ndevinj

When I first started managing people someone told me to shift from the pronouns “I” and “Me” and start focusing on “Us” and “We”. Words that we use often define the way we think and the subsequent approaches that we take to solving problems. The only reason that leaders and managers exist is because there is too much work for one person. Leaders need to understand their role as organizational visionary, personal coach, manager, and motivator. they have to leverage other people’s expertise and... Read Full Story

The job market has been dismal for a couple of years now and job seekers have become weary and have even stopped looking. Fortunately, over the last quarter there has been a large increase in job postings. I have several friends and colleagues that have decided its time for a change and have been working with them to develop a job search strategy. And, yes, you really need a strategy. Finding a job is almost like finding a spouse. You have to understand a company’s value, as well as their... Read Full Story

Burnout is rough. You know that feeling when you’re sitting on the couch in the evening and dread going to work in the morning. Or the Saturday that you tell yourself that the weekend is almost over and you’re that much closer to having to go to work. You’re burned out and need to find a new perspective. The worst thing you could do is to jump to another job right away until you’ve analyzed the source of your disaffection. Its usually not work that’s bothering you but either something at work... Read Full Story

There’s a good reason that the Scott Adams cartoon, Dilbert, has a character called “Mordac The Preventer of Information Systems”. I’ve heard many disparaging comments about I.T. departments in general and in the last 3 weeks I’ve been at my wits end trying to get a project approved in our I.T. department. Read Full Story

The most common corporate buzzwords that I’ve been hearing over the last year are “transformation and “disrupt”.  Companies are focusing on how to create a competitive advantage in this tough economic downturn.  Markets have been shrinking during this 22 month recession and any advantage must come from focusing on business infrastructure in the reduction of capital expenses and improving customer experience with both products, sales, and after sales to reduce operational expenses.  Companies... Read Full Story

We’ve all sat through long presentations that left us wondering how to get that fraction of our lives back. You know, those “FYI” presentations that are often more self aggrandizing than informative. During this economic downturn, I have seen an increased number of internal company business communications that have made me wonder who the target audience is and “why am I listening to this update?”. I’m often surprised that presentations are delivered without a clear goal in mind and a specific... Read Full Story

I chuckled when I read “Speaking Truth to PowerPoint” in the Wall Street Journal this morning. Business has grown to rely heavily on PowerPoint as a primary communications medium. Unfortunately, details are lost because the nature of presentation slides is summarization. I depth business planning requires a format that is conducive to thoughtful detail. I don’t think that PowerPoint itself is evil, but I do believe that it is radically misused today. I’ve seen complete product concepts... Read Full Story

When I first heard about the modified Pecha Kucha exercise that I was invited to participated in (see Pecha Kucha on Summer Vacation ) I wondered “what kind of nonsense is this?”. I first had to look on Wikipedia to figure out what it was. I’m not one for gimmicks, and this seemed like a gimmick. I was supposed to do a Pecha Kucha about a couple of things that inspire me and a pet peeve. I gave it some thought and started surfing the internet for images that spoke to me. This is what I came... Read Full Story

I was invited to a pot luck dinner with other industry leaders and the host organized a very clever group activity that was a lot of fun. The invitation said that we would each be doing a modified and shortened Pecha Kucha that will consist of 2 to 4 slides with a couple of things that inspire us (love) and something that we detest (pet peeve). I had no idea what Pecha Kucha was so I went directly to Wikipedia and found that this was an informal presentation format that limited the amount of... Read Full Story

I saw a great article in the Wall Street Journal that I wanted to highlight, “ Fine-Tuning Your Resume for Maximum Impact “.  It really focuses on the important aspects of your resume. I’ve been thinking a lot about this because I’ve spent a lot of time looking at resumes over the last 2 months and helping friends to focus on what’s important. Your resume is a sales brochure that should entice the reader to want to talk to you. It should give the reader enough information about you to... Read Full Story