generational networking

I am coaching Boyd – an emerging thirty-something star at Coca-Cola.

To set the stage, allow me to remind you that this is the first time (era?) that four separate generations are working side-by-side (“new millenials” to baby boomers).

As I set up connections for Boyd within our business community, I want him (and others I coach) to always have key questions for the leaders I send him to.

In this case, I introduced him to Jim Bratton, a local entrepreneurial enabler in-and-around the Venture Capital community.

He has come up with a very good list of cross-generational questions:

1)  Tell me about the “Triple Bottom Line” and your new firm.
2)  Where do you see “green” business headed and how will the stimulus package impact it?
3)  Based on your experience, what’s the best way to get mentored on the job in the entreprenuerial world?
4)  Based on my background and skills, where do you think I should focus my efforts in building new skills and experience?
5)  Who else should I be talk to?

More later.

Brian Patrick Cork

Filed under: Articles By Brian Cork, Business, Career Path, Coaching, Entrepreneurs , Atlanta, baby boomers, Brian Cork, Business, Coca-Cola, Green, Networking, new millenials

observations

Our business (new and sustained recruiting and business coaching) pipeline is robust.

Most of our Strategic Partners (many small and emerging service providers eg Inc. 500 and Catalyst 25) are doing fine.

Certainly the media paints a different picture.

Larger companies are laying people off. But, based on what I am hearing from leadership that I coach and recruit for, the lay-offs are viewed more as an opportunity to take advantage of fear in the marketplace and reduce COST.

Interesting to me that the average number of layoff’s per company is 6000.  That is so McKinsey!

Now leadership can reduce the work force; crack the whip – but still get remaining employees to shoulder the growing burden, and drive profits.

Mean but smart – and, the way it works.

In the next six months I think this could represent the truest economic stimulus as companies begin to report improved earnings which pumps up Wall Street.

This is where I believe wealth is grown.

So, once again, the rich get richer on the backs of the shrinking middle class and growing poor.

Laws of Natural Selection prevail.

You hear me say this daily:

“2009 will be awful for a lot of people. But, it will be great for those that can recognize and seize opportunity”.

Be part of the Solution.

Brian Patrick Cork

Filed under: Articles By Brian Cork, Business, Economy, Entrepreneurs, Strategy , economic stimulus, Economy, Jobs, Natural Selection, Wall Street

Executives and failures

Sydney Finkelstein, a Professor of Management at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, published a 2004 business best-seller called “Why Smart Executives Fail” that looked at 60 successful CEOs who later failed, including Kozlowski, Enron’s Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling and George Shaheen of dot-bomb Webvan. The book is a great read – and, very current, given what we’re living through.

Finkelstein summarizes what he calls the “Seven Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccessful Executives.”

One of those habits seems very relevant to John Thain (see below. Thain has been in the papers a lot lately [and likely, will be a lot more]):

“They identify so completely with the company that there is no clear boundary between their personal interests and their corporation’s interests.”

For example, this was the habit that derailed Kozlowski, in Finkelstein’s opinion. Here’s a brief except from the book on this trait:

“We want business leaders to be completely committed to their companies, with their interests tightly aligned with those of the company. But digging deeper, you find that failed executives weren’t identifying too little with the company, but rather too much. Instead of treating companies as enterprises that they needed to nurture, failed leaders treated them as extensions of themselves. And with that, a ‘private empire’ mentality took hold.

“CEOs who possess this outlook often use their companies to carry out personal ambitions. The most slippery slope of all for these executives is their tendency to use corporate funds for personal reasons. CEOs who have a long or impressive track record may come to feel that they’ve made so much money for the company that the expenditures they make on themselves, even if extravagant, are trivial by comparison. This twisted logic seems to have been one of the factors that shaped the behavior of Dennis Kozlowski of Tyco. His pride in his company and his pride in his own extravagance seem to have reinforced each other.”

This is so relevant today with the stunning announcement of John Thain’s departure from Bank of America (BAC Quote) a few weeks ago – less than a month after merging Merrill Lynch (MER Quote) into the bank would have been, until recently, unthinkable.

After announcing the shotgun marriage of Merrill Lynch with Bank of America in September, hours after Lehman Brothers collapsed, the sterling reputation of John Thain was cemented.

Mind you, this was a CEO who could do no wrong.

