1. I’m not yet sure what to do that would have the highest and greatest impact on the people, processes, and systems that I have been promoted into leading. I think my uncertainty can be solved by listening to people, building relationships, studying the financials, and figuring out the organizational need that my unique blend of talents and passions are best suited to address. Then I need to talk with people about the problem I’d like to solve and the contribution I’d like to make and working with them to make an impact. Interestingly, the career stalls have the same uncertainty about what to do. And  I would suggest they consider the same a plan of action.
2. In the case of my new role and in the case of those experiencing a stall in their current role, the reaction of people around you could be described as opposite sides of the same coin. Some people are genuinely helpful.  Some exhibit signs of worry as to how your level of influence (or lack thereof) will influence their level of influence (or lack thereof) and some are clearly steering clear—hoping to avoid the work of being pulled into your circle of potential/despair.
3. Both promotions and career stalls are rare opportunities to be creative, innovative, and impactful. For myself and others it seems common sense to view a promotion as an opportunity. But a career slump doesn’t have the same motivational spark—the spark must be self-created.  If those in a slump saw it as a time for creativity and action, they would get better results. Particularly when compared to the choice to give up. Or even worse, to give in to cynicism and to spread that cynicism like the flu.

From a Jewish prayer (paraphrased): “I must do my allotted task with unwavering faithfulness even though the eye of no taskmaster is upon me. I must be strong even when slander distorts my noblest intent.” And luck must shine upon me (my addition).

Author: Jennifer Colosimo, Chief Operations Officer at FranklinCovey

Follow Jennifer on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jencolosimo

A resume is a marketing document.  A key principle in marketing is knowing what you’re trying to sell.  If you aren’t sure, then you can bet your readers won’t be either.

To better know what you’re trying to sell, you need two things:

1. A knowledge of the strengths of the product you are marketing (that’s you) and what you’ve done that demonstrates those strengths.  We divide your portfolio of strengths into three categories:  your talents, your passions, and your conscience.   A couple of resources to help you hone in on your strengths:  the iPhone app, Great Work, Great Career, with exercises, videos, and tools, and the Career Advantage LiveClicks 90-minute webinar.
2. Two, you need as much information as you can possibly find about the organization, the problems/challenges it is facing and if there is one, the job you’re applying for.  In other words, you have to find some need out there (problem to be solved, opportunity to capitalize on) in order to get PAID to make your unique contribution.

The Internet is one of your best resources for understanding a company—its challenges, and opportunities and threats.  With a few clicks, you can learn all about an organization’s industry, their financials, their history, their product reviews, their customers, and their leaders.  In addition, you should read periodicals and industry newsletters. 

Use the phone or email and find someone in the company who might be willing to spend a few minutes with you.  Talk to customers and suppliers to get a better understanding.  What delights the customers?  What frustrates them?  What do vendors say about the company?

When you match your contribution with the needs/opportunities of an organization, while following the basics of resume writing, your resume will truly stand out! 

Author: Jennifer Colosimo, Chief Learning Officer at FranklinCovey

Follow Jennifer on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jencolosimo

Reality show stories may stretch the truth or overemphasize some facts over others, but no more than the stories we tell about ourselves to ourselves.  Stephen Covey calls this our paradigms, the way we see the world.   Jim Loehr, the author of The Power of Full Engagement, the best Habit 7/Sharpen the Saw book out there, says that we have stories about our work, our families, our health; about what we’re capable of achieving.  In his book, The Power of Story, Dr. Loehr says that editing our dysfunctional stories can transform our business and personal lives. 

 In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People  you are asked to shine a light on your stories, the behaviors those paradigms lead to, and the results you’re getting.  And if you don’t like the result, you’ve got to go back to the story first before you’ll be able to sustain any long-term behavior change.  As a starting place to a more balanced, integrated, powerful life, Dr. Covey asks you to assume the following stories: 

1. For the body—assume you’ve had a heart attack; now live accordingly.
2. For the mind—assume the half-life of your profession is two years, now prepare accordingly.
3. For the heart—assume everything you say about another, they can overhear; now speak accordingly.
4. For the spirit—assume you have a one-on-one accounting to your higher power every quarter; now live accordingly.

 And the story will BE reality.  Much more compelling than a reality show…

Author: Jennifer Colosimo, Chief Learning Officer at FranklinCovey

Follow Jennifer on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jencolosimo

CAREER ADVANTAGE

Career Advantage is about getting a great job now and enjoying a great career for life.  In this webinar, participants look at the contribution they would like to make through the lens of talents, passion, and conscience and then at defining career, project, and current-role contribution in a way that’s a win for them and their organization.  The end in mind is becoming more employable and advancing one’s career. Click here to learn more.

