement and lift the mood of the gathering.  Here are some tips on how to tell a good joke:

Select. Choose three or four jokes that really tickled you from the internet or a joke book. If you are giving a talk or presentation, look for ones that have some relevance so that you can work them into the pitch. Have one or two generic or topical ones that you can use on any occasion.

Practice. Tell your jokes in front of a mirror if possible.  Deliver them with style, confidence, and panache.  Focus on the punch line and ensure that you can deliver it word perfect.

Choose your moment. If there is a convenient hook in the conversation for one of your jokes, you can introduce it then. Otherwise, wait for a pause. Sometimes, the most amusing moments occur when people least expect you to tell a joke. So, if appropriate, be serious as you introduce the story and then catch your audience out with the punch line.

Deliver slowly and with confidence. Many people ruin jokes by rushing them, mumbling incoherently, or just getting the words wrong.  Slow down a little. Try to pause for effect before you deliver the punch line. That can add enormously to the impact.

Match the joke to the audience. A joke that is hilarious with the guys on the 7th tee might be a disaster at the Church Bazaar.  Jokes often challenge taboos, but if your joke seriously offends people then you have misjudged the situation. In mixed company during the day, you should stay with safe material.  In the evening, you can be a little more risqué.