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StrategyDriven Professional Podcast Episode 2 – Standing Out Among Professional Peers, part 2 of 3

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StrategyDriven Professional PodcastStrategyDriven Professional Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques business professionals can use to accelerate their careers and personal goals achievement. These podcasts elaborate on the principle, best practice, and warning flag articles found on the StrategyDriven Professional website.

Episode 2 – Standing Out Among Professional Peers, part 2 of 3 focuses on the need to stand out among professional peers and challengers both within your organization and when applying for external positions. During our discussion, Wendy Powell, author of Management Experience Acquired: Necessary Skills for Successfully Managing Any Employee, shares with us her insights and illustrative examples regarding:

  • six of twelve steps to standing out among professional peers
  • what professionals should do to ‘get to know themselves again’
  • importance of performing a personal SWOT analysis for each position being applied for
  • why professionals should submit letters of reference with their resume for both internal and external positions being applied for

Management Experience Acquired by Wendy PowellAdditional Information

In addition to the incredible insights Wendy shares in Management Experience Acquired and this podcast are the resources accessible from her website, www.ManagementExperienceAcquired.com.   Wendy’s book, Management Experience Acquired, can be purchased by clicking here.

About the Author

Wendy PowellWendy Powell is the author of Management Experience Acquired. With more than twenty-five years of human resource and management consulting experience, Wendy has spent most of her career at the University of Michigan. She is currently on the business faculty at both Palm Beach State College and the University of Phoenix. A member of the Society of Human Resource Management, she received a leadership award in 2002 from the Midwest College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. She is routinely featured on The Huffington Post and has appeared on Fox Business’s The Strategy Room. Wendy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business management and a Master of Arts degree in organizational management.

Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven Principal is a StrategyDriven Principal, and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:20 — 23.9MB)

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At Lighthouse Beach, looking at my reflection in a different way.

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How do you define the word ‘reflection?’

At the moment I’m sitting outside on a sunny day overlooking the Pacific Ocean on the Oregon Coast. The venue is called Lighthouse Beach because the Cape Arago Lighthouse is the prime visual attraction. Or is it?

Actually, the ocean waves are pounding against the beach and the rocks creating majestic waterspray vistas that are indescribable. You gotta be here. You gotta see it.

I spent my first 10 minutes in awe of the sight.

After that, I began to gather thoughts. Thoughts of other beautiful places I’ve been. Thoughts of undone things I gotta do. Goals and dreams. And of course just reveling in the moment.

As a writer this would be termed a ‘fantasy venue.’ As a thinker there could be no better place to conjure up all sorts and new thoughts.

REALITY: In the big picture of things, I am one grain of sand in the beach of life. Yet I’m here today basking in its glory. I’m grateful.

The ocean’s relentless waves roll in whether I am here are not. Today is a rather calm day, but I’ve seen the ocean so violent here that it defies description. Wind, rain, waves crashing against rocks – almost like the ocean is a cauldron with a one million degree fire.

“So what?” you’re probably saying. “You’re on the beach watching the waves, and I’m here in my office working my ass off, or making cold calls, or out here sweating on a sales appointment, or following up with some guy that won’t return my call, or (worse) being beaten by price.”

Those are your issues, but in the heat of your mess, we do have something in common. It’s time for reflection. Not the one you see in the mirror in the morning. I’m talking about a way bigger reflection than that. It’s a reflection about time, accomplishment, achievement, and fulfillment. Life reflection.

When I was cold calling in New York City, often making sales, but more often getting my head handed to me, waves crashing on the beach never entered my mind. The ocean never entered my mind. I was caught in the spiral of the process, failing to reflect on it and see what else could have been done, or how much smarter I could have (should have) been. How many more chances should I have taken?

What do you reflect on right now? And how are those reflections impacting your actions? Your achievements? Your success? Reflections are not just about sales, they’re an important part of life. Your life.

Beyond sales, reflections are about people and moments and books that have impacted you. The lessons you have learned along the way. Things completed and things left undone. Your bucket list and the next thing to cross off. And, of course, your present situation and how you got there.

While it’s a little easier for me to reflect right now, at some point in your life reflection will begin as well. I don’t know the day, and neither do you. But I promise you it will happen. And when it does, it will mark the beginning of a new era. A big picture era that no longer focuses on quota. Rather, it allows you to take a hard look at life. When that transition begins to happen your sales will double.

You’ll no longer be fretting about the subject line in an email. Instead, you’ll be taking actions to build your personal reputation, your personal brand, and your stature in your marketplace.

