Help wanted!

To date, this has been my most popular blog – originally posted in August of 2011.  I’m re-running it in case you missed it.  Great tips for hiring managers in addition to those seeking a new job.  Let me know what you think!

I heard a tip from someone the other day.  Hire slow and fire fast!  My experience has been that many managers hire fast and are pretty slow to fire.

When you’re short staffed there’s a lot of pressure to get another body in to help.  What can happen, you hire someone… Continue reading

I QUIT!

A friend asked me the other day – when do you admit defeat and refocus vs. when do you keep driving and going forward?  How do you know?  Here are some thoughts.

Thought 1:  You don’t have to do something forever – jobs, careers, businesses, relationships can run their course and can cease to make sense or be relevant.  Another way to think of quitting is… trading up, shifting, focusing, clarifying, changing course, bringing to a conclusion, phasing out, moving on, putting it to rest, stopping, retiring.  Insert any one of these phrases for quitting… Continue reading

FEAR!

We all have it, it’s in our nature and keeps us alive.  When there is physical fear, the feeling alerts us to get away to someplace safe.  When the fear is in our head (no tiger stalking you), it serves to make us more aware.  It’s an indication that something is happening which could mean we’re growing, taking more risk, or change is marching forward.

There is no need to deny the fear or ignore it; it won’t go away that way and it will begin to control our actions.  Better to face it as an… Continue reading

Players vs. Pretenders

I recently read an interesting article from the John Maxwell Company that offered some great tips on identifying who your players on your team are versus who are the pretenders.  Pretenders look the part and talk the part, but fall short in fulfilling the part.  They can disrupt your entire team.  Pretenders put their personal agenda before the team.

Check out these tips to distinguish between the two.

1.  Players have a servant’s mindset; pretenders have a selfish mindset.  Players do things for the benefit of others and the organization, while pretenders think only… Continue reading

Competition!

Does the very word scare you or energize you?  Do you run a small business and the competition is a bigger business?  Are you in an organization and competing for the next promotion?  Is competition a threat or a motivator?  Here are some thoughts about competition.

Thought one:  Limit your focus.  I’ve seen businesses and people fail because they are too focused and too concerned about their competition.  It’s great to know what others are doing in the market place or at work.  Use this information as a way to… Continue reading