What is the U Perspective and Why Do You Care

Someone's U Perspective is how they see the world-- what they care about. Their U Perspective will inform the way an individual sees a particular situation and how they are likely to respond to it. How someone else views what is going on may be very different from how you see it.

There are specific techniques that can help you determine someone's U Perspective. Once you take the time and effort to understand someone, you can determine what motivates them generally and what will motivate them under the circumstances. That might be money, friendship, status, helping others or any of a number of other motivators. That allows you not only to predict what they are likely to do, but also to affect their behavior.

If you correctly understand someone's U Perspective and operate from it in a non-judgmental way, you will be in sync with what they are thinking and therefore will be able to influence their actions. Their point of view - their U Perspective - lets you know what they need and want. If you can provide that to them in a way that suits my needs as well, I can create a mutually beneficial solution. In negotiating or sales terms, this is a win/win solution. In leadership terms it is how you gain buy-in from your employees. In reality it is more powerful than either of these concepts. Everyone’s values are respected and solutions are found that are expressly suited to each individual’s wants and needs.

This is especially true in terms of how a prospective boss see a candidate. If you understand their U Perspective you know which of your skills and experience to emphasize when you are being interviewed. Hiring manager's are typically motivated by the need to solve the most immediate challenges they are confronting. If you can show someone how you can help them solve the problems that are keeping them awake at night, you are well on your way to getting the job or the promotion you seek.

The Ten Commandments of Employment Negotiations

Here are 10 basic rules when negotiating compensation, the “Ten Commandments of Employment Negotiations,” to help you get the best possible deal when changing jobs, whether internally or with a new company excerpted from Get More Money On Your Next Job. They are:

1. Be prepared. The more you know about the job market and about your prospective employer, the better you will negotiate. Information is readily available on the Internet, at the library, from professional associations and through networking. Time spent learning how to negotiate is time well spent and will pay dividends throughout your career. Proper preparation enables you to know what is possible and to get what you want. This is the first commandment because it's the most important thing you do as a negotiator.

2. Recognize that employment negotiations are unique. While you want to negotiate the best possible deal, you need to do so in a way that doesn't damage your relationship with your future employer. At the same time, the employer's primary concern isn't negotiating the least expensive compensation package it can get away with. Keep in mind that your future employer wants you to accept the position and feel good about doing so. Remember that when the negotiations are over, you'll have to work with the person with whom you are negotiating.

3. Understand your needs and those of your prospective employer. Employment negotiations are about priorities- yours and the employer’s. What is important to you? Are you to accept a low salary in return for a large equity stake? Are you able to handle dramatic swings in income from year to year? Understanding your needs will also help you select the type of company you want to work for. While a family-owned business may be unwilling to offer equity or ownership to a non-family member, may be willing to offer a large bonus based on results. A start-up company, in contrast, may not be able to offer a market-rate salary, but will typically offer stock options. By recognizing what an employer is most willing to do, you'll be able to determine what trade offs are possible to maximize what you get.

4. Understand the dynamics of the particular negotiations. Sometimes you'll have skills that are in great demand. At other times, you may be one of many qualified candidates each of whom the company would be happy to hire. Sizing up the situation and understanding the relative bargaining position of each party will help you determine when to press your advantage and when to back off.

5. Never lie, but use the truth to your advantage. It is not only wrong to lie, but in employment negotiations, it's ineffective. If you lie during negotiations, sooner or later you are likely to get caught. Then, even if the employer doesn’t withdraw the offer, you'll be at a tremendous disadvantage, and your credibility will be forever damaged. On the other hand, total candor won't be rewarded. You're under no obligation to blurt out everything you know. You can determine what you want to say and how you want to say it, placing everything in its most favorable light. One key aspect of your preparation is recognizing potential problems so you can determine, ahead of time, how you will handle them when they inevitably come up.

6. Understand the role fairness plays in the process. Appeals to fairness can be an extremely powerful weapon. The guiding principle for most employers when they negotiate is fairness. Within the constraints of their budget and organizational structure, employers usually will agree to anything that's fair and reasonable. So be able to justify every request you make in terms of fairness. Understanding the role that fairness plays in employment negotiations can mean the difference between success and failure.

