On Halloween of last year, I released an e-book on how to land your dream job. It was a side project that crossed my mind that summer. In the fall I finally took action and, in short order, released the e-book on my blog. Earlier in my career, I did a fantastic job of writing off the power, nay, the necessity of networking in the 21st century job market. I quickly reverted this unproductive mindset during my MBA program at the Gustavson School of Business. The program did a great job of placing emphasis on networking. Not only that, the school offered a wealth of connections for students to tap into. This gave me the opportunity to connect with a number of professionals in my field of interest – consulting. By hustling, and proving myself through the interview process, I landed by dream internship at the Victoria office of a prominent accounting and advisory firm.

After my degree, I accepted a position in the financial services sector as a Business Analyst Lead.  It was then that I decided I wanted to share my career journey and to help others with their career paths. By writing an e-book on networking, I connected with others who were establishing their careers. It was a good feeling to help others. What happened next I did not anticipate at all. I was contacted by someone from my alumni network who I previously met after I had secured my first post-MBA job. My blog caught his attention and he asked if I had any materials on mentoring frameworks. I provided what I could, and in his reply he mentioned an opening where he worked – at a Big 4 consulting firm. I always had aspirations to become a senior consultant at a Big 4 firm after graduation and this helped put my name on the firm’s radar. While I was more than satisfied with my then current role in industry, this was my dream job and it was an opportunity I could not pass up.

I went through a rigorous four rounds of interviews that included being interviewed by partners, a director and senior managers. After I received an offer, I was elated and proud of myself. I reached a very big career milestone that I had set out to achieve. A milestone I had essentially left in the rear view mirror previously, as I was happy working in industry and knew that transitioning back to the consulting world is often challenging. And I did it!

While I always believed in the power of networking, I did not anticipate that my e-book would be a vehicle for that. My intention was helping others make an impact in their careers and achieving a milestone of my own by releasing an e-book. The ripple effect in elevating my career to the next level was not an expectation. By helping others land their dream job, I landed my dream job in the process. And I’m very grateful for that.

The best part of this story is that this is something any driven professional can achieve by taking a different approach to the same goal.

Here are four ways for you to get going right away:

1.     Get a .com domain name

This is paramount. You should either use a .com url extension or one dedicated to your country (e.g. ".ca" for Canada). While registering a domain name comes with a cost, it is the best investment you can make to promote your brand. If your name as a domain is not available as a .com or for your country's extension, be creative to find a domain name that is available. You could use your middle initial or put your designation at the end of the domain name. If you do not have a registered domain name and opt to go with a free domain name, this will represent your brand. Consciously or unconsciously, your credibility could be questioned by readers and potential employers. Be official and make that a priority.

2.     Use an easy website development platform to create your site

Unless you have a background in HTML and JavaScript, this is a no brainer. There are a host of website development platforms that allow you to quickly and fairly intuitively create a professional quality website. Mine took about one afternoon to create. I used Square Space to create my website. Two other prominent platforms are WordPress and Wix. Take a look at these and decide which one works best for you.

3.     Get the word out

The beauty of using a website development platform to create your site is that it seamlessly allows you to push your content out to social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. This will allow you to develop a following right off the bat, even if it is just your inner circle. Having your posts and insights on social media feeds will keep people in the know when you publish something new. It also gives them quick access to the content without having to check your website on their own.

4.     Focus on giving

You likely have a lot of insights to offer in your field of expertise. Even when you are still trying to determine what that field is, your discovery process is in itself valuable for others to hear while forging their own paths. The world has a way of reciprocating back what you give to it. So be outcome independent and good things will happen for you. Look at things through a lens of abundance, where prosperity and knowledge should be shared rather than hoarded, and you will lead a life of abundance.

So I hope this story inspires you to start a blog or releasing an e-book (or both!). Aim high. This is a great way of getting you that much closer to your dream job. It showcases who you are to employers and establishes your brand beyond the confines of LinkedIn.

So what are you waiting for?

Do you have questions about how to start a blog or write an e-book? See how I did it with my free e-book on Landing Your Dream Job and leave a comment below – I will answer as many questions that you have for me. I’m ready, are you?

Going in for an interview can feel like being on the most public stage imaginable. The stakes are high and every move of yours is being observed and analyzed to the Nth degree. Everyone has had an interview where they walk out feeling like they are on top of the world. And everyone has definitely had that feeling in the pit of their stomach when things seemed to have gone terribly wrong and where their chances of landing the job seem like they went down faster than the Hindenburg. I plan to delve extensively into interview preparation so you can interview like a pro. Today, I would like to present 5 small changes to your interview approach that will drastically improve your success rate in landing your dream job.

And speaking of slight change leading to big results - a mentor of mine once provided me with a great analogy. In a prior career he was training to become a chef. Part of this process entailed he cut enough carrots in a shift to feed a small country. Not only were these carrots to be cut, they were to be cut evenly and precisely to look presentable as part of a dish. Suffice to say, this was a difficult undertaking and he continued to have the same lacklustre results using the same technique. Go figure. At some point, he modified his cutting technique by ever so slightly adjusting the angle of his protective hand, and in the turn, the blade, leading to a dramatic improvement in both his cutting capacity and the quality of his results.

Interviewing is similar to cutting a bag of carrots. You need to take the right approach to accomplish your goal. And the right approach is likely not going be that much different than what you have been doing all along. 

Here are 5 things you can start to do right away to improve your interview results:

1.     Weave your knowledge about the company into your conversation

When I was a hiring manager, I was generally impressed by the research candidates did before an interview. This information typically came out when I asked them what they knew about the company. And while this is a completely fine place to showcase the homework you’ve done on the company, you can take this to the next level by incorporating it into other parts of the conversation. A place I like to incorporate this is when I asked the interviewer questions about the firm. For example, “I know your organization ranks as one of the leading environmentally friendly firms in the country, what initiatives is the firm currently working on in this regard?” Another place to weave in this information is when answering behavioural questions. If you are asked how, for example, you’ve adapted in the past to a new environment, you can mention the benefits of having a mentor at your old workplace and how you are excited about their formal mentorship program for new employees.

