Your Top 5 Career Investments for 2012

It’s 2012 and it’s time to get serious about investing in yourself, your career and your immediate future. January is just around the corner – and that’s reason enough to take action – and hold yourself accountable for a fresh beginning.

As you reflect upon 2011 – here are a few questions to get you started:

1. Did you get better at your work?

2. Did you help advance those around you? Are you a better leader?

3. Are you more influential? Did you advance your organization’s goals?

4. Did you improve your skill set and your mindset?

5. Did your networking generate a positive ROI?

6. Did your perspectives change about what you should be doing for a living?

7. Did the industry you serve discover your unique talent?

8. Were you asked to give a keynote and/or contribute to a blog?

9. Did you “package yourself (your brand)” better for success?

10. Are you making more money? Do you feel more successful and significant?

If you answered “yes” to 80% or more of these questions – your momentum is strong and your 2012 looks bright. If not, here are a few investments you must strongly consider to ensure that your 2012 gets started on the right track:

1. Smaller Networks of Influential People

Invest in a smaller, more focused network of people that can add value to your career and help give you the insights you need to broaden your perspective. Making the right choices in people will save you time, money and frustration.

Unlike the stock market, when people you invest in aren’t adding value, it is unlikely they willc change. Remember your time is your most precious resource. Know that your network values your time and what you bring to the table. Avoid spending time with leeches and loafers.

2. Improve Your Speaking and Negotiation Skills

Speaking and writing represent two of the most important skills for career success. Mastering the art of communication is more important than ever at a time when trust and relationship building is at a premium.

One of the wisest investments I’ve made is taking an improvisational course. Whether you are shy or not, this class makes you think on your feet and keeps you on your toes. Learning to talk about something you don’t know much about is a powerful skill. This is a non-traditional approach of improving your speaking and negotiation abilities. It’s also a great way to broaden your network.

Another step I recommend is to become familiar with the work of Nick Morgan. He is the most effective communications coach in America and his books and blog deliver immediate benefits.

3. Develop Your Wealth in Resources

Entrepreneurship isn’t just a business term anymore; it’s a way of life. You don’t need to be an entrepreneur to be entrepreneurial. In fact, entrepreneurship isn’t just about making money but rather about creating the wealth in resources that authentic relationships can bring.

Resources can have just as much value as money if you know what you are looking for.

4. Play a more Active Role in the Industry You Serve

If you want to advance in your career, give back to your industry. You may be a hero inside the corporate walls, but what do you mean to the industry that your company is serving? Do people know who you are because of the company you represent or because your talent is extraordinary and could help to develop the future generation of industry leaders?

Make a mark and leave your legacy on your industry. Be active, contribute and earn respect from your peers. Down the road they may help your career.

Also, use this opportunity to connect with the leaders in your industry. Know who they are, what they represent and get to know their back stories. Learn how the industry allowed them to succeed.

5. Evaluate Your Investment and Your Own Progress Each Month

Always work to improve yourself by evaluating your own performance. Write your career goals down, and the steps needed to get there. Evaluate the outcomes each month and course-correct as needed. While getting feedback from your peers and your boss is extremely important, over time you must learn how to evaluate yourself.

In the end, you’ll always know if you are making progress and if your investments are paying off. Others can have an opinion, but your gut will tell you if you are making the right investment decisions. Too often people focus on what others want them to be rather than following their own passions. 2012 will be your year if you focus, invest, and stick to your plan.

The Entrepreneurial Spirit is About Connecting the Dots that Don’t Yet Exist

The entrepreneurial spirit isn’t just about money alone.  It’s about building wealth through resources that only great relationship can bring.  It’s about connecting the dots:  those connection points of intelligence, wisdom, desire and ability that exist amongst people and having the intuitiveness to not only know that they exist but what to do with them to continuously cultivate innovation and initiative. This is what Steve Jobs did every day of his life: he used his intuition to connect dots of opportunity that didn’t exist knowing that they would someday.