7. Use uncertainty to your advantage. The more information you convey to a potential employer about your bottom line, the more likely it will limit what you get. Employers typically ask what it will take for you to accept the position, before they make you an offer. With that information, a prospective employer can determine the minimum package it needs to offer. While an employer may not offer you as little as it can get away with, divulging too much information will likely result in a lower offer. By not disclosing your exact compensation or what it would take to get you to accept the position, you force a potential employer to make its best offer. When dealing with a recruiter, however, you may need to provide more detailed salary information. If you do, though, present that information in the most advantageous way.

8. Be creative. Consider the value of the total package. Look for different ways to achieve your goals. Be willing to make tradeoffs that increase the total value of the deal. By being creative, you can package what you want in ways that will be acceptable to the company. You'll also be able to find creative "trades" that allow you to withdraw requests that might be problematic to the company in return for improvements in areas where the company has more flexibility.

9. Focus on your goals, not on winning. Too often in negotiations, winning becomes more important than achieving your goals. It's important not to make your future boss feel as if he's lost in the negotiations. You'll have gained little by negotiating a good deal if you alienate your future boss in the process.

10. Know when to quit bargaining. The one sure way to lose everything you've gained through your negotiating efforts is to be greedy. There comes a point in every negotiation when you've achieved everything you could have reasonably expected to achieve. While most companies will want to treat you fairly and make you happy, few companies want to hire a prima donna. Being perceived as greedy or unreasonable may cause the deal to fall apart. Even if it doesn't, you'll have done immeasurable harm to your career.

This brings us to the Eleventh commandment:
11. Never forget that employment is an ongoing relationship. Job negotiations are the starting point for your career with a company. Get too little and you're disadvantaged throughout your career there; push too hard and you can sour the relationship before it begins.

Understanding these principles will allow you to effectively negotiate the terms of your new job in good times and in bad. Once you are hired, do a good job and continually seek out new challenges. As you take on added responsibilities and learn new skills, there will be opportunities to negotiate further improvements.

Motivating People Is About Recognizing What They Care About

Looking for a promotion? Need help from your colleagues? Want you boss to give you additional resources for that project you are working on? You have to start by asking, but understanding how to ask will make all the difference between getting what you want and going away empty handed. How you should ask depends on what motivates the person you are asking- what I refer to as their "U Perspective" in my most recent book UP: Influence Power and othe U Perspective-The Art of Getting What You Want .

Most people simply assume that everyone is motivated in the same way that they are. Even when we recognize that someone else might see a situation differently than we do, our first instinct usually is to try to persuade them to see things our way. The U Perspective takes the opposite approach. Its effectiveness is not rooted in the ability to convince others to change their views or adopt different values. Instead, its power comes from recognizing what others already believe and want and motivating them to help you achieve your objectives based on that information. The U Perspective allows you to get what you want by working with another person’s belief system, not challenging it. To achieve this level of understanding, you need to discover how the person you are trying to influence perceives a situation and what is important to him or her -- to learn to see things through their eyes. Once you understand how they see a situation you have the ability to construct, and present options in a way that more effectively influences what they do.

We think money will motivate people to do just about anything. While that may true it takes an awful lot of money to get people to do certain things and there are some things that even a lot of money may not get certain individuals to do. More importantly, sometimes money is not the best motivator.

Computer scientists have used an understanding of what certain web users value to literally get them to do work that no one else wants to do and to do it for free. Impossible. Not if you understand the concept of the U Perspective. One of the most boring tasks I can think of is labeling images to enable online searching. This is a task computers can not yet do; so it requires viewers to look at the images and assign them key words that identify them. How much would you expect to be paid to do that work? Louis Van Ahn, a professor at Carnegie MellonUniversity, has figured out how to get people to do it for free. He simply turned it into a game. The game connects random players who log in to the website. Each is shown the same picture for which they type in keywords. When the words match they are awarded points. People return to the website frequently and have been known to play for hours.

When it comes to getting a new job, a promotion or a raise, understanding what the decision-maker cares about is critical to success. If you show how what you are asking for will further some goal they care about, you will likely get what you want. If you can help your boss or prospective boss look good or accomplish an important objective you are likely to win the new job, promotion or raise that you are seeking.

Interviewing Do's and Don't

A recent survey showed that almost half the people working today are considering leaving their jobs. The difference between success and failure when it comes to getting a new job is your ability to interview. The more effective you are when you interview the better your chances of getting the job you want. So here are some Dos and Don'ts for interviewing:

INTERVIEWING DOs
1) Prepare: Find out everything you can about the company, the job and the interviewer.
2) Focus on accomplishments not responsibilities.
3) Ask knowledgeable questions.
4) Make friends with the secretaries and assistants involved in the hiring process.
5) Be enthusiastic.
6) Always be positive.
7) Ask for the job.

