Be Different or be dead

May 7, 2012

Why a successful career requires your hands to get crazy dirty

Source: Pexels

Why a successful career requires your hands to get crazy dirty.

Succeed.

Achieve your goals. Hit your targets. Nail your objectives.

Achieving anything substantial in my experience is an ugly matter.

Rarely do things go as originally planned. Stuff happens as they say.

The unpredictable rears its head. You have to scramble to get back on track. People sometimes don’t cooperate with you or keep their promises to you. It’s messy.

Achieving anything, really is a dirty affair.

The reality is, though, if you are NOT prepared to get dirty, chances are you won’t reach your desired destination.

What does ‘get dirty’ look like?

▪️ Make fast decisions.

▪️ Have Plan B ready-to-go.

▪️ Embrace imperfection. Live it.

▪️ Do it. Try it. Fix it.

▪️ Work late hours.

▪️ Work outside your comfort zone. If you’re not uncomfortable you are playing it too safe and are likely to be called Mr Clean.

▪️ Bend the rules that prevent you from getting it done. Find someone who will protect your back.

▪️ Do what needs to be done. Forget the job description and formal position responsibilities.

▪️ Eat lots of burgers and fries. Fast food fits your personal situation and you need all the comfy food you can get.

▪️ Make mistakes. Lots of ‘em but make sure you learn something from each and every one of them.

Clean hands typifies someone who conjures up pristine theoretical solutions but has difficulty delivering.

Dirty hands describes the practical person who is prepared to dive into the grunge to deliver.

Want to succeed?

Take a look at your hands.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 5.7.12 at 08:44 am by Roy Osing
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March 29, 2012

How your brilliant business proposal can be a whopping success

Source: Pexels

How your brilliant business proposal can be a whopping success.

Your business proposal has been approved. Awesome! Well done!

All your hard work has paid off. The many hours of analysis. Research. Economic study. Trade-off assessment. Lobbying for support.

Make no mistake about it though. All you have done is make the paper case that your plan will succeed.

You have in no way created a case that will actually win in the real world.

In fact most of the work that has to be done takes place after your plan has been approved internally.

Execution brings your proposal to life.

Whatever the number of hours invested in developing your proposal spend 3 times more in creating your detailed execution plan.

Critical steps in your action plan

— Assign the individuals who will be assigned to each;

— Set the completion dates for each action item;

— Establish the review process that will be followed to ensure implementation is moving forward as planned;

— Define the contingencies for when things go off track (and they will).

Your business case has given you the right to commit resources to a given course. It is a mere possibility and guarantees nothing in terms of success.

Put in the hard work into execution for success.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 3.29.12 at 08:03 am by Roy Osing
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March 19, 2012

Why having strong feelings are better than having deep knowledge

Source: Pexels

Why having strong feelings are better than having deep knowledge.

There are lots of smart people out there these days. MBA’s. Doctors in this. Doctors in that.

Our world is robust in well educated people. And that’s a good thing.

And businesses are always in the hunt for the cream of the crop when it comes to recruiting capable individuals. Aggressive competition for the best of the best.

Which usually comes down to who has the better marks and which college or university did they graduate from.

The recruitment process is severely flawed.

Focusing primarily on academic outcomes is not necessarily the determining factor in whether someone will be successful or not in your organization.

It is an important decision making element but it is not the be-all and end-all consideration.

Knowledge is a given. It’s table stakes for an individual applying for an opportunity in any organization. It’s expected that the applicant has achieved proficiency in their chosen field of study.

But academic achievement doesn’t necessarily make a person special. Remarkable. Stand-out. Visible.

Its not what you know, but how you feel that places you in these categories.

Special people feel.

They care.

They exude trust.

They are respected by and have currency with their colleagues.

They earn respect.

Knowledge isn’t enough.

Seek out feelers and hire them.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 3.19.12 at 10:48 am by Roy Osing
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February 9, 2012

How a winning career can be made in 5 simple steps

Source: Pexels

How a winning career can be made in 5 simple steps.

If you’re not happy with the progression you are making in your career, follow these 5 steps that will power you forward.

1. Define the position you want in 24 months. Sales Director? VP Marketing? Call Center Manager? Having a target will focus your efforts in developing the action plan you intend to follow.
If you don’t have a specific target, your efforts will be diffused and your progress will be slow.

2. Find a mentor. Everyone needs advice and help; pick one who is skilled in your target position.

3. Identify the foxes — the key decision-makers in your organization that will likely factor in to your next career move. Treat them as your target market. Get to know each one of them and what makes them great. Make sure they know YOU.

4. Make a list of 3 things you need to do over the next 90 days to make you more qualified for your target position. And do them. Avoid having a grocery list of things to do; you don’t have the time or energy to get them done.

5. Create your personal ONLY Statement and work it every minute of every day. ONLY is how to define your uniqueness among the crowd of people competing for scarce jobs. “I am the ONLY one that…” will serve you well in an environment where generics run.
If you can’t create your ONLY, you won’t get noticed and your career goals will likely elude you.

Try these today.

I guarantee they wIll make a difference.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 2.9.12 at 10:00 am by Roy Osing
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