2.     Know your interviewer

Some people feel it can come across as creepy to look up an interviewer’s Linkedin profile and reference your research to them during the interview. I take the opposite stance. If you stick to LinkedIn and cursory Google searches, there is nothing to hide about reading up on who is interviewing you. It shows your interest in the job, the firm and, of course, the person interviewing you. And everyone likes to feel important! In the first round interview for my current job, I mentioned that I noticed the person interviewing me held a Project Management Professional (PMP) designation, something I was considering preparing for in the coming years. I asked him what the process was like attaining the designation and how it had helped him as a project manager. I was genuinely interested and, because of this, my question was well received.

3.     Have more than three great questions prepared and written down

One misconception about interviews is that you need to have your questions memorized. I used to think that way and did just that. Now, I come in with a binder that contains 5 questions for the interviewer. Usually a couple get answered during the interview so I have a few left as backups at the end. The beauty of writing questions down is that it shows you have come prepared, you will be able to ask the questions without jumbling your words and, most importantly, you can showcase your active listening skills by writing notes as you receive your answer and then reflecting back on this feedback to the interviewer. This is a highly effective method of showing how you would work in a collaborative setting that is client focused.  It’s almost like you are giving the interviewer a preview of what an on-the-job meeting would be like with you. And that’s the kind of impression you want to make.

4.     Use people’s names

This is brought up as one of the tenets in How to Win Friends and Influence People. There is no sweeter word that people like to hear than their own name. It also shows a level of respect to greet them with it. Remember to include your interviewer’s name both when you begin and when you end your interaction with them.

5.     And show gratitude

This goes hand-in-hand with using people’s names – express that you are grateful for the opportunity to be interviewed and for their time, both at the beginning and at the end of the interview. Never assume people can read your mind (news alert: they can't) and intuitively know you are grateful for the opportunity to meet with them – say so!

While I will have more on how to ace your next interview in upcoming posts, these five tips will help you stand out from many other candidates - that’s a big carrot dangling as a reward for such a small shift in your approach.

Do you want to learn more about how to get your foot in the door to interview for your dream job? Check out my free ebook How to Land Your Dream Job - and network like a pro!

I love this question. I love it because it’s such a polarizing one. There has not been one article I have yet to come across on the old WWW that has definitively answer the question: should you follow your passion or go for the money? For some, money isn’t a huge consideration so the answer might appear to be clear. I would argue that this is not on the money (sorry, I had to go for the pun) at all. Why? Because holding down a job, let alone developing a career, is becoming an increasingly difficult undertaking in the 21st century. There are jobs today that many could not have envisioned being in existence and many jobs that either no longer exist, or are endangered species. This has all to do with the rise of technology in the workplace and our increasingly globalized world. So even if money is not a big consideration, one can find themselves completely out a job depending on their occupation or industry. We definitely live in interesting times when navigating our careers.

At the same time, who wants to be stuck in a job they despise regardless of the pay? Sure, people are willing to do that. Ultimately though, it isn’t something people wish for but rather something they settle for.

So sure, if you are passionate about a recession proof, technology proof line of work – let’s say database administration or nursing – you can skip this article altogether. The majority of readers however fall somewhere between passion and money, between a recession/technology proof job and an endangered one. So all those people in that Titanic sized zone, I present a middle ground: follow your passion while trending towards the future. What does that mean? Well it means that you are doing an activity for financial compensation that you enjoy in a way that takes into account the accelerating pace of technology advancement that is changing how our jobs look like.

It’s apparent that digitization of work is here to stay. Let’s take a journalist as an example of an endangered career choice. This is a field that is going extinct like the dodo bird. With the rise of independent journalism and in the age of the internet where there is no end of news sources, jobs in journalism are drying up quickly. If I were coaching someone with this background, I would give them the following advice:

1.     Be curious and try new things

You never know where a hidden passion may lie. The great thing about a lifetime is that there is so much opportunity to discover yourself and what makes you happy and fulfilled. If you asked me 10 years ago if I would ever participate in Tough Mudder, I’d likely have said no chance in hell. I know for a fact when it came to moving to Colombia to learn Spanish back in 2013 that I would have never considered the move even a year prior. So don’t underestimate the number of passions you have yet to unlock and awaken. Research what type of jobs are on the rise. Read up and watch youtube videos on different industries and types of work. Connect with people on LinkedIn that are outside your line of work to learn more. Every day is a great opportunity to discover more about yourself.

2.     Make your passion more relevant

In our example of the journalist, investigation and writing are two foundational skills of the job. Well if these skills can be repositioned towards growing fields such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, video game design or virtual reality, there is a good chance people with these skills will find themselves in higher demand. A journalist could choose to become an authority in their field on one of these areas as a starting point. Shifting writing skills to technical writing for IT projects and firms would also allow someone with this background to ride the tech wave.

3.     Re-certify with your passion in mind

This is an extension of making your passion more relevant. In many cases, you will need more education and certification to crack a new field. If an artist wants to get into video game design, they likely need to get new training. If you don’t have the luxury of attending a program full time, consider night courses or at a minimum a MOOC.

4.     Make your passion a side project

This can be a very viable option, especially for those who work jobs that they have little passion for and are doing it to maintain their lifestyle. An auditor could make their love of pottery their focus outside of work – and even generate a side income from that! For some, their passion could eventually supplant their day job with a bit of business savvy and tenacity. In the meantime, their day job serves a very important purpose.

5.     Be patient

Nothing good comes quickly. It takes time to build something great. Make steady progress towards finding that sweet spot between your passion and a viable career. Also, please be gentle on yourself along the way. It’s not always a straight line nor a smooth ride.

I feel very fortunate that I have found a job with growth potential that combines a couple of my passions. I love working with data as well as with people. I enjoy giving presentations, learning and teaching. All these elements fill my time at work. I had to reposition myself on several occasions throughout my career to get here. And I did this by adhering to the five points I listed above.

Post your questions below on finding the sweet spot between your passion and your career, and I'll respond!

Are you passionate about finding your dream job? Check out my free e-book on how to network your way to your dream job!

