Executive Post

What’s in a personal value and what are mine?

admin — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:47:34 +0000

In his address to Stanford Graduates in 2005, Steve Jobs said; “And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition”.

When we have an instinctive response to something it is often our personal values that are being touched upon. If it’s a negative feeling then we are somehow anticipating that our personal values are going to be compromised. If it’s a positive feeling, then whatever is happening is probably resonating with those values.

People who live in a community that reflects the same values as their own, feel safer, happier, and more confident. In our early history, we chose to live in communities because they offered safety. Faced with the choice of two communities, we would probably go of one that appeared to offer greater safety. We couldn’t actually tell whether it WAS safer until it was tested, so we needed something to judge it by, and the shared values of the community were an important aspect of that assessment. Thus, the possession of values, and our ability to monitor our responses to them, could be argued to convey an evolutionary advantage.

It is sometimes said, that all human beings share six core personal values:

To know more (and more)
To control their environment (usually, today, by acquiring and spending money)
To express oneself
To feel loved
To have sufficient personal power to feel safe
To have a structure that orders their lives

Personally, I do not necessarily agree that these are so well established that they should be considered genetically fixed, as some authors suggest. I encounter too many people for whom one or other of these values is clearly not demonstrated through their behaviour and the choices that they make*, and yet who are apparently successfully engaged within their own community or society, that I do not feel it is right to say that they are ‘core human values’. They may be very common, but are not necessarily universal. As success does not seem to depend on them, I am not convinced that these core values offer an evolutionary advantage, so I doubt if they are (or, at least, yet need to be) genetically linked, but are more likely inculcated by societies among their young.

*It is particularly dangerous for us to assume that, because someone doesn’t appear to value (interpreted by others as ‘respect’) the same things as us, that they are somehow less evolved, less intelligent, or a lesser contributor to our society.

Societies do tend to have common rules that satisfy the last of these six values. These rules are sufficiently universal that one of them (‘The Golden Rule’) is said to be consistent throughout the world’s religions. It is ‘to do unto others as you would have them do unto you’. Much of the conflict in the world has reflected a desire on the part of one community to impose its rules (and the values they claim underlie them) on another community. It is open to debate whether it is differences in the values themselves, or differences in their translation into rules, that fuels this conflict. Thus, most Christians would like to believe that most Muslims share common human values with them. It is the translation of those values into conflicting rules by an extremist faction that some Christians will use to justify why they are fighting those factions. Thus the conflict in Afghanistan, for example, might be a desire to replace an autocracy with a democracy, a society that perpetuates inequality with one that espouses equality, a drug economy with a petroleum one, and so on. Values – personal and societal – are behind each of these.

People who work in organisations, and in roles, whose corporate values are aligned with their personal values, are likely to be more productive, happier, more creative, and more constructive than those who do not. For years, researchers have tried to identify what the ideal set of values for an organisation are. The work by Peters and Waterman in the 80s, for example, identified four common values that they said lay beneath the short-, medium-, and long-term financial performance of organisations. (They were: to exceed customer expectations, to give staff the power to determine their own behaviour, to experiment, and to nurture this culture.)

The language varies, but the sentiment of creating a culture in which all humans are valued and encouraged to fulfil their potential, lies at the root of most efforts at organisation development (OD). This is why OD specialists invest effort in establishing the values most prevalent in an organisation and, where those are perceived as counter-productive, seek to adjust them.

When assessing recruits for positions within an organisation, efforts are usually made to determine whether they will ‘fit in’ or not. This is about the cultural ‘fit’. Determining someone else’s values is not only nearly impossible, in the context of selection for employment it also opens up all kinds of ethical and moral dilemmas. So, instead, we usually try to determine in our own minds what their attitudes are to things.

An ‘attitude’ is a mental response to people or situations that we use to determine our behaviour. It is based on our beliefs, but it is modified by learning. Thus, an individual who is told by a police officer to do something, may adopt an attitude of compliance, passivity, or defiance. If they place a high value on the importance of rules and structures, and have learnt to give power to those in authority, then they are going to adopt an attitude of compliance. If they do not place such a high value on structure and rules, and have learnt not to give away their power to others, then they are likely to adopt an attitude of passivity. If they don’t place value on structure, and have learnt to protect their own power, then they are likely to demonstrate an attitude of defiance.

Of course, they may have high respect for rules and structures, but also have learned not to give away their power to others, this might be one reason why so many lawyers are either self-employed or work in partnerships, and the judicial system tends to have ritualised many of its practices.

The same principles apply in the relationship between an employee and those in positions of authority in their organisation. For example, the extent to which you agree with the value of humans being encouraged to fulfil their own potential, will shape your attitudes when called to be a leader or a follower.

Thus personal values, and their alignment with the places in which we work, our communities, and our playgrounds have a huge impact on what we choose to do, how we choose to do it, how well we do it, and what satisfactions we get from it.

So how do we determine what our personal values are? There are probably three approaches that predominate; self-reflection, anecdotal, and prioritization.

The first stems from self-reflection, albeit often helped by a less partial observer. Over time, the individual considers their emotional response to different situations and begins to look for common threads behind them. If the things that consistently anger them, excite them, amuse them, empassion them are considered over time, then there will begin to emerge a picture of the value(s) that are being touched upon. When I am helping someone to do this, I usually look for both ends of the spectrum and places in between before assuming that we have hit upon a value. Thus they need to be upset by the negatives, inspired by the positives. We will also look for their responses to parallel situations as a way of highlighting what is, and is not, the underlying value.