INTERVIEWING DONTs
1) Don't ever say anything bad about a prior employer, even if true.
2) Avoid being too deferential to the interviewer.
3) Don’t interrupt the interviewer.
4) Avoid talking about salary, or talk about it as little as possible, until you get an offer.
5) Do not assume you can’t negotiate a better deal. (You can if you know how and when to do so)
For more information go to YourCareerDoctors.com

Fall: A time to Focus on Your Career

People are returning from their vacations. Kids are returning to school. You should be focusing on your career. With the end of the summer upon us, now is a good time to focus on your career. Are you looking for a promotion, that raise you deserve or greater job satisfaction? Here are three tips to start the season off right:

1. Try a new look- one that is designed to project authority
2 Nurture your network
3. Take on a project designed to increase your visibility

Try A New Look: How a person looks and how they carry themselves forms the foundation of how people view them. Creating the right image will enhance one’s ability to persuade others. That requires you to look the way the people you are dealing with expect someone in authority to look. So dress like the people who are in the position you aspire to. Police Officers, judges, and doctors for example, all dress in a way that let’s you know instantly that they are functioning in a role that sets them apart from the rest of us and signals how we are expected to react to their directives. Different occupations have different ways of dressing to indicate your status. That will of course be different for women than for men. It will also differ depending on whether you are in Singapore, New York or Moscow. Look at how successful individuals in your field dress and let that guide you.

Nurture Your Network: Create a network of people who care about your career success. How do you do that? Build relationships with people in your field, both within your organization and outside. Stay in touch. Periodically call them and try to get together. E-mail them with information that they might find useful. Send them articles of interest. Remember their birthdays. Ask for their help and advise. More importantly, offer assistance. Look for ways tohelp them. Networking is about giving. give unselfishly. Your efforts will pay dividends many times over.

Take On a Project Designed to Increase Your Visibility: Seek out opportunities to work on projects that are important to the organization and to your boss. Good work is not enough. Your work needs to be noticed. So try to do it where people are looking. Work on the projects that people care about. do a good job and people will take note. I have a saying I use when I coach " If a tree fall in the forest and no one hears, who cares? But if you do great work and no one notices then career opportunities pass you by.

Coming into the Fall with a plan to move your career forward and you will reap the benefits. For more information go to YourCareerDoctors.com

Career Change Can Be Very Rewarding

I am in the Berkshires at a golf resort with a friend, and client, who publishes a golf and resort guides. He started his career as a lawyer and had developed a successful practice. A friend of his needed a favor. She was the editor of a monthly regional lifestyle magazine. They were doing a special edition with a section that covered all the major golf courses in the region. Their writer had just pulled out. My friend was a good golfer, a good writer and had previously helped another friend, a professional golfer, write a golf book. She asked him if he would take a little time off, come down and write the section for her. She, of course, offered to pay him.

He called me for advice. He wanted to do it, but financially it did not make any sense for him. While he wasn't really happy with the work he was doing, it certainly paid much better then working as a freelance writer. He was thinking about doing it anyway, as a favor to his friend and because it sounded like fun. We talked about it for a while. Then I suggested a way that he could write the piece and make money. Since we were dealing with a magazine that was not in the guide business I knew that they only intended to use what he wrote one time, when the monthly magazine was published. So I suggested he sell the magazine the right to first publication and exclusive rights thereafter for 90 days. Then the rights to what he wrote would revert to him. Since that was all the magazine was going to use the material for anyway and because they were in a bit of a bind, they readily agreed. After the 90 days he republished the material, along with a map of the courses, some additional photo spreads and some articles about other attractions in the region as a golf guide. He was able to get advertisers to run ads in the guide and the golf courses and resorts to purchase reprints. In that way he was able to make a nice profit.

The story does not end there. He was so successful, and enjoyed it so much, that he gave up the work he was doing and began to publish golf and resort guides internationally, using that same formula. He now travels all over the world, stays in fabulous resorts and has published guides in such exotic places as Thailand and the Dominican Republic. What started as a lark became a fulfilling and financially rewarding second career for my friend.

Everything started with a single project that he did for two weeks while on vacation from his regular job. If you do not find fulfillment in what you are doing, you don't have to quit your job. Start small. See if you can turn a hobby into a second career. Moonlight. Try things out on weekends and when you have vacation time. You never know where it will take you.

When is a $70 million dollar salary not enough?