RESUME ADVANTAGE

Traditional resumes are like a product brochure with you as the product.  Unless the prospect is actively looking for just that product, the brochure goes in the trash.  Resume Advantage teaches participants to design a unique resume based on the problems the employer needs solved and how participants’ background and experience demonstrate their ability to meet specific employer needs. Click here  to learn more.

INTERVIEW ADVANTAGE

Interview Advantage guides participants through the entire interview process—from finding the decision-maker, to interview do’s and don’ts, and follow-up.  Participants will discover the link between successful interviews and trust-building behaviors.  They’ll also practice solution- and result-focused conversations that will benefit both those in any employment situation, whether looking for work or not. Click here to learn more.

Author: Jennifer Colosimo, Chief Learning Officer at FranklinCovey

Follow Jennifer on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jencolosimo

“Lisa, could your team . . .”

And you think, “We could, but it doesn’t align with what is important to the organization right now or my team’s critical path.”  Don’t say that, not unless you think you can get results without relationships (you can’t, not long-term anyway) OR as a last result.

At home, it is a phone call at 7:00 p.m.:  “Hi Teresa, the Girl Scout cookie mom can’t do it again this year.  Can I put you down for it?”

And your mind races:  “But I already volunteered to chaperone the camping trip, and help with the school carnival, not to mention my work on the Food Bank fundraiser . . .but wouldn’t a good mother, a mother who didn’t work, wouldn’t she say yes?” 

Let me be clear, Executive Mamas don’t say “yes” to everything.  They sometimes say “no”—EFFECTIVELY, in a way that builds relationships and reputation, not in a way that destroys them.

Here’s some suggestions:

To a boss: 

“I’d be happy to.  I am currently working on x, y, and z.  Could we re-visit the timing on those so I could complete this project?” 

“Of course.  This looks like about 3 days worth of work.  Should I table x, y, and z and work on this for the next three days?  Or is b an acceptable completion date?”

“Could you tell me a little bit more so I could see how this fits in with my other commitments?”

To a colleague:

                “I’m not sure.  Let’s talk about deadlines, scope, final product so I can tell you if I could help.”

                “I can’t do it by x.  Is y soon enough?”

                “I have to tell you—I don’t know that I can.  Maybe I can offer up some thoughts as to how you might accomplish that without me?”

 To a child who wants to add another after school activity to their already packed schedule:

                “No, no, a thousand times no!  Don’t you see that this overlaps with basketball practice?  How can you expect to add another drop off/pick up to your already Presidential schedule?”  (OK, that one was a bit autobiographical and not very effective.  But I strongly believe you should tell them the truth.  I know a woman who refuses to accept that little Sally might miss one activity, one party, one experience.  Sally is a horrible child because she believes the entire world revolves around her desires. )

 Executive Mamas say no.  With grace.

Author: Jennifer Colosimo, Chief Learning Officer at FranklinCovey

Follow Jennifer on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jencolosimo

With the national unemployment rate in double digits and talk about layoffs and the economic crisis dominating newscasts and dinner tables everywhere, it’s no secret that today’s employees and job-seekers are more stressed, discouraged, and drained than ever.

To help people find work and career fulfillment in these tough economic times, Stephen Covey, author of the best-seller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and Jennifer Colosimo, chief learning officer at FranklinCovey, have launched the Great Career iPhone application, which was developed in partnership by FranklinCovey and Signal Patterns based on their new book Great Work, Great Career.

Get the Great Career iPhone application at iTunes at: http://bit.ly/GreatCareer

The Great Career iPhone app can be used in conjunction with the content in Stephen Covey and Jennifer Colosimo’s book or independently. Its specific activities and functionality include:

• Know Your Strengths – Research-based assessments help users to discover personality, strengths and career interests

• Define Your Contribution – A contribution statement builder helps users specifically define how they can match their strengths, talents and passions to an opportunity that matters to an employer.

• Build Your Village – A unique network-building and -nurturing tool; enables users to take specific actions and track them to build and maintain their most important career relationships

• Find Resources – Helps users identify “hidden resources” that can assist them to overcome specific challenges, or take advantage of promising opportunities, in building their career

• Action Center – Tracks, prioritizes and accomplishes all the necessary tasks to build and maintain a great career

• Ask an Expert – Allows users to submit questions to Stephen Covey and Jennifer Colosimo as well as get answers to frequently asked career questions.

Get the Great Career iPhone application at iTunes http://bit.ly/GreatCareer

Click here to get the Great Work, Great Career book.

This week I have a book coming out called Great Work, Great Career about finding and great work building, over time, a great career.  It focuses on how you contribute, what you contribute, and tactical elements like interviewing, writing resumes, and focusing on what you can influence, not on what you can’t.  You can see some blog posts regarding the book (some of them mine) in the Great Work, Great Career blog page.  You can also follow me on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jencolosimo.

