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Editor: Dr. Wolf J. Rinke
Publisher: Wolf Rinke Associates, Inc.
(c) 2008 Wolf J. Rinke
Vol. 11 No. 3, June/July 2008
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Feel free to forward this eNewsletter to others.
To get your own FREE subscription go to the end of this eNL
IN THIS ISSUE
1. NEWS YOU CAN USE
2. MONEY SAVING OFFER--FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
3. HOW TO ACHIEVE A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN A TOUGH ECONOMY--PART II
4. HEAR WOLF HOWL--I MEAN SPEAK
5. HUMOR BREAK
6. aBOUT THE eDITOR
7. PRIVACY STATEMENT AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
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REALITY CHECK
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The most important question to ask on the job is not "What am I getting?"
The most important question to ask is "What am I becoming?"
--Jim Rhon
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1. NEWS YOU CAN USE
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WHY PRACTICE MBA?
Mirroring some of the US findings reported by the Gallup organization several years ago, Business Guru Charles Handy reports in his latest book that 72% of British workers are dissatisfied with their work and nearly a fifth feel tempted to sabotage their own organizations. Will that level of employee satisfaction enable you to compete in this tough global economy?
ACTION STEPS
Get in the habit of giving your credit away and master the art of practicing Management by Appreciation (MBA). (To learn how take advantage of my special offer below www.WolfRinke.com).
Source: C. Handy, "Myself and Other More Important Matters," Amacom, 2008.
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2. MONEY SAVING OFFER--FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
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Want to learn how to build a peak performance organization?
Listen to my six-CD audio album: "Winning Management: 6 Fail-Safe Strategies for Building High-Performance Organizations."
Over 5 hours of fail-safe management strategies to help you succeed faster. According to Bill Marriott, these "strategies provide invaluable guidance."
Price: $69.95+s/h and you get the book (same title) for FREE.
SAVE $24.95
You risk absolutely nothing! If for any reason the CD's are not everything you expected, send them back to me and I will give you your money back. The book is yours to keep!
Log onto www.wolfrinke.com/Specialwmbkcds.htm or call 800-828-9653. Mention this ad when ordering by phone!
------------------------- Offer expires 7/15/2008 ------------------------------
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3. HOW TO ACHIEVE A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN A TOUGH ECONOMY--PART II
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In the previous issue of this eNewsletter (www.WolfRinke.com) we discussed the following strategies you need to master to take charge of your career:
--Pick your place of work carefully
--Pick your boss carefully
--Keep your resume floating
--Invest more in yourself than in your job
--Think contribution not position
Now let's look at several other strategies that will enable you go beyond surviving in this tough economy:
Think projects
Today, most work gets accomplished by projects. To thrive in a project environment, recognize that work gets done primarily by three distinct specialties. First there are the resource providers. These are the folks who develop and supply talent or money. Your human resource manager and financial officer would fit into this category. Next are the project managers. They are responsible for making sure that the talent and resources are organized in such a way that the project gets done. Next is the talent. These are the people who have the skills to get the job done such as managers and front line employees. To thrive in this new environment, it is important that you go beyond developing your expertise (talent) and master Winning Management skills so that you can perform equally well in the project manager or resource provider role. (To help you with this see the special offer in section #2.
Think global
To take advantage of globalization you must dramatically increase your cultural awareness. If you now work in a primarily homogeneous organization and are not at least 95% satisfied I recommend that you seek employment in a multicultural organization. Don't know where to start? Get a hold of Fortune's latest issue of either "The 100 Best Companies to Work For" or "America's Most Admired Companies" typically published in February and March of every year respectively (www.money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune) and apply to any of the companies listed. Equally important learn a foreign language. If you're not fluent in at least one foreign language you will be in trouble. And put your language to work by visiting a country that speaks the language of interest to you. You'll really learn to speak it, become culturally sensitive and bring back a ton of great ideas to accelerate your success dramatically.
Think weird
Future growth in the world will come from what Tom Peters calls the Imagination Business. So think different. No, better yet think weird. Force yourself to color outside of the box, to look at the same thing as everyone else and see something different. (My definition for creativity.) Act crazy. Be weird, just don't be comfortable. Look around you. Look at the people who are the real geniuses of today's age, like Steve Jobs of Apple, and Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google. They came up with things that they were passionate about and that customers did not ask for. They do things not only different, they often do exactly the opposite of what others perceive as rational. Remember if it were rational, everyone would do it. And being like everyone won't enable you to succeed in this tough economy.