Ah, the Millennials. Often maligned and misunderstood, especially in the workplace. Generational differences fascinate me. Each generation brings its unique cocktail of strengths, weaknesses and quirks. Millennials have a reputation of being great team players and collaborators. They want to simultaneously fit in and standout. And these two desires are not mutually exclusive. As a relatively large generation, career focused Millennials have already left their mark and will increasingly influence the evolution of today’s workplace as Baby Boomers retire. This provides an opportunity for more Millennials to take on leadership roles and to guide the path of their organizations.

Great leaders set the tone for their organizations in all facets, whether it be the strategic objectives, workplace culture or recruitment efforts. Organizations ultimately want leaders who can bring new levels of success to the company. Great leaders can draw upon their past experiences from what they have learned on the job. This allows them to tap into the issues that matter and to facilitate solutions. These are well rounded individuals who can effectively tackle a multitude of issues.

So how do you get there? How do you build the right experience to become a great leader?  

I have my 8 (count em!) best pieces of advice to become a great leader right here for you:

Focus on making an impact

Outcome independence is one of the hardest yet most important states of mind necessary to be successful. This is something that took me a while to get to and now that I am there, it has made a tremendous difference in my career progression and overall contentment. Instead of primarily focusing on your ultimate career goals (e.g. I want to be in <insert dream job> by the year 2020), put a greater emphasis on the impact you are making in the here and now. This could be how you bring great results in your current role, the education or additional training you pursue or how you push yourself out of your comfort zone. I think having goals is important, both in the short term and long term. I also believe that most career paths are not a linear, straight line and outcomes are not so predictable, regardless of how it might look like right now. It’s amazing how focusing on making an impact can lead to your intended outcomes. It has for me in my career – my career progression has taken place in times where I was focused on how I could bring my best everyday rather than focusing on where I “should” be in a year or 5 years.

Find a Mentor

What better way to learn lessons than drawing upon experiences of others with more experience than yourself! I am a huge proponent of having at least one mentor in your life. It could be someone you know professionally or personally. The key thing is that you can be vulnerable around a mentor, you can share your hopes and dreams as well as your fears as you navigate your career. Many people enjoy taking someone under their wing who has great aspirations and enthusiasm. I know that this is the case for me; I enjoy taking a call or having a coffee with someone who wants to learn more about my experiences and possibly draw from them.

Be Curious

And this leads to my next piece of advice – be curious. This means not taking everything at face value and being inquisitive. Asking questions to learn more about things you are unfamiliar with will help expand your knowledge. Over time you will also learn how to better ask the right questions at the right time. A good, quick framework I like to use is the Who, What, Where, Why, When and How. In any discussion, you can usually find at least one good question with one of these words to open up the conversation to gain new knowledge.

Travel

I find people pretty divided on this one. Some perceive Millennials’ penchant for travel as a fruitless, self-absorbed endeavor. For the most part, I disagree. Travel is a great opportunity to take a step back and reflect. And great leaders reflect on their experiences to gain those invaluable lessons learned. Not only that, in our increasingly globalized world and culturally diverse workforce, having some travel experience is a great way to connect with people. And a great conversation starter too! Seeing things differently and having a better sense of how culture can influence communication style and perspective are becoming mandatory in today’s business world.

At age 29 I took a gap year to go to Colombia to learn Spanish and experience living abroad. I had the chance to see a number of other countries in South America as well. I followed this up by doing an exchange in Costa Rica during my MBA and seeing parts of Central America. These experiences helped me connect with others better and I recently had the opportunity to practice my Spanish with a group of Chilean clients. Travel has given me more perspective on how to navigate cultural differences and make them a strength when working as a team. It’s also one of the best things I have ever done for myself.

Network

You should not be surprised that I am mentioning networking as a way to become a great leader. I did write an e-book on how you can leverage networking to land your dream job after all! Not only will networking help you meet the people you need to help take your career to the next level, it gives you an excellent opportunity to find a mentor or to simply hear about other people’s experiences and career advice. Whether or not you’ve landed your dream job, you need to continue to hustle and maintain your current network to make new connections.

Surround yourself with people smarter than yourself

If you are the smartest person in the room, you aren’t going to develop nearly as much as if you are surrounded with people who have more knowledge and experience than yourself. I personally relish that in my current role I get to spend great amounts of time with exceptionally smart and capable people. The amount I have learned in under 4 months on the job has been incredible. I’ve found it’s imperative to stay open to who you can draw from in your professional circles. I have learned a lot from younger coworkers in less senior roles. This is something I look forward to continue doing in my role as a Senior Consultant. There is so much to gain by being open about who can teach you.

Stay humble

And this brings me to my next point – stay humble. No one likes arrogance or a closed mind. The ability to collaborate and draw the most you can from your colleagues will make or break you as a leader. Everyone has their own set of strengths and talents. By being curious and taking a humble approach, the sky is the limit for your progression.

Never stop learning

Last, and certainly not least, keep learning. Never stop. This could be taking formal education and training; doing a side project outside of work; collaborating with those around you or keeping up with the latest news in your field. Take an approach that works for you and run with it. You can never be too relevant in today’s ever changing workplace.

Want to learn more about how to take the next step in your career? Check out my free e-book on the power of networking to land your dream job!

Do you have any tips for how to become a great leader? Or any questions for that matter? Leave your comment below and let’s start the conversation!

It's Halloween and today I don't have a trick but rather a treat for you. Over the last few weeks I have been working on an eBook on how to leverage a networking system I have created to help you land your dream job. The second best thing about the eBook is it's FREE! 

Please go to my EBOOK tab on the top of my page and subscribe to receive your copy of my new eBook Land Your Dream Job!

Here is a Halloween themed promo video I made for the eBook - check it out!

I welcome your feedback. Please COMMENT and LIKE this post. Also please SHARE the eBook link with people that could benefit from stepping up their networking game.

If you comment in this post below with a career or networking question, I will provide a thoughtful answer to help you with your quandary. 

I appreciate all your support and look forward to hearing how my eBook has helped you in your career journey!

