Enhance your strengths: Peter Drucker and Marcus Buckingham agree.

You're pretty good... Hone the skills that will make you the best!

The management guru, Peter Drucker, in his classic article, “Managing Oneself" states: “One should waste as little effort as possible on improving areas of low competence. 

"In terms of managing human capital to drive the bottom line, most companies operate on two false assumptions. One is that people can be anything they want to be if they try hard enough. The second is that each person's greatest room for growth is in his or her areas of greatest weakness." --March Buckingham

"It takes far more energy and work to improve from in-competence to mediocrity than it takes to improve from first-rate performance to excellence." --Peter Drucker

1. What are you good at?  (This first step is important, give it sufficient effort and time)

• Check your test scores
• Ask friends, co-workers, family 
• Take a self-assessment test

2. What can you do to further improve those skills?

• You're good at approaching people and starting conversations so you attend networking functions to further practice this skill
• You got an A in finance so you start reading the Wall Street Journal Finance section and looking at stock trends in your free time. 
• People often look to you for direction so you practice leadership skills by volunteering to head up a committee or team. 

These skill enhancing activities can be added to your resume and make you feel more fulfilled by your capabilities. 

In the comment section below tell me: 

What are your strengths?

The Secret to Discovering What People Need

“People don’t know what they want until you give it to them.”  --Steve Jobs

We LOVE surveys because they make data measurable and organized ...BUT... there are some things surveys cannot explain well.  Primarily, WHY and HOW consumers do what they do.

If you want to figure out what people need, asking "What do you want?" will not get the accurate answer.

Find out what your customer needs by understanding their concerns.
The more you can engage your customer in real life conversations, the better you will understand what they need. 

Think of yourself as a highly specialized doctor. Your patient isn't there to tell you what procedures and medicines they require. If you ask the right questions, your customer will tell you what is troubling them and then you are positioned to provide the remedy. 

Vine's effective tutorial makes it easy to shoot Vine videos

I recently downloaded the Vine App for Twitter and was concerned it would be hard to use. The first thing this new App does is teach you how to use it in a straightforward effective way. Don't over think it. I just did what the screen said and viola! I made my first Vine video... Cool.

1. Download Vine App on phone
2. Sign in with Twitter account
3. Touch the movie camera icon at the top rightside of your app
4. Frame the action you want to capture on video, touch your phone's screen and HOLD YOUR FINGER down on the screen. 
5. Lift your finger off the screen to stop recording.
6. The video is paused until you touch the screen again to restart recording again. 
7. WHILE you're holing finger on the screen, you're recording, When you let go Vine pauses recording
8. The recording interface shows a green line moving across the top of the screen, showing how far along in the 6 seconds you are.
9. Use the pause time to move the object or camera how you'd like
10. When your 6 seconds of recording is up just decide where you want to share the Vine video.
11. Done.

See my Vine video here: vine.co/v/bvArbEDgrXm 

Not sure if you can embed them yet? Anyone know?

Share a Ted Talk

Check out this Ted Talk with Mike Wagner on the Positive power of being strange!

1. Stand out             2. Be relevant            3. Have fun!

Sound Check

Your most valuable skill... The ability to LISTEN

“When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.” Ernest Hemingway

If you want to know WHY it is important to listen to customers, employees, spouses, friends, family, children, do an internet search because the masses agree on this point.

Listening is the single most important thing you can do to grow personally, financially, and in relationships. 

As a child you probably asked countless questions. You listened because you wanted to know the answers. You were CURIOUS and your brain was soaking up all that information like a sponge. 

As we age, our desire to listen wanes as we become concerned with our own thoughts, needs, concerns. 

Some people are naturally better at listening but EVERYONE can benefit from consciously practicing it. 
You don't even have to act or respond for others to feel comforted by your listening. It is literally the most affordable customer service tool your business can utilize. 

From Mindtools, there are 5 key elements of listening: 
1. PAY ATTENTION!
2. Show you're listening with body language
3. Provide feedback
4. Defer judgement
5. Respond appropriately

The most critical of the 5 is number 1. PAY ATTENTION. If you don't respond, if they didn't even know you were listening, you still stand to benefit from hearing what has been communicated. 

Listening is a habit that must be repeated, reinforced and diligently practiced to be successful in any relationship or endeavor. 

More to come on listening, hearing, communicating. 

Questions about communication? I'm listening. Comment below.

Try Something New

Employers want to know your Software Experience. 

The more you try, the better you can tailor your experience to the needs of the position.

An example of related skills on your targeted resume may include the following:

• Mastery of Microsoft Office programs (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Acess)
• Experience with QuickBooks and with maintaining office budget
• Ability to work with several operating systems, including Windows, Mac OSX and Linux

You may not have worked with Mac OS in a professional setting but you HAVE used it and that may be important to an employer who prefers to work with Mac. 

Make a movie?

This week I experimented with iMovie to make a short commercial. I'm not an expert with the program, but should it come up in professional discussion, I can converse about aspects of iMovie. 
If I need to use iMovie, I am familiar enough with the program to get started.

Try something new! 

Exercise your brain, build up your experiences, and discover new hobbies. 

Q: What is novel exercise you have tried lately? 

Positivity and Motivation

"If you think you can or think you can't you are right!" Henry Ford

Positivity:

• Allows you to see opportunities
• Helps you act on solutions
• Increases enthusiasm
• Enhances others' perceptions about you
• Betters your mental AND physical health

Stay MOTIVATED

1. The more you learn, the more confident you become
2. Increase regular encounters with positive and motivated people
3. Keep notes on when your motivation is high when it's lacking to recognize patterns
4. Share your ideas and help friends get motivated
5. Make a list and start checking things off

Check out this 2 minute video: For 20-something leaders starting their careers. 3 tips for leaders under 30 from Forbes Video. 

Question: What motivates you?