Career Strategy Roadmap » Changing Careers

It’s a Clean Slate! A New Day! A New Season! A New Year!

Pegotty Cooper — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 06:14:21 +0000

A new organization, client, colleague, boss – an opportunity to redefine yourself, to become the leader – the colleague – the friend – the parent you imagine yourself to be!

We all have a list of things we wish we had done in the past year. We have a list of things we want to do this next year. It is a new beginning and you get to say how the next year is going to unfold for you!

You might start by looking at those two lists and to ask yourself a few key questions that will get the items on those lists in focus:

Is this item really going to serve me in the long term?
And is this bringing me happiness or satisfaction in the near term?

Rather than creating a long list, create a few questions that you can ask yourself everyday or every week:

Am I paying attention to the “Big Rocks”, the areas that lead me to my dreams or my BIG GOALS?
Am I developing myself to perform to my fullest capacity?
Am I visible/connected to people that can support me in fulfilling my life’s purpose or my career purpose?
Am I dealing with the things that need attention or am I tolerating things that drain energy from me?

How you answer these will determine how quickly you move forward, creating the work or life that you imagine! And then take the action which will take even the tiniest step so that you can be living in the affirmative for each of these questions.

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What I wish you for the new year is MOJO!

Pegotty Cooper — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 11:10:51 +0000

Marshall Goldsmith, author of the book MOJO: How to Get It, How To Keep It and How to Get It Back If You Lose It defines Mojo as “that positive spirit toward what we are doing now that starts from the inside and radiates to the outside.”

A few key words here: NOW, not yesterday, not tomorrow. Do I have a positive spirit toward what I am doing NOW. It starts on the inside and radiates to the outside. Are you showing on the outside what is going on in the inside? Are the two in alignment? Are you being authentic in what you are showing to those around you? You have a clean slate! Write on that slate with Mojo!

For more insight into your own Mojo, check out Marshall’s bookMojo. Click on the cover above to purchase it through Amazon and you will contribute a few pennies to my retirement fund!

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The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace – Book Review

Pegotty Cooper — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 06:43:44 +0000

The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace , a book by Chapman and White, is a gift for anyone who struggles with how to express appreciation to others, especially in the workplace where sometimes you just don’t have a clue about how to give the person something that will be meaningful to them. In what the authors call the “Motivation by Appreciation” model, they describe the five languages as: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Acts of Service, Tangible Gifts, and Physical Touch. And they even offer an assessment so that you can see what the preferred language is for people around you.

Actually, you can probably make a pretty good guess just by watching them and how they express themselves to others. Do they say a few kind words or give acknowledgement to those around them; or do they stop by the desk or cubicle and spend a few minutes with the person? Do they notice when someone seems overwhelmed or irritable and offers to help them on their project? Or maybe they buy a Starbucks gift card or just give the person a high-five for a job well done. Whatever they do for others you can assume is what they would prefer as a way of having appreciation express to them.

There is a wealth of resources on the website: www.appreciationatwork.com which you can download and use on Monday morning with your colleagues, your manager, your employees and members, volunteers, board members – the list is endless!! As we launch into the holidays here the questions of giving is always a gamble, you can’t go wrong with a good dose of appreciation expressed in the language of the recipient.

Get The Book and Pass It Around!
The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace can be ordered here for everyone on your management team or on the Board! Click here
to order for Christmas from Amazon. P.S. Every book comes with a free code for a 5 Languages Assessment.

Holiday Gift Idea – 3 Keys to Success Strategy Session
If you want to express appreciation to someone in your life, maybe a good kick-off to the New Year would be a Gift Certificate for a 3 Keys to Success Strategy Session – exploring what you can do to ensure your career success in 2012. Click here to get a Gift Wrapped Certificate sent to someone you know that could use a few inspiration success strategies.

The Gift to Give Yourself!
And you can give yourself the gift of the CEO Scorecard – a quarterly review of the 4 questions of importance for you. Whether you are the CEO of your organization or the CEO of your life – this an invaluable tool to keep you on track this coming year. Click here for more information.

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“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”

Pegotty Cooper — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 07:40:08 +0000

As our holiday celebrations approach, I reflect on how lucky I am to celebrate 9 years of having a practice which allows me to serve people in a way that fills me up, re-energizes me, and has me in awe of my clients! And like the quote above says, feeling gratitude and not expressing it IS selfishly wrapping a present and not giving it.

I am also surrounded by professionals in a variety of businesses that inspire me to get outside of myself and to dream about what we can do together to make the world more humane and just. People with courage to change business and family models, to question the way we do things and to dream dreams that have the power to transform lives and lifestyles!

And so I say thank you to you for being who you are, for sharing your gifts with the world, unwrapped and available to everyone. And for being selfless in your acknowledgement of others, unselfish in rewarding people for what they do in small and big ways, and for opening yourself graciously to feedback and to becoming self-aware.

And thank you for sharing with me the desire to make a difference in my community; to make the world a better place; and to never forget those that have gone before us and paved the way for us to expand our minds and work beyond our wildest dreams.

