The Career You'll Love » leadership

The 80/20 rule, and when you should ignore it

Carl — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 04:49:15 +0000

You’ll hear lots of variations on the “80/20 rule”:

20% of the people do 80% of the useful work.
If you do the right 20% of the solution, you’ll fix 80% of the problem.
80% of your time is spent doing relatively useless stuff, but the other 20%, when you’re productive, delivers 80% of the value.
80% of this blog post is probably wasted, so look for the 20% that you can learn something from.

Make a difference in your world

Carl — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:59:54 +0000

We all have our famous heroes that serve as models of what we dream of becoming. That’s all well and good, but it can tend to make us into passive observers, rather than active contributors.

I might hold up Nelson Mandela as a personal role model, but I don’t really have the opportunity to make the kind of contribution to the world that he has. My situation is much more modest.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

The career you’ll love newsletter – 12 July 2010

Carl — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:32:39 +0000

The Career You’ll Love

Sponsored by Carl Dierschow’s career blog at www.Dierschow.com

Welcome to my new career tips newsletter! I encourage you to pass this to anyone who might have an interest in revitalizing their career – instructions for subscribing are at the bottom.

What’s not news?

We’re immersed in news, and it’s possible to lose yourself in newsfeeds of various sorts: TV, radio, newspaper, websites, RSS feeds, newsletters … Your days and weeks disappear as you attempt to “keep up on” current events.

This is giving you an entirely biased view of the world, because events are news precisely because they are unusual.

Sure, there was a tragic accident yesterday where a couple of people lost their lives. That’s sad. It’s regrettable. Then realize that the VAST majority of people live on without ever experiencing that of tragedy. Don’t become paralyzed by something that’s so unlikely to happen.

As a professional coach, I might long to become the next Marshall Goldsmith. But I also realize that many coaches are quite successful without ever reaching that level of fame. I can be at peace with the fact that my clients see wonderful changes in their lives, even though I’m relatively unknown. My efforts rarely make the newspapers.

Fame and notoriety aren’t the same as making a difference in the world. You get fame by being outrageous and exceptional, and sometimes that even becomes an obstacle. And those billions of parents who just do their best to raise their children in an environment of support and love? They’ll never make the news. They’re too ordinary.

This principle is also important when you’re looking for information about the world and people around you. If you focus on news sources, you’ll mostly hear about things which are exceptional – some positive, but mostly negative. If you want a balanced view, you either need to go to the source (like what a company has to report to the government) or seek out analysts which aren’t paid to create news.

Oops, I mean to report news. Sometimes there doesn’t seem to be much difference.

An important resource

I’ve found my local library to be a wonderful source for industry information. Let’s say that you’d like to find the largest companies in your particular field. This can be a frustrating exercise on the web, because there the information is skewed by who’s creating the most buzz. That’s useful to know, but that may have nothing to do with finding your next job.

There are lots of industry publications which do this kind of analysis, but you have to pay to get access to most of this information. The great news? It’s quite likely that your library has a subscription, and that you can get free access. A skilled librarian will even be able to show you how to navigate through the mountains of data you might encounter.

The web is great, it’s wonderful, it’s fun. But when you have to get down to serious work, remember that it gives you a biased and inaccurate view of the world.

Carl Dierschow is a Certified Leadership Coach and author of the career management guide, Mondays Stink! 23 Secrets to Rediscover Delight and Fulfillment in Your Work. He is a career coach for those going through interesting transitions, and works with leaders who are creating amazing teams. Find out more at www.Dierschow.com and www.PossibilitiesPartnership.com.

If you are interested in individual career coaching, group coaching, or other resources which might help you with difficult choices, please contact Carl at carl@dierschow.com.

Connect with Carl on Facebook and LinkedIn to get timely updates and connections to a broader range of professionals.

To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, send an e-mail to newsletter@Dierschow.com

“This Problem” or “That Problem”? A Matter of Perspective

Carl — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 01:13:42 +0000

Let me have you ponder the difference between these two questions:

“Why is this problem important?”
“Why is that problem important?”

It’s a pretty subtle distinction, but potentially quite crucial. Perhaps I’m the boss and you work for me. When we talk about “this problem,” it’s quite close – something that is within our grasp. When we speak of “that problem,” it’s a little more distant, something which is perhaps out of reach. We both might have a little more ownership of “this problem”, but perhaps be more objective about “that problem” because it’s more distant.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

Having a larger goal gives you motivation

Carl — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 02:33:13 +0000

The term Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) was introduced by James Collins and Jerry Porras in 1996. It’s a powerful concept.

It’s one thing to have a goal that’s practical. Let’s say that I want to save enough money to retire on – that’s very sensible and, hopefully, achievable.

Read the rest on my Workbloom blog»

Key stakeholders: Understand your management

Carl — Sun, 30 May 2010 19:54:41 +0000

On our journey through the stakeholders, people often think that “management” is the easiest one to figure out. But it may be trickier than you think!

I define “management” as the people who are given the power to direct your work, and as such are responsible for whether you do a good job or not.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

Your sense of purpose

Carl — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 01:50:08 +0000

Why are you here?

It’s one of the core questions of human existence, really, because without any purpose there’s no reason to live. Some people would frame this question as, “Why are WE here?”, but that’s really only motivating to philosophers. It really hits home when you make it personal.

By default, I suppose, I’m here because of the random circumstances of my birth and upbringing. But that only says how I ended up acting the way I do, not that there’s a reason for me to be here in the first place.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

Where are you a leader?

Carl — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 17:34:05 +0000

Everyone’s a leader. No, really!

We often assign the term to people who are in recognized positions of power and authority, but that weakens the term.

If someone is going along with you on any kind of journey, you’re a leader. You are in a situation which you need to exercise some kind of influence over others who are with you on that journey.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

There’s Some People I’d Work With, No Matter WHAT the Job!

Carl — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 20:28:22 +0000

I’ve been fortunate to have a few wonderful bosses over the course of my career. Not just decent, not just good, but truly exceptional people. I’ve also been fortunate that the number of truly terrible managers has been very low.

The truly exceptional ones have treated me with honesty and respect, supported me in tough times, cared about me as a unique individual, and given me challenging and valuable work.

More coach training, in London!

Carl — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:47:37 +0000

As you might know, I was in London this week attending the followup class to the Coaching Fundamentals class I took back in September. That class was, in essence, the high level overview of the process, so the last few days were much more deep study and practice around some key areas:

Core principles: Trust the client, partnership, possibility, accept/blend/create, and presence
Emotional intelligence
Articulating core values
Core skills: listening, questioning, reflecting, and supporting

As I described before, the teaching method used by The Forton Group is to use the coaching methodology itself, and an extensive amount of demonstration and practice. I find this to result in a much deeper learning and internalization.

And in addition, I received hours worth of personalized coaching while we practiced these new skills during the class.

So that was the last three days. Monday and Tuesday, I had the opportunity to re-take the Foundations class. It was a remarkable experience, as I reviewed, practiced, and learned even more depth in this whole coaching methodology. It was even more valuable than I had hoped.

My focus this week was to move forward with my fledgling company, in the areas of clarifying my marketing strategy and partnerships. I made a lot of progress and developed some key connections, so I’ll now be getting that organized and communicated. It’s an exciting time.

So now I’m blessed with a couple of days free in London. Last Sunday I attended a beautiful Mass at St Etheldra’s Church, and I’ve been told by several people that Brompton Oratory may be a great choice this weekend. To be investigated!

But now to bed, I’m whipped after an intense week.