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Ego Boom and Your Career

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
by Alan Kearns

egoboom_coverrough3

In 2007, a study in the U.S. revealed that job satisfaction was the lowest it had been in two decades, particularly with workers under the age of 25. The paradox is that the world has never seemed more about us, yet many are lonely, unsatisfied, and unsure of his oidentity and place in this world. For this CareerJoy podcast, I spoke with Steve Maich and Lianne George, authors of the Ego Boom: Why the World Really Does Revolve Around You.

Afterward, I put together a formula to describe my observations of the issues related to the complexity of our work world. I call this Career Confusion Formula, and it consists of:

  • A range of new career and educational choices
  • The BRIC effect from global competition
  • Confusion about our individuals strengths
  • More complexity and poor leadership in workplaces
  • Change in the HR function. We are managing our career by ourselves

There have never been as many choices and voices telling you why and what you should choose. Many organizations and people have a vested interest in their own agendas, not necessarily you and your career. In addition, choosing certain careers can be very externally affirming but may very well be a poor fit for you. So how do you put the YOU back in YOUR career? Well, in some ways it is not as complex as we think.

  • Know who you are- honestly and with clarity
  • Trust your perspective and make courageous choices
  • Surround yourself with quality people who are genuinely interested in you

Here is the deal: when you are true to yourself in a healthy way, you win. And so does everyone around you. You actually don’t have to “fake it till you make it.” When you are true to yourself, success and career satisfaction will be much more natural. The answer lies with knowing, accepting and being true to your own identity – and with not allowing, schools, brands, companies or even job titles to define who you are.

Ed’s note: Unlimited is giving away copies Ego Boom: Why the World Really Does Revolve Around You. For more details, go here. Then scroll over to see Greg Hudson’s review in the current issue of Unlimited.

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Why Working at a Start-up Either Totally Rules or Totally Sucks

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
by Duncan Kinney

When you enter the workforce you have a lot of choices. You’re also making value judgments without a whole lot of information. Where do I apply? What job do I take? What kind of company should I join?

The start-up is the sexy choice, it’s new, unproven and risky, perfect for a young single person fresh out of school. The new business is still risky, but for the most part people have proven that laundromats/hot dog stands/car washes can make money. The established business is solid, barring something unforeseen it will still be chugging along .

Kevin Swan is a former beekeeper, he’s also the president and CEO of Nexopia, a social networking site based in Edmonton (a company profiled on Unlimited). It might be a little odd to mention that he’s a former beekeeper but it’s a central feature in his blog Once a Beekeeper. There he has a great post going over the difference between a start-up and a new business. His three main points are:

+ You’re going to face extraordinary uncertainty

+ The people around you matter more than ever

+ The company probably won’t be generating any revenue right away

You’re also going have to be adaptable, need to love learning on your own and you’re going to have to be prepared for more responsibility and ownership of your work than other, more typical companies.

*

Sarah Blue is in charge of market and community outreach at crowdsourcing start-up Chaordix. She’s a start-up veteran, working in the space for the past seven years. If you have the following characteristics you might be interested in working for a start-up.

+ You’re driven by possibility, not stability
Stability is cool and I wouldn’t knock anyone for wanting to know where their next paycheck is coming from. However, entrepreneurs love potential earnings and the possibility of new ideas coming to life far more than what’s going on today.

+ You have a massive ego
This is two-fold. 1. You don’t start something unless you think you can do it better than anyone else. 2. To wake up every day and keep on truckin’ – you need a healthy dose of self-confidence.

+ You live to work, not work to live
Working at an established business 40 hours a week and not thinking about work while you enjoy life can be very rewarding. It can also be mind-numbing for entrepreneurs. The desire to overcome an unending stream of challenges, the need to eat/sleep/breath your work and the passion to believe that you just might change the world are all signs that punching out at 5pm is not an option.

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Why Detractors Are As Good as Mentors

Thursday, October 15th, 2009
by Craille Maguire Gillies

The career of an athlete is a good case study for the merit and impact of mentors. But as New York Times online columnist Doug Glanville suggests in a web-only op-ed, “No Thanks, But Thanks,” athletes also help us understand how detractors and critics make us stronger and better at our jobs. Glanville points out how important it is to have a supporter during tough times. Philadelphia Phillies manager Charlie Manuel stuck by injured, lackluster closer Brad Lidge even though his performance didn’t always merit his sponsorship. It paid off: Lidge just sent his team to the National League Championships; the headline from the Associated Press read “Lidge Perfect, Phillies Rally in 9th to Reach NLCS.”

