Johnny Bunko is trapped in a cubicle counting beans when his heart is in another line of work. Sounds familiar? Well, Johnny CAN work, but he hopes to work in a fulfilling, challenging type of job that brings the best in him.
In The Adventures of Johnny Bunko. The Last Career Guide You`ll Ever Need, Daniel Pink gives the following 6 pieces of advice:
1. Career plan? Strictly following a career plan may lead to getting stuck once you follow out of pure obligation. Choose a job out of the fun and fulfillment it`ll provide wherever it may lead.
2. Think strengths. A 5% improvement in something you're good at will give more results and satisfaction than 10% in something you may suck at and dislike doing anyway.
3. Forget the Me, Me, Me attitude: It`s not just about YOU. Helping your clients, peers and superiors achieve success will automatically result in you achieving yours.
4. Persist. Keep trying out of enjoyment and love for what you do, not just for selfish reasons or external rewards.
5. Screw-up intelligently. Make mistakes with the best intentions. Learn from the experience and give it another (better) shot.
6. Your legacy: Leave a good imprint, something to be remembered by.
I don't get any money from pushing this book, but do buy read it if you have a chance.
Next installment: The Life Work Balance Myth
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Meet Johnny Bunko
One of the simplest, yet, most convincing career books I have read recently (actually read it in 1 train ride from Shibuya to Yokohama). Written in manga style, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko by Daniel Pink examines 6 pieces of advice no parent, teacher, counselor, HR expert or boy scout leader has taught you.
Daniel Pink attended Northwestern University and Yale law school, but he has never practiced law. When failing his bar exams, he discovered that working as a free agent was best for him,writing books, lecturing on topics like career development and motivation. He did work for the US government, even writing speeches for Al Gore, for a few years.
Check out the trailer.
Daniel Pink attended Northwestern University and Yale law school, but he has never practiced law. When failing his bar exams, he discovered that working as a free agent was best for him,writing books, lecturing on topics like career development and motivation. He did work for the US government, even writing speeches for Al Gore, for a few years.
Check out the trailer.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
The Impasse: Silver Lining
In his book, Getting Unstuck, Dr. Timothy Butler, Senior Fellow of Business Administration and Director of Career Development Programs at the Harvard Business School, masterfully describes the stages of a career crisis and how to overcome one. I have listened to his podcast on Harvard Ideacast and read summaries, but must confess I have not read the book just yet. I am ordering it today.
The most important lesson I personally learned from the cast is that there is indeed a silver lining in experiencing a career crisis. Why is that you may think? Well, it is a moment of awakening. Like someone crippled by stress, recognizing the symptoms and causes are a start,the start of the recovery process. You then need to take the necessary steps to deal with it. Easier said than done, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Instead of wallowing in the fact that we may hate to go back to work on Monday or that routines are killing us, we need to recognize the feeling of impasse and stagnation, identify the origin and causes of discomfort and, most importantly take steps to make changes to correct the situation. These feelings are not going to go away and will keep coming back like every Sunday comes and goes. The world around us will not change for us; change starts with us.
The most important lesson I personally learned from the cast is that there is indeed a silver lining in experiencing a career crisis. Why is that you may think? Well, it is a moment of awakening. Like someone crippled by stress, recognizing the symptoms and causes are a start,the start of the recovery process. You then need to take the necessary steps to deal with it. Easier said than done, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Instead of wallowing in the fact that we may hate to go back to work on Monday or that routines are killing us, we need to recognize the feeling of impasse and stagnation, identify the origin and causes of discomfort and, most importantly take steps to make changes to correct the situation. These feelings are not going to go away and will keep coming back like every Sunday comes and goes. The world around us will not change for us; change starts with us.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
6pm Monday to Friday
Pick any day of the week and think about the moment you finish work and get ready to go home. How do yo feel?
Is that a feeling of joy, liberation, satisfaction, contentment,fulfillment, misery, despair, bliss, pain, or you feel nothing at all?