Yours truly,

Phil

I was recently asked by a colleague of mine about a promotion she was offered when her manager jumped ship to another firm. She told me that the prospect of the promotion excited her and, at the same time, she was terrified!

Who wouldn’t be?

It’s not unusual to feel a bit of trepidation (perhaps terrified?) of a promotion. It’s actually, to some degree, a good feeling to experience. It shows you care – you want to do the organization well. You want to prove that you were the right candidate to select to take on more responsibility and leadership within the organization.

While it might be your first instinct to run away from opportunity out of fear. There are plenty of good reasons why you should take a leap of faith and take the promotion. Today I am going to highlight 5 of them:

You know more than you think you know

Organizations that make profits year-over-year do so for a reason – they make shrewd decisions that allow them to get the better of their competitors. They are counting on you to be one of many good decisions they make this year to help exceed expectations and profitability. And you know what? They are anticipating that they are investing in the right person. Why? Because, contrary to what you may believe, you know more than you think you know.

This piece of sage advice was given to me way back during my first year at UBC by a classmate when I was feeling apprehensive about an exam I was about to take. He was right about my situation and this quote is right about yours as well. One thing to keep in mind is your own cognitive bias. The Dunning–Kruger effect explains that, paradoxically, it is those who are the most capable who underestimate or play down their own abilities. Keep this in mind the next time you find yourself with a bout of self-doubt.

Also keep in mind that your knowledge of the organization, its processes and culture position you tremendously well to excel in your new role. Don’t underestimate that. Sure, there could be more “qualified” candidates in terms of experience outside the organization but it shows that the organization puts emphasis on what you have picked up and, just as importantly, what you have proven so far. This is also a sign of a great organization to build your career.

You may never get this chance again

I am writing from experience. I was offered a leadership position within five months of joining an organization in an entry level position. When I expressed concerns about whether I could take it on and mentioned to my manager I had to give it further thought, he was a bit surprised. When I thought about it more that night, I realized this was my golden opportunity to prove I could take on more responsibility and projects – it was an opportunity that might not come around again! The next day I swiftly took the position and never looked back. When it came to my next promotion, I did not hesitate at all. I knew, once again, that this was an opportunity that might not be offered to me again.

Even if you fail, it’s a success

Failure is a bitter medicine. No one likes it. At the same time, it can make you better and move your career forward. No, that was no typo: failure can make you better. If you take a position and it doesn’t work out, the world is not going to come to an end. Neither is your career. By simply taking initiative and having the courage to take on a new role with bigger challenges, you win and you move your career forward.

You are stronger than you will ever know

This is something I heard a few years ago when I did hot yoga (now I’m more of a gym and Tough Mudder guy). I was in the middle of a pose that was absolutely incinerating my legs. The only thing I wanted to do was to surrender into Shavasana. Right when I was reaching my breaking point (or so I thought), our instructor said to us “You are stronger than you will ever know.” That one statement carried me through that pose and the rest of the session. It’s true because we as humans tend to set self-imposed limitations. This goes beyond the yoga studio; it’s the same reality in the workplace. You are stronger than you will ever know. Take on that new challenge and prove it to yourself.

Your work-life balance will rebalance

This is a big consideration, especially for those with family. A promotion and its challenges can seem daunting. No doubt, at first you will be swamped and have to put in extra time to keep your head above water. This might intimate you. Remind yourself: this is a normal transition to a new position. Over time, you will learn and adapt. You will find you will start on time and end not so late. Nothing great comes without sacrifice, yet over the mountain there is a land of prosperity that awaits – climb that mountain! You will enjoy the view after all your hard work.

Tell me about your experience accepting a promotion. Was there anything that held you back? Comment below!

In my work helping young professionals craft their resumes and profiles, one question that I am asked all the time is to do with resume length. The question comes up in different forms:

“Can my resume be just one page?”

“I have too much to cover and my resume is spilling onto the third page. Is this okay?

“How can I expand my resume to be two pages?”

The answer? There is no right answer – it depends. You can tell I’ve been in consulting when I give you that answer! However, the truth is just that.

One resume that is making waves both on LinkedIn and other social media sites is Marissa Mayer’s resume. Mayer was, until recently, the CEO of Yahoo! Mayer’s resume broke several conventions for an executive resume. Firstly, her resume is a one pager. This is unheard of for an executive with a length history in different organization who has overseen many high profile projects. Mayer’s resume also went against the grain by including liberal amounts of purple, graphics for bullet points and even a pie chart.

Here is what her resume looks like:

I think Mayer can get away with a one page resume. She can use an off centre approach to market herself because of her public profile and because she works in the tech sector. I also don’t imagine that she would ever have to provide a resume when looking for a new opportunity given her public profile. For more traditional industries, this probably would not hold for candidates lacking a global profile like Mayer’s profile.

So how does a more typical candidate determine which length of resume is best?

Their experience

A no brainer for most. But it wasn’t for me. Right out of my MBA program, I converted my traditional two page resume into a one pager. I felt that given some of the industries I was targeting, as well as a competitive job market, a punchy one page resume that highlighted my biggest accomplishments would help me stand out. I was wrong.

When I had the opportunity to speak with a recruiter to elaborate on my experience, she was shocked to see how much was missing from my resume based on the experience I bring to the table. Because I chose to use the one page format, I was not able to show the range of roles and projects I worked on over the course of my seven years in the workforce. Using a one pager also prohibited me from elaborating on the projects and accomplishments I had included in my resume.

Typically, I advise job seekers to use a one page resume if they have fewer than three years work experience. This gives them enough space to highlight their accomplishments and also allows a busy recruiter or an HR specialist to stay engaged with their profile and not glaze over some of the candidate's biggest selling points that end up on page 2 (trust me on this as a former hiring manager).

Candidates with more than three years of experience, but under eight years, can usually highlight their experience within two pages. I have two tips for those within this experience range struggling to keep their resumes to two pages:

1.     Highlight your most relevant experience for the position. If you are applying for different types of positions (eg: Project Manager and Business Analyst), you should really have two versions of your resume so you can cater to the different requirements for these roles.

