Top Management Books – Think and grow rich – by Napoleon Hill

This book was for me one of these books where the name and cover did not do the book enough justice – First off the book could sound like some sort of get rich scheme, but it’s not!

My first impression after reading the book was that it’s one of the best management books I have had my hand on, while it use the mindset of getting rich, it could just as well have focused on any other topic as the basis for the research.

Napoleon Hill spend many years in research of this book and it clearly shows in the content that is well defined and put focus on the key piece of the book.

The book itself is all about how you use your head and your brain to get what you want.

They 15 key topic’s in the book are:

1. Thoughts are things
2. Desire
3. Faith
4. Autosuggestion
5. Specialized knowledge
6. Imagination
7. Organized planning
8. Decision
9. Persistence
10. Power of the mastermind
11. The mystery of sex transmutation
12. The subconscious mind
13. The brain
14. The sixth sense
15. The six ghosts of fear

A number of these are self explanatory; however the key to this book is to understand HOW to use these to get what you want, wherever that’s money or something else in life.

The chapters that impressed me the most was on faith and desire and the focus on understanding the clear difference between people that are successful and people that are not! Overall the difference is persistence, some people give up after 1 rejection, some people continue to push even after a hundred rejection or “failures”.

Specialized knowledge is also a great chapter, where Napoleon is very focused on explaining the focus people have in using their key strength and develop that throughout their life – Your learning first starts when you finishes your education -and it never stops!

The power of the mastermind is also an outstanding concept – Even if you don’t get this book, do yourself a great favour and look into this concept, there’s load of stuff about it out there on the web.

Last key points Napoleon have is on fear, while we might be successful in everything else, if fear is keeping us back – we will continue to fail.

Walking through the different fears of life, it is really one of the most helpful chapters in the book to help you move forward and get the success that you want.

While this book by its cover might not look like a book for managers, I will give it 4 out of 5 stars from a management viewpoint and from a personal development stand-point, this one is really a must read!

Take a look at amazon to get your copy!

Top Management Books – Think and Grow Rich is a post from: The Management and Personal Development blog

Management and Personal Development

Speaking your mind – that’s why you are there!

Speaking your mind is an absolute key not just in ensuring people know what you are capable of, but just as much to provide the value your organisation needs you to provide.

1. Adding value

2. Behind closed doors

3. Meetings

1. Adding value

Adding value in your day to day activity by speaking your mind is a challenge for people – Some people don’t speak at all, some people speak too much. Some of the key things to look for:

• It’s not about being right or wrong – it’s not about winning an argument, it’s about finding a solution that can move things forward.
• Don’t look for the perfect solution, if your team comes up with idea’s, let them go with it, don’t add your 5 cents to each and every idea – If people feel it’s their idea rather then your, they will invest a lot more in it.
• Speak your mind AND listen to others – finding the right solution or approach to a problem or a decision require the involved parties input, be positive for anyone’s input, you are not always right!
• Focus on the specific topic, don’t mix in other discussions, don’t start talking outside the subject – keep on track!
• When you bring out your idea, welcome feedback, suggestion for improvements etc, if others can improve your idea let them.
• Remember, if you are the boss it’s your decision in the end – listen and make it – it’s not about votes.

2. Behind closed doors

When you are behind closed doors with either your team or your peers, it’s always okay to discuss things openly, bringing out different views and throwing idea’s up in the air.
However when you leave the room and a decision has been taken, everyone needs to execute the idea as it was their own! Even if you don’t agree with an idea, telling your team so is not just demoralizing for them, it’s also extremely unprofessional.

3. Meetings

Yes, you have been invited to a meeting to share your point of view – If you go to meetings, even standing-in for someone else, share your opinion and ask clarifying questions. Don’t be affright of looking stupid – You learn by doing!