You closed a $10,000 deal. The boss snapped at you for forgetting to email her pet report. Someone absolutely loved your demo. You were praised for typing a neat voucher. The pitch was a total disaster. Or Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were just carbon copies of each other.
Let`s face it: An ideal case scenario would be you feeling tired, yet pleasantly satisfied after a productive day or, even better, feeling energized and looking forward to a deserved break (you need it!!!) and the next day ahead.
However, if the feeling of being stuck creeps in, you may be at an impasse.
Next installment: The Impasse: Silver Lining
Is that a feeling of joy, liberation, satisfaction, contentment,fulfillment, misery, despair, bliss, pain, or you feel nothing at all?
You closed a $10,000 deal. The boss snapped at you for forgetting to email her pet report. Someone absolutely loved your demo. You were praised for typing a neat voucher. The pitch was a total disaster. Or Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were just carbon copies of each other.
Let`s face it: An ideal case scenario would be you feeling tired, yet pleasantly satisfied after a productive day or, even better, feeling energized and looking forward to a deserved break (you need it!!!) and the next day ahead.
However, if the feeling of being stuck creeps in, you may be at an impasse.
Next installment: The Impasse: Silver Lining
Thursday, October 8, 2009
What causes a career crisis?
The Gallup Organization reports that happy employees show high levels of work satisfaction when they:
- Are cared for as individuals
- Are treated with fairness, dignity and respect
- Are free of coercion or harassment
- Are able to give opinions or have a say in company matters
- Have a best friend at work
- Are often praised for their efforts
- Are given honest feedback and direction
- Know what is expected of them
- Can see and understand the company’s vision and purpose
- Have a sense of higher purpose, of greater good
- Feel they are fairly rewarded for their achievements
- Can apply existing skills, improve others and add new ones
- Are challenged to provide higher quality work
Some of the points above can be very debatable: Can there ever be fairness in the cut-throat business world? What products or services contribute to society? Can everybody be happy when there are deadlines to meet, budgets to achieve and costs to cut?
There is no such a thing as a perfect work place simply because the work place is populated with imperfect people just like all of us. It is been even said that, if you are in a people management role, you will only click with ¼ of your staff; the other 3 people either hate you, ignore you or just follow out of obligation. A survey once even said that 90% of all employees reported feeling underpaid for their work. Go figure….
Having interviewed thousands of professionals in my career as an executive recruiter and trainer, I believe the lack of a clear challenges and rewards, direction and higher purpose tend to be the most common causes for us to question our work mission in life...usually when the sun sets on Sunday and we need to have to work the next day.
Let’s discuss the meaning of work and how it fits in the bigger picture of life in my next installments.
- Are cared for as individuals
- Are treated with fairness, dignity and respect
- Are free of coercion or harassment
- Are able to give opinions or have a say in company matters
- Have a best friend at work
- Are often praised for their efforts
- Are given honest feedback and direction
- Know what is expected of them
- Can see and understand the company’s vision and purpose
- Have a sense of higher purpose, of greater good
- Feel they are fairly rewarded for their achievements
- Can apply existing skills, improve others and add new ones
- Are challenged to provide higher quality work
Some of the points above can be very debatable: Can there ever be fairness in the cut-throat business world? What products or services contribute to society? Can everybody be happy when there are deadlines to meet, budgets to achieve and costs to cut?
There is no such a thing as a perfect work place simply because the work place is populated with imperfect people just like all of us. It is been even said that, if you are in a people management role, you will only click with ¼ of your staff; the other 3 people either hate you, ignore you or just follow out of obligation. A survey once even said that 90% of all employees reported feeling underpaid for their work. Go figure….
Having interviewed thousands of professionals in my career as an executive recruiter and trainer, I believe the lack of a clear challenges and rewards, direction and higher purpose tend to be the most common causes for us to question our work mission in life...usually when the sun sets on Sunday and we need to have to work the next day.