2.     For less relevant experience use one liners allow for a conversation when brought in for an interview. This is something I have also picked up recently. It is perfectly okay to cite past experience with simply your position (or type of role), the organization and dates of employment. This allows you to squeeze in more without inundating recruiters with a resume that looks like War and Peace.

The industry

For the vast majority of industries, a two pager is preferable to a one page resume. However there are a couple of industries in business that diverge from this rule of thumb.

The first industry is consulting. If you are coming out of an undergraduate program or are a newly minted MBA, consulting companies want to see your experience presented on a one page resume. I used this format last year and managed to pique the interest of a Big 4 consulting firm. While a one page resume is the gold standard for the Big 4 and other larger consulting companies, you can take the same approach when approaching boutique firms as the size of the firm does not determine the length of resume you should deploy.

The second industry that demands a one page resume is investment banking. The same rules apply as they do for consulting. What you need to highlight in your one pager is your financial experience and the results in terms of revenues you generated for your previous organizations. This differs from consulting where you can highlight either money generated or money saved, especially for the larger firms that have a wide range of service lines.

So there you have it – there is your roadmap to selecting your resume length. While there will always be outliers and exceptions to the rule as Marissa Mayer’s resume clearly conveys, you will have more consistent call backs and interest from firms if you follow the rules I outlined above. For the time being, I am going to stick to a two page resume. I’m staying open minded to this, you never know when you might become a household name!

One of my favourite business authors, Brian Tracy, wrote a book called Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life. This book is jam packed with actionable advice on how to create the life you want.  One piece of advice that resonated with me is that to get ahead you need to pay it forward beyond the minimum. The minimum is a 40-hour workweek, one that most people live without any additional work. Tracy argues that a 40-hour workweek allows you to stay status quo and won’t lead you to a better life. I agree with this philosophy. The times in my life where I was able to reach new heights in my career was from pushing myself out of the 9-5 box.

One thing that many people underestimate is consistency. While working above and beyond like I have talked about previously is great, it won’t pay you dividends unless you put in the time day-in and day-out. This is not something I make a point of reiterating when providing career advice but there is a plethora of evidence that talent is overrated and to find success, grinding and honing your craft over time. In some cases that amount of time would be 10,000 hours.

Finding ways to purposefully move towards your goals by taking the necessary action outside of your 9-5 may come naturally to you. If so, good job! You can skip the rest of this article. Of course I kid! There is always room for improvement. One area that I find a lot of people overlook that are already stretching themselves is taking a step back and evaluating their effort. Self-reflection is one aspect of human existence that I believe Western culture has not put enough emphasis on. To become who you want to be, you need to look within yourself and take an inventory of your life. Put more emphasis and reflection on what you are bringing everyday that moves you forward rather than whether or not you have reached your goals. This allows you to maintain that consistency to become who you were always meant to be.

When I reflected on my own efforts, something I’m becoming better at by journaling each night before bed, I identified some areas that have been crucial to moving my career and life in a positive and upward direction.

I’m in sync with my biorhythms

I have always been a morning person. My best work comes well before 1pm. I usually get a second wave of energy in the evening but it never reaches the level I find myself at in the morning. What I was doing wrong before was following a standard sleeping schedule between roughly 11pm to 6am. This would leave me feeling lethargic and unfocused for most of the day. I’d also have issues getting to bed on time as well. Recently I changed this. It was accidental because one night I crashed at 8:30pm and woke up without an alarm at 3:30am. You’d think this would destroy my energy levels about halfway through the workday – it did the exact opposite. I crossed off many lingering items on my To-Do list first thing in the morning and started work feeling more accomplished than I had in a long time. I was focused and motivated to crush it that day at work. This energy continued into the evening and, by my bedtime, I was looking back at one of the most productive days I had in years.

Maybe you are a morning person, maybe not. Work brings its own set of limitations for developing an optimal sleeping pattern. Having said that, you can make small adjustments to your sleeping schedule that will have tremendous impacts on your energy, mood and productivity. Identify what time of day you work best and build your sleeping schedule around that time.

I stay in touch and share ideas

One of the keys to a happy life is to have strong social connections. There was one Harvard Business School longitudinal study that showed this was the determining factor between the men in the study who ended up leading happy lives compared to those whom did not. I’ve made a point of staying in touch with many of my colleagues from the MBA program as well as former coworkers. I do this not to reminisce on the good ol’ days but rather to share ideas about what interests me and what I’m focused on in the present moment. I also get the opportunity to hear their perspectives and learn from them. This has helped me affirm the direction I’m taking in my life and in some cases has helped refine certain goals I aspire to reach.  We can choose to live in our own head or we can harness the collective wisdom of our network to carve out a fuller, happier life that we could not imagine by ourselves. I choose the latter.

I work towards my goals everyday

I want to bring things back to the beginning of this article - consistency. One thing I make a point of doing is to move myself closer to my goals and dreams everyday. This doesn’t mean I need to move mountains and have transformative moments daily – that’s just not possible. What I mean by this is that I take incremental action to move forward. It could be sending out one LinkedIn message or email to someone I want to connect with in my industry. It could be attending one networking event to meet likeminded professionals. Today, it’s writing this article and sharing my ideas with you.

I’d love to hear what you are doing to go the distance and move towards your goals – let me know below in the comment section!

What are you doing outside of the bare minimum (40 hour work week) to move your life forward?

Comment below or give it some thought on your own. 

I'll be posting what I've been up to on Monday.

Have a great weekend.

Today is the big debate between Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and her opponent Republican nominee Donald Trump. This is not a political blog but having done my undergraduate degree in Political Science, I have interest in keeping abreast of what’s happening around the world. Presidential debates are of particular interest to me but not because of the actual policy discussions. I am much more fascinated by how presidential nominees use this platform to communicate and persuade. Master communicators know that what you say is just as important as how you say it.

I think the majority of presidential candidates over the last three elections (when I started to take greater notice) have been great communicators who were able to weave in persuasion tactics with their policies. Going back further than the 2004 election, there is one communicator who trumps (pun intended) them all – Bill Clinton.