Speaking your mind – that’s why you are there! is a post from: The Management and Personal Development blog

Management and Personal Development

My 3 top 3’s when it comes to personal development

My 3 favourite ways to learn and my 3 favourites in each of those area’s – plain and simple and right below:

1. Books
2. Podcasts
3. Management Blogs/Websites
   

1. Books – My top 3 favourite books
   I know I haven’t found place for any of Druckers books in my top 3, where really they probably should be, however the below 3 books have all helped me significantly in 3 different area’s, with great actionable advise, which is why they stand out the most to me.
   1. First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently
   2. What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful
   3. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
2. Podcasts – I listen to a number of things on HBR etc, but I can easily say my greatest learning in management & how to deal with my career is from manager-tools and for me, no learning comes even close to what Mark & Mike have though me through Podcasts, conferences & other communication – Therefore I have no choice but to put manager-tools in 1, 2 & 3 spot, instead I have added my favourite casts – Trust me it’s awesome!
   1. Manager-tools.com – Anything with DiSC
   2. Manager-tools.com – How to Prewire a Meeting
   3. Manager-tools.com – The Juggling Koan
3. Management Blogs/Websites
   When you try and stick to at least one hour learning a day, it’s great with some up to date websites, that produce quality content, the 3 below are sites I use very often.
   1. http://www.welchway.com/
   2. http://blogs.hbr.org/
   3. http://www.manager-tools.com/

My 3 top 3′s of personal development is a post from: The Management and Personal Development blog

Management and Personal Development

Personal development in today’s world.

Over the last 10-15 years, companies have become a lot less inclined to invest in the development of their employees – for a number of reasons.

The career life cycle

The life cycle of peoples career’s have changed a lot. Years ago most people work in 1-2 companies during their entire career.
This have changed significantly, which means that people are looking a lot more around on the job market and are much more willing to change jobs for higher salary’s, higher level jobs and even completely different career paths. This in itself makes it a lot less interesting for companies to invest in their people, as spending years developing someone for another company to benefit from it is not a seen as a valuable investment – or at least not as valuable as it used to be!

The financial situation

The current financial climate have put a lot more focus on cutting the baseline cost to remain competitive, and in most companies the training & development budget is one of the first places cut
The reasons for which companies are ready to cut the T&D budget are quite straight forward, often the impact is hard to asses and the potential impact is first seen at a later stage.

The exceptions!

There’s still a few companies out there, that put a lot of effort and focus in T&D, specially the “internet” companies like google & facebook that have a low baseline cost, can afford to offer their employee’s better conditions and likewise have the financial power to hold on to they high performers for a long time. These companies have realised the benefit of holding on to their people and work hard on all fronts to do so.

What do you have to do then?

In the end of the day, each individual is now responsible for their own development, your future and development is in the hands of you and you alone!
You can ask your company, you boss and your peers for help and support in terms of what area’s to developed and focus on, but ensuring that you follow through is you to you.
Good luck with you future and your career, remember it is in your hands!

Your Personal Development in the world today is a post from: The Management and Personal Development blog

Management and Personal Development

Personal development – The ways to learn.

Getting better is all about learning – Most high level executives, spend hours besides their already busy work week on personal development. It’s an investment and while over time the area’s that are being develop changes, the ways of doing personal development stay’s the same.

The key ways to learn and improve your key skills and behaviors

1.Reading

2. Listening

3. See

4. Practice

5. Mentoring

1. Reading is a very traditional way of learning, some people do it through taking an education, some through reading good books and more recently many people find and follow useful Forum’s and Blog’s of their interest. These 3 are all very good forms of learning
   – Education will most likely never disappear and as this can be done in many levels and stages, it’s generally a structured way to learn and help push people that struggle to give their development the needed focus without the pressure.
   - Reading books is another very used way of learning from other people’s experience and gather knowledge in area’s where you might be lacking behind. The great benefit with reading is that it can be done almost everywhere and it doesn’t matter if you have 20 minutes or 4 hours, you can always pick up a book.
   - Reading Forum’s and Blogs, is a new way of learning and bring other benefits as well. A book is static, it takes a long time to write it, then it’s published and after that gets older – However people posting things online can be both very relevant and can help you to stay on top of many things and being up to date on relevant business news is a key to success in many areas. Further more focused participation in forums and blogs helps people build their network in places they would else be a lot less likely to meet people.
2. Listening is another great way to learn, experienced people talking about their knowledge and what they have learned, used to happen in the likes of conferences, training sessions and schools, however the technology have now brought both webcasts & podcasts into the picture as well. This have for me been one of the best ways to learn, as similar to reading, listening to a podcast can be done everywhere and for some people it often explains things in a different way then reading them.
3. Seeing others do is used in a number of development area’s, this could be the likes of presentation skills, running meetings or simply looking at other people’s body languages. The seeing often comes with other parts of learning, but is still a very important aspect.
4. Practice is another very common and fast way to learn, “learning by doing” is a very used phrase and many people really learn the fastest by doing. The great thing about practice is often that you get to see and correct what you do there and then, which is a great way for most minds to learn and remember things.
   Delegation is also a key to most successful businesses and delegation & practice goes hand in hand.
5. Mentoring is another form of learning that has been around for many years, the concept of a mentor is widely recognised and used in many organisations. It’s a great way form individuals unsure of what to do, how to develop and generally wanting to learn new skills and abilities.
   Where mentors used to be people “high up” with focus very much on forward career, the “mentor” role is now also used a lot to learn individual skills from people at any level. If a manager is struggling with Excel, he can easily find someone to help him learn this, and without this being someone higher up the organisation. Other examples of this could be running effective meetings, doing great presentations or learning basic skills like sales, marketing etc.