Glanville also notes, however, Michael Jordan’s arrogant, petty speech at his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame. (ESPN’s J.A. Adande wrote that, “Michael Jordan’s Hall of Fame speech was from the heart. The thing is, his heart’s as cold as liquid nitrogen.” Nice one.)

The most poignant message I got from Jordan’s speech was this: thank your enemies. Because when I look back at my career, there were so many turning points, so many advocates . . . and so many detractors.

Glanville recalls his own defeats and detractors during his career in major league baseball (He’s reportedly writing a book about the major leagues, scheduled for publication next year.) Glanville writes about one particularly bad experience with an instructor in the Triple As:

In Buffalo, he kicked me out of the stadium (not just out of the game; I was banished from the stadium). I once heard him telling our hitting coach all the reasons he didn’t like me (he’d forgotten that I was sitting within earshot). In mid-season, he informed me that I would not be called up to the big leagues (how he could declare this with so many games left in the season was highly curious). He conveniently omitted one of my ongoing hitting streaks from my player report. He never let me work on one potentially productive part of my game, base-stealing; on the bases, I was routinely given the “stop” sign. That’s the G-rated list and only a small taste. It never ended.

Glanville ended up with a demotion of sorts to an instructional league in Arizona, where he faced off against his frustrations and failures. Fortunately, he met not only detractors, but a key supporter with a coach for the league:

Tom Gamboa was running the program… and made me a deal: work hard, play hard and see what happens. I did. I improved. Gamboa, who it turned out was managing a team that winter, finally told me, “You’re coming with me to Puerto Rico, but keep in mind, we play to win, not develop.”… I knew this was the defining moment. I had a chance to change a future that, it seemed, had been determined for me by someone who never took a minute to understand me. It was up to me.

This message of triumph over adversity is notably American in its timbre, but the sub-text is interesting. Unquestioning mentorship alone is not enough. The value of criticism is not only in its tough message, but also in its marriage with the right kind of mentorship—that is, finding support and criticism at precisely the right moments in your career.

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100 Years Old and Still Working

Saturday, September 26th, 2009
by Craille Maguire Gillies

A woman in New Jersey celebrated her 100th birthday not by whiling away time at a retirement community in, say, Florida, but at her desk job — the same one she’s had for the past three decades. Holding a job for three decades, instead of three years, is itself a feat, let alone living to 100. As the Associated Press reports:

Her current job is her favorite — working alongside her son, John Thornton, and grandson Peter at the family-owned insurance company.

“I’m 67, and one of our jokes is: ‘How can I retire before my mother does?’” John Thornton said. He says his mother is a meticulous worker, reviewing contracts, preparing the payroll, making sure bills are paid, and is always pleasant company.

Thoenig credits her son for giving her the job, taking her to work — although she still drove until age 98 when a botched hip operation made it difficult to get around — and always being patient.

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Weekly Links Round-up: The Foodie Edition

Friday, September 18th, 2009
by Craille Maguire Gillies

Wine-preneur Rhys Pender of Wine Plus+

Wine-preneur Rhys Pender of Wine Plus+

I’m on location these last couple days, teaching a seminar on writing at the Okanagan Food and Wine Writers Workshop in Penticton, B.C. Between sessions, we’ve been meeting the people who live off the land — winemakers, bakers, farmers and one effusive, tanned mountain biker named Trailhead Ed. Though there’s a notable contingent of grey haired retirees in baseball caps and boomer winemakers pursuing second careers (the folks who manage Tantalus Vineyards, for instance), there is also another generation of foodies under 40 who have started their own SMEs. So, for this “on location” edition, a few quick links:

Joy Road Catering
Who runs it: Business parnters and real-life couple Cameron Smith and Dana Ewart.
What they’re known for: Supporting local farmers (Cam heads up the farmers’ market association), giving up gigs at restaurants in Montreal to start their own business in the Bench and championing regional cuisine. Oh, and the plum galette has earned them a bit of fame.
Where you can see them: In Craig Noble’s food documentary about the region, Tableland.