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Do I Really Have To Customize My Resume?

Pegotty Cooper — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:29:35 +0000

Come on guys! If you want to get sorted to the short stack of YES resumes – you bet you want to customize your resume to the job being offered! Not only that but you want to make it easy for the reader to grasp who you are and be inspired by your interest, commitment and passion.

Don’t just take my word for it – here is the feedback you will never hear directly from a hiring executive:

“I had nearly 200 applicants for the job. If the resume is too cumbersome to read, and the cover letter really doesn’t show any enthusiasm for THIS job…if it sounds like it could have been for any association management job and h/she didn’t tailor it to the needs that we have as posted in the job description, I won’t bother to consider that person!

When combing through so many resumes, I can only include those people who were inspirational to me – who come across as both uniquely qualified AND passionate about this particular opportunity.”

If you take the “why bother” attitude with the resume, the hiring executive can only assume you will show the same laissez faire attitude with the rest of the job. Or in your willingness to go the extra mile for a member, or for an elected leader – or even for your own growth and development!

Check out the link on the front page of the blog which takes you to the recording of my webinar Good to Great Resumes which was sponsored by ASAE.

And please, talk to me about some tips for making it a painless process and just part of your homework for the interview you are sure to get when you put the real you into your resume!

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Stellar Resume But They Blew the Interview!

Pegotty Cooper — Mon, 09 May 2011 22:33:46 +0000

An association executive recently shared with me her experience in interviewing candidates for the number 2 spot in her association. She received several excellent resumes accompanied by glowing recommendations from former employers or colleagues. Desperate to find someone to assume a strong number 2 role who could partner with her in taking the association to the next level, she lined up several interviews with what she assumed would be top candidates for the position based on their terrific resumes.

But what the executive experienced in the interview did not align with the stellar resumes.

How they blew the interview -

Negative about former employer: When asked about why they left the last job, the person got very negative about their former employer. Negativity dominated the conversation and sucked the air out of the interview.

Boring Appearance: The female applicant showed up in a gray boring suit with very little make-up, no jewelry and no style to their hair. Boring! The look implied no life or energy and this initial impression put a damper on their whole presence. What would her board members say about her choice of number 2 when they met her?

Name dropping: Another applicant looked great, very alive and energized and started dropping names all over the place. Great contact, the executive thought, but soon the name dropping turned into the implication that they were really too good for this job because they traveled in better circles! Maybe this was just covering needing to prove that they were good enough by the company they kept!

Too much drama: The applicant shared too much personal information and family drama, perhaps intended to point to challenges she had overcome but it seemed scattered and confusing. Who could keep track of this cast of characters- and who wanted to?

Too rigid: I only do this and not that. Okay, you may not have great expertise in all areas but if you are number 2, you need to be flexible and develop a working knowledge of all parts of the organization so you can keep all the moving parts meshing together.

Didn’t act or speak the role: Another applicant went off on tangents, wasn’t focused, spoke in a scattered way and didn’t strike her as the person she could trust to gain the respect of the staff and the board members. And she was surprised at some of the statements that came out of her mouth. What might she say to the board and committee members or suppliers she would be working with? When in doubt, end the interview with a polite “Thank you. I will be in touch!”

All the executive wanted was someone to show up for the interview and say this is why I should have this job… This is the value that I bring to the organization… Is that too much to expect?

What was the biggest interview mistake you have experienced?

Don’t miss “The Art of Interviewing: Creating Your Own Star Quality” being offered through ASAE Career Services on Thursday, July 14, 2011, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. EST. SIGN UP HERE for this free teleseminar.

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What is getting your juices flowing?

Pegotty Cooper — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 02:16:04 +0000

I had an eye opening experience yesterday when I asked a question that I always ask my clients as a way of getting to know them: “What is getting your juices flowing these days?”

I expect to hear about the stimulating projects or creative endeavors they are working on; or the fun things they are doing either at work or outside of work OR even that their juices aren’t flowing at all!

The answer I got was “Let me pull out my folder of all of my complaints”… about everything ranging from the phone company to major global threats. The thing they all had on common was that they were really annoying and disruptive to this person.

We often hear the term “getting your juices flowing” connected with creativity, sports, big projects, or inspirational endeavors. It implies getting the adrenaline flowing so that you are stimulated, in action, excited, and driven by purpose! And I ASSUME that everyone looks at this question though my lens. I promote my business using the phrase “helping you to get your juices flowing again”. Now I wonder how many times I have made assumptions about the filters that people use and leave a conversation unaware that a key word or phrase was interpreted dramatically different from what was intended.

If I am in a leadership role, or in an interview situation, or in a challenging coversation, I would be wise to monitor the words and phrases I use that could be grossly misconstrued. If the person interviewing me hears me talk about all the workplace challenges that really get my juices flowing, they may assume they are dealing with an exceptionally critical or negative person.

I coach a few people whose first language is not English and it also occurred to me that they could interpret that colloquial phrase in a literal manner – who wants to hear about your body juices anyway?