Of course, Executive Mamas build Great Careers.  How is yours going? 

Author: Jennifer Colosimo, Chief Learning Officer at FranklinCovey

Some of the really interesting questions that keep popping up regarding Great Work, Great Career are related to challenges:  unemployment; socioeconomic challenges including poverty and education levels, race, gender, age; you name it, I’ve been asked about how GWGC addresses challenges.  There is a great quote that says, “When you see a man on top of a mountain, you can be sure he wasn’t dropped there.”  And, in effect, people who ask the “challenges” questions are saying, “Right, but some people were helicoptered to the ledge just below the top and some started out in the swamp 100 miles west of the base of the mountain.  Some people have an easier hike.”

 I agree.

And then I ask, “Based on all of your unique challenges, what are you going to do right now to become who you want to be and doing what you want to do?”  This question does not ask you to stick your head in the ground and ignore your challenges.  You must acknowledge them and, in some cases, accept them.  Then make a choice to focus on the things you can influence, not on the things that you cannot.  If you are not self-sufficient, take a job that pays your bills. 

While you contribute your best at that job, uncover your talents and passions, look for problems in the workplace to which you can apply those strengths, and if you need additional training or education to pursue your great contribution, work toward it gradually. 

How many people do you know that started in the swamp only to reach the pinnacle of the mountain after years of work? 

Yes, there is luck at play.  And luck favors the prepared.

Author: Jennifer Colosimo, Chief Learning Officer at FranklinCovey

You can also follow Jennifer on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jencolosimo

This book re-inspired me and reignited my passion for what I do. I tell people I love my job but after reading this and going through the exercises I have come to realize that I really do LOVE my job. I have my dream job working and plus I work best people in the world. Well of course you do, you might say. You work at FranklinCovey where the people are highly effective, right?

Well I’ll be totally transparent here; we don’t always walk the talk. We try but we don’t always succeed. While reading this book I have come to realize now that we don’t walk the talk because of me. If I had lived by my Contribution Statement (which I have now created by examining my talents, passions, and skills) and if I were a trim tab, I could change the corporate culture. Really, I could make a difference.  I could be the singular irreplaceable one uniquely qualified to make that kind of difference. And even if others didn’t see or feel the shift, I would and I would know and my paradigms are my reality.

The book is divided into 3 parts: Conscience, Cause and Building a Village, each section includes exercises.

The Conscience exercise was a difficult pill to for me to swallow. They ask the question:  What is your real responsibility to your organization, to your customers and co-workers?

Well…

To my organization I applied a revenue number.

To my customers I applied the responsibility of creating and offering quality products and services that would help them further their mission by improving their lives.

And to my co-workers, my responsibility is to cheer them on, to offer solutions, to give my creative energies.

Wow! This was an eye opening moment for me. My moral compass and conscience told me that I had been a cynic, set up some roadblocks, and withheld my best ideas because of a scarcity mentality.

In this exercise I created a Contribution Statement for myself that applies my talents and passions to course correcting my attitude.  My goal is to be a trim tab.

So take a minute and share, what is your real responsibility to your organization, to your customers and co-workers?

We would love to hear from you.

Click here to join me for my next post, where I will discuss the more about my experince reading Great Work, Great Career.

 Author:  Annie Oswald

Maybe this happens to you all the time.  Maybe if I were quicker to extend trust it would happen more often to me.  But as it currently stands, sometimes I feel like I don’t know enough about a person—their character and competence—to trust.  Sometimes a person has behaved in ways that have broken trust.  Regardless, it is rare for me to trust an entire room full of people.  And it felt great!  You’ll laugh, but I felt tears spring to my eyes when I thought about it.  It didn’t mean I agreed with them on everything or that the meeting was easy, but things were easier to achieve because I assumed good intent.

I had worked with everyone in that room for at least three years and with some for over a decade.  I trusted them because they had kept commitments, they had talked to me straight, and they all delivered results.  Does this happen to you often?  Or never?  What else builds trust for Executive Mamas? 

Author: Jennifer Colosimo, Chief Learning Officer at FranklinCovey

When we say that a person has had a great career, what do we mean? That he or she made a lot of money? Moved spectacularly up the corporate ladder? Became famous or renowned in their profession?

And what about you? Are you looking forward to a great career? Would you describe your current career as “great”?

How do you create a great career for yourself? Can you have a great career and still have a great life at the same time, keeping the things you love – family, friends, work, and play – all in balance? 

The answer is, “It depends.”  It depends on how you want to contribute and how you define balance.   

Based on content featured in the soon to be released book Great Work, Great Career, by Dr. Stephen R. Covey and Jennifer Colosimo, in this webcast Jennifer will share critical, insightful principles and practices to help you discover your great career by discovering what your contribution will be and how you will make it.