For example, one client was particularly distressed by the news that a family, including three children, had died in a house fire. Nothing else about families seemed to provoke such a strong response. Then one day, she described a project that some of her colleagues were involved in where they blitzed a small school in Sussex, redecorating and re-equipping it over a week. On another occasion she commented on how proud she’d been of her godchild who had read out loud to her that weekend – unlike previous reading activities the child had spoken fluently. But it was her description of a trekking holiday that she’d been on that found the common thread – the value that she placed on an aspect of exploration was extraordinary. Seeing without judging. Observing without disturbing. The importance (almost sanctity) of the pristine world. It needn’t be nature, but it was about a space that was ‘in the flow’, in harmony.

The second approach often cited is to focus the reflection by preparing a set number of illustrative stories or pictures. The number varies – 3, 5 or many – the stories or pictures generally involve some creativity. The individual is encouraged to allow their imagination to flow unimpeded. Then, either individually, with a counsellor/coach, or in a group, they describe the meaning behind their work and identify common threads.

One variation on this theme is to prepare a personal coat of arms or pennant. Deciding on what to present and how to do so forces the same kind of analysis.

A long time ago, I had a client who was an artist. Her work was well known and had a very distinctive quality to it. At first, she tended to focus on very destructive themes, but while on holiday one year she had just dabbled in painting some rural landscapes. Her life was generally pretty full-on – a real dynamo. Even the landscapes she painted emphasised the movement and growth of the space. Her frustrations were with people that stood still; that weren’t energised. The value she landed on was around progress.

The third approach, prioritisation, involves the individual sitting with a list of possible values and deciding which are more important out of that list. By a process of elimination they identify a handful that are key to them. Usually, they will identify one or two more words that are ACTUALLY the ones they wish to use. Most such exercises end with the individual preparing a sentence that puts the words they have chosen in context. There is a worksheet that you can download with a typical list of values oriented words.

Best wishes

Graham Wilson
PS My latest book, “The Senior Executives Emergency Job Hunt” is available for free download.

Executive chef says the nicest people use HP sauce

admin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:45:53 +0000

If you’ve read my book, “The Senior Executive’s Emergency Job Hunt“, you’ll know already that I strongly recommend that executive job hunters spend more time preparing a portfolio, about which they can talk passionately, than a stale CV (resume, to my North American clients).

The CV is a useful document ONLY as something to leave behind with someone who is seriously thinking of offering you a job. They are historical documents, convey little of your potential in a prospective job and rarely illustrate the passion that you bring to your work.

One of my clients, Martin, was an MD within a large contract catering business. At the free initial review of his job hunt (which I offer anyone who registers on my website – http://www.executive-post.info), I suggested that he could try producing a portfolio based on some of the more interesting things he has done in his career.

He decided that he wanted my help and signed up as one of my Private Clients. Soon after, he presented me with his first attempt at a portfolio. It consisted of a sheet of A3 paper on which was a montage of eight photographs. One of the pictures was this…

“My big break came when I was appointed executive chef at the Houses of Parliament. It’s a far more substantial facility than most people realise. There are nineteen restaurants there, and four of those are run for the House of Lords…

While tradition is important, I introduced some fascinating developments on the theme – I wanted to engage more with our clients – offering them a fast changing menu with thought provoking dishes that mirrored issues that they were grappling with – rather than the standard institutional fare that so many establishment restaurants prefer. So I was always offering something topical, something political, and something seasonal, alongside the favourites. I would listen to the proceedings on the internal broadcast system, and try to spot clever twists on a debate. It’s amazing what you can source if you only try.

We saw a huge increase in demand and I’ve tried to deliver the same kind of topical excitement wherever I have been since.

There was one thing I particularly loved about the House and catering there. I’ve never worked somewhere before or since, where so many of my customers have made a point of visiting the kitchen and thanking us for the effort we’d been to. The Lords are really good at that, they’re genuinely nice people, and it is incredibly motivating for the team.

And, something else – I’ve also never worked anywhere else where so much HP sauce was consumed!”

The CV line that reflected this read:
“19nn to 19nn – Executive Chef – Palace of Westminster. Four restaurants (nn covers) and many private functions. Introduced innovative contemporary dining in this very traditional environment.”

You can soon see why a portfolio with a few select stories can convey so much more of your personality than a CV. It doesn’t take much effort to build a portfolio but the stories that it provokes are always far more inspiring to a prospective employer.

Best wishes

Graham Wilson – 07785 222380
executive-post.info | the-confidant.info

What would I do? – An exercise in Finding-Your-Passion

admin — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 12:18:22 +0000

Most of us have fallen into our career. While the proportion of vocational to non- vocational degrees fluctuates, most people still end up in a career that just happened. They left school or college and looked around for a while, until eventually someone said to someone else, that Fred or Freda were looking for a job and sooner or later we started work. Of course, some are more driven – some students enter a frenzy of job hunting when they probably could be spending more time on their coursework – and there are some assumptions about where certain types of student will apply. Fundamentally, though, most of us fall into a career without understanding why.

Down the line, ten, twenty, even thirty years later, we find ourselves in a more reflective space and wonder if there isn’t something we’d rather do. Of course, for some this is after other significant life events, for some it reflects a change in circumstances – both positive and negative.

For those who have a religious persuasion, the question often becomes one of “What is my ‘calling’?” This is the origin of the word, vocation – an early 15th century Latin term for ‘spiritual work’.

For people with some kind of spiritual orientation – where they believe in the interconnectedness of life without necessarily the need for a guiding Force – the issue often becomes one of wanting to do something that has a bigger impact – that ‘makes a difference’.

For both of these groups, exercises can be used to help them explore their internal sense of what would make them feel fulfilled in their working life. There are examples of this kind of exercise elsewhere in this series. [But hang on for a minute and try this one out too as it works for you as well!]

