Act II

A Tale of Questionable Success

Darlene Cook — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 22:15:56 -0400

Once upon a time there was a corporate manager who believed that if he learned one new business fact every day it would make him the most successful man in the business world and bring him happiness. So every evening after dinner, the corporate manager would sit on his front porch and recall the new business fact he had learned that day and add it to his memory of all the other new facts he learned every other day.

For twenty years and four months, every day he learned some new business fact and recalled it every evening.

Then one evening as he sat on his front porch, he tried to recall a new business fact he had learned that day that he never knew before. He thought and thought, but not one fact came to mind that he didn't already know.

On that seven thousand four hundred and twentieth day, he realized that all of those facts had made him the most successful man in the business world -- but he was unhappy.

So he decided to leave the corporate world where he knew every business fact there was to know and find a different world where he could learn something new every day that would make him successful and happy.

That was the beginning of his journey to becoming the world's greatest expert about himself.

For the next three months, with the help of a professional guide, he learned some new fact about himself every day. Then finally, together they unhooked the connections that made him think the most important thing in life was to learn some new business fact every day and they rewired them to a terminal that made him see that a successful and happy life was more than gathering facts.

He remained on this journey for seven more days when he finally found his true path.

After that, he never again sat down at the end of each day to recall a new fact he learned that day. Instead, at the end of each day, he created a new question that would help him understand how to live his next day with purpose and pleasure.

The Beginning.

How do you create a successful life?

While chasing an answer to, "what is success?", I discovered a book out of Wharton School of Publishing that smacked my question squarely on its head: "Success Built to Last: Creating a Life That Matters", by Jerry Porras, Steward Emery & Mark Thompson.

Unlike other trendy publications offering recycled axioms, mystical revelations or steps with numbers, this report provides factual information?from authoritative sources -- people who have achieved lasting success -- whether you agree with their politics and products or not.

After interviews with people like, Madeleine Albright, Maya Angelou, Lance Armstrong, David Barry, Jeff Bezos, Ken Blanchard, Bono, Sir Richard Branson, Jack Canfield, Jimmy Carter, Deepak Chopra, Bill Clinton, Steve Covey, Dalai Lama, Sally Field, Steve Forbes, Yuki Fuo, Bill Gates, Newt Gingrich, Steve Jobs, Quincy Jones, Jack LaLanne, Norman Lear, Yo-Yo Ma, Nelson Mandela, John McCain, Charles Schwab, Muhammad Yunus, Benjamin Zander and Deiter Zetsche (a partial list of 200); some advice for success was:

Don't rely on the approval of others to pursue your goals, causes, or calling.
Take the initiative despite social pressure rather than because of them.
Be more committed to doing what you love than being loved by others.
Don't wallow or obsess on a single defeat or rely on finding scapegoats or blame when things go wrong.
Do place higher priority on being effective in getting the outcomes you seek.

Something else from the book to ponder:

You may discover you are currently tracking some definition of success never explicitly challenged. It would be a shame for this to remain the unconscious default of your life. Until you compare what really matters to you with what may haunt you about the popular notion of success, your existing concept of both could remain the invisible tyrant you unknowingly resent. If you want success built to last, then create a life that matters to you.

Quotes

"The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both." -- James Michener

"Happy endings come from listening to that little voice inside your head - some call it the whisper - about what matters to you. It is a voice that echoes through every cell in your body, straining to be heard like a silent scream. It's a nagging, often irritating 'need' craving a response". -- "Success Built to Last: Creating a Life That Matters."

Are You Lacking Your Minimum Daily Retirement Requirements?

Darlene Cook — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 16:21:25 -0500

No amounts of servings of broccoli, fruit or grains will replace the five critical requirements necessary for a healthy retirement.

If you have worked most of your life, you have psychological requirements that must be met or you will most likely contract what is commonly known as Emotional Retirement Anemia. You may be unaware of the benefits your years of working brought you that were integral parts of your life that soon became "requirements". But if you are to live fully in retirement, you must find replacements for them or suffer the consequences. They were:

Financial Compensation
Time Management
Sense of Utility
Status
Socialization

The first is widely recognized as the only requirement for a healthy and successful retirement so most retirees plan for it. But those who deprive themselves of the other four will undoubtedly contract a debilitating case of Emotional Retirement Anemia or ERA.

Symptoms can be:

Lack of structure or feeling out of sync with the beat of the culture around you.
Loss of your feeling of value to others.
Loss of identity and self worth.
Feelings of disconnectedness, listlessness or loneliness.