As we celebrate the life and legacy of Steve Jobs, ask yourself:  how many dots are you connecting on a daily basis?   Are you fueling the life of your ideas by being courageous enough to know where the dots exist?  Or are you unknowingly giving your ideas to others to fuel their selfish agendas?

Steve Jobs was a community-minded leader that focused on the advancement of the world.  He created tools (products) to inspire people to share and advance their own ideas.   Steve Jobs cared about being significant at the risk of his own health along the way.

As you think about the dots you want to connect in your life, I would like to share a quote from Steve Job’s now memorable Stanford University commencement speech in 2005:

“You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

It simple terms:  Trust Yourself.  Trust yourself to think big, make a difference and be impactful in everything you do every day for the betterment of a healthier whole.  You can’t do this alone.   Steve Job’s gift was that he trusted himself enough to navigate his life’s journey in the face of tremendous adversity and along the way he created wealth and opportunities through the resources that only great relationships can bring.

Thank you, Steve Jobs for your trusting yourself enough to connect the dots that didn’t exist to change the world.  

 

 

 

Why Your Resume is Becoming Extinct and What to Do About it

As America’s corporations try to figure out how to compete in the global economy, we all need to step back and examine our own abilities and if they are still relevant.     More than ever, employees are reflecting upon their careers and what the future has in store for them.   Some are scared and most uncertain about their career advancement and how to avoid a personal recession. Unfortunately in today’s marketplace an old-fashioned resume just isn’t enough.

When was the last time you reviewed that old resume in detail?  Have you noticed that the success stories that once gave you leverage no longer have the same impact as they did before?   How do you plan to manage your career and its advancement when your resume and skills are becoming extinct?

With the recent announcement by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that America’s unemployment poses a national crisis ringing in our ears, more and more of us are having trouble getting jobs because we are no longer qualified for the jobs that are available. The bottom line is that the market is moving too fast for old skills to remain relevant. 

On top of that, the traditional workplace makes it very difficult for you to market the internally focused skills you’ve developed working at your current job.    The skills sets that we have been taught in the workplace and in business schools no longer are transferable and quickly lose their value.  Through outsourcing and crowdsourcing, it has become much easier and less risky for companies to borrow talent for a defined period of time rather than assuming the growing costs of employment as healthcare inflates and 401ks become less attractive to retain talent.

What steps should you take now to keep yourself relevant?  A few things to reflect upon:

1. What are the characteristics that make you relevant in your work today?
   1. a.     How do they contribute to your success and eventually significance in the organization you serve?   Are you actively investing in these characteristics?   Your investment isn’t just about money alone, but how you are developing the right network of people that can help you make the best investment decisions in support of these (6) characteristics.
2. Are you building your personal employee brand?
   • Ask 20 people to answer the following questions about you
   1. What is your enduring idea? 
   2. What is your primary differentiator?
   3. What is the primary experience that you deliver to those around you?
   4. Whom does your personal employee brand serve?
       If 90% (18 out of 20) give you the same responses, you have a powerful identity that you need to leverage more actively in creating opportunities that matter for your career goals.  If that number is below 90%, you have some work to do and I highly recommend that you download my eBook, Why a Personal Employee Brand will Save Your Career and Your Workplace.    Having an identity that you can control in the workplace is tremendously important before you get ready to make your next move.  

3.  What is your unique Point of View (POV)? 

What gets others to talk about your ideas and perspectives in meaningful and purposeful ways? What is your unique point of view (POV) that can cultivate new growth opportunities for your existing employer – or a new one?  Your POV must help guide a new type of conversation that broadens your impact and influence and that showcases your skills with other influencers in the organization. In today’s marketplace, you must work to get discovered!