Of course, not everyone wants to be altruistic – there are many who are happy to do what they need to do to provide security for their family and, beyond what I’ll call a reactive humanity where they help people in immediate need, do not wish to engage in making things better for others.

Regardless of the bigger issues, faced with the uncertainty of the work that we are currently, or have recently, done, many people get locked into this field or type of work because they can’t see any escape. “I would love to change what I do, but…” and then a torrent of constraining factors emerge – “paying the mortgage”, “supporting the family”, “when the children leave home”, “when I’ve paid off my debts”, “when we move”, “because of my husband/wife/partner” and so on.

So, this is a simple reflective exercise. It calls for a piece of paper, a writing tool (pen or pencil), and a little time spent reflecting. I suggest that you put the simple title in the middle of the page (“WWID?”). Now spend a few DAYS, walking around with this piece of paper in your pocket or somewhere prominent.

IF YOU HAD NONE OF THOSE CONSTRAINTS, and I really mean JUST IGNORE THEM, then what WOULD you do? Not a list of all kinds of fatuous activities that you’d engage in but jobs, and the qualities of jobs, that there’s a bit of you would like to do.

I’d like to work with animals. I’d like to work in the House of Lords. I’d like to work in an ‘emergency’ field. I’d like to do something with sports. I’d like to have a regular pattern to my work. I’d like to work in a more creative environment. I’d like to work outdoors. I’d like to work somewhere sunnier.

You’ll notice that all of those examples begin with the phrase “I’d like to…”. Try it. Free from the constraints, what would you LIKE to do?

Don’t expect the answer to emerge (though for a few people it has) but allow yourself some free rein. It is in the analysis of these responses that patterns emerge and inspiration comes forwards.

A short history lesson (only in case you are interested)!

There’s a theme, which appears in some branches of Christianity, known as Christian socialism. It’s a common mistake among cultural Christians to assume that all ‘practicing’ ones should be ‘socialists’ and they often find it hard to reconcile the behaviour of the more conservative and right wing Christians with this belief.

At the more extreme end of the Christian socialist ideology are those who believe that avarice, greed, and capitalism (yes, capitalism) are mortal sins. The term, Christian Socialist, has been around for over 150 years, and some quite famous people have been associated with it, such as Charles Kingsley (author of The Water Babies) and Thomas Hughes (who wrote Tom Brown’s Schooldays). Formally organised into the Christian Socialist Movement, it became a significant voice in British politics in the late 1980s and 1990s, and today it has over 40 members in the House of Commons and House of Lords, including former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.

An early American Christian Socialist, Charles Sheldon, wrote a book in 1896 entitled In His Steps which was subtitled; “What would Jesus do?” The book is a moral tale exploring the transformation of a number of practising Christians who were either unthinking or right-wing or both, into Christian socialists. One of the tools used for this transformation is the rhetorical question; “What would Jesus do?”

In 1993, the great-grandson of the original author, Garrett W Sheldon and Deborah Morris, published a modern-day re-interpretation of the book, and fuelled a resurgence of interest in the principles of Christian Socialism. Spawned by a grassroots movement out of Michigan, and especially among evangelical Christians, the motto “What would Jesus Do?” became very popular. Coinciding with the emergence of plastic ‘friendship’ bracelets and their use as entrance tickets for large pop concerts and festivals, many followers of this movement wore bands with the initials “WWJD?” on them. The movement continues, and in 2010, a movie was released entitled “WWJD” starring country music artist, Adam Gregory.

What’s a snowclone?

Today, “WWJD” has become, what linguists call, a snowclone – a template for phrases that tap into an, often unconscious and often culturally related, memory of something else thereby giving it credibility.

Thus “WWJD” has led to such variants as; “What would Reagan do?”, “What would Johnny Cash do?”, “What would Einstein do?”, “What would Barbie do?” and so on. The variants have different degrees of political sophistication in their definition!

This is one of a growing number of posts that will ultimately form the basis of a new ‘product’ – Finding Your Passion. Many people approach me for job hunting support, yet they don’t really know what they want to do. For some time I have run short workshops both in-house (for a very enlightened company) and as public programmes in the City of London, however, I am working on expanding this process and writing about it in a new publication. If you feel that you fall into this ‘camp’ then give me a call – I can still help!

Please don’t forget to download my ebook, “The Senior Executive’s Emergency Job Hunt“, and take me up on the offer of free job hunt review.

Best wishes

Graham Wilson – 07785 222380
executive-post.info | the-confidant.info

Andrea – Public Policy Specialist (UK)

admin — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 21:40:25 +0000

“I didn’t think it would be this quick but… I was offered a 6 month full-time commission today and I just want to say a big thank you to you for pepping me up and helping me believe in myself when everything was looking very grim and Januaryish … you were the adult voice of reason in my panic stricken New Year and I am so very grateful to you for reminding me of what I am and can be.

The role involves some time at the company’s HQ (about one day per week) with the majority of time working from my home office. I’m really excited because it’s a blend of what I can do, what I enjoy doing and some aspects of what I’ve always wanted to do.

I’d been following your news updates and taking as much of the advice you posted as I could, after our conversation I did all my follow ups and carried on applying for roles – I had two interviews last week and a call back from a company that I’d been interviewed by but hadn’t won the advertised post. It was the call back that generated the position that I’ll be starting tomorrow – which is as near as dammit to my dream job – it gives me autonomy, flexibility and visibility.

Please God that I do now better manage my future and am not workless for such a protracted period of time again, but, if I am I know that I would engage you on a professional basis to coach me back to normality and will be building up a fighting fund for that purpose as well as a one year “cushion.”