The transition will help you evolve from salesperson to sales leader. Not manager, leader. You lead your own charge, you lead your own way, you lead your own plan to build your own reputation through the leadership you created with customers.

  • The way people speak about you.
  • The way to refer to you.
  • The way they refer other people to you.
  • The way that they reward you, not just with sales, but with referrals and accolades.

And hopefully those accolades will show up someplace in your social media profiles or on their blog or their website, and most certainly on Google.

For some of you right now this makes no sense. Reason? Simple, you haven’t begun the reflection process. Save this piece. Your day will come. And as I’ve said many times before, when you get what you want you better be ready.

During this coastal visit, I’m writing about the Unbreakable Law of Selling, a forthcoming book that will help hundreds of thousands of people understand sales better, execute their sales process better, and make more sales to more people. The inspiration I feel right now will directly impact those words.

Today I have clarity – ultimate clarity and understanding of what it took to make my sales (the reflection), and what it will take for you to increase your sales to a point where you can begin to reflect and bask in your own sunlight, at your own ocean, with your own waves pounding against the shore.

Pick a time, pick a place, and go.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

StrategyDriven Professional Podcast Episode 1 – Standing Out Among Professional Peers, part 1 of 3

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StrategyDriven Professional PodcastStrategyDriven Professional Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques business professionals can use to accelerate their careers and personal goals achievement. These podcasts elaborate on the principle, best practice, and warning flag articles found on the StrategyDriven Professional website.

Episode 1 – Standing Out Among Professional Peers, part 1 of 3 focuses on the need to stand out among professional peers and challengers both within your organization and when applying for external positions. During our discussion, Wendy Powell, author of Management Experience Acquired: Necessary Skills for Successfully Managing Any Employee, shares with us her insights and illustrative examples regarding:

  • the differentiation promoting and hiring executives and managers are looking for in potential candidates
  • how to communicate a desire to be considered for an open position to the hiring manager
  • when to communicate to one’s superior that you are seeking another position outside of the superior’s workgroup and within the organization
  • methods of effectively engaging with other professionals, including recruiters, through social media

Additional Information

In addition to the incredible insights Wendy shares in Management Experience Acquired and this podcast are the resources accessible from her website, www.ManagementExperienceAcquired.com.   Wendy’s book, Management Experience Acquired, can be purchased by clicking here.

About the Author

Wendy Powell is the author of Management Experience Acquired. With more than twenty-five years of human resource and management consulting experience, Wendy has spent most of her career at the University of Michigan. She is currently on the business faculty at both Palm Beach State College and the University of Phoenix. A member of the Society of Human Resource Management, she received a leadership award in 2002 from the Midwest College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. She is routinely featured on The Huffington Post and has appeared on Fox Business’s The Strategy Room. Wendy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business management and a Master of Arts degree in organizational management.

Nathan Ives is a StrategyDriven Principal, and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:13 — 26.5MB)

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A dozen books to own and read – at least once.

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When Jim Rohn said, “All the information you need to succeed already exists, the problem is you haven’t exposed yourself to it,” it was one of the most challenging and eye-opening statements I had ever heard. I immediately made a lifelong goal to read a thousand books.

I have not reached that goal yet, but I’m eating away at it. I love the hardbound vintage book, but I’m finding that reading on my iPad’s Kindle app provides the perfect strategy to increase my desire to read in spare moments.

Here’s my list of must read books:

1. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill is at the top of everyone’s list. Written 70 years ago, it’s still the benchmark book for attitude, goal setting, and achievement. Get an original copy (pre 1960), not one of the altered, newly minted, “after the copyright expired” versions. NOTE: Not on this list, but equally important, is the best sales book of all time: How to Sell Your Way Through Life. Written just two years later, this book is an unknown gem. It’s hard to find and a little pricey, but look for it on abebooks.com, bookfinder.com, or ebay.

2. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. The all-time, gem of gems for engaging with self-confidence and connecting with sincerity that contains timeless rules of success. Your Carnegie library is only one third completeuntil you own and read How to Stop Worrying and Start Living and Effective Public Speaking, two books with timeless information on stress relief, positive attitude, speaking skills, and success strategies.

3. He Can Who Thinks He Can by Orison Swett Marden. One of the original ‘self-thought’ and self-help books containing thought gems such as, “Every child should be taught to expect success” and “The world makes way for the man with an idea.” If you want a list of great Marden quotes from this book, underlined by John Patterson, the founder of NCR and the father of American salesmanship, go to www.gitomer.com and enter MARDEN in the GitBit box.