I recently met with a senior executive who had just been laid off.   He was not given a legitimate excuse by his employer, just a formal six months’ notice.  When I asked him to answer the aforementioned questions, amongst others, he did not have any real answers.  He looked at me with a blank stare then quickly referred to his resume and reference letters as if to impress me. When he asked me to be frank about my observations of him and his situation, I said, “You have lost your relevancy. You have no game.  Though you have an impressive background and education full of awards and accolades, you need to rewire yourself to think differently about how you represent, sell and package yourself for today’s marketplace.”  Upon reflection he said, “Thank you for the truth, I can’t disagree.  I have worked for my current employer for over 25 years and have lost touch with how the marketplace has changed and what is required to create impact and be relevant.  I have spent most of my career selling people internally that speak the same language and I’m wired to operate in a linear thinking environment.  It’s time for me to start over.”

These are the realities for most of today’s employees and those in transition.   Most people just don’t know how to sell themselves in a genuine way that represents who they really are and the value they are capable of offering an organization.  I suggest that you videotape yourself delivering a 30 second elevator pitch.  Do you like how you sell, what you sound like and the impact that you create? Evaluate yourself critically because in the end you must trust yourself enough to feel that you can make a difference, be relevant, impactful and hirable.   

Here a few final tips that you should be able to consistently deliver to make yourself relevant in your search for career stability, advancement and new opportunities as you navigate the changing terrain:

• Embrace Your Immigrant Values:  focus on seeing and seizing opportunities previous unseen by being your authentic self in the workplace. 

• Always Mitigate Risk:  embrace the ability to lead and manage crisis and change.  Allow risk to be your best friend.  Make sure that others know that you are comfortable with transformational changes.
• Trust Yourself:  never give up in your passionate pursuit to make things happen that make a difference to those around you.  Think about those around just as much as yourself.  This means that you are a dependable team player.
• Be a Thought Leader: share your ideas and ideals freely to help those around you achieve their goals.  Share the harvest of the momentum you are building with others every day by being a community-minded leader.
• Be a Focused Farmer:  shift your mindset to continuously cultivate new ideas in the most fertile grounds.    Continually sow seeds of opportunity that focus on building relationships, advancing commerce and that better humanity. 
• Legacy Builder:  focus on leaving a legacy for the organization your serve and its people so they can teach others how to do the same.     

 Armed with these new approaches to your career and your current job, you can increase your relevance, your portability, and your personal employee brand.  Each of us must take on this challenge to keep ourselves relevant as we navigate the difficult economic waters of the current unstable recovery – and a highly uncertain future job market. 

4 Skills that Give Women a Sustainable Advantage Over Men

In a recent study by Pepperdine University, women in top positions reported beating the industry average in terms of productivity and profitability.  Beth E. Mooney, CEO of KeyCorp, just became the first ever woman chief of a top 20 US Bank. In fact, nearly 52% of managerial or professional positions are now held by women, according to a Catalyst, July, 2011 report. More women are obtaining MBAs than ever before in history. Yet, although major strides have been made by women in every industry, there are only 28 female CEOs in the Fortune 1000 companies according to the Catalyst, August 2011 report.

Nonetheless, it is clear that women are reshaping the landscape of business.  Women are naturally wired to think, act and innovate like immigrants.  Women, more than men, have the ability to see what others don’t, do what others won’t and keep pushing their ideas and ideals when prudence says quit.

These skills taken together mean that women are better than men at earning serendipity! Here’s the breakdown:

1.     Women are Opportunity Experts

Women see opportunity in everything and everyone – their neighbors, friends, family, business associates, strategic partners, etc. Women have the ability to see opportunity and give their ideas life and inspire others to do the same. Women, when given the opportunity to be themselves, are natural leaders!

I have seen time and again how women are much more strategic, focused and keep their eye on the prize.  They are not easily distracted and don’t get their egos in the way.  That is why women just don’t see opportunity, they seize it.   Look at the list of the top women CEO’s world-wide.  Impressive!   Review this list of the 50 most powerful women in America.  Pay attention to these women:  they are reinventing America’s enterprises. 