Other symptoms might include: broken springs in your Easy Boy; a spouse who keeps telling you to get a life, cocktail hours beginning at noon, finding yourself unwelcome during your frequent visits to your kids, finding vacation planning as hard as working - or noticing most of your conversations with friends are about what you did in your former life.

Adding the missing daily retirement requirements to your diet is easy and normally produces immediate retirement fulfillment results.

If you think you have contracted ERA, contact Darlene immediately for help.

Is There a Pink Slip in Your Future?

Darlene Cook — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 10:23:42 -0500

Professionals and managers who were laid off tell me, "My biggest fear is not knowing if I can find another employer who will value my skills". Understandable. But what's incomprehensible is that they aren't aware of what skills they possess.

Even in today's quivering corporate landscape a surprise layoff is jolting. But being clueless about your marketable skills will freeze you in your tracks and keep you from moving forward with a successful game plan.

Unfortunately, many professionals and executives are unaware of their unique gifts that enabled them to create innovative strategies, motivate teams, get results and endear themselves to their leaders. They're blind to - or lost sight of - how or why they did all those things right.

How can you sell yourself to a new employer if you don't know what you bring to the table?

Effective career management is self marketing. How could an ad agency successfully market its client's product without knowing what promise of value it offers to their market? They must first engage in meticulous examination of their client's product and target market wants. You need to do the same.

I'm not suggesting focus groups or polls (althought a 360 Reach survey is possible). What I am proposing is taking an inventory of what it took for you to effect those successful projects, motivate your teams, get results and anything else that made your bosses love you. What were the major ingredients you possessed that produced those home runs? What was your role in the victory? How did you make it happen? What was your thumbprint? What made you unique?

Write three sentences using words that describe your unique promise of value. Use words that include your:

credentials
strengths
values
passions
quirks

What differentiates you from your peers?

Do this and you will identify your marketable skills, discover your unique powerful self and create your special brand. What's left is to research where you can place them for fun and profit. Your network and the Internet will be your best friends in your search.

But if you first have to clear up a bad case of the pink-slip blues, check out: http://www.fastcompany.com/articles/2001/06/luban.html

Contact me if you need help identifying your unique marketable strengths, finding companies that need them, or would like to know more about 360 Reach..

Second Wind: A Cure for Atrophy

Darlene Cook — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 12:34:21 -0500

In my relentless search for more meaningful monikers for anti-deluvian, fourth estate words like retirement and seniors, I thought of how getting one’s Second Wind matches my experience with this stage of life.

I found Dr. Gabe Mirkin’s metabolic description of this phrase: http://www.drmirkin.com/fitness/second_wind.html

Staying with Mirkin’s thread, I also found this: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/05/news/age.php A Herald Tribune article about a 71-year-old champion runner and scientists’ take on what’s really going on with him.

Here’s my personal metaphoric extraction from these articles: purpose produces remarkable new achievements.

Without a purpose we only sit out our time on the bench. Moving only from reaction to reaction, occasionally feeling temporarily revived, but remaining in a general state of atrophy. We begin to degenerate like inanimate objects. Our minds and bodies deteriorate like our cars and lawnmowers. We buy into the old scripts.

Finding a new purpose sends us into a higher gear, fuels our mind for action, accelerates momentum and generates new energy, directions and rewards.

If you think you have climbed your highest mountain or feel like the game is over, ask yourself, “Is this all I want?” Did you quit the game and join the spectators? Aren’t you just a little curious about what could be waiting for you on the other side of inertia? Do you want to rust out or burn out?

If you think you want more than you’ve got and would like to explore your road not taken, contact me.

What is a job interview?

Darlene Cook — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 09:53:53 -0400

“A date is a job interview that lasts all night. The only difference between a date and a job interview is that there are not many job interviews where there's a chance you'll end up naked at the end of it.” -Jerry Seinfeld

A job interview is a sweaty palms event where you will be asked questions by your potential employer to determine if you are a fit. There are really only four questions you will be asked:

Can you do the job?
Who are you?
Will you fit in my company?
How much will you cost me?

Simple, huh? Well not exactly. What you should expect are about 20 tricky questions to get the answers to only those 4.

For example, you might be asked, “Tell me about yourself”. A maddening question after all the work you’ve done on your resume and cover letter. Or, “What makes you angry?” Or, “What are your weak points and limitations?” Or, “What is your biggest failure?” Another heart-stopper is, “How do you react when you realize you made a mistake?” How about, “At your age, why don’t you earn a higher salary?”

The good news is that there are many ways you can respond correctly to sticky questions – including silence.

