Be Different or be dead

July 5, 2021

8 proven ways to beat the competition for the job you want

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8 proven ways to beat the competition for the job you want.

There are more people out there today competing for scarce jobs; people competing for careers are more educated and the urgency to be successful is huge with the severe economic pressures facing everyone.

To win a job in this type of environment requires that you be the best at what you choose to do; that you be the topic of conversation; that you and only you deliver unique results that matter.

These 8 proven and practical actions will enable you to be unmatched in the crowd of people hungry for success in their career and you will handily beat the competition for the jobs you seek.

1. Be visible to others

If you’re not noticed, how can you be judged among your peers? Recognition for achieving results can only come when the career decision makers are aware of what you are doing and the value you are creating.

Manage your activity with this in mind. Don’t force it — like ‘Hey! Look at me!’ — but ensure that people know you and are able to compare you to your colleagues.

This will also get you top of the list of high potential people who should be given greater opportunities to prove their worth.

2. Be a niche player

Try and be a player in a strategic area where the need is greatest as opposed to trying to be a generalist who aspires to be all things to all people — you need to be focussed.

For example if your organization is suffering from the lack of marketing skills to differentiate itself from competitors (and you are a competent marketer), focus your brand building efforts there.

The people who win jobs are recognized as individuals who provide the unique leadership required to achieve strategic success. They focus their energy and use their competencies in the specific areas that will deliver superlative performance for their organization.

3. Be different than everyone around you

It always amazes me that everyone wants to copy what works for others.

When confronted with a problem to solve, it seems a natural tendency to consult best practices and employ the tactics and game plan that others have successfully implemented.

Whereas benchmarking what others do may result in improvements, it will never give you a strategic advantage over your competitors.

Successful job winners don’t copy; they set the standard that others aspire to achieve. And they do it by being different in some meaningful way that resonates with their audience.

4. Keep your promises

A simple thing really, but one that so often is missing in action when it comes to peoples’ integrity. It shouldn’t be an advantage to someone but it is; many are great with the words and rhetoric but fall short on the action and results.

Someone who has a strong brand around doing what they say will surpass those who rely on words alone to set them apart.

Winners don’t just aspire, they do.

5. Forget your degree

The truth is, the consistent job winners don’t come from being the most well educated; there are too many people that are likely to have degrees and marks better than yours. Furthermore academic credentials are not a reliable predictor of success.

In the real world success comes from achieving results faster than others — from being more nimble than the crowd.

Being the best at winning jobs is achieved by getting stuff done better than anyone else, not by outthinking them. You DO need a good knowledge foundation to even play the career game, but it’s the actions you take that make a difference.

6. Go beyond what is asked of you

Most of my career competitors did the minimum amount to meet the given objective.

My view was always to meet the minimum expectation and look for an opportunity to go beyond it; to create work that was more original and insightful than what others did. Sure, it took extra time to do it, but it was worth it in the long run.

Look for opportunities to:
▪️make your work broader and richer than expected by engaging more experts and opinion leaders in your analysis.
▪️provide a greater level of detail in your reports. Don’t just skim the surface; do a ‘deep dive’ into your material and provide the granularity your readers don’t expect.
▪️package your work differently than what others do; make your work compelling for your audience to study.

The required minimum satisfies expectations; going beyond what is asked of you will attract attention and make you unmatchable among your competitors.

7. Give ‘em what they don’t expect

Most people approach a problem they have been asked to solve in the same way. They do a SWOT analysis, set a goal and then develop a list of objectives to achieve it. This process is the pedantic way that your competitors will generally use to problem solve. It’s predictable and it’s boring.

Being the best person for a job opportunity requires breaking away from the way everyone else approaches a challenge and doing it in a way that surprises people.

If you can surprise people, they will remember you and what you’ve done.

Some simple ways of coming at this:
▪️ask someone who is affected by the problem how THEY would solve it. People closest to the problem often don’t get invited to help solve it; those looking in are surprised when they are.
▪️abbreviate the formal analysis; get to a solution fast, implement it and tweak it on the run. Spending most of your time to figure out how to implement a solution is almost never done; when you do you just might attract a “WOW!”
▪️go in the opposite direction implied by the traditional problem solving approach. Doing a 180 on how a problem is typically addressed is often a great inertia breaker and will attract attention.

8. Change the playing field

It’s all about context — the ‘bigger picture’ — and most people don’t think this way.