2.     Women are Networking Professionals

Women are masters of navigation and putting their ideas to the test is their gift. They do this through networking. They follow-up and make sure they sow their seeds of ideas in the most fertile networking ground. Additionally, their inherent ability to be creative allows for the discovery of opportunities that most miss.

The ROI of your business network is only valuable if those in it are willing to risk in your growth.  Unlike men, women stick together and protect one another (though many would equally say that women also fiercely compete against each other too).   At the initial stages of networking, women are gracious and generous in their ability to give and open doors for one another.   They want to feel as if they are making an impact, helping to make a difference in the lives of others.

3.     Women Seek to be Relationship Specialists

Women are specialists at cultivating relationships that are purposeful, genuine and meaningful. They focus on growing healthy, long-lasting relationships. Women don’t quit. They thrive at creating and sustaining momentum for both themselves and others.

Women are masters at facilitating connection points between people, resources and relationships.  This is why women are such effective and efficient leaders.  They don’t waste time and can quickly identify areas to consolidate, organize and strengthen business outcomes.  In fact, some of the best project managers I know are women.  Their attention to detail is uncanny and their ability to track, evaluate and manage change is impressive.  They aim to assure the betterment of a healthier whole.

4.     Women are Natural Givers

Women seek to give to others but also to their communities. Why do you think most non-profits are run by women? Women enjoy living their lives through a cause that serves the advancement and acceleration of societal needs.  This is why in the workplace women are great at inspiring and lifting those around them.  This is why most women leaders are such excellent long-term strategic thinkers.  They are less inclined to rally behind a short-term strategy if a more sustainable approach can be executed.

Additionally, women are socially conscious leaders that serve to cultivate innovation and initiative for both themselves and others.  No wonder the fastest growing sector of small business owners in America are women.

In the end, women are more naturally inclined to represent the immigrant perspective on business leadership.  Like the immigrant, they are wired to survive and thrive in fast-changing times like these and can lead fast changing organizations that desire sustainable growth.  

May this immigrant perspective on business leadership serve you well.

Set a Career Strategy Now to Beat Your Competitors!

We all recognize that in today’s marketplace we must create a strategy for change in our career, whether it's within a current role or taking on an entirely new career path.  Unfortunately, most people just don’t trust themselves enough to define their career strategy since this is the basis for ultimate accountability and transparency.   Yet, given our challenging economic times, our economy can no longer wait.  People must stop procrastinating and start defining their career strategy not only for their own advancement but also for the betterment of a healthier whole.   America’s reinvention and the fiercely competitive global marketplace demand it.   The marketplace is just moving too fast and most people don’t even realize that their market value is quickly becoming a commodity. Especially since the rules of business engagement are being redefined by developing countries. 

International business leaders believe America’s workplace is lazy and unable to contribute in meaningful and purposeful ways to the weakening economy.   They believe America’s current economic duress is nothing compared to the reform, revolution and the wars that have been fought for independence and democracy in developing countries.   As such, these business leaders are carefully monitoring each move we make and how we are reacting to the unexpected changes in our business climate. 

As more immigrants invest in themselves to pursue the American dream, US-based companies are looking actively to recruit them.   The United States may be the land of opportunity, but those who lead America’s corporations are disproportionally immigrants with an immigrant's hungry perspective.  This means that today’s workforce must pay more attention to their foreign-born counterparts that are perceived as more able to thrive in today’s fast changing times.  

What does this mean to you?  Don’t get comfortable with your career status.  

More than ever, you must refresh your perspective and evaluate your skills sets and capabilities to see what has already lost its value.  In fact, ask your boss how relevant you are to your organization and its future.  One thing is certain:  you should be more concerned about whether you are investing in the right skills sets and leadership aptitude. 

With America’s growing reputation of employing a lazy workforce that doesn’t want to roll-up their sleeves and get their hands dirty, our US-based value proposition of the past is becoming difficult to sell.  It’s time to lift your game. 