With my very best wishes
Andrea”

How to manage your network

admin — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 02:05:08 +0000

One of the few skills most senior executives will admit they need to develop is their networking skill. Even though it is a fundamental aspect of most such positions, the ability to network is often seen as a bolt-on rather than a need-to-have.

I’ve written a lot about the importance of networking before, and mentioned how most senior executives need a pool of around 70-80 influential people who know, like and trust them, enough to be able to confide in them if you need to do so.

Another theme I’ve often explored is the problem that many executives seem to have, where they neglect their network in times of gainful employment and regret this when they are in search of help.

So, how do you keep this group – your inner cadre of contacts – simmering until you need them?

Let’s begin with a little back-of-envelope calculation. The British psychologist, Tony Buzan, stimulated the debate by looking at our retention of knowledge over time, this has been repeated by other researchers in other areas. Essentially, most authors reckon that for someone to feel sufficiently positive towards you, you need to have be in touch every three or four months. So, let’s say that the 80 people need to be reconnected with you every four months – that’s 20 each month, 5 every week, or one every working day. You can put the envelope away now.

In all probability, it would become a terrible chore to write to one person every day – easily do-able, but a chore nonetheless!

Be creative and consider some simple ways of managing this load… A seasonal message – sent for Christmas, or the New Year – is one of their three. BUT PLEASE MAKE IT A PERSONAL GREETING AND NOT A MASS E-CARD! That leaves two more connections to be made for each person every year.

A mixture of a coffee, lunch, or after-work drink with a few – maybe one or two each week, together with a personalised ‘news’ letter sent to most of them once a year… Perhaps a message reminding them to put the clocks forwards or backwards? And, if you are connected on LinkedIn or Facebook, you could always send them a birthday message.

If geography permits then consider inviting some of them to a summer party – you’d be surprised how far people will travel for something slightly different and, with a little creative thinking again, these need not be so expensive. Invite twenty-five to an ‘end of the summer term’ party in June and a different twenty-five to a ‘last of the summer wine’ party in mid-September. The bonding created can be fantastic!

This all calls for a bit of network organisation. A spreadsheet and some forward planning with your preferred diary management tool works wonders. Remember, we’re not talking about massive lists and expensive CRM systems, but a select list of people you REALLY know. If you’re tempted to think it’s too much hassle, bear in mind that it is this cohort of people who will be determining the success of your career well into the future.

Best wishes

Graham Wilson – 07785 222380
executive-post.info | the-confidant.info

NB: Unusually, this article was cross posted on my ‘the-confidant’ and ‘executive-post’ sites as it really applies to each equally. I hope no-one will feel cheated!

New job? I wouldn’t travel THAT far!

admin — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 23:56:41 +0000

This is a short sharp reality checking article. A quick bit of back of the envelope arithmetic to highlight a problem with a simple assumption.

Over the weekend, I was speaking to someone who has been out of gainful employment for over 12 months now. He has been pursuing a CV scatter-gun approach, sending his generic CV with a very vaguely customised covering letter to every job he has seen advertised that just remotely might be something he could do.

He finds this tedious and depressing – because most of those prospective employers don’t even acknowledge receipt of the application. I tried to explain the alternative networking-based approach to finding someone who will create a job for you.

He suggested that there weren’t that many networking events in this area, that they were for people running businesses, and that he’d tried them and not found them at all helpful. Well, I can’t say about the last of these excuses, but the first two are simply not true.

Anyway, that’s not the point here. I said that if there weren’t many in the area, perhaps he needed to look a bit further afield. He told me that he was only prepared to commute 25 miles. He’d done much longer before and it ‘destroyed’ him, so he’d decided – when he was made redundant a year ago – that he wouldn’t travel any further than 25 miles.

OK. I’m not trying to argue with him, but I just want to point out to you, what the consequences are of such an arbitrary decision. Time for the back of the envelope…

Do you remember at school, that they taught us about something called “Pi”? If you are anything like me you’ve probably forgotten much about it and certainly never used it for anything practical. Well, the formula for the area of a circle is Pi times the radius of the circle squared.

Let’s assume (and I realise that it’s not accurate but it makes the point) that the distribution of people who might be able to create a job for you, is beautifully even right across the country. For the moment, forget about major conurbations, about local authorities seeding economic growth in pockets around their patch. We’ll just assume that the distribution is a bit like well sown seeds on a patch of lawn that you’re trying to regenerate. For simplicity, let’s guess that there is one potential employer per square mile.

To save you the effort, here’s the back of my envelope…

Radius	Area	Increase
5	79
10	314	4.00
15	707	2.25
20	1257	1.78
25	1964	1.56
30	2828	1.44
35	3849	1.36
40	5027	1.31
45	6363	1.27
50	7855	1.23

What this tells us, is that our friend who has said he’ll only ever consider a job 25 miles away has an area of 1964 square miles to search in. In other words, he is limiting his search to 1964 potential employers.

Suppose instead, that he increases his search by just 5 miles. This would mean that his search had expanded to 2828 square miles (and 2828 of our fictional employers). Just 5 miles increases the number of prospects by 44%.

Of course, there are constraints. Children at secondary school feature quite high in the lists of reasons for not moving. But I think we have to ask ourselves whether we want to continue to live on our rapidly diminishing reserves, with a constant reduction in the quality of our lifestyle, and what the impact of this will be on the opportunities that our children will have.

But the idea of going a little bit further doesn’t just apply to our job hunter in terms of distances to travel. The more you are prepared to go a little bit further, the easier it will be to find a new role.

Food, I hope, for thought.

Best wishes

Graham Wilson – 07785 222380
PS If you haven’t got it already, my free ebook, “The Senior Executive’s Emergency Job Hunt“, is available to download now.