Let’s discuss the meaning of work and how it fits in the bigger picture of life in my next installments.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
What`s a career crisis?
Let`s face it, Alain de Botton may not be the most handsome guy in the world. I find his baldness is a tad disturbing. He is indeed an accomplished writer and social entrepreneur. I must have watched this presentation about 20 times already. Alain makes very valid points in it and he`s simply brilliant. Cool accent, too.
Ok. Career crisis. I guess we`ve all had them at some point.
Definition of crisis (shamelessly copy-pasted from merriam-webster.com): "An unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending; especially one with the distinct possibility of a highly undesirable outcome."
Definition of career(also shamelessly copy-pasted from merriam-webster.com): "A field for or pursuit of consecutive progressive achievement especially in public, professional, or business life," "a profession for which one trains and which is undertaken as a permanent calling." The phrase Permanent calling sounds great....
So, I guess a career crisis is then the point where one feels that our calling, pursuit or that we do for a living may in some way about to change or be in need of a change; therefore causing anxiety or distress. Simple, yet deep stuff.
Have YOU had a career crisis? A short discussion on causes in my next installment.
Ok. Career crisis. I guess we`ve all had them at some point.
Definition of crisis (shamelessly copy-pasted from merriam-webster.com): "An unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending; especially one with the distinct possibility of a highly undesirable outcome."
Definition of career(also shamelessly copy-pasted from merriam-webster.com): "A field for or pursuit of consecutive progressive achievement especially in public, professional, or business life," "a profession for which one trains and which is undertaken as a permanent calling." The phrase Permanent calling sounds great....
So, I guess a career crisis is then the point where one feels that our calling, pursuit or that we do for a living may in some way about to change or be in need of a change; therefore causing anxiety or distress. Simple, yet deep stuff.
Have YOU had a career crisis? A short discussion on causes in my next installment.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
What`s my blog about?
I have spent the last 5 years of my life finding great jobs for outstanding marketing professionals and I believe I have been successful at it. Part of my job has also been giving career advice. I greatly enjoy the part of my job as well.
Every so often, people come to me with the question: What do you think should be my next career step? I do not have a crystal ball and can`t tell people what their future will be like, but in these moments of economic turmoil and with so many people becoming an unemployment statistic, you come to realize that,whether by choice or force, the time comes when you need to define what it is you really enjoy doing for a living.
Don`t get me wrong: In this day and age, you should be lucky you have a job to go to, no doubt. The 1st boss I worked for (he was managing an airline at age 30) told me that not having a job to go to on Monday morning was the worst feeling he`d experienced. Count your blessings indeed.
The following video has inspired me to start a blog about that terrifying moment, usually on Sunday evening, when the weekend ends and the work week is about to start and you realize you are, in a way, back to square 1, career-wise. You do not need to feel this way actually.
I plan to discuss strengths and weaknesses, work life balance, stress, motivation, value clarification,leadership and ways to make sense of what drives us (or should in theory) to get up on Monday and go to work. Welcome!
Every so often, people come to me with the question: What do you think should be my next career step? I do not have a crystal ball and can`t tell people what their future will be like, but in these moments of economic turmoil and with so many people becoming an unemployment statistic, you come to realize that,whether by choice or force, the time comes when you need to define what it is you really enjoy doing for a living.
Don`t get me wrong: In this day and age, you should be lucky you have a job to go to, no doubt. The 1st boss I worked for (he was managing an airline at age 30) told me that not having a job to go to on Monday morning was the worst feeling he`d experienced. Count your blessings indeed.
The following video has inspired me to start a blog about that terrifying moment, usually on Sunday evening, when the weekend ends and the work week is about to start and you realize you are, in a way, back to square 1, career-wise. You do not need to feel this way actually.
I plan to discuss strengths and weaknesses, work life balance, stress, motivation, value clarification,leadership and ways to make sense of what drives us (or should in theory) to get up on Monday and go to work. Welcome!
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