Want to build credibility? Try volunteering to help someone else...

Are you constantly waiting to be trained? Or to gain experience in some career area of expertise? If so, quit waiting for someone else to get you off your duff and go volunteer.

Very frequently, our own bosses cannot simply hand us the opportunity to learn a new skill or process. Learning on the job can be both expensive and detrimental to your future employment (should you make a serious mistake). Instead of littering the work place with your pleas to grow, go help someone--or some enterprise--less fortunate.

I've been working to increase my knowledge of grants and the arenas surrounding fund raising. Neither is a strength for me and, like most small businesses, mine can't afford to hire highly experienced experts.

Solution: I volunteer my time serving on the fund raising committee of a local non-profit organization. Using this resource, I can build my skills, experience, and background while doing something good for someone beside me. Check it out. You might actually meet new people, make new connections, and accomplish something you could never approach in your narrow day-to-day job.

Don't limit yourself to what you can see in your immediate surroundings--there is an entire world of possibilities out there that you've probably never considered tapping into.

Is truth important, or are we tied down by "politically correct"?

"Do you want the unvarnished truth, or do you want to hear the sweet-talk?"

When it comes to business processes and project status, I've heard it both ways. Some executives want you to sweet-talk them and some want to be made clearly aware of the precise facts. How about you?

Granted, there are always conditions and dependencies. Every situation is different... Let's assume that we'll all be polite, but not play diplomatic double-speak games. That being the case, in general, how do you feel, as an employee, about "telling it like it is"? Or, if you're in management, how do you want your personnel to deliver communications?

OK - So you're credible... Can you prove it?

A lot of us believe we are credible. Some highly so. Unfortunately, others, including those for which we have worked, might not be in complete agreement. When this disconnect occurs, all the work you have done--the value you delivered--simply disappears and the mistakes--or apparent mistakes--are blasted right to the top.

It's been my experience that a majority of my employers have simply had no clue what I can bring to the table. I'll bet you are in the same boat. Most frequently--and this has been proven time and again by credible research--the "c-suite" has never even tried to tap into your potential. For the most part, these folks are busy being busy and simply have no time or interest in recognizing the potential value in the minds of their personnel.

Result? No matter how good you may be, the "enterprise" doesn't have a clue. Could this be one of the reasons why so many companies feel the need to bring in outside experts--simply to tell management precisely the same things existing personnel have been trying to say? Yep...

Real World - In nearly every project management, negotiations, or technology asset management course I teach, at least 2/3 of the attendees report that their company (their immediate superior?) rarely, if ever, taps into their capabilities. These same folks inform us that their company will pay incredible fees to consultants who proceed to convey the same messages the employees have been trying (unsuccessfully) to convey.

So...and a great deal of my ranting will come back to this critical point: If you want to be credible, you have to take responsibility for documenting what you know, enhancing your own professional development, and ensuring that your name equates with value--both within your own enterprise, AND in your professional industry.

Nobody else is going to perform these tasks for you. YOU have to take control. The days are long gone when we could even partially rely on a single employer (even a dozen or more) to provide us with a stable income. We have all become disposable commodities--to be sucked dry, then tossed on the trash heap along with the other diapers. For the most part, the enterprise has moved on from being an ethical local resource to being a pure profit center. Loyalties are significantly more frequently tied to how much money you made for the company--today--than how much value you bring over the long term. Who was it that said: "If you want loyalty, buy a dog"?

Again: If we, as professionals, expect to remain of value to the enterprise then WE must take control of our own capacity to carry that value wherever we go. The tool kit we used to carry in our hands is now in our respective brains--it's our talents and abilities to link thought with actions. As such, that mental/professional toolkit goes with us wherever we go. Either we (YOU) are in control of our (YOUR) future or we (YOU) are not.

(Sorry... My purpose in this blog is to speak up. If this offends you...read the books Nickel & Dimed, or Bait & Switch--Or any of a thousand other resources that clarify the current relationship between employer and employee.)

Employment: Will Your Professional Value-Adds Transfer Jobs?

Will your personal/professionals transfer to your next job? In this economy, they better, or you are in for a heap of trouble. Ask yourself a few career-critical questions:

• What unique skills, talent, and value do I bring to the enterprise?
• How mobile are these value-adds?
• In how many different ways (industries) can I apply them?
• Do my value-adds stand independently, or do I need others to deliver?

Check out this short article for some easily implemented strategies/tactics to enhance your personal/professional portability.

Read the Knowledge Brief HERE

Don't get caught as a Pirate simply because you didn't do the paperwork!

One of the key reasons we hear so much about software piracy or music piracy is that virtually any use an average person or company makes of these copyright protected products can be easily interpreted as illegal.

In reality, the vast majority of so-called software piracy events are nothing more than license violations-coupled with lousy record keeping business processes. Of equal importance is that the so-called anti-piracy industry, in reality, invests significantly more time and effort in copyright enforcement than in violations prevention (We’ll discuss this side of the scam in another Briefing).

Our First Bottom Line: There is an enormous and highly lucrative global copyright enforcement industry that feeds on consumer lethargy and it will continue to feed on our individual bottom lines until we all wake up and take action. Software piracy is--to a very real extent--in the eyes of the beholder. Unfortunately the most powerful beholders have arranged it so that the legal definitions of piracy are so conveniently cloudy virtually anyone--right down to an 11-year old child (and younger) can violate federal and global copyright laws.

Read on HERE for some serious details on how you set yourself up for that punitive copyright violation audit...

Is Dell Credible?

Dell recently announced the lay-offs of more than 8,000 of its North American workers. At the same time, Mike Dell also announce the company would purchase $70 million in Chinese hardware during 2008. As well, Dell executives have a salary and perks package that exceeds $60 million.

Do you find this disturbing? On what level? Social ethics? Business ethics? Employment ethics? Shareholder responsibility? Other?

Did you ever buy Dell products or services? In what ways will Dells treatment of employees influence your future acquisitions?

Are you afraid to argue?

Some of the more notorious members of my extended family are Italian and man, can those people argue. But, you know what? Even when they're howling at the moon, you always know precisely where they stand. What's more, after the average (and very noisy) discussion ends, everybody remains friends and goes on their merry way.

Here's my point: Are you afraid to argue with, or question, those around you? Do you tend to put on your cute little happy face--no matter how wrong you honestly believe the other person to be? At work, are you the proverbial "Yes, Man" or woman? If so, you may have found that you are losing your personal and professional direction.

It never ceases to amaze me that the students in my collegiate project management courses, technology asset management courses, or even negotiations programs absolutely refuse to question my perspectives. These are working adults, professionals in their respective fields, and I literally have to push them to think critically--to question the ideas and concepts we discuss.

Is this you? Do you always agree with the boss, simply because they're the boss? Do you see things happening within your life or career that threaten to improve the status quo and merely ignore them? Are you a corporate drone, having been beaten down by "THIS is the way we DO things here!"? If so, is that a good thing?

I have a personal perspective that goes something like this: "You are either in this (pick a profession or job) to be productive and contribute positively to our mutual growth or you are here as a spectator--watching the rest of us DO on your behalf."

And why am I intruding on your personal space with this drivel? Because I firmly believe that one of the key problems I encounter--time and time again--in nearly every corporate setting--is that people are no longer encouraged to, or willing to, ask questions. Without this level of free thought, our abilities to survive, grow, and compete are seriously diminished.

Resource: Take a look at the book Fierce Conversations, by Susan Scott, (Berkley Books). I firmly agree with Ms. Scott that it is time for us all to begin seriously considering how our meek and accepting perspectives have limited our potentials. Let me know what you think...