How to get the best from a trade show or exhibition

admin — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 22:19:37 +0000

Trade shows and exhibitions are said by some to offer rich opportunities for the executive job hunter, and without doubt I know of many people who have landed their next role by attending such a function. That said, there are also many who will wrinkle their noses at mixing with the ‘punters’ and there are others who openly admit that such crowds intimidate them. So how do you ‘work’ an exhibition to best effect?

The object of attending, for you, is NOT to be interviewed on the spot, or to be offered a job there and then. It is to build your network – all the way along the chain. You want to learn about NEW people worth contacting in the future. You want to meet people for the first time so that they KNOW you. You want to get to know a few people well enough for them to LIKE you, and you may help move a few people from the liking to the TRUST level. Remember, you are NOT looking for these people to give you a job, but to act as an ambassador for you with others who may.

Start in advance. Make sure that you have plenty of personal business cards (I prefer postcards but that’s up to you). They need to be professional looking, and have plenty of space to scribble a note to remind the person you are giving them to what it is that they have promised to do for you. If you want to order free ones from Vistaprint, then remember that they need 21 days to be sure to arrive in time.

Given that this is for a specific purpose, make sure that there’s a reference to your LinkedIn profile on the card. If the URL is impossibly long (which it will be unless you’re very well connected) consider setting up a tinyurl and using that instead. The URL for your profile is listed just above the summary on your profile page – for example; http://uk.linkedin.com/in/grahamwilson. Played with cleverly and using other URL shortening sites, you can probably come up with a witty and more memorable link to your profile.

You are aiming for a mixture of meetings – very brief ones at the stand, short ones over a coffee, glass of wine, or beer, and one or two extended ones perhaps over dinner. Prepare a planner for the day or more of the exhibition. Pace yourself, but consider when you can fit in different types of meeting.

Is an early breakfast an option (especially if the exhibitors all set up yesterday, the event only opens at 10am and the senior executive(s) you want to meet will have had to stay over in the town the night before?

There’s bound to be a coffee stall in the exhibition centre, so think of a 10:45am ‘proper’ coffee with someone and a 3:15pm ‘decent’ cup-of-tea with someone else.

Lots of people shy away from the idea of lunch meetings at exhibitions, but if there’s a peer who you want to really build rapport with, and they aren’t directly involved in manning their stand, then they may even be relieved at the opportunity to get away. Research a half-decent eatery literally within a stone’s throw of the venue and it might even be worth booking a table for three speculatively. Three? Well most restaurants have tables for even numbers, so booking for three usually means you’ll get a four-person table, you could always hit lucky and invite two people to one lunch, and your peer’s excuse might be that they were already meeting someone, in which case you can save them the hassle of finding somewhere, and besides, if you turn up with only two of you; “I’m afraid my other guest hasn’t been able to make it at the last minute.”

Consider a similar slot at the end of the exhibition day, especially at events that go over more than one day. Be sensitive to the people you’re inviting – they may prefer an ‘early supper’ to get their heads down after a tiring day or a later one ‘after the place has been tidied and they’ve had a chance for a shower’.

And finally, consider ‘drinks in the bar’ in the later part of the evening.

By now, you’ve probably got six one-to-one slots to fill each day, and about four or five hours of wandering time.

Many exhibitions these days have a programme of talks as well. These are either thinly disguised sales pitches for a company, one or two keynote crowd pullers, and a handful of professionals invited to give the event a semblance of being a conference rather than a sales event. As one of those who is frequently asked to be one of the latter, my cynicism is well founded! You may even be lucky enough to have secured a few ‘free’ passes to these talks. If one of the speakers is absolutely genuinely who you need to meet, then go. After most talks there’s a quiet lull when even the most celebrated speaker is left alone tidying up their notes and collecting their dongle. That’s your chance. (Incidentally, the best way to get ahead of the scrum, if there is one, is to ask one of the questions from the floor at the end of their session. You become a known entity and provided that it wasn’t too clever or put them down in any way you are almost certain of positive recognition when you then go up to the platform at the end. I got my first invitation to a private tea at the House of Lords this way!)

Why do I say all this about the talks programme? Well, it’s probably obvious – if they typically take an hour and you’ve only four or five hours of wandering time, what is the best use of your time?

Remember that your purpose in attending is to feed your network. Sitting passively, simply listening to someone whose views you could study in depth by reading magazine articles, their latest book, or by downloading their TED talk (www.ted.com) is not a productive use of your time.

So who to meet? Are there any peers, or people on your key contacts list, who you expect to be there? Shortlist these and decide if they are people you want to invite to your longer conversations.

Are there any people in your LinkedIn list, especially participants in relevant groups, who you could move from know-to-like by meeting over a longer slot? (If they are reluctant – send them a link to this article as they will also stand to benefit in the same way!)

From the list of exhibitors, are there any people from target employer organisations that you would like to meet? If you are already in contact with them, aim to have a longer session with them. If not, then add them to your ‘wander list’.

If you have some longer sessions free, consider some of the other people who may be at the event and might not have anything planned for these down times. For example, is there someone going from your professional body? They might relish being given something to do in the evening and they could be a very valuable contact. You can only ask. (I’ve found this particularly useful at conferences but it works for exhibitions too. Being the ‘host’ to a small dinner group of say four or five people in the evening allows you all kinds of opportunities to build relationships.)

Make sure that you have confirmed with your contacts what the arrangements will be, and swap mobile phone numbers so that you can keep in touch over the day. Forty minutes before any appointment, text them to confirm where you’re going to meet and when.

Now it’s time to be ruthlessly systematic. You have probably got three or four hours to fill and you are hoping to have 5 to 10 minute conversations with a number of people at the stands. You DO NOT want to go from one to the next without time to make notes, catch your breath, and reflect. I suggest that you expect to fit no more than four such conversations into an hour. So we’re looking for a shortlist of probably twelve to sixteen organisations, who are exhibiting and in whom you are interested.