When your friends are making $71 million dollars. I was surprised to read in the Wall Street Journal that Mark McGoldrick left a prestigious position at Goldman Sachs running their " Special Situations Group" because he felt that he was working too hard and wasn't being paid enough. The salary he was not happy with, last year amounted to $70 million dollar ($200,000 a day). Most of us won't make $70 million dollar in our lifetime and would be thrilled with a hundredth of that salary. So what makes someone complain about a salary bigger than the gross national product of certain small countries? Fairness, jealousy, envy. Call it what you will but in life we measure happiness not by what we have in some absolute sense, but rather by what we have compared to the people we feel are like us.

So Mark McGoldrick was unhappy with his salary because his counterparts at hedge funds and private equity firms were making a lot more than he was. This should not have come as a surprise to me.

As I wrote in UP: Influence Power and the U Perspective-- The Art of Getting What You Want:" While money can effectively be used as a motivator, even money becomes significantly less useful as a motivator once you achieve a certain level of wealth. There is a significant body of research that shows that once personal wealth reaches a certain level additional wealth produces virtually no increase in one’s sense of happiness. Moreover, according to Richard Layard, a professor at the London School of Economics, peoples’ sense of their own wealth is subjective and is determined primarily by comparing themselves to others. Therefore when incomes rise across a nation there is no greater sense of wealth or happiness. For example, real income in Japan more than quintupled over the thirty years starting in the1950s yet researchers found no corresponding increase in how happy people felt. Even very wealthy people can feel disadvantaged when their friends are significantly wealthier than they are. Understanding that may cause you to propose a business opportunity to a very wealthy individual by focusing on some other benefit beyond just its profitability, such as by making it exclusively available to that individual or by allowing that individual to gain status by being able to offer it to his or her friends."

Understanding that we react in this way and that so do others is important to keep in mind if you are seeking to get hired, to get a raise or to gain a promotion. The fact that someone else is interested in hiring you makes you more valuable. It is not so much the fear of losing you that increases your value. Trust me, they will find someone else equally talented. It is losing you to someone else, especially someone they view as a competitor, that really drives people crazy. We all want what other's want and it is even better if we are the only one, or one of an elite few, that has it. Harness that knowledge to your advantage to move your career forward.

Stress and the Pace of Working in the US

I am two days back in the USA. People in Singapore and India work very hard. Some do so and are just barely able to scratch out a living. Nonetheless it is not the same. We really do move at a much faster pace than anywhere else in the world. We just take for granted that we are on call 24/7 with our cell phones, blackberrys, Internet, video cams etc. No where else is anyone so connected to their work. To the extent that you enjoy your work it provides a source of satisfaction. But sometimes you have to disconnect. When I was traveling I left a message on my voicemail that I would not be checking it and to contact me by e-mail. I was able to conduct my business but the pace somehow seemed less hectic.

That brings home the point of how important it is to take some time off periodically to refresh yourself. When I was a corporate executive I got to travel to lots of exotic places but I never got to really see them. I saw the hotels. I ate at nice restaurants. I went to lots of restaurants and bars. Then I went home. What a waste.

Take your vacation time. Most Americans don't use all their vacation. They are too busy and it is too hard to catch up when they get back. Or they are afraid if they are gone that they will miss something important. Hard work is important to success but you need to stop every once and a while to see what is going on around you and around the world, not to mention sharing time with the people you care about. It will make you better at what you do and a better person as well.

Generational Differences Can Impact Workplace Effectiveness (or why I have difficulty communicating with my son)

Today I received a copy of a book review of my new book UP: Influence Power and the U Perspective- The Art of Getting What You Want by the Midwest Book Review. The quote from the book that they chose to describe the U Perspective reminded me how important understanding of the U Perspective of different generations is at work. (Text of Book Review below). The different generations are usually classified as follows:

Boomers 1943-1964
Gen X 1961-1980
Gen Y 1977-2000
Millennials 1998-2012

Because each generation was affected by different life shaping events, their U Perspectives- what they care about and what will motivate them- differs. As a result, frequently generational miscommunication arise. If you are a boomer, you need to recognize that money and success which motivated you, may not be the prime motivator for other generations, or at least not a motivator in the same way as they were for you. Gen Xers want challenging work and work life balance in addition to money. Gen Yers also seek challenging work. While they expect to have many jobs and employers they tend to be more loyal and respectful of authority if you can win them over. Millennials, not really in the workforce yet, tend to be more relationship driven (although often those relationships are virtual), more easily distracted and better able to multi-task than prior generations. Since most of them are still being supported by their parents, how they see money and career remains to be seen.