Push the narrative to a higher level than the issue on the table. For example, rather give an opinion on civic leadership ethics, raise the level of the conversation to discuss civic leadership accountability — a broader topic which includes ethics.

I am constantly asked my opinion, for example, on specific advertising campaigns, and personal brands, and I refuse to comment until I clearly understand the strategy that each intends to fulfil.

Unless you have strategic context, your views are merely personal biases and add little strategic value to the issues at hand.

The job winners avoid getting drawn into a debate on a narrow topic; they create a more holistic frame of reference and go there to present their views.

They don’t conform; they don’t comply; they don’t rely on their schooling and they don’t copy what others do.

They look for niche opportunities and rely on ‘doing it’  to achieve results that others are incapable of delivering.

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

• Posted 7.5.21 at 01:41 am by Roy Osing
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June 7, 2021

How losing the top job can make you better off

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How losing the top job can make you better off.

If anyone had told me that one of the worst moments of my career would pay off in spades in the long run, I wouldn’t have believed it.

The position of president was up for grabs and I was one of the shortlisted candidates; it was a huge opportunity and a huge responsibility. (The company had $2-billion in sales at that point).

I suspected who else was in the running. All were colleagues in the company, all were people I respected, and all were people I wanted to beat – badly.

The selection process comprised the usual headhunter interviews and leadership testing, followed by an interview with the selection subcommittee of the board.

I nailed the headhunter component of the selection process and was told that I had the top scores from the testing.

Even though I thought I could have handled the board interview better (I didn’t handle the finance questions particularly well I thought), I didn’t think it was a disaster and I wasn’t concerned that it would destroy my chances to win the contest and grab the prize.

The day of reckoning arrived. The board chair called all executives into the boardroom to announce the winner of the battle for president.

I was very nervous and expectant; my adrenalin was rushing.

All eyes were on me as it was common knowledge that I considered myself to be the front runner for the job.

It was over in a heartbeat. One of my colleagues and a very good friend with whom I ‘grew up’ in the organization was the winner.

The words announcing his appointment had barely left the chair’s mouth when I was overcome by agonizing pain in my gut. I couldn’t take a breath.

I thought I was well prepared for a decision that could go against me.

I had done my premortem work — practising ‘hindsite in advance’ — to protect myself for a negative outcome by thinking through my ‘do not be surprised’ plan: the actions I would take if the outcome went against me.

I imagined that each of the candidates would win and I prepared response plans in my head in the eventuality one of them was selected.
My concern was that if I didn’t have a plan to deal with a negative outcome in real time, the surprise could very well cause me to say, look, or do something that would not serve my long-term career goals very well.

It’s one thing to have a plan but it’s quite another thing to have to execute a worst-case scenario in front of the board chair, my executive peers and my new boss.

Without hesitation – it must have been an involuntary response as I don’t recall consciously thinking about it – I arose from my chair, walked over to the winner and congratulated him in a heartfelt manner.

I made sure everyone could see it and could hear my words; I offered him my support and unwavering loyalty.

They were all surprised with how I handled the situation, given that they understood how much I wanted to be president.

The feedback I received was gratifying. My behaviour was deemed ‘mature,’ indicative of a senior executive leader who could take a punch in the gut and who could place the needs of the organization before his own.

My currency with the board and executive leadership team escalated. My career continued to be rewarding and I was given many exciting opportunities to learn and contribute to the organization’s success.

No one could have convinced me that losing a senior promotion such as this could ever be a long-term career sweetener that allowed me to learn, practise and develop my own dimensions of stand-out leadership.

But it did.

It’s all about how one deals with a bad hand. You can bail out screaming how unfair you’ve been treated, or you can look for a way to turn a bad lot into a prosperous outcome for everyone. And you can take a short term view or a long term perspective.

Muzzle your ego, suck it up and make the call with your long-term interests in mind.

P.S. In anyone’s career there are always going to be setbacks; no one ever gets to reach their career goals in a straight line — strategic meandering is the normal route.

Here’s my list of what you need to consider if you want to be a ‘survivor leader’ in the face of these body blows:

▪️ Always do what’s right for the organization even though it could place you at personal risk.

▪️ Shut your mouth — pause and breathe — and suck it up when you get hit with a disappointment.

▪️ Look to the horizon not your shoes when making a decision in a emotionally charged situation.