Most exhibitions embrace more than one market – they need to in order to provide stability in their planning. You need to be targeted. Much though it’s fun looking at the latest gizmos, if you are hoping to secure a position in specialist finance, or whatever, then that’s where you should be spending your time.

Ideally, you can get an initial copy of the exhibitors list either by post from the organisers or downloading it from their site. However, many trade shows don’t produce the final list of exhibitors until the day. So, aim to be there when the doors open, grab your copy of the guide and map, and take yourself off to a still quiet coffee spot. Spend a few minutes bracing yourself and planning your tour of the exhibition. Remember, you’re targeting 16 stands – make sure you know where they are, and where the best coffee spots are. It’s also worth noting where the nearest relevant loos are as you don’t want to trudge miles and back when the coffee works its way through!

Working an exhibition is a tiring process when done comprehensively. Bear this in mind when planning your travel. It is often worthwhile travelling the day before and staying somewhere overnight beforehand. Of course this also gives you the opportunity for more pre-arranged appointments before the event. However, be sensitive to who you contact – exhibitors may be busy and their senior executives are probably arriving late… however, take a look at the speaker list – yes, those industry ‘gurus’ – and give a thought to asking one of them if they are arriving the night before and would like to be social over dinner.

(You might not believe how lonely it is on the international speaking circuit. I even had a one-to-one with the brother of a European country’s President this way a few years ago! Aside from his political connections, he was also extremely influential in the business world, and we got on really well.)

If you have had time to prepare beforehand (and even if the list wasn’t available, you could have called any companies you were interested in to see if they are going to be there and who might be attending the stand) then you’ve done some research. I’ve never done this, but one colleague suggests preparing a one page summary for these firms – who you know, why you’re interested, useful background notes etc. It looks a lot better if you approach the stand knowledgeably than in ignorance.

Also on the preparation list, is your one sentence introduction. You should have this well developed and practiced through other networking activities, but it’s worth polishing now too.

I’ve written elsewhere about dressing up to network. That is what you are doing, so dress up. Wear comfortable shoes, but not slippers! Make sure that you have a suitable shoulder carried briefcase (the laptop bag can always be empty this day) so that your hands are free. Keep a supply of cards inside one jacket pocket and use the other to store cards gleaned as you wander. Carry a couple of pens that will write nicely on both your own postcards and your ‘targets’ plastic encapsulated or varnished marketing collateral.

There’s a danger that you’ll start drinking at lunchtime. This is a killer for effective networking. If you REALLY feel you need to, and even into the evening if you’ve filled the time completely, think of having a spritzer instead of a pint!

There will be bound to be other organisations that you’ll stumble across and contacts to make, and don’t rule out those occasions when you’re waiting in line for something to strike up a conversation with strangers – you never know!

Of course, the event itself is only the beginning. I recommend leaving at least the next day free for you to make your follow ups. By now you should have a mental picture of how you do this for all networking events – this one is no different. Keys to this are to always beat the other person to get a message through, to recognise that what you are trying to do is move them along the spectrum know- like-trust, be methodical but not mechanical, and not to forget anyone.

So – more of a book than a blog, but I hope you find it useful – have a Great Exhibition!

Best wishes

Graham Wilson – 07785 222380
executive-post.info | the-confidant.info

Pay It Forward – How job hunters can make a difference

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:52:26 +0000

If you’ve not already seen it, then do buy or hire a copy of “Pay it Forward” on DVD and watch it. It’s based on a novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde of the same name.

Wikipedia explains the “pay it forward” concept as one of:

“asking that a good turn be repaid by having it done to others instead. In contract law, typically there are two parties but there is the concept of third party beneficiaries. Pay it forward merely applies this contract law concept so that third party beneficiary be a stranger to the creditor. More specifically, the creditor offers the debtor the option of “paying” the debt forward by lending it to a third person instead of paying it back to the original creditor. Debt and payments can be monetary or by good deeds. In sociology, this concept is called “generalized reciprocity” or “generalized exchange”. A related transaction, which starts with a gift instead of a loan, is alternative giving.”

That’s perhaps a bit formal for our needs, but you get the idea. I’ve written about this before, and mentioned it in my e-book “The Senior Executive’s Emergency Job Hunt”. The other day, I was asked for some ideas on how to “pay it forward” as part of the networking process leading to a new executive role.
It’s an interesting question. ‘Paying it forwards’ becomes an important step in helping a group of people move from merely ‘knowing’ you, to ‘liking’ and ‘trusting’ you. Other people explain that the essence of networking is ‘giving to others’ not necessarily expecting a direct reciprocation. Of course, the more people who are able and prepared to give, so the more likely it is that you will receive. But in a job hunting (and networking) context the act of giving alone has a benefit for the impression that it gives to others.
So what kinds of things could you ‘give’ as a job hunter?