Become an effective team player and leader
Like it or not, teams are the way lots of work is being accomplished in today's organizations. Being effective in this environment requires that you learn how to empower others and master Winning Management skills. (To help you with this see the special offer in section #2, http://www.WolfRinke.com)
Focus on delivering exceptional quality service
Delivering exceptional quality service is not an option, it is a survival strategy. You must be absolutely clear about who provides you with a paycheck. No, it's not your boss or even your company. It is the person you serve--an external or internal customer. As a litmus test of how customer focused you are, look back at your calendar for the last week to find our how much time you've spent with your customers. If you are spending less than third of your time each with your customers and employees you are heading for trouble.
Become a problem solver
One of the best ways to position yourself for advancement or pay increases is to become a problem solver. In this tough economy you can't expect to be compensated for time, only for results and problems solved. So actively look for a problem that impacts negatively on the bottom line put a team together and solve it. Then, let the powers-to-be know how much your team improved the profitability of your organization. If you do that consistently you will be ready to be promoted, even in tough times.
Think of yourself as self-employed
Seeing yourself working for one large company for the rest of your career is, to say it gently, crazy! It's just not going to happen! In this tough economy it's important that you see yourself as "self-employed", or as "renting" your services out to someone else (your employer). To get started, pretend that you are an entrepreneur or a consultant who is selling services to a client (your employer). To make this realistic, compute your daily compensation. Be sure to add your benefits--about 30%. Then get in the habit of asking yourself: "Have I created value today that exceeded my compensation?" Repeat that question every work day. You may even find it helpful to place a nice looking sign on your desk: "How am I creating $_____ of value today?"
Keep Growing
Get in the habit to ask: "How have I ‘grown' in my job today?" To facilitate this, think of going to work each day with a "briefcase" of skills and competencies. At the end of the day, check your "briefcase" to see if there is more in it than at the beginning of the day. If day after day, what you bring to work is the same as you take home, it's time to move on to a more challenging "assignment."
Network Now
When it comes time to find a new challenge, your network, more than anything else, will determine how fast you will find your next dream job. To test your networking effectiveness, ask yourself who you have been eating lunch with during the past week. If it is pretty much the same people, you are missing tremendous networking opportunities. So start today to get in the habit of eating lunch with different people three out of five days a week, to sit with people you don't know at meetings and to attend conferences that are sponsored by other than your own specialty groups.
In the next issue of this eNewsletter I will provide you with specific diagnostic questions you need to answer to not just survive, but thrive, in this tough economy.
SOURCE: Based in part on Chapter 8 of my book: "Winning Management: 6 Fail-Safe Strategies for Building High-Performance Organizations." (Get this book for FREE. See the special offer in section #2.
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4. HEAR WOLF HOWL--I MEAN SPEAK
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8/22/08 Copenhagen, DK. "Education: How to Achieve Lasting Job Security," In-House Seminar, Toms Gruppen A/S.
9/9/08 Philadelphia, PA. "Achieve Peak Performance by Increasing Personal Effectiveness." Full day Institute of Management Studies (IMS) seminar. Contact: Joe Paesani, Philadelphia@ims-online.com
10/3/08 Copenhagen, DK. "Perseverance: How to Deal More Effectively with Change and Stress," In-House Seminar, Toms Gruppen A/S.
NOTE: I have other "in-house" presentations scheduled in the U.S.A., Canada and Europe. Please let me know if you are interested to preview me or bring me into your organization at reduced expenses when I'm scheduled to be in your area. That way we can let you know when I'm coming your way!
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5. HUMOR BREAK
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An eagle was sitting high up in a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked, "Can I sit like you and do nothing?"
"Sure, why not," answered the eagle.
So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.
Moral of the story: If you want to sit and do nothing, be sure to sit very, very high up.
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6. ABOUT THE EDITOR
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Dr. Wolf J. Rinke, CSP is a highly effective management consultant and
executive coach who specializes in building peak performance organizations,
teams and individuals. He is the author of 14 books including "Don't
Oil the Squeaky Wheel and 19 Other Contrarian Ways to Improve Your Leadership
Effectiveness" and "Winning Management: 6 Fail-Safe Strategies
for Building High-Performance Organizations" available at www.WolfRinke.com.
Wolf is also an internationally recognized management/leadership keynote
speaker and seminar leader who delivers customized presentations that
combine story telling, humor and motivation with specific "how
to" action strategies that participants can apply immediately to
improve their management and leadership effectiveness. Preview a live
demo at www.WolfRinke.com. To take advantage of Dr. Rinke's services
contact us at 800-828-9653 or WolfRinke@aol.com
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7. PRIVACY STATEMENT AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
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