What does this mean for the workplace. If you want to succeed pay close attention to the different U Perspectives of each generation. Gaining their support and cooperation, whether as a boss or a colleague, will require understanding the generational aspects of their U Perspective. Motivate them to want to help you by focusing on what they care about. Money alone will generally not be enough to attract and retain them nor to gain their support. Don't assume that they would do "what you would if you were in their shoes." Trust me they wear different shoes than you do. Avoid miscommunications by listening and learning about how each generation sees things, how they like to process information and how they define career success. However, do not assume that everyone from the same generation is the identical. While U Perspectives are informed by shared generational experiences, everyone's U Perspective is unique because everyone specific life experiences and values are different. Once, however, you understand an individual's U Perspective motivating them to want to help you achieve your objectives becomes a much simpler task.


THE BOOK REVIEW UP: Influence Power and the U Perspective- The Art of Getting What You Want:

"Written by experienced businessman and winner of the 2005 Seton Hall University Business School's Award for Teaching Excellence Lee E. Miller with consultant and entrepreneur Barbara Jackson, UP: Influence, Influence, Power and the U Perspective- The Art of Getting What You Want is a self-help guide to cultivating one’s ability to influence people and build lasting agreements that advance mutual goals.

Chapters discuss the "three C's" method of influencing others (Convince, Collaborate and Create), and the importance of understanding others' perspectives. "Since our beliefs and values are developed over time, on a subconscious level, most people simply assume that everyone sees the world the way they do. Even when we recognize that someone else sees a situation differently than we do, our first instinct usually is to try to persuade them to see things our way. The U Perspective takes the opposite approach. Its effectiveness is not rooted in the ability to convince others to change their views or adopt different values. Instead, its power comes from recognizing what others already believe and want and providing solutions based on that information." A top-notch guide, especially ideal for greasing social wheels in business circles but packed cover to cover with tips for more effective negotiation and team-building in personal circles as well."

Lessons from India

"Go see the world and you will never regret it." This advise given by an old man to a young student on a train in India at the beginning of the movie Namesake struck a cord with me. Having just returned from giving cross cultural influencing seminars in India it was particularly appropriate.

Whenever I travel to speak I invariable learn as much as the students I teach. India is a very exciting place to be doing business. Opportunities abound. If given the chance to work in places like India or China or other rapidly developing countries you should take it. Business is becoming more and more global. Whether selling into those markets, outsources services to them or importing goods or services from them, no business can afford to ignore those markets. Knowledge of the culture and how to do business in those countries will be invaluable to potential employers. Careers can gain a big boost by working overseas provided you remain visible at home while making your mark abroad. (More on that in another blog). If that type of opportunity doesn't readily come your way and you are interested, make it happen. There is a tremendous shortage of management talent and needs abound. Seek out opportunities and as the old man on the train said you will never regret it.

I leave you with a quote from Harvard Professor Stanley Hoffman "I am more and more convinced that people are intensely different from country to country. Not everyone is motivated by the same things." The better you understand how different people around the world are motivated the more successful you will be.

Get a Life

On Thursday I am off to India. Yes I have some business meetings there. But what I really am excited about is that I will get to see the Taj Mahal. While I do extensive traveling as a speaker and trainer in Asia as well as Europe, I have never taken the time to visit the Taj Mahal, something I have always wanted to do before.

That got me to thinking. When I was the head of Human Resources for Barneys, USA Networks and TV Guide I did a lot of business travel. I would go to someplace I had never been before, attend some meetings, often at the hotel I was staying at, have some business dinners at nice restaurants, maybe go out afterward for drinks and then as soon as my business was over I would get on the first available plane to fly home (unless as frequently happened the Chairman of my company called me earlier and had me cut my trip short)

Now whenever I go someplace on business I always make sure that I spend some time seeing and learning about wherever I am. Doing so is not only fun, it is important for your career. We learn through our experiences and business is iterative. (Look it up). You never know when the information that you learn in one setting will prove to be valuable to you in another.