More good news is that you get to ask your 20 questions about whether they are a fit for you. Before making the biggest investment you’ll ever make (yourself), you need to make sure you will get a healthy return instead of a devastating loss. Some questions you can ask (some are classic down-the-line career busters people hire me as a life coach to fix):

· Why is this position open?

· How often has it been filled in the past 2 to 5 years?

· What have been the primary reasons for persons leaving?

· Why did the person who held this position most recently leave?

· What would you like done differently by the next person who fills this job?

· What are some of the objectives that you would like accomplished in this job?

· What is the most pressing? What would you like to have done within the next 2 or 3 months?

· What do you consider to be the ideal background for the position?

· What are some of the longer-term objectives that you would like completed?

· What freedom would I have in determining my work objectives, and the methods of measurement?

· What kind of support does this position receive in terms of people, finances, etc.?

· What are some of the more difficult problems facing someone in this position? How do you think these could best be handled?

· What significant changes do you foresee in the near future?

· How is one judged? What accounts for success?

· What are the most critical factors for success in your business?

· What are the most important traits you look for in a subordinate or team member?

· How do you like your people to communicate with you? Orally, in writing, email, informally, in meetings, only when necessary?

· Do you have any concerns that I need to clear up in order to be the top candidate?

(Thank you, Daniel Porot and Frances Bolles Haynes, you’re the best!)

Contact me if you need help with your job interview answers or want to learn how to be better at the interview than your interviewer.

Masterful Research with Quantum Quizics

Darlene Cook — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 13:32:27 -0400

We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are. --Anais Nin

Is it possible to earn an MBA in the field of your choice (or any subject) in 60 minutes? Is it possible to learn more in that time than if you studied the subject for five years, took a course in it, or read 50 books about it?

The answer to each of those questions is yes -- by asking the right questions of the right people, in the right way, using the techniques of Quantum QuizicsTM.

Whether you're a college grad or a mid-life career changer, exploring retirement or a change in career; you'll find that Quantum QuizicsTM is the most important tool in your work/life toolkit. Unlike traditional career counseling assessments, the innovative Quantum QuizicsTM approach enables you to obtain firsthand information about your field of interest from people who are already successfully in it.

Traditional career counseling assessments -- whether guided by yourself or a professional -- rarely answer your most personal question, "What am I meant to do?" Instead of taking you to your personal summit, they take you to the edge of a canyon, where you might be able to glimpse your ideal career glimmering indistinctly on the far side. Quantum QuizicsTM helps you build a sturdy bridge across the canyon so that you can walk right up to your ideal career.

Using the Quantum QuizicsTM technique, you will be able to identify a person who is successful at doing what you want to do -- in other words, whose sunglasses are the same color as yours -- and then develop twelve powerful questions to ask that person that will reveal whether it is meant for you -- by having an Inner View.

You'll find out how to make the proven technique work for you in my book Quantum QuizicsTM: How to Get an MBA in The Field of You Choice in 60 Minutes. In it, you'll learn how to:

Find your ideal Inner View candidate
Arrange and carry out an Inner View
Ask questions that will get you actionable answers
Answer the all-important question, "What am I meant to do?"

Contact me if you would like to know more about how get an MBA in the field of your choice in 60 minutes.

Contact Darlene Cook

Darlene Cook — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 10:49:21 -0400

Resume Writing - Plus!

Darlene Cook — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 10:37:54 -0400

What some job seekers call a resume is what employers call a job obituary - a written dissertation of everything-you've-ever-done-in-your-life in grim and boring detail. This is like inviting an honored guest to dinner without knowing what they eat. Or like asking the employer to make some sense out of your life... please.

Powerful resumes that get you the interviews are marketing tools that are word portraits describing you at your best in your readers' eyes. The radio station playing in your reader's head is WIIFM - What's in It For Me? The operative word in Darlene's resumes is relevant. Not more.

You have only seconds to catch your reader's attention before your resume gets relegated to the big pile. Darlene's resumes will guarantee it lands in the small pile.

She specializes in professional and executive resumes.

And because there is no standard format, she will frame your resume to match your situation. It will fit you like a well-tailored suit.

Resume clients meet with her twice:

Once for about 2 or 2-1/2 hours for the intake, when you both collaborate with your targets' brains and needs (employers don't have jobs; they have needs). And then she asks the powerful questions that give her what she needs to wrap you around those needs. Half her fee is due.
The second meeting usually lasts about 45 minutes to 1 hour when you review your package and request any changes. You pay her the balance of the fee when you are absolutely delighted with what she's given you.

You will also have use of her unique Quantum Quizics™ e-book that will give you the most effective tool you'll ever need for guaranteeing your right career fit.