Overall people have different learning styles and it’s important to do a bit of trial and error to see what suits you the best, but at least now you have some suggestions of “how” so all I can say is get started!

Personal development and the ways to learn is a post from: The Management and Personal Development blog

Management and Personal Development

Top Management Books – First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently – by Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman

This is really a must read book for anyone that wants to be a good leader or manager at any level.

The content and key insights of “First break all the rules”, is taken from extensive research done byGallup. Rather then just looking at high level leaders, they have looked at leaders at all levels to try and understand some of the key skills of a good leader. The findings are generally that the best leaders can come from any background and be any sex or race.
The key of this book is really that a lot of conventional wisdom in terms of what leaders should or shouldn’t do is constantly being broken by the best leader, as they understand that it’s all about people and that all people are individuals and shouldn’t all be treaded the same.
Besides a great amount of data and great research, the book also has a lot of great stories explaining most of the logic behind the findings.
The book also focuses a lot on employee & customer satisfaction, where you can get some great insights. Especially on employee satisfaction it’s clear where so many companies fail and why.

Reading this book will both make you understand why some of the things you do work so well and it will help you understand some of the key things that you can look at doing differently.
Most leaders quickly realize that picking the right talents is the key to success, the book also helps a lot on this area.
Of the many management books I have read to this day, this book is clearly the one I have given the most copies of and recommended to the leaders working with me.

Thanks to Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman for such a amazing book!
I can recommend having a look at amazon for the book as you can often get a used copy very cheap.

Top Management Books – First, Break All the Rules is a post from: The Management and Personal Development blog

Management and Personal Development

Top 10 places to find Networking events.

Networking is just such a key to success in management and while some are naturally focused on people, others can find a hard time getting started on networking.

I was one of them, however over time I have found a number of good places to look for networking events which I will share below.

Networking events can be everything from events that mainly exist to put people together, to the local football club. Where there’s people, there’s a possibility to network and specially if you are a shy person by nature, it’s a lot easier if it’s something that interests you, as it makes it a lot easier to start talking.

My top 10 places to find events where you can network with likeminded people:

1. @work
2. Linkedin.com
3. Through your network
4. The local news paper
5. Manager Tools
6. Toastmasters.org
7. Management communities – CMI/PMI/AMP/ICMP
8. Chamber of Commerce
9. Meetup.com & Findnetworkingevents.com
10. Schools & Learning places in general.