Okanagan Grocery
Who’s behind it: Monika the Baker (Monika Walker). Monika is a 20-something former cook who gave up a busy restaurant job to buy a tiny bakery. “It was originally the size of a closet,” says Monika. “Now it’s the size of a walk-in closet,” gesturing to the extra few feet allotted during a recent expansion. Monika, who moved to Canada from Germany about eight years ago, starts baking at 10 p.m. and finishes at 10 a.m.
What she’s known for: Bread. She just returned from a vacation in Germany and couldn’t wait to get her hands back in the dough.
Business partners: Husband Bill, along with Naomi, a five-year-old starter that Monika inherited with the bakery, and Arnold, a 100-year-old starter given to her by her chef-instructor in Vancouver.

Wine Plus+
Who’s the +: Wine-preneur Rhys Pender, who is working toward his master’s of wine. Pender founded a wine consulting company and wine school (he’s affiliated with the Wine and Spirit Education Trust.)
What he’s known for: Being able to teach the most experienced wine aficionados and the least experienced–and not make the latter feel stupid.
His Twitter bio: “Runs a wine school, consults on wine, writes, judges and drinks wine.” Sometimes he drinks beer.

Joie Farm Wines
Who’s behind it: Winemaker/cookbook author/farmer/chef/sommelier Heidi Noble and her sommelier/”logistics expert” husband, Michael Dinn.
What they’re known as: Okanagan wine demi-gods, regional champions, freakishly successful young people.
Secret to success: Their Joie Farms Reserve Chardonnay 2007. Excellent.

A shout out to UL contributor and Foodgirl Jennifer Cockrall-King for organizing things.

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Posted in Careers, Culture, Daily Blog, Editorial Comments | 1 Comment »

Moving Up in a Recession

Monday, September 14th, 2009
by Craille Maguire Gillies

BusinessWeek looks at prospects for new grads in its round-table video discussion with key recruitiers. Though they focus on American employers who might be hiring, there’s lots of good general information about what you can do to make yourself appealing to recruiters, whether it’s learning foreign languages (Arabic, Mandarin and Farsi, for starters) or going abroad for experience.

What’s interesting, too, is how the recession has opened up opportunities for advancement that people in their 20s might not normally get. When more senior staff are laid off, junior employees can take advantage of room to grow into those vacancies.

With companies everywhere trimming payrolls to cut costs, many new grads will likely find themselves filling the shoes of the recently departed and taking on bigger responsibilities faster than they ever imagined. Most will not get big raises or fancy new titles as a result.

Another story on what millennials can do to take advantage of the recession comes from Computerworld, of all places. Its interview with management consultant Bob Jennings, who co-wrote the book The Adversity Paradox. Jennings focuses on using a layoff as an opportunity for career development, suggesting that people who have thrived during adversity

…developed introspection skills that enabled them to conduct honest self-assessments; they cultivated a superior work character; they relied on high ethical standards; they found a purpose they were passionate about; and they developed a lifelong thirst for knowledge. Many of these outstanding habits for success arose directly as a result of specific difficult circumstances.

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The Value of Networking

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
by Craille Maguire Gillies

Last Thursday, I went to a lovely rooftop patio and drank cheap Canadian champagne-style bubbly with a green maraschino cherry at the bottom of my glass. It was a work event to bring together the local arts and business communities. The music was good, the people were interesting, and yet I spent most of the night talking with people I already know. I always feel a little sheepish about this because I feel like I must be Productive with a capital P, as though networking were a 10-point to-do list: Must meet and have meaningful interaction with 10 people. Check!

I had, instead, had a meaningful conversation with two or three people, briefly met a few others and left at about 9 p.m. as the rest of the gang headed over to a nearby club.

A few months ago, I was at a conference in Toronto where I met people I had communicated with virtually. It was a put-a-face-to-a-name kind of experience. Though the workshops I attended were useful, far more useful were these casual, usually wine- and food-fuelled, interactions (one gala had a chocolate fountain which I never did find in the cavernous old building).