I am not going to detail this fascinating sequence around The Bank of America and Merrill transaction.  Others have done that. History will take it further.

My point is what this sorry episode teaches all analysts, media, and investors is that we need to appreciate success and achievement but always remain skeptical.

We shouldn’t be afraid to ask tough questions even about “untouchable” CEO’s like Apple’s (AAPL Quote) Steve Jobs, JPMorgan Chase’s (JPM Quote) Jamie Dimon, or General Electric’s (GE Quote) Jack Welch.

Past success no longer guarantees future success in today’s world.

Unfortunately for Bank of America shareholders, no one had warning signs about Thain until the last 72 hours. (And let’s not forget that, if you’re a Merrill shareholder, you are overjoyed that Thain sold this company at such a premium and kept the fourth-quarter loss under wraps until the deal went through.)

One thing’s for sure:

If you’re a company insider and you hear about a big corporate office renovation, starting looking for work and start selling your insider stock right away.

Lets be part of the Solution.

Brian Patrick Cork

Filed under: Articles By Brian Cork, Business, Economy, Success , "Why Smart Executives Fail", Bank of America, Dennis Kozlowski, John Thain, Merrill Lynch, Sydney Finkelstein

Social Networking and Job Searching.

Hiring remains robust throughout the country.

However, employers searching up-and-down the food-chain (or, chain-of-command) are focused on mission-specific hiring.

This means you have to be specifically skilled and experienced to do a particular set of tasks – and, probably for a defined perioed of time.

The average “shelf-life” for a senior executive is approximately thirty (30) months now.

In any event, there are a lot of jobs available.  Problem is – no one knows where you are because you don’t know how to network smart and efficiently. This is a grim reminder that you need to hone and perfect that particular expertise WHILE YOU ARE EMPLOYED.

I see if from both sides – as an executive recruiter and an executive coach.

I get contacted and references from people who have been laid off or feel now is the time to optimize a career-path (Interestingly, I am also getting more contact from leaders that simply want to make better decisions in the work-place based on the need for great efficiencies and effectiveness).

Let’s get right to it.

Standard resumes and sending emails to people you thing you know – or, you hope might actually care about your plight (most don’t), rarely works anymore. Uploading resumes online sends them to document corruption hell.

Worse, if you are on Monster or other similar repositories, retained search professionals like myself can’t (or won’t) work with you.

If you are in transition, here’s what you might consider doing:

NOTE:  This is radical stuff for professionals over forty (40). However, keep in mind that 57% of corporate America is now thirty-five and under.

1. Your blog can be a form of resume. You need one (especially if you have Subject Matter Expertise (SME). It needs to have 100 posts on it about what you want to be known for (and, it should be linked to my own Blogs to help you with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) because I get over 23000 hits a day on www.unsinkablebriancork.com.

2. Remove all LOLCats from your blog (seriously) 1/. Do not argue me on through comments or on Twitter about this. Google finds Twitters. Do you want your future potential boss noticing that you post LOLCats all day long? Believe me, you do not. It will NOT help you.

3. Remove all friends from your facebook and twitter accounts that will embarrass you. If there are photos of people getting drunk with you that is a bad sign. Get rid of them. They will NOT help you get a job. In fact, if you want to KEEP your job, banish these images.

4. Demonstrate you are “clued in.” This means removing ANYTHING that says you are a “social media expert” from your Twitter account. There is no such thing and even if there were there’s no job in it for you. Chris Brogan already has that job – and, he’s not likely willing to give it up.

5. Demonstrate you have kids and hobbies, but they should be 1% of your public persona, not 99%. Stick with Subject Matter Expertise.

6. Put what job you want into your blog’s header. Visit Joel Spolsky’s blog. He’s “on software.” That’s a major hint that if he were looking for a job that he is expert and focused on software. If you want a job as a chef, you better have a blog that looks like you love cooking, like this. Post something that teaches me something about what you want to do every day. If you want to drive a cab, you better go out and take pictures of cabs. Think about cabs. Put suggestions for cabbies up. Interview cabbies. You better have a blog that is nothing but cabs. Cabs. Cabs. Cabs all the time. If you want to be a plumber, look for other plumbers to add to Twitter, friendfeed, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Remove all others. Be 100% focused on what you want to do.