When I was writing A Woman's Guide to Successful Negotiating I interviewed Jeanette Chang the Publisher for International Cosmopolitan Magazine. She told me one of the things she did that helped her become successful was to make herself more interesting. When you are more interesting people want to spend time with you. That leads to opportunities. People seek you out to work on their projects. Customers want to do business with you. colleagues spend time with you and share information. All that leads to career success. Job opportunities, promotions and salary increases follow. Jeanette suggested getting a hobby and becoming an expert in something. Her hobby is Asian art. She collects it; she travels to exotic destinations to purchase it and she has become an expert on the subject. That has made her more interesting. The result of those efforts. Well her success speaks for itself.

So take advantage of the world outside of work. Do something; learn something; travel somewhere. In short get a life. That will not only make you happier, it will also make you more successful.

Its Not Only About Doing A Good Job

In my last blog I talked about the importance of friends in moving your career forward. Your network will help provide you with information, advise and assistance. In the same way what gets you high visibility assignments and promotions is the relationships you development with the people making those decisions and your ability to let people know about your good work. The same is true about your boss. Face time with the boss is important. Find ways to build a relationship with your boss. When it comes time to handing out assignments and promotions the quality of that relationship is every bit as important as the quality of your work.

Not only is connecting with your boss important but so is keeping him or her informed of your successes. People think their bosses know what they do on a daily basis and what they have accomplished. Surprisingly most don't. Most bosses are overworked these days. If nothing is going obviously wrong they assume your doing an okay job. However, your successes often go unnoticed or may be attributed to others.

It is important therefore that you make sure that when you do something significant the right people know about it. You need to do that without seeming to be self-promoting. You can do that with matter of fact updates to the people you need to influence. E-mails allow you to do this easily and routinely. An excellent technique for making sure all the right people know about business success is to send out a note praising your subordinates for their outstanding efforts. That way you can brag all you want about the achievements and at the same time be considered to be a good boss because you are sharing the credit for your successes.

Remember if a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears who cares? If you do great work and nobody knows about it, in terms of your career it is as if it did not happen.

Friends of Harry Potter

What does Harry Potter have to do with careers and why do you care? And yes I know I just wrote a blog about Harry Potter. However now that I have actually seen Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix I can write with some knowledge about the subject. While not knowing anything about what I am talking about has never stopped me from expressing an opinion in the past, I try to limit sharing of those opinions with my closest friends who are likely to forgive me. So what does Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix have to do with careers. We could talk about branding, extending your franchise, doing what you love (J.K. Rowling was fired from her job as a secretary for writing stories at work using the company computer) or persistence as keys to career success. The Harry Potter franchise that J.K. Rowling has created is an excellent example of using each of these tools to further your business goals.

What I want to talk about, however, is not the making of the movie but the moral of the story. That is not in my view that bureaucracy is the enemy of good policy although I suppose that is one theme we can deduce from the movie.

I want to focus on the real career lesson you can take from the movie-- the value of friends and mentors. After all it is Harry's friends who stick with him when everyone else thinks he is crazy or a traitor. It is his friends and mentors who support him, keep him from being expelled and save his life. He repays them repeated by teaching them and helping them when they are in danger. Early on Harry is tempted to push his friends away when he is in trouble rather than seek their help. He has to be persuaded to offer his help to them as well, feeling that he does not have sufficient expertise to offer them.

As a bright young Harvard lawyer I thought I was going to conquer the world by being smarter and harder working than everyone else. What I learned is there is always someone else who is smarter or harder working. While those qualities are important they will only take you so far.

To be successful we need to offer help to others whenever we can throughout our career, particularly to those who at the moment may seem like they have little to offer in return. We need to mentor others whenever we can. We need to build our network and help our friends without thinking about what we might get in return. If you do that they will be there for you when you need them and they will help you in ways you would not even think to ask. Most people don't understand that networking is about what you can give not what you can get.

Career success, as well as success in life, is built on the quality of your relationships. When it comes to career success it is your friends, your network and your mentors who will make all the difference. Even Harry Potter can't do it alone.

Layoffs for Employees, Dividends for Investors

So read the headline of an article recounting the quick turnaround of a recent private equity investment. Much of that quick profit came as a result of a 10% cut in the company's workforce. I spent much of the 1990s watching the LBO cycle play itself as a senior human resources executive who had the unenviable task of firing lots of people. Never an easy thing to do. However, I am not going to write about how unfair it might be to the individuals involved. It is. Most of them did their jobs, worked hard and cared about the companies they worked for. However, the world changed around them. Private equity firms merely speed up the process.

We are repeating the cycle we went through in the 90s. Thanks to ever improving technology I anticipate this trend will not only continue but will accelerate. As a result no matter how hard you work and how good you are at what you do, your job is always at risk. New boss, merger, private equity buyout- all have job ending potential.