Regardless of how you view him either politically or personally, there are some key takeaways from his style of communication that he uses to connect to his audiences to win them over. Exhibit A of Bill Clinton’s masterful comprehension of the art of communication and persuasion was seen during a town hall debate during the 1992 election. Clinton faced off against then president George H.W. Bush and eccentric billionaire tycoon Ross Perot.

In the town hall debate format, questions come from an audience composed of undecided voters. I really like watching these debates because questions from these debates tend to deliver the biggest gaffes from candidates. They also can lend a hand in a candidate soaring to victory. The latter was the case in the 1992 election for Clinton. During the debate, Clinton was asked the following question by a woman in the audience:

“How has the national debt personally affected each of your lives? And if it hasn’t, how can you honestly find a cure for the economic problems of the common people if you have no experience in what’s ailing them?”

Here is Clinton’s masterful response to the question:

There were three things that really stuck out for me in Clinton’s answer:

He actually listened to the question

Clinton was fortunate that his opponent Bush had the opportunity to answer this question first. Bush did not listen to the question in its entirety and thereby lost its context. The woman asked how the national debt impacted the candidates’ lives – not the impact on the general US populous. Bush’s misfire right off the bat caused the moderator to interject to clarify the question. His answer was a lost cause right there as the little momentum he had was snuffed out like a bucket of cold water thrown on a fire. Bush then went on to question if she was implying that because he was wealthy, the national debt did not affect him. The problem with answering with an accusatory question at this level is twofold – you aren’t actually answering the question and you are raising the level of tension in the conversation.

Clinton understands the question immediately. He plays this very well by asking the audience member to tell him again how the national debt/recession affected her. He plays right into the feelings at the heart of the issue. You can feel it by the way Clinton asks her to speak about it –he shows that he sees eye-to-eye with her immediately.

His eye contact

Clinton is renowned for his ability to make someone he is speaking with to feel like they are the only person in the room. One of my business heroes Tim Ferriss (don’t you worry, I’ll be getting to his 4 Hour Work Week book in due time) had a piece on his website that spoke to this. Clinton is pacing towards the woman as he reaffirms how the US economy was impacted her and made her feel. And at the same time, he never unlocks his eyes from hers during the question. You don’t need to be in the room to feel that level of trust he is establishing with the audience member by making that moment about her.

He is relatable

This brings us to our next point – Clinton connects with others because he communicates that he felt their pain. When Bush responds to the woman in the audience with “You ought to be in the White House for a day”, it was a cringe worthy response. Clinton on the other hand shows empathy.

Clinton gets right to it by mentioning that as governor of a small state, he is put under more pressure to do more with less thanks to the federal government. He hits this point out of the park by pointing behind himself to President Bush. This creates the perfect contrast effect between a guy who is in your corner compared to an elite that cannot understand your struggles as demonstrated by the manner in which Bush handled the question only moments prior. Clinton continues his takedown of the question through the power of repetition.  He emphasizes that he knew people in his state on a first name basis that were gravely affected by the recession who were like her. He hammers away on how he knew people by giving several examples. By doing that, he implicitly expresses that he understands and is impacted in the same way.

He started a conversation…and so should you!

By understanding the question and making himself relatable, Clinton creates a forum for a conversation. I’ve said before that to succeed at interviews and networking events, you need to make your interactions conversational. This establishes trust and allows for your true self to shine through. When that happens, you are more relatable. And as we talked about previously, the most likable people get the promotions. By exhibiting great non-verbal communication like maintaining eye contact and finding ways to empathize with your colleagues, it will be pretty hard for someone not to like you!

Watch this YouTube video again and again today to pick up all the nuances of Clinton’s masterful communication style. Take some notes and start applying it to your everyday life. Who knows, maybe you will be the next president in 2020!

In the last couple of weeks several people I know both professionally or personally have confided in me about their career challenges. While each had their own unique situation and circumstances, the common thread was that they were all looking for a way to move forward with their career paths and live their dreams. In the present moment, they were feeling stuck.

I write a lot here on taking steps to move forward. It’s no easy task and it takes time. I’m not by nature a very patient person when it comes to reaching my goals. So I can empathize when I hear people wanting things to change for the better right away. Success does not happen overnight, it takes both patience and persistence. You can look at any industry and see clear evidence of this. LeBron James honed his craft for 15 years before playing a single NBA game even though may people perceived him as someone who just showed up on the scene. Mozart had to plug away for 10 years before releasing something noteworthy and popular. Reid Hoffman didn’t co-found LinkedIn until 15 years after completing his undergraduate degree. Great things take time. I remind myself of that everyday by watching this video by Gary Vaynerchuk, another example of someone who found success after putting in a lot of work over many years.

It’s easy to intellectually understand that patience + persistence = success. It’s a lot more difficult to accept in the present moment. The climb to the top of your career mountain looks daunting. You may question if reaching that apex is even possible. It’s especially difficult when you feel stuck and don’t know all the steps you need to take to get there.  

Thankfully, there are ways to get unstuck. To do so, all you need is a positive mindset and an action plan. With these things in place, I’ve found the rest starts to unfold and I start the climb up that mountain I’ve set my sights on conquering. Unlike success, getting unstuck doesn’t have to be a long process. Because our brains are malleable, we have the wonderful ability to run mental exercises that can drastically change our mindset and mood for the better very quickly.

So without further ado, here is my two-step, two minute process to get unstuck:

Express gratitude

Am I asking you to express gratitude for a situation you are not happy with? Yes, I am – hear me out. There is plenty of scientific evidence that shows gratitude is a key to success. It’s no surprise that gratitude also leads to a happier life. Even Oprah has gotten on the gratitude bandwagon and has spoken about how expressing gratitude has had a positive impact on her own life.

Expressing gratitude is not waving the white flag of surrender. Far from it. It’s also not denying facts. The purpose of expressing gratitude is to change your perspective from one of scarcity to one of abundance. To one of fear to one of optimism. To one of complacency to one of action.

Here are some examples of how to change your mindset into a more positive one:

If your thought is “I hate my job”, be grateful that you have a job to pay your bills. Not everyone is in such a fortunate situation.

If your thought is “I don’t have the qualifications I need to get that dream job”, be grateful you have the awareness to pinpoint what qualifications you can works towards, some people go throughout life without direction or focus.