As we get more and more diverse in the workplace and in our communities, we have to hone our ability to pick up on when we have sent signals that were interpreted differently than intended, discover how the other interpreted what you said if it isn’t obvious, accept responsibility for the confusion, and restate your original communication so that what you say is what they hear. These are communication basics that we take for granted and may have slipped from our conscious mind!

Unwinding communication assumptions are one of the things that really gets my juices flowing! Thank you, Maggie, for the opportunity to do that!

And for you, dear reader, what is it that really gets your juices flowing?

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Climbing the Ladder of Success

Pegotty Cooper — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 00:23:53 +0000

Yesterday I heard someone say that they had climbed the ladder of success but when they got to the top, they realized it was leaning against the wrong wall. What a great visual metaphor for our career journey!

I think the concept may have come from a Stephen Covey quote: Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.

It is good to ask ourselves from time to time if OUR ladder is leaning against the right wall. After all, once you get to the top, the only way to choose a different ladder is to go to the bottom and start the climb all over again. Learning what wall we have our ladder against is what has value – learning to identify the characteristics of the wall before you get all the way to the top- the sooner you can see the realities of the wall your ladder is leaning against, the sooner you can choose to continue or find another ladder against a different wall! And recognize the joy is in the climbing not in arriving at the top!

If you are uncertain about which ladder to climb, take advantage of a free Career Strategy Review. Go to http://bit.ly/PegottyCalendar to sign up for a 30 minute free session. No strings attached!

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Stepping up to bat

Pegotty Cooper — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 22:14:08 +0000

When you think about it, the whole process of finding a job is like playing a game of baseball – you probably aren’t going to get to home base the first time you get up to bat, so keeping your eye on the next base is the name of the play!

STEPPING UP TO BAT: You have to step up to bat over and over so you get the practice of focus and fine tuning the way you present yourself (the resume)!

FIRST BASE: Your goal at bat is to hit the ball so you can get to first base and at least go through a screening interview. Sometimes this requires going back to basics, getting some help from others, tips, contacts, and influence so you can get in to take a swing at an interview.

SECOND BASE: Once you have made it to first base – the next goal is second base – a second interview – an opportunity to prove what you can do or to make a connection to what they need. Greasing the skids for that is the thank you note, reiterate your strengths, get your contacts to get feedback, do some more homework based on what you learned in the first interview, and get your stories ready that prove your value and show where you can make a difference in the results that an employer is after.

THIRD BASE: Once you are at second base, you want to get to third base – is this job a good fit, is this the right job for you, understanding what you can negotiate, getting an offer. And the goal once you get the offer is to negotiate the deal that is right for you and right for the company.

HOMEBASE: You got the job offer and you have a start date. Finally. This is not the time to sit back on your laurels. The first impression that you give your colleagues, your boss, your bosses boss, your customers will set the tone for how you are perceived by organization. At the same time you are feeling incompetent for a period of time until you learn the ropes. How you show up during this stressful time will also create perceptions about who you are and whether or not he decision to hire you was a good one! Will they invite you up to bat for the next opportunity?

If you are in the game, be sure what you are doing is what is required to get to the next base! Maybe you need to talk to the coach!

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Adding Meaning to the Season of Giving!

Pegotty Cooper — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 00:15:08 +0000

I guess it started with the three magi and their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh or the miracle of the oil and Chanukah Gelt, or maybe the introduction of St. Nick or Santa Claus or perhaps gifts to celebrate Epiphany or the New Year! Whatever the messages from your past or from the media that stimulate you to think about giving – here are three different ways for you to think about gifts during this season:

The first is to consider your own gifts and to give them freely! Often we undervalue our own gifts because for us, they are a given; and therefore do not seem to have a lot of value. If they come by us easily and without struggle, then how much value can they really have? Doesn’t everyone, after all, have these gifts? The gift you can give someone of listening, or paying attention to them, or being aware of something that is important to them is a gift that is invaluable. And the more you offer it, the greater your capacity to give it!

The second to consider is others’ gifts – to appreciate the gifts they offer and give freely without expectations. Have you ever been disappointed by another person because you expected more of them then they were able to give; and overlooked their real gifts that you appreciated until they took them away by moving or by leaving the relationship or worse, by dying? Now is the time to acknowledge another for the gifts they bring to you – maybe their laugh, their wisdom, or their listening. And give up all of those other expectations you have for the person because all the expectations do is to cause you to be unappreciative of what they are really offering to you!

And third, consider giving yourself a new gift this season – the gift of a new way of viewing those around you, their strengths and unique value; a new way of accepting what others offer you – get rid of that pride and say thank you!; and above all celebrate your uniqueness and build on those gifts – and stop diminishing what you offer with your thoughts and your words.

~ Everyone is gifted – but some people never open their package ~ Unknown

~ The greatest gift you can give another is the purity of your attention. ~ Richard Moss

~ A hug is a great gift – one size fits all, and it’s easy to exchange. ~ Unknown

~ They who give have all things; they who withhold have nothing ~ Hindu Proverb

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