What can you do to protect yourself. Always make sure that you keep learning new skills. Stay current on what is happening in your field and in your industry. Develop a network of friends and colleagues that you can count on. Help them whenever you can. Most importantly, always have a plan ready to find a new job. If you lose your job, and statistically that is highly likely, you need to be ready.

The good news is (and there is good news), most people who change jobs, or careers, are happier after they do so. Often they are thankful that they were laid off because it forced them to do something they were thinking about doing but were afraid to do. Okay that perspective comes with hindsight only. Getting fired is painful, scary and really, really difficult. That is why it is best to prepare for it beforehand or, if you are unhappy where you are, be proactive and find something better before you are faced with the prospect of being let go.

Let me leave you with one final thought: When I was a lawyer I never imagined ever doing anything else. For business reasons I was transferred by my firm to another city and shortly thereafter, for reasons of geography, I took an HR position with one of my clients. Surprisingly I liked that work even more. After a long career in HR at several companies, after a takeover I took some time off to write a book, teach and start a corporate training and consulting firm. Surprisingly I liked that even better and felt really good because I was helping people. Each of those transitions was not without their challenges. However, I survived and prospered, leaving me to preach what has become my basic life philosophy- "There are no limits on what we can accomplish except those we place on ourselves." Remember, from the vantage point of doing something you love the view around you is always pretty good.

Expect the Unexpected

Murphy's Law: "Whatever Can Go Wrong Will." Maybe we should rename it Miller's Law. The universe has chosen to bestow on me in equal portions-- great luck and mishaps which are completely unexpected and which no one else in the world seems to experience. When I tour giving seminars or promoting my books, I usually fly to a different city every night. Inevitably when I arrive at the airport and look at the flight board my flight and only my flight is delayed or cancelled. So whenever I am speaking I make sure there is another flight leaving after the one I book that will still allow me to make my speech even if mine is cancelled. I kid you not but I recently had to use the second flight to get to a speech in Kansas City on time.

I am in Singapore at the moment. Today I was scheduled for a telephone interview on drive time radio. I am staying with a friend and gave his telephone number to the producer. I also gave the producer my cell number as a back up. Well, lo and behold, about five minutes after the interview was suppose to begin I get a call on my cell phone from the host saying that they had to cancel my spot. When the producer tried several times to call the telephone number I had given him a woman answered each time claiming not to know who I was. Why the producer did not call my cell phone is beyond me. However, when I called my friends number, sure enough the phone sitting in front of me did not ring and some woman answered. Apparently when my friend called the phone company to find out what was going on it turns out the wires were somehow crossed.

The moral of this story is that I should have called ahead of time to make sure my friends phone was working properly. (Okay perhaps anticipating that problem might be too much even for me to anticipate.) What I really should have done, in addition to giving the producer a back up number, was to get his direct number so I could have called when the producer's call failed to come through as scheduled. That way I would have been in control of the situation.

So what does this have to do with careers? Actually everything. Few of you will have my extraordinary level of impossible to anticipate (but fortunately minor) difficulties plaguing your life. However when it comes to your career all of you will have unexpected challenges. The key is to plan for them. If you have a critical meeting that you absolutely have to be at on time, drive the route ahead of time to anticipate any problems. Leave early anyway.

More importantly, statistically most people will be terminated from a job at one time or another in their life. Ask J.K. Rowling or Mayor Bloomberg. Both were fired from their jobs before they went on to be enormously successful. Everyone needs to have a plan in case that happens. Create a job search plan and have it ready just in case. Build and nourish your network. Have some money put away in reserve. Do those things before you need them. Expect the unexpected.

The One Magic Bullet That Will Guarantee Career Success or How Harry Potter Slayed the Career Dragon

With the latest Harry Potter book and movie being released this week, I feel a need to reflect on why we are all so drawn to the idea of magic. While J. K Rowling does show that even magic doesn't eliminate the angst of being a teenager, I am reminded of a common career fantasy perpetrated by many career writers. Wouldn't it be nice if there was one magic bullet that would solve all our career problems.

Many a business or self help book has rocketed to the top of the best seller list advocating how one magic bullet will fix whatever the problem is that is holding you back in your career or that is derailing your business. Perhaps I am even guilty of this as well since I am always talking about the power of the U Perspective. But while authors can extol the value of their tools and concepts, the best of which can be very powerful, they are just that tools. Do not confuse a business tool with a magic wand. And you need more than one. Do you know any carpenters who approach a job with only one tool in his or her tool chest.