1. The easiest place to get started is at work! Attending meetings, training or other events within your company, is key opportunities to get to know the other people attending and building a great network internally. If you attend a meeting with people you don’t know, show up a bit early or stay a bit after to make sure you get to talk with them.
2. I love Linkedin for finding networking events, why? First big benefit is that you can see the events that people in your network are attending, it’s a great start knowing someone you know is also going along. The search functionality for events is also great, as you can search for evens in any area.
3. Using your network to find events is always a great idea, don’t be shy asking people what type of networking events they attend – If they attend anything that have your interest as well, it is great way to get introduced to a group by a current member.
4. The local paper is also great for finding networking opportunities in your local area, so besides the benefit of you getting up to date with the local news, remember to look out for good opportunities to meet other people.
5. Manager-tools.com is my favourite place in the world when it comes to management learning and development and as the place has a huge number of people with a common wish to improve their management skills, they are also very interested in networking events and there are generally a lot of meetup’s taking place around the world. Furthermore manager-tools host conferences around the world, where you can meet some fantastic people, so go check them out!
6. Toastmasters is a international non-profit organisation that exist in most countries worldwide – The club if focused on teaching people public speaking & leadership skills. Personally this is a places where I have met a large number of fantastic people that I have learned together with and also learn from. There are more then 10.000 clubs worldwide, so get onto toastmasters.org and check of where the nearest club is for you.
7. There are many management communities out there, CMI the Chartered Management Institute is one of the ones I have been a member at for a while and as with most things – the more you put into it, the more you get out. They organise great events and there’s a lot of likeminded people.
8. Many larger cities have their local chamber of commerce, this is also a great place to find local business people and get to mix with people that are very business focused. Many chambers arrange a number of different types of events which are great to attend.
9. Meetup.com & Findnetworkingevents.com is some of many places that are good to find events in your local area. They are very easy to search in and I have found a number of good events on these sites myself.
10. Schools/colleges and other learning institutions are great places to learn and great places to meeting other people with similar interest. If you use any places to further your education or to learn new skills, be sure to keep in contact with all the good people you meet.

Top 10 places to find Networking events is a post from: The Management and Personal Development blog

Management and Personal Development

Mentoring – The Art of Development and Growth

What is mentoring really? Mentoring has developed a lot the recent years and is maybe seen a bit different today then it used to be. With the internet making people able to communicate effectively over a distance and with travelling becoming much more available and standard, some barriers have moved.

The mentoring is still based on the same principles, someone that is good at or experienced at something, which could be any kind of task or skill. Mentor someone that is less good or experienced at it.

Mentoring the basic’s

Some good examples of skills that could be useful to learn as a mentee from a mentor could be the use of computer application such as excel, powerpoint, outlook etc – It could be how to run a effective meeting, presentation skills and how to prepare presentations – It could also be more general job specific skills. If you are new into sales you could have a experienced sales mentor giving you advice and helping you move faster from where you start to where you want to go.

Generally mentoring used to be seen as a higher level manager “teaching” a newer manager how to manage successfully – However breaking mentoring down to specific skills often makes it much more controllable and likewise makes it easier for both parties to understand what’s expected in the relationships. This is especially useful in the start of someone’s career where it can be a bit hard pinpointing what you are looking for.

That said it’s always a great help establishing relationships with people more experienced then yourself in the field you are in, as it can be great to have someone to bounce idea’s and situations at to hear their point of view.

Finding a mentor, what’s the best way?

Depending on what you want mentoring help with, it is usually best if you look in your network and within the people you know. If you don’t know anyone that you feel have the required skills or experience that you are looking for, you can ask your network if anyone know someone that might be able to help.

When you identify the person you would want to mentor you, it’s quite straight forward. Spend a bit of time preparing what it is you want them to mentor you with – set up a meeting, it could be over lunch or anything else – Most people find it very flattering and are happy to use some time with you. It’s important to be respectful of their time though, so come up with some suggestions of how often you catch up, to set some clear expectations. It’s likewise good if you focus on making the meeting/location very beneficial for the mentor, as you are the one wanting to learn.

Mentoring – The Art of Development and Growth is a post from: The Management and Personal Development blog

Management and Personal Development

Networking basics

What is networking really about?

Networking is about helping people and the most important rule of networking is never start by considering what’s in it for you.

If you help people with something yourself (or even refer them to someone you know can help), it builds a relationship, trust and shows the person you know the area and what you are talking about and they will likely come to you if they have other challenges in the same area.

Why is this important? Well first of all a demand for your knowledge and skills is really one of the most important things in business, that’s how you develop and grow, it’s how you’re more likely recommended for anything and that could be a new job, an advisory role or anything else really.

The second is that when you help someone, they are a lot more likely to help you, so if you have a challenge and you could use their help, it’s usually a lot easier to get!

I have always said that the good things you do in life comes back 10 fold some day, so get helping people!

How do I start networking?

Well you started networking already, you know people and that’s a key, but how do you manage to make your networking more business focused and not just social?