When you leave her, you're still connected. You get two free tele-counseling calls with no statute of limitations.

For out-of-towners, or those of you who prefer to attend conferences in your sweats and bare feet - she also works by phone, fax and email. When you've approved your email copy, you receive your resume package by snail mail. Credit cards gladly accepted.

Cover Letters Included with Your Resume
A compelling cover letter never begins with, "enclosed please find my resume". Or addressed, "To Whom It May Concern". (You might as well write, "To Whom It May Annoy".)

A compelling cover letter is a succinct marketing agent that whets your readers' appetite for your resume. That's its job.

Darlene gives you sample cover letters with lots of appropriate sentence options to choose from to match your readers' needs and your skills.

You'll receive as many hard copies as you want as well as everything on a CD.

Contact Darlene Cook to discuss your resume project today.

Ready to Go Job Search Package

Darlene Cook — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 10:36:00 -0400

This is your complete toolkit for getting that next job.

Darlene Cook knows that most jobs don't go to the most qualified; they go to those who know the most about how to get hired. Just look at the top twenty music picks or the New York Times' best seller list. Believe they are the best musicians or writers? Actually, they are the musicians and writers who knew the most about how to get promoted or published.

Darlene's full job change package includes:

A powerful resume that's designed to get you the interview (if your resume isn't a winner; it's a killer)
A compelling cover letter to engage your readers and drive them to your resume.
Written state-of-the-art job search guidance. (the first place most people go to find a job is the last place employers go)
Written in-depth guidance for managing your job interviews better than your interviewer. (those tricky questions designed to throw you off balance, with answers that match you and the job you're targeting)
Use of her unique Quantum Quizics™ e-book that will give you the most effective tool you'll ever need for guaranteeing your right career fit.
Two free tele-coaching calls with no statute of limitation. The most frequently asked questions on these calls are, "what did you say about handling the salary question before I get the job offer?", or "what did you tell me about phone interviews?" (Some of her clients don't cash them in until they're making their next career move.)
You'll receive as many hard copies as you want as well as well as everything on a CD.
Optional:
The new and innovative, "Special Report" tool that trumps any cover letter.

Contact Darlene Cook for a telephone appointment to discuss your needs.

Career Coaching

Darlene Cook — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 10:35:26 -0400

Most of us know more about how to buy a computer or landscape our lawns than how to manage our work lives. Its America's best kept secret.

Remember the Cheshire Cat's conversation with Alice when she asked, "Which way should I go from here?" And after the Cat asked her where she wanted to go, she replied, "It doesn't matter." The cat then responded - "Well if you just keep walking long enough you're sure to get somewhere."

Please don't waste your life wandering.

If you:

feel stuck in your cubicle
wonder what you're doing there
dread going to work on Mondays
sense you've hit the ceiling
think you're the ugly duckling
stay only for the paycheck

You probably need to make a change.

Because she knows one size never fits all, Darlene's counseling begins with a free mini tele-counseling session with you. And if that doesn't give you your answers, she then maps out a customized plan and structure that fits your self understanding level and personal velocity.

You may need only one three-hour initial session with lots of homework and a wrap-up session; or several sessions with additional weekly tele-counseling for one or two months. Bottom line, you will find your right path(s).

And because she knows the best-kept secret answer to finding what you can do best is through self discovery, you'll get:

Psychometric assessments that will reveal your interests, skills, values, motivators, personality type, talents and some suggested careers.
Lots of homework and her trademark customized exercises that will clarify your hidden dreams and self-limiters.
Use of her unique Quantum Quizics™ e-book that will give you the most effective tool you'll ever need for finding your right career fit (or get an MBA in whatever it is you ever need to know in the future.)
Skilled, unconditional coaching to keep you on track, bash your gremlins and take you through your roadblocks.
"Journaling for Clarity" and guidance.
How to use forever the "The Puzzle Wheel: Unraveling Problem Choices for Non-Linear or Confused Thinkers.
Included email support

When you're ready to go to your destiny, you'll get:

A sharp resume (not a job obituary)
A compelling cover letter (that never begins with "enclosed please find my resume")
State-of-the-art job search guidance (the first place most people go to find a job is the last place employers go)
In-depth guidance for managing your job interviews better than the interviewer. (those tricky questions designed to throw you off balance, with answers that match you and the job you're targeting)

Contact Darlene Cook for an appointment to discuss your situation. You'll also get a free sampling of the "Puzzle Wheel: Unraveling Problem Choices for Non-Linear or Confused Thinkers".

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