A book as a gift…
When you meet someone for a one-to-one, take a relevant but not SO common, book with you. One that you’ve read and found useful and ideally is fairly recent. Put a note in the front cover to explain why you found it helpful and sign it. Towards the end of the meeting, ask if the individual has read the book, and if not give it to them, explaining that you believe in paying it forward, and would like them to read the book if they feel inclined and then pass it on to someone else they feel might like it. There’s something more substantial in using a REAL book. The act of writing in the cover serves loads of purposes. [My thanks to Richard Pantlin for making me think of this one.]
Information forwarding
This can take several forms, but the key is to be seen as someone who gives out good information. You can do it simply or in more substantial ways. You can glean snippets using Google Alerts or you can proactively browse. You can write synopses of the latest books in your field. You can ‘publish’ a newsletter and distribute it using MailChimp. You can use the ‘paper.li’ site to create something more substantial. There’s lots of possibilities. Make sure that it is relevant to your particular niche AND to the people you are sharing it with. You also need to make sure that this gets seen by the people you are hoping to influence.
Set up a networking group of your own
Four years ago, I decided I wanted to network more locally. So, I set up a networking group on ecademy.com and invited local members to join me for a drink every month. We meet every month in a pub and have a drink and a chat about all kinds of things. You would be amazed at the amount of business and job opportunities that have passed back and forth among the participants. Over time, I’ve increased the membership by inviting others to come along. You could do the same using your LinkedIn contacts as a starting point. If you don’t like the idea of a pub, pick a hotel. I preferred the evening, but you could do any time of day. Try looking at business-biscotti too as they provide admin tools and a brand for you to use to promote your group.
Organise a special event
We’re in tough times, and just as you are struggling to find a new role, so are many people like you. Again, using your LI network as a starter, why not organise a day (or a half day if that works better for you) where those folks who turn up can have a go at helping each other? Get everyone to bring their CV or have their LI profile accessible, and arrange them in triads to critique each other’s. Ask a facilitator in your network to help. Or if there’s a trainer among them, ask them if they’d run a session on something useful (networking skills is always popular, though interview technique, CV writing, and self-promotion also work well). Keep the budget REALLY low – you can usually get a room somewhere for a few quid if you provide your own tea and coffee, ask participants to bring a mug if necessary. It’s a bit of a wartime mentality, but you’ll be a local hero for doing it! [Thanks to Jon Harvey and Marion Cole for their coaches workshop in Maids Moreton.]
Contribute to Groups and Forums
Be systematic and strategic. Find one or two forums (probably on LinkedIn) which people in your sector or area of expertise frequent. Then start discussion threads and prompt the discussion. Make sure to ‘like’ as many comments as you can. Start them every few days and watch carefully to discover which are popular and why. Respond to other people’s questions and especially remember to be positive where you can.
Create a twitter ‘circle’
Join with a small group of peers and set up a twitter circle using Twitterfeed.com to promote each others blogs. Not only do you help your followers to access material they might find useful, but you are doing the other bloggers a favour too by promoting their messages.
Help out for a day
Why not give up a day (or more) to help a local organisation especially a charity or small enterprise? The other volunteers may well be good ambassadors for you, but you’ll also get the satisfaction of doing something worthwhile and a different mental space in which to process ideas and thoughts. This is particularly good if you have skills that you’d like to use but don’t get any opportunity to do so. What about volunteering to help set up a social media campaign, to plan a new room layout, design new materials, review their procurement processes or renegotiate their supplier contracts? Whatever you are seeking to do for pay, you can probably volunteer somewhere. There’s bound to be a bit of hesitation on their part, but persist and you might be surprised what can come of it. Apart from charities, there are also local small business centres, employment organisations, student entrepreneurship programmes and so on. You might even find that you enjoy it so much that you want to continue to do this once you’ve found a new role yourself.

OK – that’s my quick starter for ten. How about letting us have your ways of paying it forward?
Best wishes

Graham Wilson – 07785 222380
executive-post.info | the-confidant.info

I’d expected more headhunters to call

admin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 12:46:34 +0000

It’s not an unusual plea. Every month, I must hear it a couple of times. There are some senior executives who thought that this was THE way in which their peers found their next roles. Now, at the end of their six month ‘garden leave’ they are wondering why the phone isn’t ringing?

Let’s begin by considering how much headhunting goes on. Headhunting has always been an exclusive process. When exclusivity is appropriate, then it is the definitive means of finding a new candidate. In specialist sectors, targeting new markets, and looking for someone who has the right quality and quantity of possible connections, then a headhunter will be the ideal choice. However, times have changed.

Nowadays, transparency, stakeholder awareness, governance structures, political and public pressure, media attention, and a myriad of other factors demand organisations to be more open about who, and why, they have appointed someone to a position. Even in the world of non-executive directors, which has traditionally been fed by this profession, there is a recognition that the NED is a dying breed and instead ‘independent’ directors are being sought by more open means.

The world is also a far bigger place. There are more firms looking, more people of exceptional calibre, and the nature of institutional management has become far more complex. It is very likely that an Indian MBA graduate, with some international experience in a professional advisory role in a large, but privately owned, multinational who has then gone on to an ‘executive programme’ at an international business school will be one of the ideal candidates. What’s more, they are as likely to be female as male. Finding them is a challenge, and while the headhunter has undoubtedly the skills to do so, so too do most senior recruitment firms – what’s more, those firms have the technology to do so quickly and at a lower cost. There will always be examples that prove the opposite – a high calibre celebrity who brings both profile and intellect might be an example, but the days of scanning the list of Sandhurst-educated sons of City insurers who are just about to end their short-service commission, are pretty much over.

In times of financial austerity too, the fees commanded (rightly I’m sure) by the headhunters are probably beyond the budget of most businesses taking a risky decision about who to entrust with their leadership through difficult waters. Faced with a £25k to £35k bill for finding the right person, most Group HR Directors will be tempted to give other avenues a try first!

In these times, too, there is an abundance of well qualified people readily available – I put a few provisos on this below, but there remains a larger talent pool from which headhunters can draw – so someone who MIGHT have been within their catchment five years ago is probably well below it today.

For the out-of-work senior executive getting headhunted is a bit of a fantasy. If the circumstances were clear and genuine then a prolonged ‘garden leave’ is excusable (being ‘silent’ throughout it is not). But a quick phone call can usually establish the facts and a nine month (or longer) gap in a CV is a serious problem at the top end of the ladder. Headhunters are very definitely not stupid either and seeing a long gap, with three months of work as Fred Bloggs Associates doesn’t impress.