You must define your career strategy with just as much focus as Pepsi does when competing against Coke.  There is a new game in town that most people are ignoring.   This game is neither being defined nor made in America.   It is being crafted by developing countries that are emerging as new world leaders and the new American Fortune 500 founders.

What are you passionate about?  What excites you most?  This should define your career strategy and inspire you.  This is what your foreign-born competitors are doing.   They are focused and are willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to tend to their family, cultivate their legacy and make a difference that matters.

It’s time to revitalize our passion and desire to compete, get better and make a difference in our careers.  Define your career strategy today before it’s too late!   

Note:  If you are interested in knowing whether or not you are applying the skills-sets and capabilities that are most relevant for you to succeed and thrive in today’s new workplace, please take the following assessment.   This assessment will specifically measure your ability to use the (6) natural characteristics that define your immigrant values in your everyday work life; the immigrant values that exist within you and that will give you a competitive advantage in today’s fiercely competitive global marketplace.

Entrepreneurship Just Isn’t a Business Term Anymore; it’s a Way of Life!

Every week with the current American government is a new crisis, a new set of challenges for a nation whose people have grown accustomed to government solving its problems.  And we certainly are facing a slew of economic and social problems.  But compounding problems is that this recession is much different than any other.  This time, the solution is dependent more on the individual, not government.   But is the individual ready to step up?

The balance of power has shifted to the individual.  The requirements to successfully reinvent has moved away from the corporation and its brand(s) to being more dependent upon the skills sets and capabilities of its employees who must be more entrepreneurial than ever just to survive.  And one thing is certain:  entrepreneurship just isn’t a business term anymore, it’s a way of life.  You don’t need to be in a start up to be entrepreneurial.  You must simply make the decision to cultivate the entrepreneurial attitude.

The C-suite may have influence in the workplace, but it doesn’t have all the answers.  In working with corporate executives, I’ve been struck again and again at how hollow the C-suite has become.  Executives are not in touch with the realities of the marketplace.  Many have forgotten how to speak to clients and cultivate relationships.  Many of them have lost their own relevancy and should be filing for early retirement.  

The traditional business school approach driven by analytics, forecasting and spreadsheet business modeling has lost its momentum.    Executives must stop being the gate-keepers to their board members and start taking on a new level of responsibility that forces them to be transparent, and to re-engage with their employees and the marketplace with determination and passion.

In today's marketplace, those people that touch the business have the real pulse on what the marketplace requires and therefore must be allowed to exercise their entrepreneurial spirit, regardless of hierarchy or rank.  We are living in the middle of one of the most uncertain times since the Depression.  Since corporations can no longer predict the future based on the past, uncertainty is high.   Everyone must be on the lookout for new opportunities and new types of innovations for America’s corporations to regain their competitive advantage.

When my father lost his mother country to Castro’s revolution in Cuba, he had to reinvent himself many times before calling the United States his home.   He told me often that if he hadn’t taken action during times of adversity that he would have been an incomplete person.

How many times has your gut told you during times of adversity to take action, but you didn’t?  Instead you wait for those around you to take the calculated risks you were hesitant to take yourself?  Leadership today requires a "get it done" attitude; one that reconnects to the front lines and reengages with customers, business partners, end users, and so on.  If your boss is spending time creating Excel spreadsheets and fancy PowerPoint presentations to inspire the team, tell her to get in the game. 

It's time for corporations to start rewiring their leaders, focusing them externally, allowing their employees to broaden their skills sets.  They must unleash the entrepreneurial spirit that lies within every one of their greatest innovation and growth assets:  their people.

4 Ways to Regain Control of Your Identity in the Workplace

There is a severe identity crisis in the workplace that is reducing productivity, minimizing trust and setting people back in their careers.  Employees are confused, stuck and anxious to be recognized during a time when most are doing more for less. They don't know how to fit in a workplace that is fueled with false promises and unexpected outcomes without preparation.  

