Values Manage Your Career

Your work is strongly affected by how you feel about it. The more important you think it is, the more value and purpose you see. Drives us to be better.

My work is driven by these values:

1.      Make the World Better.

2.      Think (Disruptively)

3.      Productive Work

4.      Help Others

5.      Mastery, Meaning & Wisdom

#1 Make the World Better is influenced by Bill Boeing’s value “To Improve the World”.  Want leave the world a better place because of what I do. Henry Ford, Elon Musk, Thomas Edison, Rick Warren, Monet, Robert Schuler, Napoleon Hill are a few of the people we respect because of what they have done improving the world.

#2 Thinking Disruptively does not mean I want attention or to annoy people. What it means is we can always serve the customer better. Using new technologies, materials or applying old skills in different ways. There is always a better idea and way. Think about it deeper, ask tough questions, and share your insights. 

Note: disruptive thinkers often pay a high price for not appearing to be a team player. My solution is to explain the why behind questions, be very nice about it, and to execute my work for the team.

#3 Productive Work means creating and maximizing value for customers. Metrics are often used to manage work, but the wrong metric can lead to mediocre results. Focus instead on continuous improvement, reducing waste and organizing efforts.

#4 Help Others is charity and doing good for family, friends and people around the world. The small things done for others will be more rewarding and important than any payday. Serving coffee, washing dishes, picking up trash, and teaching are personal examples where the reward is not financial.

When I was broke figured we should give 10% of our time to charity. Work 40 hours a week equals give away 4 hours a week. Much better than another night watching TV shows or working unnecessary overtime.

#5 Mastery, Meaning and Wisdom means not only developing talents, but also teaching the next generations to do those skills. When involved in solving problems with people, often taught how I did it to my co-workers. It leveraged my knowledge, made the shop more productive, and freed me to tackle new problems.

What do You Value? 

Spend a little time thinking about why you do more than just enough, or where you care more. Your values guide you towards the career you will love and excel at.

Advice for Young Engineers

What would help you succeed in your career and life?

• Seeing the big picture on projects.

• Executing your tasks on time & budget.

• Developing people skills.

Or you can destroy your career.

It is great you have a technical degree. But what will advance your career are people skills. Be 10-15 minutes early. Meet people and find out about them. Work with customers and co-workers on their (or your) bad days to still get things done. Try to understand what the customer and your management really needs.

Be disciplined at work. Show up, work urgently, make promises conservatively, deliver early, be human, take feedback and adjust.

Learning how to communicate, marketing, project management and problem solving skills are great investments. My best contributions have often been asking good questions, not having all the answers.

Understand finance and accounting. Decisions are made based on value.

Protect your career by continuously learning. Get a Master's degree at night. Especially if your company pays for it. If they don’t, get the Masters at the lowest cost possible. Who needs more student loans?

Live within your budget. There will be times you can’t find a project and will have to live off savings. 40 years of working for the same company does not always work out. Planned to stay in my hometown, but actually working in state #7. Savings also lets you buy houses and make investments to retire or start your own business.

Have a life outside of work. Volunteer, make friends, raise good kids, help others, and give back. This is why you work hard, and what you will value in life.

Eliminating Sales Quotas May Stimulate Profits

The Stanford Graduate School of Business recently reported on a study conducted about the effectiveness of using sales quotas to motivate and reward salespeople. Based on an experiment at one Fortune 500 company, the researchers concluded that removing the sales quotas resulted in a 9% increase in overall revenues. 
http://gsb.stanford.edu/news/research/Nair_sales.html

Jim McIngvale is the founder of Gallery Furniture store in Houston, Texas. Many years ago, he called on W. Edwards Deming to help him improve his business. McIngvale often tells the story about Deming telling him to change his salespeople from commission-based pay to salary. After failing to convince Deming that it wouldn't work in the retail industry, he gave in and changed his pay practices and put his salespeople on salary. In The New Economics, Deming wrote about the results of the change. " . . . steady increase in sales. Older salesmen now help beginners. Salesmen no longer try to steal business from other salesmen. they now help each other . . . sales go up month by month. Moreover, profit per square foot of floor space advances even faster." McIngvale agrees.

Like so many elements in business, it goes back to effective leadership and hiring practices.

My question is What motivations are you offering your people by your rewards? Too many companies do not reward initative or superior success. Do you?
Steve

Jim Rohm Passed Away December 5th

Jim Rohm was one of the great teachers in the self improvement networks. He was successful because he wanted his listeners, his readers and his guests to succeed like he had. Actually he would have rejoiced if you became more successful than himself. He wanted everyone to develop all their gifts. Here is the tribute at Jim Rohm's website.

http://tribute.jimrohn.com/

God bless,
Steve Amos

Miserable at Work

You spend massive time at work, work gives you status, your income comes from your work, the income supports your family, and most of your problems come from work.

You work with demanding customers, coworkers of all cultures, political persuasions, religions, strange foods, irritating manners, and all types bosses that range from smooth salesmen to irrational dictators.

Most people do not get fired from jobs for incompetence. They wear out their welcome. Poor attendance, regularly coming in late, leaving early or at the minute, maintaining the welcoming attitude of an ogre or at least the neighborhood grouch, and eventually being left out of the daily give and take. Job performance of course follows this attitude with missed deadlines, sloppy work, and others beginning to take over your workload.

How We Get Miserable

First of all, remember when you got the job? You wanted it, begged for it and said “Pick me, Pick me! I will do a good job.” Think how thrilled you were to get your job? Were you ecstatic? Proud? You told everyone about your new job and company.

Gradually thing are not as new and fresh. There are problems. Grumpy coworkers, complaining customers, poor suppliers, and a ton of attitude. After a while, you’re now complaining about the alarm, the commute, the grind, the workload, his mess, her perfume, the weather (even though you work inside), the politics, the decisions, the demanding customers and the boss. What don’t you complain about?

Now you are in the rut that leads to getting passed over for new assignments, raises and promotions. The downward spiral gets worse when others are getting ahead and you stay right where you are. Be honest, are you thrilled with your performance.

You can be Happy at Work

Look for where you can make a difference. How are the customers happier? How are sales increasing? What you accomplished?

Fall in love with your profession again. Read business journals, magazines, and websites. Compare your products and services with competitors and see where you can improve. The difference between top performers and the average is top performers often give 1% more. Brian Tracy points out the difference is less than you would think. Persistence, service and a little extra often make all the difference.

Mentor coworkers, especially newer employees. They will appreciate the help and you will not believe how much you learn teaching.

Create business relationships. Let other people be right. Respect their contribution and ignore their unimportant shortcomings. Who is perfect? Learn about your coworkers and find out what you can respect about them. The biggest donor to charities at a small plant I worked with was a third shift machine operator who had adopted four kids. Would have never know him if I did not volunteer to help a charity drive. Take pride in where you work, and who you work with.

Have a little humor when things don’t go right. Humor often makes the daily trials livable. Laugh at yourself. In this politically correct world, you can always make fun of you, and others will love you for it.

You will be surprised in a few months how much more fun and productive work is with the right attitude. So go and enjoy work, and start looking forward to Mondays.

Wolfgang Christoph, Brian Tracy and Dr. Roberta Shaler deserve credit for the ideas presented in this article.