4. Swim with the Sharks by Harvey Mackay. A benchmark and game-changing book for me and millions ofother people in business. It’s full of applicable ideas to make you think and strategies to implement immediately.

5. Small is the New BIG by Seth Godin. One of many Godin books that should be in your library. Not just for the information – he’s much more than that. I don’t just marvel at what Seth writes, I marvel at how he thinks.

6. Thinkertoys by Michael Michalko. Short lessons, tools, and exercises you can easily understand and apply immediately. It recharged my brain, and opened my eyes to a new way to see creativity – by example.

7. What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis. A compelling work that centers around Google as it relates to other businesses. Jarvis compares what Google would do to diverse industries such as hotels, restaurants, schools, and the media. Amazingly insightful and thought provoking – especially if you relate it to your business (as I did).

8. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Outliers tells stories of how, why, and when people became successful entrepreneurs, and how standards were set in the 19th century that are still in place today. But it’s his concept of ‘10,000 hours’ that makes this book an absolute insightful treasure.

9. Steve Jobs by Walter Issacson. Jobs had vision, foresight, character, uncompromising ideals, and shrewdness. He was inspirational to all who came within his domain. This is a great story and important to read in order to understand where we are today. I have written about Steve Jobs’ impact on my life. If you’d like to read it, go to www.gitomer.com and enter JOBS in the GitBit box.

10. The Pursuit of Prime by Ichak Adizes, Ph.D. This book addresses the stages every growing business goes through, and what to expect and do in each stage. Compelling because it’s both a game plan for what to do, and a pie in the face for what you haven’t done.

11. Social Boom by Jeffrey Gitomer (hey, that’s me!) and several other social media experts. Business Social Media is not an option, and this book is the ultimate “how to” and “why.” Yes, I have ten other books I hope you buy, read, and implement the lessons from, but Social Boom is my best book for this moment.

12. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. A book that has been canonized by every cross section of the political and business landscape EXCEPT the politician trying to grow government and give handouts. It’s an amazing, compelling read, and has a happy ending for entrepreneurs. May be my favorite of all time. When you’re finished reading this epic novel, I dare you not to starts on Rand’s The Fountainhead.

12.5 There are other imperative non-books. CDs, essays, quote books, and kids books that I also highly recommend. They are, in no particular order, The Art of Exceptional Living (CDs) by Jim Rohn, Acres of Diamonds by Russell Conwell, A Message to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard, Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper, and The Strangest Secret (CD) by Earl Nightingale. You can find all of these gems at www.executivebooks.com.

NOTE WELL: This is not THE definitive book list – it’s MY definitive book list. These are books I have read, been inspired by, implemented, and banked. I have a longer list on my website – click on ‘Recommended Reading’ under ‘Sales Help.’

Invest your time reading. It will pay lifelong dividends.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

StrategyDriven Podcast Episode 42 – Acquiring Management Experience

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StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results. These podcasts elaborate on the best practice and warning flag articles on the StrategyDriven website.

Episode 42 – Acquiring Management Experience focuses on how to gain management experience even if one does not currently hold a management position. Next, we’ll explore how to convey this experience such that it opens the doors to a management position within one’s organization. During our discussion, Wendy Powell, author of Management Experience Acquired: Necessary Skills for Successfully Managing Any Employee, shares with us her insights and illustrative examples regarding:

  • the opportunities to ascend into management given today’s economic conditions
  • what organization leaders are seeking in their managerial candidates
  • how to gain management experience when one does not hold the position of manager
  • how to effectively convey one’s management experience so to be considered for such a position
  • how to overcome the ‘tenure barrier’ to promotion

Additional Information

In addition to the incredible insights Wendy shares in Management Experience Acquired and this podcast are the resources accessible from her website, www.ManagementExperienceAcquired.com.   Wendy’s book, Management Experience Acquired, can be purchased by clicking here.

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Thank you again for listening to the StrategyDriven Podcast!

About the Author

Wendy Powell is the author of Management Experience Acquired. With more than twenty-five years of human resource and management consulting experience, Wendy has spent most of her career at the University of Michigan. She is currently on the business faculty at both Palm Beach State College and the University of Phoenix. A member of the Society of Human Resource Management, she received a leadership award in 2002 from the Midwest College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. She is routinely featured on The Huffington Post and has appeared on Fox Business’s The Strategy Room. Wendy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business management and a Master of Arts degree in organizational management.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:13 — 22.3MB)

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