7. Do not beg for links. If you did the above, you can Twitter me and say “check out my great software blog” though. Include @unsinkable in the tweet so I’ll see it. I haven’t met a blogger yet who is not egotistical. Take advantage of it. But no begging.

8. On Twitter ou can tell me what you had for lunch, but only after you posted 20 great items about what you want to do. Look at Tim O’Reilly’s tweet stream. Very little noise. Just great stuff that will make you think (he wants a job as a thinker, so do you get it yet?)

9. Invite influentials out to lunch. Getting a job is now your profession. If you were a salesperson, how would you get sales? You would take people out to lunch who can either buy what you’re selling, or influence others who can buy. That means take other bloggers (but only if they cover what you want to do) out to lunch. That means taking lots of industry executives out to lunch. Call them up and ask them to lunch.  Tell them you have three questions you have prepared for them.  You want to hear their story. If you make a real connection you have a network link and potential advocate and reference.

10. DON’T send out resumes. Make sure yours is up to date and top notch on LinkedIn.  But, don’t BLAST it to everyone you know. And, once again,  if you are an executive DON’T use Craig’s List, Monster, Etc.

11. Go to industry events. I have a list of tech industry events up on Upcoming.org. If you want to be a plumber, go to where contractors go. Etc. Etc. Make sure you have clear business cards. Include your photo. Include your Twitter and LinkedIn addresses. Your cell phone. Your blog address. And the same line that’s at the top of your blog. Joel’s should say “on software.” Yours should say what you love to do. Hand them out, ask for theirs. Make notes on theirs. Email them later with your LinkedIn and blog URLs and say “you’ll find lots of good stuff about xxxxxxxx industry on my blog.”

12. When you meet someone who can hire and who you want to work for, follow them on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, their blog. Stalk them without being “creepy.” Learn everything you can about them. Build a friendfeed room with all their stuff. That way when they say on Twitter “I have a job opening” you can be the first one to Tweet back.

13. Do what you want to do. Let’s assume you’ll be laid off for a year. Are you going to lay around on the couch waiting for a call? No. You will do exactly what you want to do. Want to be an engineer at a great startup? Go and volunteer to work there for free. Make sure you do a blog post about every day you do what you’re doing for free. Say “I could do this for you, call…”. But, keep regular hours. Make sure your life remains balanced.

14. Do some work on SEO (see above). Make it possible for people to find you. THINK about how people would search for someone with your expertise and skills. Here’s how, Visit the Google AdWords Keyword Tool. Do a search on a word that you think represents best what you want to do. I just did one for “Disruptive Green Engineering” and it brought up a ton of great info about what people are searching for. Include those terms in your blog. And, even better, blog about those things!

15. UPDATE: Mark Trapp added to remove any hint that you hated your old job from all your online things.

Got any other ideas? Feel free to comment. A LOT of people read this Blog.

Another NOTE: you can still get a job even after weird photos and other things are posted about you. I probably have naked pictures of me out there on the Internet and I have a regulatory hiccup along my career-path (and my Alma Mater – Radford University - 2/ still asked me to be the Keynote Speaker for their 2008 Entrepreneurial Summit, and join the Board of Advisors). So, rules can be broken; but break them carefully!

Be part of the solution and, not the problem

Brian Patrick Cork

_______________________

1/ A lolcat is an image combining a photograph, most frequently of a cat, with a humorous and idiosyncratic caption in (often) broken English—a dialect which is known as “lolspeak,” ”kitteh,” or “kitty pidgin” and which parodies the poor grammar typically attributed to Internet slang. The name “lolcat” is a compound word of the words “LOL” and “cat”. A synonym for “lolcat” is cat macro, since the images are a type of image macro. Lolcats are designed for photo sharing imageboards and other internet forums. The term lolcat gained national media attention in the United States when it was covered by Time, which wrote that non-commercialized phenomena of the sort are increasingly rare, stating that lolcats have “a distinctly old-school, early 1990s, Usenet feel to [them].

2/ Radford University Entreprenurial Summit.

SPECIAL NOTE:  Brian also has a personals Blog that apparently fascinates world leaders and decision-makers alike (but, few others). It can be viewed and relished at: The Unsinkable brian cork.

Filed under: Articles By Brian Cork, Business, Career Path, Coaching, Economy, Job Search, Strategy, Success , Career Coach, Career Search, Coaching, Executive Coach, Job Search, Jobs