There were times during the conference when I would swap business cards with strangers, probably never to encounter them again, but there were also encounters with people outside my field doing fascinating work. I met people working on diverse projects in different cities across Canada.

"social networking" Job Trends graph

I know I’m preaching to the converted when I write about the value of networking. But these events, along with building a network through Twitter, Facebook, email and platforms such as LinkedIn, have highlighted the importance of meeting people in public. The American job search behemoth Indeed.com indexed job trends based on its 50 million postings a year and, no surprise, found an enormous surge in work-related social networking. Yet this internet company acknowledges how important in-person meetings are. If only to drink cheap bubbly with maraschino cherries on the bottom.

Professional Networker Laura Levitan’s New Rules of Networking (via FastCompany)

• Always offer to help someone even it you don’t know how to do it. Levitan never turns someone in need down, and if she can’t help, will find someone who can.
• Give selflessly. “When you help someone,” says Levitan, “don’t expect you’ll get something back. While some people will return the favor and others won’t, the important thing is that you’ll feel good making a difference in someone’s life. And I guarantee over time you will see it returned in spades.”
• Don’t forget people. Levitan is always finding ways to help people in her vast network and finding reasons to stay in touch.
• Be clear when you ask for help. “Don’t be frivolous when you reach out to meet people,” advises Levitan. “Give people a valid reason why you want to connect with them.”

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The Hotter the Waitress, the Weaker the Economy?

Monday, August 24th, 2009
by Craille Maguire Gillies
Server Hannah Beckett. Photo by Bryce Meyer for Unlimited

Server Hannah Beckett. Photo by Bryce Meyer for Unlimited

Actors beware. Fellow hotties from the sales industry might be competing for your jobs. Not for that guest spot on Mad Men, but for your waiter and waitress gigs.

According to New York Magazine, not only do attractive, out of work salespeople flock to restaurant jobs when the commissions stop rolling in, but they’re also a reliable indicator of the economic climate. In “What the Hotness of Your Waitress Says About the Economy,” Hugo Lindgren presents the Hot Waitress Index as a leading indicator of economic recovery. When times are good, attractive, outgoing people work in sales. When times are bad, attractive, outgoing salespeople work in restaurants.

Employment is generally thought to lag behind economic recovery, which is to say that jobless rates remain elevated, and even climb, after a recession has technically ended. But hotness occupies a privileged place in the employment picture. As a commodity that’s fairly cheap, historically effective as a marketing tool, and available on a freelance basis, hotness will likely be back in demand long before your average Michigan autoworker is. Or the rest of us, for that matter.

Jane Walls riffs on this over at CNBC. All you need to know, apparently, is that when you don’t get a good-looking waiter or waitress, it’s because they’re all back at their real estate/investment/corporate sales jobs.

On a different note, read Greg Hudson’s “The Serving Trap” about the dangers of working in a restaurant.

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Posted in Careers, Current Events/Social Studies, Daily Blog, recessionomics | No Comments »

Eco Barons

Thursday, August 6th, 2009
by Craille Maguire Gillies

Among all of the new-fangled job titles out there (social media analyst, anyone?), the title eco baron is probably the most coveted. Who wouldn’t want to be the philanthrocapitalist who bankrolls conservation projects and green businesses? Many of these entrepreneurs-turned-environmentalists are featured in Edward Humes’ new book, Eco Barons. And while this is a rarefied field, there were enough wealthy eco barons in 2009 for the Sunday Times to publish its first Green Rich List of tech and business investors. Buffett, Gates and Branson make appearances, along with some lesser known characters as twins Andreas and Thomas Strungmann, who made their fortune in pharmaceuticals.

Eco Barons, a new book by Edward Humes

Eco Barons, a new book by Edward Humes

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Posted in Careers, Daily Blog, I Work Green | No Comments »

Stability Balls vs. Office Chairs

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009
by Jesse Lipscombe

In this episode of Deskercise, a look at how your usual office chair, stability ball and hybrid stability ball/chair stack up.

Plus, we show you a strength-training exercise for your arms. All you need is a large book such as a dictionary (the Oxford Canadian Dictionary is the favourite around Unlimited’s offices). Private school uniform optional.

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Posted in Careers, Daily Blog, Deskercise | 2 Comments »
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