If your thought is “I don’t know the ‘right’ people that will get me places”, be grateful for your current network of friends and associates for what they bring to your life, some people don’t have that opportunity. 

Create an action plan

Getting unstuck begins with gratitude and allows you to come up with an action plan to move forward. Again, gratitude is not denying the facts; it’s all about change your perspective. By changing your perspective to one that is more positive and forward focused, you have the opportunity to create an action plan so you can eventually be grateful for having those things you feel are currently absent in your life.

To go back to our example of someone who hates their job, now that they can see the silver lining in their current job, an action plan can be created to move forward with finding a more suitable position. An action plan could look something like this:

1.     Speak to your manager about taking on more or different responsibility within your department

2.     Research internal training opportunities at your workplace

3.     Start connecting with people on LinkedIn with your dream job to set up informational interviews to learn more about the steps they took to attain their roles

4.     Start applying for internal and external postings

And remember…it’s a process

There are no overnight successes. While changing your mindset for the better can happen quickly, it’s important to work towards doing so consistently to move forward towards your goals and dreams. This takes time. It’s not easy. But it’s worth it.

Today, I want to touch up the traditional, and still popular, methodology used by the IT industry: Waterfall methodology. The approach to Waterfall is clearly delineated development stages. The organization creates “tollgates”, otherwise know as checkpoints, to confirm that all the work committed in that stage has been completed before moving on to the next stage of development.

Here are the five stages of waterfall development:

Requirements Gathering

In the first stage, the business undertakes gathering all requirements that need to be translated into IT development work. This includes speaking with subject matter experts (SMEs) within the organization to better understand what their needs are for the development project. These usually include team and departmental managers, specialist units (such as Risk & Compliance) and senior management. Requirements need to be documented and signed off by all the identified stakeholders. From there – the dye is cast! Once documentation is complete, no changes to requirements should take place and IT should be in a position to begin the design.

Design

IT then undertakes translating all business requirements into system design. Depending on the size of the project, this can be a large task that takes a great deal of time. The idea in the design phase is to map out the development work that IT will be doing to ensure that it will be completed to the satisfaction of business. An analogy for the Design phase of Waterfall is the blueprint drafted before building a house. It is important to have the construction plan documented and reviewed by the client to ensure that the home to be constructed aligns with their vision. This is no different in IT development. A crucial part of this stage is for business to review and sign off on the design as the tollgate to move to the implementation phase.

Implementation

This is the core part of Waterfall Methodology. During Implementation, software programming is conducted based on the design agreed upon between business and IT. This phase is typically the longest as development is usually complex and time consuming. Testing the code is often lumped in this stage to ensure that what has been programmed works and to ensure any existing functionality was not impacted by the new development.

Verification

This stage is often dismissed in the “real world” – it is where the new software, once launched, is confirmed to meet customer expectations. I think this is critical regardless of whether your customer is internal or external. Customer feedback is pure gold for companies. It’s up to businesses to satisfy feedback from customers. Listening to your customer = improved customer satisfaction = greater revenues.  It isn’t rocket science!

Maintenance

Once the software has been verified, IT is responsible for its upkeep. This includes fixing bugs and ensuring uptime/accessibility for users.

Reasons to use Waterfall:

There are still some compelling reasons to use the Waterfall approach despite the rise in Agile’s popularity.

1.     Its structured approach to development allows for clearly delineated stages and tollgates that ensure requirements are satisfied before the project proceeds to the next stage. This is especially important for projects that require sign-off from functions such as risk, legal and compliance.

2.     Project scope and budget are much easier to project as requirements are agreed to upfront and there is little wiggle room for any changes to the project once it has cleared the requirements tollgate.

3.     Testing is a more straightforward process as clear test cases can be developed in advance based on the agreed to design.

Reasons to pass on Waterfall

There are also some compelling reasons why many organizations are choosing to drop the Waterfall approach in favour of Agile. The top 3 reasons are:

1.     Customers are rarely able to map out all their business requirements abstractly without some foundation of functionality as a reference. For large projects, this difficulty is compounded further.

2.     The reality is that requirements are not static. They change and can change often as business needs are constantly evolving. The structured approach that separates requirements, design and development does not provide the flexibility required to cater to this reality. This can be increasingly problematic and risky for the organization as requirement changes surface in the later stages of a project.

3.     To ensure all requirements are captured, design is accurate and development is complete and tested in different phases, the project speed can be as slow as molasses in some instances. This is in stark contrast to Agile which calls for the requirements, design, development, testing and review of a singular function to be completed in a short period of time (“sprint”).

I’m looking forward to writing about Agile and why I think it is, in many cases, a superior development methodology. Waterfall definitely has its place in the development world and there is also good reason why its reign is coming to an end in favour of a more adaptive methodology.

What do you prefer for development: Agile or Waterfall?

Throughout my career, I’ve been lucky to work with great people. This goes from the temporary worker (which I was one for a while myself) to all the way up to C-level management. As no one is a carbon copy of anyone else on this planet, each of them brought their own blend of strengths to work. I always have tried to take note about what they brought to their roles that distinguished them from everyone else. In some cases, they were model employees and shied away from former leadership roles. While others felt most comfortable in their own skin when they were placed in leadership roles. Either way, I found that there was a collection of traits that spanned the vast majority respected and looked at as true leaders within the organization.

I want to share with you today five traits every great leader needs:

 They listen

In our information driven and jam-packed calendar world, it can sometimes feel there is more talking than mental processing of information. Leaders differentiate themselves in this way by being good listeners. There is a saying that is often mentioned but rarely adhered to – we were born with two eyes, two ears and only one mouth for a reason. I believe in our society there has been an overemphasis on verbal communication. Listening has been framed as passive, even though this is far from the true.

When you listen, you win. The best ideas do not come from one person (unless your last name is Da Vinci and your first name is Leo) but from a collection of great minds.