America’s employees are losing their identity and their skill-sets are becoming outdated while their employers try to figure out their future.  If employers continue to hold their employees hostage to the problem, workplace performance will be strained and dissatisfaction will continue to rise with no real solutions in sight.

Recently, I met with an executive from a Fortune 50 company who shared his workplace frustration and his own identity crisis. “My company brand defines me.  My job title is my credential.  My quarterly evaluation binds me.   I am told that I am next to being promoted only to find my boss is leaving the organization.  My boss controls my future.    I am forced to start over by proving that I am still worthy of the "next in line status."

Does this sound familiar?  Do you ever feel that your identity has become marginalized because your self-worth as an employee has become define by an employer that only views you as head-count liability rather than a valuable asset? 

In today’s new normal, people want to be part of a workplace culture that allows them to be their natural, authentic self.  An identity that supports their own personal reinvention efforts to be more purposeful, responsible and accountable in the workplace.   Following are 4 ways to regain control of your identity in the workplace and help your employer reinvent itself and reestablish its own identity in the global market at the same time.

#1: Adopt a new mindset.

You have to shift your thinking from the organization as provider to the organization as enabler. The good news: It’s now a place for you to bring your whole self, rather than just fulfilling a job function. In a more profound sense, you need to start thinking of yourself as a participant in a larger whole, rather than merely a worker at a particular company. You’re part of a greater community, one defined by those areas of expertise and interest that you share with people well beyond the limits of the organization itself. So while your new position may feel riskier in some senses, in other ways you will begin to feel greater security as you explore, develop, and inhabit that community.

Too many people in the workplace have stopped being thinkers because they have become conditioned to being doers. As employee brands, we must become thought leaders and help others do the same. We must view ourselves as social entrepreneurs in the workplace, constantly enabling new opportunities for the betterment of a healthier whole.

#2: Invest in yourself continuously.

Large organizations in the past could support you with an impressive array of resources and professional development. In the new normal, post-recession, economically constrained landscape, many of those resources have now been limited or lost entirely. You’re going to have to get by with less in the new workplace. You’re going to have to work smarter. You’re going to have to be more resourceful in ways you never had to before. You must think like an entrepreneur in how you navigate, survive and thrive in the new economy. You must think like an immigrant.

Invest in your skill-sets independently of what your employer does for you.  In today’s competitive talent landscape, your identity will be shaped over a longer period of time.   You must fully develop your assets in order for your employer to discover them.  This only happens with your continuous investment in yourself.   How much money did you invest in yourself?  Like an entrepreneur, you must put skin in the game in order to reap the rewards of your investment.   If you haven’t started, create an investment plan for your own individual employee brand and start becoming more influential in your workplace today!

#3: Adjust your vision; shift your focus.

The linear thinking that was possible when you worked in a large corporation with many other work groups to complete the project you started, the process you moved along, the sale you initiated – is no longer possible. You need to see with wide-angle vision. Like the immigrant leader who sees around corners and ahead in time to anticipate both troubles and opportunities, you must let go of your one dimensional existence and become fully three-dimensional.

With this wide-angle vision comes the responsibility to manage your personal employee brand with proper focus. Today, our vision is clouded with distractions, data overload and the uncertainty of the economy. You must stay focused on your personal employee brand to create momentum.

Several years ago, Donald Trump hired a famous business consultant to understand why he was able to build his fortune but then later was forced to file for bankruptcy. After months of research and discovery, the consultant concluded that Mr. Trump had trouble staying focused and thus lost his momentum. What did he do? He applied Step 3.

Stop getting trapped in all of the noise of the new economy. Your responsibility is to create and participate in activities that will keep you focused to sustain momentum. Remember this: winners focus, losers spray.

#4: Get to know the real hierarchy in your organization.