▪️ Go against the ‘popular’ advice when hit with a career blow. It may not feel good but it’s often the best course of action to take.

▪️ Keep working hard in the face of adversity and show ‘em what you got.

▪️ Be wary of advice from those close to you. Sometimes their judgement is more clouded by emotion than yours is.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead book series

• Posted 6.7.21 at 06:33 am by Roy Osing
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May 31, 2021

6 really simple ways to have the spotlight shine on you

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6 really simple ways to have the spotlight shine on you.

There is an urgency about moving on in your career; you’re not getting any younger and the competition isn’t getting any easier.

These six practical and proven ideas will help you either get going or will accelerate you down the current path you’ve chosen.

Invisibility begets ignorability

Get noticed in a crowd of people all looking to advance themselves. You must be competent in your current role, of course, but if you are indistinguishable from your colleagues, you have no way of being on a decision-maker’s radar.

It’s funny that getting noticed is uncomfortable for many people; they don’t like drawing attention to themselves. It’s almost like we’ve been taught at an early age that it’s somehow “not right” to do things that make us stand out in our class – we think it makes us arrogant and narcissistic.

Well, you need to get over that, if that’s how you feel.

Develop a ’be visible’ plan that, in a simple and factual way, presents your achievements and what you do day-in and day-out to execute your organization’s strategy.

Value is the end game

Create value that people care about. The focus must be on the benefits you create for the organization (and for people), as opposed to delivering a project or beating a due date, for example.

For instance, it’s admirable that you completed your project two weeks ahead of schedule, but what’s more important is the benefits you delivered to customers or employees or shareholders, earlier than expected.

Realize that the project or task you’ve been given is just the internal vehicle for adding value. Keep your eyes on your contribution to the marketplace within which your organization operates.

By the way, if you are successful with this approach, other organizations will notice.

Differences must define you

Be the only one that does what you do. If you’re not different than everyone else in some meaningful way – in a way that contributes to the goals and objectives of the organization – you will be viewed as nothing more than a common member of the herd and will have difficulty achieving a breakthrough in your career.

Sameness begets mediocrity; copying shows zero originality

You must find your own way to break the mould of commonness  and it doesn’t have to be complicated.

Here are five ways to do that:

✔️ Invent your own problem-solving method using crowdsourcing, or canvassing others;
✔️ Do more of what was asked;
✔️ Do the opposite of what the pundits preach;
✔️ Use trusted external resources for added credibility;
✔️ Launch additional projects from your original task.

Doing it is 10 times better than talking about it

“A little less conversation, a little more action please.” – Elvis Presley

It’s not about intent; it’s about getting stuff done  in the trenches where life is messy  and people never behave the way you expect them to.

It’s easy to declare what you want to achieve and sell your idea on its theoretical merits. But in the final analysis, unless that notion actually produces something, it’s basically useless.

Getting it done relies largely on the right hemisphere of the brain where emotion, passion, tenacity and perseverance live, not the left brain that houses logic and intelligence.

Expending emotional energy to overcome barriers is vital to implementing a good idea.

My rule of thumb is to spend 20 percent of your time on the idea and 80 per cent on implementing and tweaking  it.

Find a ‘done it’ mentor

Find a mentor who has done stuff. Most people look to the p the west erson who knows stuff as their source for career advice and guidance. After all, most “experts” have knowledge credentials posted after their names – doctorates, and master and bachelor degree designations, for example.

In my experience, however, the people to look up to are those individuals who have proven they can deliver results. They are the ones who should be listened to and followed.

I know many smart people who have achieved less than their potential because they put all their trust in the way things should work – based on theory – as opposed to pouring their energy into finding a way to make them work in the hard realities of people’s biases and internal politics.

My mentors always had the subliminal tag “master crafter in doing stuff” associated with their name.

Be open to anything

Do anything asked of you and do it with eagerness and an open mind. I have seen many high-potential people fall by the wayside because they were picky about what they did to the point that they refused to take on certain projects because they didn’t want to set themselves up for failure by trying to achieve something they felt they were not qualified to do.

Unfortunately, their actions were perceived as an unwillingness to help the organization achieve its strategic goals, to take on the personal risk necessary to deliver even though they may not be perfectly qualified.

And they found themselves in the camp of individuals who were never again asked to lead projects of a strategic nature; their career stalled.