First things first, take where you work, I’m sure there is people you can help even more than you do today. You also need to “get out there”, get to know people, not just in your own office, group etc, but meet people from all parts and layers of the company, and how do you do that? Again you need to seek the opportunities, attending social groups, courses, training classes, anything where you know you are very likely to meet new people that you haven’t meet before and then don’t be shy and sit in a corner talking with the one person you already do know!

What else can you do? What jobs or area’s interest you? Where do you want to expand your knowledge, you probably already know some people that you think are doing an interesting job, contact them and say you have some questions or are interested in the type of job role they do and if they would meet and discuss over lunch as you’re looking for some advise in that particular area and again don’t be shy, people are generally very happy to help and yes most people eat once in a while, just remember though don’t be to pushy, while people like helping, they like helping friendly people.

Another way of getting in contact with people is to be “referred” through a friend, if you again have someone you think does something interesting and you know someone that knows him/her, ask them if they could introduce you as you would like to get to know some more about the job that person does.

Mentoring is also a fantastic way to build very strong professional relationships, if you’re looking to develop in a particular role or to develop new skills, finding a mentor that is already very good in that area can be a massive boost – for both of you. (I will post a topic on mentoring later)

Networking, with who?

Everyone is the answer! Some people are very focused on networking only with people “higher” up the ladder than themselves and really you can grow your network a lot faster in the area you are in or people below you, and why would you do that? Well knowing the “big boss” is not a bad thing, but by knowing a lot of people around you are just as likely to have access to the same resource and maybe instead of using a lot of time getting to know one of them “big bosses”, one of the many people you get to know might introduce you to the “boss” when/if you need it. Personally I don’t care if people are above or below, the important thing is if they have skills and knowledge that I can use doing my job, taking particular decisions and of course the other way around.

Networking and that new job!

When it comes to applying for a new job or having an interview for a new job, both internally or externally, it’s key to make use of your networking skills and if you don’t know the hiring manager, get starter and get to know them! It’s very simple, ask if they want to meet for a coffee as you are very interested in this new job and you want to understand a bit more of what they are looking for in a potential candidate. This is a must and it will help you big time, at least having had a good conversation with the person interviewing you makes a world of difference, both because you’re familiar in his/her eye’s and because you are more conferrable with that person, also the more interest an interviewer can see you have in the job and the more eager you seem, the higher the chances of getting it.

Networking Basics is a post from: The Management and Personal Development blog

Management and Personal Development

Personal effectiveness from a financial Perspective

Since I started at my first job many years ago, I have always worked a lot on my personal effectiveness.

One of the best advises I got from one of my early mentor’s Martin, was to look at effectiveness from a financial perspective as well.
The way he explained it was that being effective at something you are good at is far from as hard as being effective as something you are not good at or something you don’t like doing – The great bonus is that you get even better at what you enjoy doing!

An example of this was cleaning, washing, ironing etc – If it takes you 5 hours a week to do this, someone good at it might be able to do it in 3 hours.

Now if that person gets paid the same as you or less, you could maybe work another 2-3 hours and get someone to do 5 hours worth of your time of what you don’t like or are not effective at – The added bonus is that it’s probably done better as well!

Something else I have used myself is the wonders called Taxi’s. When I first moved to abroad, I was in a situation where I would spend roughly one and a half hour in getting to and from work each day, using the public transport. However taking a taxi it only took about 20-25 minutes. The extra cost of a taxi vs public transport was just under my hourly salary, so again from a financial perspective it made as much sense to take a taxi to work – The Bonus here is that Taxi drivers are often willing to give you a better price if you are a frequent passenger + Knowing Taxi drivers where you live is also great when having visitors or hosting visits of any kind.

Another place where so many people don’t look at the financial effectiveness is around DIY, sure there’s some parts where it’s a benefit to do yourself, but again, if a expert doing the same a you could do it much faster early less each hour then you do, the saving money by doing it might not be as sensible after all – The added bonus, it will most likely look and work better then if you did it yourself!

To drive your financial effectiveness focus on what you are good at and what you enjoy. This makes you happier in the long run and gives you the benefit that you become better at yours job.

Personal effectiveness from a financial Perspective is a post from: The Management and Personal Development blog

Management and Personal Development