I’m going to blow the dust off an old game show to shed some light on this trait. When Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was riding high in its heyday, contestants had three lifelines: 50/50 (removes two wrong options out of a possible four), Phone a Friend or Poll the Audience. There was a lot of chatter about which lifeline was the most effective. I remember a lot of people thought phoning a friend (or even 50/50) was vastly superior to polling the audience. There was a misconception that asking the broader public about a piece of trivia would lead to the wrong answer. Studies have proven otherwise. Polling the audience was found to be correct a whopping 91% of the time compared to 65% of the time when asking a friend.

This applies to brainstorming ideas and coming up with solutions. To bridge ideas and use our collective creativity, knowledge and intelligence, we need to hear what others are bringing to the table. Great leaders I have worked made a point of listening to other stakeholders and using the best of their ideas with their own to come up with the ideal solution or course of action.

They reflect

Great leaders always make a point of reflecting. Reflection included the impact a leader makes, where one has performed well and fallen short as well as looking ahead to the future. This trait is one of the hardest to develop and immeasurably valuable. To reflect effectively, leaders need to have developed a foundation of self-awareness. By being honest with themselves, leaders can go from good to great by pinpointing areas they need to improve or make adjustments and create an action plan to address them.

One of the most effective methods of reflection is through journaling. Reflection, journaling “and all that yoga stuff” isn’t usually spoken in the same breath as leadership. But there are many good reasons why journaling helps shape great leaders. This is something with which I’ve had a spotty track record. I go for a couple weeks consistently journaling every night and then up to a month without touching my journal. I can tell you that I am always happier, more focused and motivated when I journal – and I rarely journal for more than three minutes a night! That’s pretty decent ROI if you ask me.

They Empower

One of the tougher experiences in the modern workplace is working for a manager and not a leader.  A manager gets people to work for them, a leader gets people to follow them. There is a huge distinction and it plays out in many ways: motivation, productivity, team synergy and work culture. The way an employee goes from being a manager to a leader is by empowering their employees.

When I was in management, I would leverage the power of delegation. There were many instances when I onboarded an employee that was a superstar – they would eat new work for breakfast and come to me with an empty plate asking for it to be loaded up. They would always be curious and always trying to add value. What I did to keep my superstars motivated was delegate part of my work to them. The effect was twofold. My employees were more satisfied at their jobs from great challenges and delivered amazing results; I created more bandwidth for myself to work on IT transformation initiatives that added huge value to the organization. Win-Win.

They are courageous

Doing the right thing and doing what you are supposed to do should line up neatly. We all know this is not always the case. Many people will fall in line over speaking up when something does not jibe with them be it from an ethical, efficiency or customer satisfaction standpoint. A great leader has the courage to stand up for what they believe in and what they believe is the right thing to do.

They can say ‘I don’t know’

I find many people vastly underestimate the power to say ‘I don’t know’. If you think saying I don’t know makes you look incompetent, think again. You are doing yourself, the people you are working with and the organization a disservice if you fabricate an answer to a question just to look like you have it all together. News flash: no one knows everything.

Those working at C-level management should be able to answer most questions regarding vision or strategy but will likely defer to others when it comes to operational details (unless they are COO – and even then!). A frontline worker can likely walk you through all the intricacies of their system’s user interface but would refer you to their director when it comes to the department’s operations budget or quarterly cost savings.

So there you have it. Work on developing these traits and you will have a following in no time!

What traits do YOU think are critical in leadership?

 Today, I participated in an all-day workshop that helped attendees focus on how they can bring their best to the workplace – every single day. I really enjoy these types of workshops. While some may see workshops as fluff or unproductive activities, I choose to see them as an opportunity for growth. Great workshops reaffirm my approach to consistently performing at a high level. And this was a great one.

During the workshop, I reflected on how I make sure each day is a successful one at the office. I changed my approach over this year that has increased my productivity and effectiveness that I want to share with you in the form of a 4-point action plan:

Set your intention for day first thing in the morning

You wouldn’t construct a building without a solid foundation. The same goes for your workday. Setting an intention for your day first thing in the morning is critical to success. And you need to write it down. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that writing your goals down increase your success rate. It also just makes sense.

I think one drawback of writing goals down is that it can be taken to an extreme by having too many goals for the day. I’ve done this myself. I used to write down 6-10 medium sized goals I wanted to accomplish by day’s end. More often than not, I would end up feeling disappointed that I did not get all of them done.

Think like a Janitor

I remember during my MBA program, the former CEO of Oracle Canada came to speak to my cohort during the last few days of our spring term. He advised us MBAs to think like a janitor. What? Well, the logic is in the details. Janitors, he argues, have the best job in the world. They have to do one thing well day-in and day-out – keep their building clean. Unlike many in the business world who are inundated with emails, meetings and last minute projects, janitors can get their one goal done and clock out feeling accomplished.

Applying this principle to work has been a game changer for me. By writing down one critical goal for my day, I’ve found that this has been a much more sustainable approach. I’ve also found that I end up accomplishing more in a day compared to when I would have a mile (kilometer for those in the Commonwealth) high list of goals to tick off by end of day. Once I had completed that one critical task, it lifted a weight off my shoulders and I was more effective at tackling the other work that followed.

Ask yourself: How are you going to make an impact today?

This is the flip side of the coin. In addition to setting your intention for the day, it’s equally important to write down how you will make an impact. For me, the impact I want to make comes from the following:

• Approach my work and colleagues with confidence
• Think outside the box when looking for solutions to complex problems
• Be open minded to different approaches and communication styles
• Be adventurous in what I choose to take on
• Act with integrity

When I keep these in mind, I find my intended impact comes naturally.

Check-in with yourself throughout the day

The great thing about lunch, apart from eating and networking, is that it gives you pause in your workday. You can take that time to review your intention for the day and how you plan to make an impact. If you find you are not on track with meeting that big, critical goal by end of day, it’s time to make some adjustments to your approach and deprioritize other tasks.

Reflect at the end of the day

At the end of the day, it’s time for a reflection. The one question you should ask yourself is:

Did you put points on the board?

This is a sports reference and is completely relevant in the business world.  If you can take an inventory of your day and see you made progress towards a big project you are working on or simply towards bigger and better things, then you are putting up points and you can be proud of that!

How do you define a successful day?