There is no one thing other than luck that can guarantee success. Hard work, brains, EQ, creativity, understanding the U perspective of the people you are dealing with, a willingness to take risk, and a little help from your friends are all are necessary to be successful. Unfortunately there is no one magic bullet. Success requires a combination of talent and hard work and all the tools you can put into your toolbox. That is one thing we should all strive for in our careers is new challenges and lifelong learning.

International Opportunities

I am doing cross cultural and virtual influencing training programs in Singapore over the next few weeks. While I was being interviewed on a business news program this morning I heard a news report about how more outsourced work is moving from India to Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and China. This got me to thinking about the enormous career opportunities available to people who are able to adapt and operate in different cultures as well as the rapidly nature of international business. It is no longer about simply understanding another culture but rather to be successful today requires learning how to understand and operate in any culture where you might find yourself doing business.

Doing business today requires understanding not only the nature of the global economy but the ability to understand and work with individuals from a variety of different cultures. I would recommend to any student interested in business, studying at least one other language and living abroad for a period of time. Opportunities to work in other countries abound. The experience gained from an international assignment is also invaluable. At some point in their career everyone should consider taking advantage of international opportunities whether that be looking for an assignment overseas or working in some form of international trade from your home country. In the future lack of that experience is likely to hold people back in a number of industries.

The key to succeeding when you are working cross culturally, however, is not only to understand another person's culture but to respect their cultural differences. Different cultures have different views of time, relationships, communication and formality. Understanding how those difference manifest themselves can help you motivate someone, with a different cultural background, to want to cooperate with you. Failure to so is a prescription for misunderstandings. So when working cross culturally try to determine the U Perspective of the people you are dealing with-- what they care about and how they see a given situation viewed through the prism of their own background and experiences. Then use that information to facilitate your working together with that individual.

The Power of Like

I am writing this from the Narita Airport in Japan. I am sitting here waiting for my connecting flight and thinking about the flight I just took. By most standards it was a pretty good flight. It left on time (almost) and arrived early. That, in and of itself, should have qualified it as a great flight. The food was good by airline standards (it was eatable). The seats were comfortable. I worked. I watched a movie. However if you asked me to rate the flight I would probably give it a C. Why? The stewardess. No she didn’t forget to serve me my meal or spill drinks on me. She was focused and efficient. She got those drinks delivered; served those meals; did her safety checks. But she wasn’t friendly. She dressed severely. No jewelry, no makeup and closely cropped hair. She answered your questions but had no time or interest in engaging in conversation. During the12 hour flight I never once saw her smile. Basically she was not very likeable. As a result she set an unpleasant tone for the whole flight.

When it come to getting the job, getting the promotion or even getting someone to help you, it is easier if they like you. We want to work with people we like. We want to do things for people that we like. So how do we get someone to like us? Spend time with them. Show interest. Do something for them. Find out what you have in common. Compliment them. Show them you like them because, in the end, we tend to like people who like us.

Emails Are Often Misunderstood

I read a study today that I thought was fascinating. Because I write and train about how to more effectively influence others the results of the study did not surprise me but the magnitude of the issue was much higher than I would have thought. In this study the recipients of the e-mails were almost 50% less likely to recognize that what was being said was being said sarcastically than when the same message was left on a voicemail. What was surprising though was that approximately 90% of the recipients believed they had properly understood the e-mail and almost 80% of the e-mailers had believed the message would be properly understood.

What does this tell us about virtual influencing or V-Fluencing which is what I call it when I teach workshops on how to be more effective where you are not dealing face to face with the individual you are seeking to influence. This skill is critical in today's global business world because the conference call, e-mail, and virtual meetings have replaced the conference room as the method of exerting influence used by most executives, and their key employees, to get business done.

So how can you be more effective V-fluencing. First chose the right medium. E-mails are best where you are seeking to convey information. Where tone is important pick up the phone or arrange to meet face to face. The more important and difficult the conversation the better it is to have in person or at least by telephone or video-conference. Moreover the better your relationship the easier it is to deal with misunderstandings so find ways to build that relationship ahead of time. One technique that works for me when I make that first call to someone I don't know, particularly in Asia where there is a 10 to 12 hour time difference, is to do it when during their morning (the middle of the night form me). That showing of respect, and consideration, is not lost on the recipient and it goes a long way toward starting the relationship off on a good footing.