Every organization has a formal hierarchy and an informal one. The formal one is defined by what is noted on the organizational chart. In the traditional corporate org chart, this is a political diagram that defines accountability and authority. The informal hierarchy represents those employees that actually get the work done. Don’t follow the traditional org chart. In the new workplace you must identify where trust and transparency exist. You must discover the people who can help you make things happen, not just the people who have the titles. Find the real influencers – those people that seek to create initiative and innovation.

Surround yourself with people who help make you more relevant, more knowledgeable and more meaningful. You must constantly take the pulse of your organization to be active in the real hierarchy. You must make your real identity more noticeable and make your contributions count in the organization. And that’s the way to contribute both to your own advancement as well as the advancement of the company.

Do you have control of your identity in the workplace?  

I would like to hear your stories and perspectives.  It’s a hot topic and your peers want to know how others are handling this time-sensitive matter.

 

Is Your Organization’s Leadership Internally or Externally Motivated?

Is your company’s leadership motivated by external deadlines – what other people request from them? Or are they motivated by their own internal deadlines – expectations and demands they place on themselves?

Unfortunately, we have all witnessed too many leaders who are externally motivated.   They require demands from their boss and reminders from their colleagues in order to get things done.  At a time where we need leaders in the workplace to touch the business just as much as they lead it, external motivation is unacceptable in today’s new business climate.   Leaders are spending too much time playing it safe, when they should be taking calculated risks to be more innovative, decisive and forward-thinking in their actions.

Think about what the workplace and its people would be like if leaders where internally motivated. 

1.     A More Innovative Workplace Culture. 

Internally motivated leaders inspire their employees and colleagues to match their internal fire, bringing out the innovators in everyone.  Employees become more critical in their thinking.  People become more aware of their own “employee brand” and how its relevance can best support leadership and align with the organizations goals and objectives.  An innovative culture would help the high performance employees stand out from those that just play it safe. 

2. More Critical Thinking; Adaptive Teamwork. 

People become more critical in their thinking, approach and style to their leadership. Do you adapt your thinking to your leadership?  I am shocked by those who are constantly complaining about their boss.   First of all, there is no such thing as a perfect boss.  Second, tough luck!   Your responsibility is not to always agree with your boss, but rather exceed her expectations.  Therefore, if your boss is internally motivated; learn how to stay a few steps ahead.  Perhaps you can become the employee that fuels your boss’s internally driven motivations and ultimate success.  Be a lifter.  Help others become better all the time, even if you are not always getting the direct credit.  Your time will come.  Helping others must fuel your internal motivations.

I’m reminded of my early corporate years, when my boss would always surprise the team with new expectations for the business and challenge our approach to growth.  Over time, I began to realize that my thought processes started to change.  I was being challenged to express my entrepreneurial spirit in a manner that forced me to out-think my boss.  Not in a competitive sense, but in a holistic sense that pushed me to better understand her patterns of thought and how I could become her secret weapon without anyone knowing.  Overtime, we both understood my role and I began to share what I learned with others on the team to do the same, encouraging their own style and approach.  Our team became the highest performing division in the organization.

Innovation is the by-product of internal motivation.   The greatest leaders are the ones that can take their internal motivations and cultivate innovation from within their communities.

The best leadership team I was a part of was the most unorganized.   The organization was not measured by structures, but rather driven by continuous innovation to keep our competitors honest.  While the lack of structure challenged our ability to be efficient, every leader was internally motivated to produce new marketable ideas.  Not small ideas, but big ideas that could leverage the existing infrastructure of the organization to extend itself beyond its own boundaries.   It’s amazing how much more people can do when their future was based on their ability to convert inventions into innovations.  This begins with leadership that is motivated from within.

If you looked at your company’s organizational chart, could you easily detect the leaders that are internally versus externally motivated?  If you are one of the externally motivated leaders, would this be obvious to others?  How about your colleagues?  What drives them?  Are you an asset or a liability to your organization?

I welcome your viewpoints and stories about the leaders in your workplace.