Most headhunting is of people in post. It makes it easier to find them, their contacts (always an important aspect of any senior level appointment) are current, their knowledge is up-to-date, their experience is contemporary, and their performance can be more easily verified. So much is changing in governance, marketing, and employment that someone who has been out of work for 12 months is at serious risk of being beyond their sell-by date.

Even those few people who were on the potential radar of headhunters have often inadvertently sabotaged their own chances of being sought. Do you remember that call one day a few months ago when someone called asking if you could help them in a search for a new Financial Director? You were a bit stressed at the time and dismissed them with a “Not now, I’m busy!” After all, you aren’t an FD – how stupid could they have been? Well, while no headhunter can afford to harbour any grudges, they do manage their time very carefully. This time, they are looking for a CEO for a really exciting venture with fantastic potential and they are going to draw up a list of a dozen people to call and ask for suggestions from. They have a few dozen to choose from and you ‘wasted’ their time already…

A lot of senior executives confuse recruiters with head hunters. The two are very different. Recruiters may be interested in you, but they work with far more people, charge far less, rely on technology more, and will rarely call you – you need to drive the process.

And on that merry note, I need to turn this article around. You CAN drive the process. There’s a bit of groundwork to do, but I firmly believe that with the right approach and the right effort almost anyone (though I am personally concerned with senior executives) can land a role and do so quickly. The answer is not to focus on intermediaries (like agencies, recruiters, and headhunters) but to go for ambassadors (people who know you, like you, and trust you) who will put the word around (and keep their eyes and ears open) on your behalf. I’ve written this all up in my short e-book, “The Senior Executive’s Emergency Job Hunt”, which is freely available if you visit my website: www.executive-post.info. There’s more free help there too.

Best wishes

Graham Wilson – 07785 222380

It’s time to fill your diary

admin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 01:53:05 +0000

The keys to effective job hunting, especially for senior executives is to have a diary full of networking opportunities and to use those opportunities to maximum effect.

I’ve written elsewhere about the detailed to-dos and do nots, but this is a recap and a slightly longer explanation of some possibilities.

Although I am writing this on January 3rd it actually applies at any time for the executive job hunter.

I hope that you took my advice, before Christmas, and have a few people already in your diary for January.

Face-to-face meetings

Now, go through your list of specific network members. Some will be people you’ve met many times, some will be people you’ve only met once or twice – possibly at small group events. Identify the ones you feel it would be good, or is timely, to meet face-to-face. Send them an email suggesting coffee/tea.

Then go through your extended list – probably on LinkedIn – and find other people including some you have probably never met. Send them a message suggesting a telephone chat or, if their location matches any of your other appointments, a coffee or tea.

Now it’s time for the LinkedIn groups that you’ve been active on over the last few weeks. Write out a list of the people who you have exchanged messages with in the forums or directly. Add to this list, the names of the ‘key influencers’ from each of the forums. Finally, have a look to see if there are any groups of which you’ve never met the owner, and add them too. Again, send them a message suggesting a telephone conversation or face-to-face meeting.

If you are going to have to travel aim for a minimum of four appoitments in that place and be prepared to spend a long day at it. Then, if one, or even two, postpone you still have a good reason to go even if you want to try rescheduling the times.

Telephone meetings

Treat telephone calls as seriously as you would a face-to-face meeting. Begin with an image of what you are hoping to get from the conversation (a recommendation to someone who might have an opportunity for you or knows someone who will). Keep notes throughout. Offer some kind of help to the person you’re speaking to. Follow up meticulously later that day or the next at the latest.

Group meetings

Now go through the diary adding in all the networking meetings that you can attend – you should have these already which is why I didn’t say this earlier. This time, see if there are any events that you’d not thought of before or had dismissed. In most places of the UK, there is at least one business networking event every week.

Discover where they are and add them to your diary.

Do the same for your professional bodies and associations.

If you are in London, or have to visit it, add in the public meetings of the RSA, Gresham College, and any other institutions.

Remember, you attend small groups to meet people briefly and then to invite them to a one-to-one conversation later. You DON’T go along to stand and chat to three or four people all the time.

At larger meetings, such as the public lectures, you aim to target a small number – the people who either appear worth speaking to (from their dress sense or demeanour) or who stood out from the crowd by asking an intelligent question. Be ambitious, aim to speak to (and collect the contact details of) 6 or more people at a typical lecture type event.

Follow up

From a typical small group event, aim to follow up with everyone that you spoke to (generally 8 to 12 is a sign of a good networker) and also with anyone you saw there but didn’t speak to. It does no harm to send a message to anyone you’ve met there before but didn’t see this time.

It is often hard as a member of the audience, to get to meet that many people at a lecture type event, but the minimum should be the organiser(s), the key speakers, and the people who asked questions.

The ultimate objective

Again, remember that your penultimate objective is to have a face-to-face meeting with each of these people later. In most cases, this won’t be immediate, but something that you’ll work towards over a couple of weeks, by helping them to see you, like you and possibly feel some trust towards you.

Your ultimate objective is for EACH of these people to say; “I really think you ought to speak to…, I am sure that they will have a role that you’d be perfect for.”

Now, if this makes a kind of sense but doesn’t totally – download my free ebook “http://www.executive-post.info/2011/the-senior-executive-emergency-job-hunt-ebook/”>The Senior Executive’s Emergency Job Hunt“. If you’ve already done that, then give me a call today – my number is below. Let’s talk it through, because having appointments with people is key to finding your next role!

Best wishes

Graham Wilson – 07785 222380
the- confidant.info | executive-post.info