The point is, upwardly mobile people are expected to overreach  every once in a while, to go for something that is beyond their capability. They treat the opportunity as a source of learning and growth and are okay with the inherent personal risk involved.

These six tips won’t be found in any textbook. They are all based on what actually worked for me in the real world. Good luck.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead book series

• Posted 5.31.21 at 07:43 am by Roy Osing
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May 24, 2021

5 reasons a fresh start for people is an impossible dream

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There are 5 tenets to what people mean when they say they want to start fresh.
They want to:

▪️ lose yesterday and build a new tomorrow.
▪️ forget the pain of the past and seek future pleasure.
▪️ throw away the track record of yesterday and start over again with a clean piece of paper.
▪️ build new relationships to replace the old.
▪️ forget what was learned in the past in favour of acquiring new knowledge for their next chapter.

A fresh start seems to imply that the past offers little value as one considers building a new future.

And of course this thinking is a nonstarter; throwing the baby out with the bath water makes no sense at all, and it will never allow you to refresh yourself the way you want.

Regardless of the overwhelming desire to strike out on a new journey and rid yourself of what you don’t like about your present circumstances, there are pieces of your life up to now that have been amazing for you and should form an integral part of your future.

I think a fresh start should really be looked at as another start, building on what you’ve achieved so far to reach greater and more importantly different heights. It also implies that you want to make another try  which is the right thing to do when you’re dissatisfied with your current state.

How do you start again to satisfy your craving for change and at the same time preserve your ‘specialness’ that made you who you are today?

Define your ‘west’ vision

What the hell do you mean by “I need a fresh start?”

Fresh starts don’t happen ‘in the moment’, they need at least a modicum of thinking about what you want to do — note that I’ve avoided the word ‘planning’ which I think would have scared many of you off 😊

Your fresh start vision doesn’t have to be crystal clear but it does have to be directional with enough clarity to inform the actions needed to make the fresh start happen.

So at this point, paint a picture of what your new future looks like in general terms.

Try not to be too granular in your new ‘I want’ a new start definition:

I want to travel the world.
I want to move to Europe.
I want a new career in marketing.
I want a new relationship.
I want to learn a new language.
I want to homeschool my kids.

Declarations like these define your ‘start again’ context and where you will devote your time and energy. If you don’t do this work, your attention will be scattered with the likelihood you will miss your refresh mark.

Inventory your likes and dislikes

A start again plan typically includes casting off things about you and your life that you don’t like to make room for the new exciting things you decide to do.

Taking a self inventory of what you like and dislike about yourself is where you begin this work.

So, you need to create two lists that are a ‘character bifurcation’ of how you see yourself, defining the unique special features you want to retain and build upon to be different and those you want to let go of.

Select 3 likes

Your new start up plans I’ll fail if you try and take on too much; if you try to build your new future on too many of the features you really like about yourself.

It gets too complicated to create a fresh beginning from 10 traits you don’t want to lose than it is to build from a handful, so think about focusing on the 3 traits you really like about yourself — your confidence, creativity and love of people for example — and that you believe will contribute the experience you will require as you begin to ‘head west’.

These 3 strengths will be the nucleus of the energy you will draw on to unfold your new tomorrow.

Define what you need

Even with your best likes, however, ‘head west’ beginnings will be deficient in the ingredients needed to achieve the new destination; there will always be a deficit that needs to be filled — it wouldn’t be a new start if you didn’t have to acquire something new.

Try to define one or two new things — nirvana would be only one — you need in addition to what you already have in your kitbag to start fresh.

Look for help

It’s quite normal to find a mentor to help us with our career, so why not find someone to help us morph our lives into something new and more exciting — a new start mentor.

A life change is normally a risky affair so find someone who has experience in navigating through the turbulence of leaving behind equity that has been hard fought for over one’s life and adopting a new course.

New start mentors don’t offer solutions, they provide a ‘boots on the ground’ view of what life change entails so you can make informed decisions.

By now you’re probably exhausted by the regimen I’ve prescribed to launch your new beginning; the process feels complicated, time consuming and tough work.

But it is a disciplined process; new starts rarely happen through serendipity, by falling in a bucket of sh*t and come out smelling like a rose.

If that’s what you’re hoping for, kiss your fresh start goodbye.

If you want a life makeover, be prepared to do the work.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead book series

• Posted 5.24.21 at 04:49 am by Roy Osing
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