Word-Of-the-Week #668: Complacent
May 25, 2017 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #668: Complacent
Complacent – satisfied with the current situation and unconcerned with changing it, often to the point of smugness.
Are you currently working in the job of your dreams? How long has it been since you proactively learned a new skill? How easily are you able to adapt to changes?
Travis Bradberry is the co-author of “Emotional Intelligence 2.0” and co-founder of TalentSmart, a San Diego provider of emotional intelligence tests and training. “Career killers – Even small mistakes can be costly in the workplace” is this week’s focus. Travis writes,
“There are many things that can kill people’s careers, and even small mistakes often carry serious consequences down the road. We usually only hear about the most egregious examples, but most people don’t go down in a blaze of glory; they kill their careers in subtle, decidedly undramatic ways. A recent survey by VitalSmarts found that 83 percent of respondents had seen someone make a blunder that had catastrophic results for their career, reputation or business, and 69 percent acknowledged they had done something that damaged their careers. Of those:
- 31 percent said it cost them a promotion, a raise or a job.
- 27 percent said it damaged a working relationship.
- 11 percent said it destroyed their reputation.
Little things can add up over time and undermine your career just as much as one huge lapse in judgment. Stay aware of these blunders before they creep up and kill your career:
- Over-promising and under-delivering – It’s tempting to promise the moon to your colleagues and your clients, especially when you’re hardworking and believe that you can do it. The problem is that there’s no point in creating additional pressure that can make you look bad. If you promise to do something ridiculously fast and you miss the deadline by a little bit, you’ll likely think that you did a good job because you still delivered quickly. But the moment you promise something to someone, they expect exactly that.
You end up looking terrible when you fall short, which is a shame, because you could have done the same quality work in the same amount of time with great results if you’d just set up realistic expectations from the beginning.
- Complacency – How long has it been since you proactively learned a new skill, reached out to your
networking contacts or even polished your resume? If you can’t remember, you might have become a bit complacent, and complacency is a real career killer.
If you’re always too busy to learn something new or to expand your network, you’ve got your priorities mixed up. However, if you make continuous growth and development a priority, you’ll be ready for whatever comes your way.
- Fear of change – Fear of change is complacency’s evil twin. It actively works to keep things the same. I’m sure you’ve seen this one first hand at work when someone uttered the dreaded words, “But we’ve always done it this way.”
Things are changing too fast these days to latch on tightly to the status quo, and the costs of doing so can be huge. Surveys show that managers find that the most successful employees are the ones who can adapt to the changing workplace.”
This week’s focus is to not be complacent. How often do you reach out to your networking contacts? When was the last time you polished your resume? Are you ready to tackle whatever comes your way each day?
Stay tuned – next week will feature 5 more Career Killers!
I LOVE feedback! Join my Facebook community on my FUN-damentals Fan Page.
FUN-travel: England & Scotland – 16 Days – Stay Tuned!
May 23, 2017 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: England & Scotland – 16 Days – Stay Tuned!
Heading out for parts of England and Scotland we have never seen. But MOSTLY for the Whisky Festival on the island of Islay!
This trip also marks a milestone for me as I am only taking carry on and not checking luggage on an international flight! No more BIG FAT vacations. YEAH!
Fun-travel: Hotel Del Coronado
May 20, 2017 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Fun-travel: Hotel Del Coronado
Last year when we took the “Slow Boat to Singapore” we met a lovely couple from Scotland. And on May 2nd Alex & Barbara cruised into San Diego for a one day port stop on the same ship. We picked them up for a whirlwind tour of America’s Finest City.
- 1st Stop – Gaslamp Quarter – to see Edinburgh’s Greyfriars Bobby.
- 2nd Stop – Hotel Del Coronado – and it turns out Barbara is a huge fan of “Some Like it Hot!”
- 3rd Stop – Balboa Park – for a quick overview with a nice walk. (And clearly one of the best parks in the world!)
- 4th Stop – Cabrillo Monument – for the panoramic city views.
FUN-fact – Edinburgh & San Diego are sister cities!
More FF – We will be seeing Alex & Barbara in two weeks! We will be in Islay for the Whisky Festival and take a ferry to Oban where we will spend a couple of days with them!
Word-Of-the-Week #667: Guide
May 18, 2017 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #667: Guide
Guide – one who shows the way by leading, directing, or advising.
Who is the most influential guide in your life? Do you have total trust in them and their advice? Do they make you feel confident and/or empowered?
Once again Neil Senturia has written a great article, “Chief executive should be guide as well as a leader.” He writes, ““Don’t step to the left, don’t step to the right, or you’re going to die.” Those are definitely words to live by if you happen to be mountain climbing, and your guide says that to you.
Christopher Maxwell, a senior fellow at the Wharton Center for Leadership, has written a book, “Lead like a Guide,” which is a synthesis of his interviews with all kinds of “guides” — mountain, fishing, hiking, etc. The premise is that leadership in a technology company mirrors in many ways what happens out in the wilderness.
A primary guide strength was that they were “socially intelligent” — which is a fancy way of saying that you must build a relationship with your team (trust) and then behave in a way that manages the relationship. There is room for friendly discussion on the trail (as we build the company), but in the final analysis, only one person can be the CEO. Firm and flexible (my yoga practice seems to be relevant here) are the characteristics of the successful leader. You can’t apply high pressure or fear or yelling all the time or your employees will revolt. You can only scream on a rare occasion, such as when your client is about to step on a rattlesnake. Balance is the key.