 Specifically in this free webcast you will learn:

• How to begin identify your strengths, as summed up by your talents, passion, and conscience.
• Tips on how to craft a Contribution Statement.
• How to use your resourcefulness and initiative to get the job you want and overcome obstacles to making your contribution.
• How to create a network of supporters, both co-workers and clients—who can help you achieve your career goals.

 When: Friday, November 20, 2009
Time: 1:00 p.m. ET/12:00 p.m. CT/11:00 a.m. MT/10:00 a.m. PT
Cost: Complimentary

Register at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/198135273

Source Code: GCCB

Please join us, we would love to have you attend.

• 1. Do you know how EBITDA is measured? Or even what the acronym stand for?
• 2. What about return on invested capital or net profits?
• 3. How does your company currently stand in terms of cash flow, revenues, profits?
• 4. Any idea what Davos is?

 My point is this:  One of the main responsibilities of an executive is fiduciary responsibility.  And you aren’t even going to get a shot if you can’t answer the questions listed above.  (OK, you could probably get away with not knowing that Davos is where the World Economic Forum holds their annual meeting.) 

While exclusive networks and things like prejudice might be outside of your influence, building your business acumen is something you can do!  Right now!  Ram Charan wrote the book What the CEO Wants You To Know in order to simplify some of the complexity of how business works.  He asks every worker, from front-line to executive to examine how they impact their organization’s cash, margin, velocity, growth, and customers.  Good advice in tough economic times even if you don’t aspire to an executive role.  Another great book is by John A. Tracy and is called How to Read a Financial Report.  Executive Mamas can make good financial decisions for their organizations and read a financial report. 

Learn more about What the CEO wants you to know.

Author: Jennifer Colosimo, Vice President of Sales and Delivery Effectiveness at FranklinCovey

Maggie decided that her contribution to future women, her community, and to herself would be through the Girl Scout organization, the preeminent leadership development organization for girls with 3.6 million members worldwide.  According to www.girlscouts.org, Girl Scouts are the leading authority on girls’ healthy development, and builds girls of courage, confidence and character, who make the world a better place.  After two years as a troop leader for girls ages 13-15, they wrote her a thank you note that said, “Ms. Maggie, you have taught us to make good decisions and that we can make a difference.  We’re going to be healthy eaters who can manage conflict.  We promise to be great leaders that recognize the potential in others like you have in us.”

There is a lot to do to revive our communities.  Be informed, vote, choose your civic/global contribution, and do it.  Executive Mamas live by the Girl Scout Law! 

What will your contribution be? Check out video titled Contribution featured in FranklinCovey’s 7 Habits for Managers workshop.

Author: Jennifer Colosimo, Vice President of Sales and Delivery Effectiveness at FranklinCovey

I’ve been lucky in that I’ve had great female and male mentors and it seems my skill set and capabilities have been, to this point anyway, valued.  So I’ve got luck.  I also believe, “Luck favors the prepared.”  And the prepared don’t whine. Given the historical, societal, environmental challenge and opportunities you uniquely face, you have immense choice regarding what to say and how to behave right now. According to Victor Frankl, a Nazi war camp survivor highlighted in the Signature course The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the greatest human freedom is the ability to choose our reaction in the face of any circumstances. Imagine that instead of Susan B. Anthony saying, “Suffrage is the pivotal right,” and working her entire life to obtain voting rights for women in the United States, she had simply invested her time in complaining to the women in her knitting circle! Executive Mamas focus on what they can do, not on what they cannot.

Blame or finger-pointing and lack of personal responsibility

Keep the gloomy game going.

They keep stealing your hidden genius and potential wealth-

Giving them to a dimwit on the sidelines with

No leadership, heart, or financial skills.

Dear one,

Wise Up.

- Hafiz, fourteenth-century Sufi poet

Author: Jennifer Colosimo, Vice President of Sales and Delivery Effectiveness at FranklinCovey

 That’s what this blog category is about:  Being an Executive Mama. Choosing to be an executive mama.

 Women have more choices as to how to mix career and family than any previous generation.  And yet, some don’t aspire to leadership roles, particularly executive roles, because of the perception that the only acceptable executive style is paternalistic command and control.  Others want executive status and a rich family life, possibly including children, but don’t see a path to doing both AND living to tell about it.  This blog will encourage realistic optimists to make conscious choices about their leadership style, strive for executive influence in influential organizations including business and government, and to provide a map as to the decisions to be made in order to earn the right to be called both “executive” and “mama” in the same lifetime.

 Next week:  No whining.

 Author: Jennifer Colosimo, Vice President of Sales and Delivery Effectiveness at FranklinCovey