I have written before about emotional intelligence. Social intelligence is a step beyond. It moves from your own awareness to a larger awareness of the people and the events around you. If you have ever taken 15 9-year-olds on a field trip, I rest my case. In climbing, it is not just your clients, but all the stuff around you — the weather, the food, the route, tired participants, the location of the next base camp.
The great CEOs are in many ways both guides and patriarchs. Your employees want to depend on you for the big stuff, so they can do the smaller stuff — write the code or market the product. Now add the complexity of cultures. Not everyone you are taking to the top of the mountain speaks perfect English, so communication (code for listening) is critical. Can we push to the summit or is the team exhausted and a big mistake likely to be made?
I have been fishing with one fellow for many years. And while I spend a lot of my time “being in charge and 
being depended on,” when I get in the hands of a great guide, I willingly (eagerly) give it up. I want to depend on him, as in “don’t step over there, you will drown.”
Maxwell says the guide/CEO removes the roadblocks, but he can’t cast the fly for you, nor can he climb the hill. The big difference here is empowering versus directing — following a set of directions or developing a skill that allows you to pick the best path.
Rule No. 511: Watch that last step, it’s a doozy.
This stuff is nuanced. “Trust is that link between just faith (in the guide) and real confidence (in yourself).” There is a whole industry around team/trust building (the ropes, the wall), but personally I am a bit suspect if the end result is simply “Kumbaya.” The key component is still the CEO/guide.
Another skill is critical — being “risk aware” versus risk averse. You cannot be averse if you are involved in a startup. It comes with the territory because creating something from nothing is filled with risk. But being risk aware is a higher skill — understanding what can derail the company, when should we take the funding, or is getting in bed with that strategic partner a good idea.
Imagine the hard call from a mountain guide, “Dan, this is just not your day,” even though your client paid $60,000 to try to summit. That’s being risk aware.
Finally, the guide has to be the philosopher king — teaching the client to enjoy the journey. No summit or no fish today, but the scenery was spectacular.
Don’t get me wrong. The great leaders are not dispassionate. They want to summit (IPO or sell for multiple millions), they want to catch fish, and they desperately want for you to succeed. They manage their anxiety; you never see them sweat (until they get back to the lodge and then they tell you that you were in bigger trouble than you knew). Ultimately the guide “has your back.”
This week’s focus is being a good guide. Are you able to be both firm and flexible? Are you a good communicator and listener? How good are you at building relationships? Would your employees, co-workers, friends or family say that you “have their back?”
I LOVE feedback! Join my Facebook community on my FUN-damentals Fan Page.
FUN-travel: New 7 Wonders of the World #7 – The Taj Mahal
May 11, 2017 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: New 7 Wonders of the World #7 – The Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal FUN-facts
- Translated means Crown of the Palace.
- Commissioned in 1632 by Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his favorite wife Mumtaz Mahal.
- She was a Persian princess who died giving birth to their 14th child.
- It took 20,000 artists 10 years to complete at a cost of 32 million rupees.
- In 2015 it would have cost 52.8 billion rupees or $827 million US.
- Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 as “the jewel of Muslim art in India and universally admired masterpieces of the world’s heritage”
FUN-Fact – It is made of semi translucent white marble and polished to emphasize the exquisite detailing of flower carvings.
More FF – Specialists brought in from as far away as Europe produced magnificent marble screens, archway spandrels decorated with highly stylized almost geometric vines, flowers and fruits, and pietra dura (marble inlay work) made with thousands of semiprecious stones, yellow marble, jasper and jade then polished and leveled to the surface of the walls.
- In the summer of 2007, more than 90 million people cast their votes to determine which architectural marvels in the world deserved to be one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. There were a total of twenty-one landmarks vying for that title.
- Of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World, only the Great Pyramids in Giza, Egypt still stand. The pyramids were given an automatic spot after infuriated Egyptian officials said it was a disgrace to have to compete for something that had belonged to their country for so long. I agree! We saw them in 2007.
- It is our goal to see all twenty-one landmarks. Also, Chris and I have collectively seen a lot of the twenty-one, however, not together. So the rule is, “If you’ve been there but not together, it doesn’t count.”
New 7 Wonders of the World we’ve been to:
#1 Chichen Itza, Mexico – 2005
#2 Great Wall of China – 2010
#3 Machu Picchu, Peru – February, 2012
#4 Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro – February, 2012
#5 The Coliseum – Rome, Italy – August, 2012
#6 Petra, Jordan – March, 2013
#7 The Taj Mahal – Agra, India – November 2016
New 7 Wonders of the World Runner Ups we’ve been to:
# 9 Statue of Liberty, New York – May, 2005
#10 Sydney Opera House, Australia – January, 2006
#11 Hagia Sophia, Istanbul – May, 2007
#12 Acropolis, Athens – May, 2007
#13 Angkor Wat, Cambodia – March, 2010
#14 Eiffel Tower, Paris – October, 2010
#15 Stonehenge, England – October, 2011
#16 Alhambra, Spain – August, 2012
#17 Easter Island, Chile – February, 2013
#18 Neuschwanstein Castle – Füssen, Germany – September, 2013
#19 Red Square, Moscow – July 2014
TBD #20 – Kiyomizu Temple – Kyoto, Japan – April 2018
TBA #21 – Timbuktu – Mali, Africa (may never happen due to current civil war)