These posts were prompted by many conversations for career advice or feedback from ex-colleagues and employees. As I recall, these were my most frequent principles. I’m sure I could think of more, but these are the first that came to mind…and 15 is a good place to stop. Here’s the list with links: Find and Follow Your Strengths Build Soundbites for Your Brand It’s Who You Get To Know Choose Who Your Work For Take Initiative Outside Your Triangle Inform Others Connect to a Vis

Forrester interviewed me years ago for a paper on working with IT in startups and Dell. Bottom line: the most important aspect to good relationships is open and frequent communication. Here was the sidebar on my answers to these questions: How can CMOs and CIOs build a more effective partnership? In my experience, there are four key principles for a culture of effectiveness: agreement and accountability, face-to-face work with no “over the fence” mentality; open communication

What are the CEOs at top retailers looking for in their next ecommerce or digital marketing executive? “People want the unusual,” said Harry Joiner. “They buy stories, and they want to feel better about themselves because of their relationship with a brand. In that sense, brands are in the emotional bond business. CEOs want CMOs who can deliver that.” Harry has become known as THE leading ecommerce executive recruiter. He even owns EcommerceJobs.com. As he explains, “If your

Overcoming inertia requires executive buy-in. Despite talk of innovation, it’s a challenge to get groups of people to do something new. Change takes a back seat to running the business. Let me emphasize ‘running’. Ironically, it’s the running that eclipses a decision for innovation that would increase growth. I’ll get to the rational decision for innovation at the end. But assuming a proposal for change is right, how does it get done? Those who CAN spearhead risk are often th

I just read a fascinating global study on what CEOs think of Marketers, by the Fournaise Marketing Group. Some of the interesting...

Early in my career I took inter-office relationships for granted, eating lunch at my desk during those busy dot com days in South-of-Market San Francisco. However, one of my peers always ate lunch with others, and was inviting groups of people to lunch. I had two or three key relationships and she had 20. The relationships she built mattered made a difference in her ability to get things done with others. The better relationships you have inside your organization, the more yo

I'm amazed how many employees don’t understand the basics of a P&L. Those who do know how their measures feed the P&L. And, as a result, these are the MVPs because they speak the language of the business (and the CEO!). I visited my undergrad college, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and met with the Dean of Business Marketing. I told him marketing graduates need to be more analytically-capable and trained than they were when I went to school. He agreed, and in fact they were in the

A reader commented and agreed that taking risks (Career Tip #12) would be great, but wondered how he could take bigger risks. I think he’s asking how to manage the career risk / reward ratio in a rigid organization. Notwithstanding apathy, I think people avoid risks due to lack of confidence and/or lack of comfort and knowledge in the organization which has to accept their initiative. So how do you accelerate both of these? As I thought back to how I developed the confidence

Many people do it the other way around – build up the background, details of decision criteria, lay out all the options, and eventually they get to the recommendation or decision. When you load someone up with a bunch of words before you get to the point, you’ve diluted your point. Presenting answer first is also the right way to write press releases and typically how newspaper stories are written. The gist of the story is usually found in the first two paragraphs, and the re

Executives who land a high level position, play it safe, and clutch onto high salaries, need to be flushed out of companies. They have the triple impact of holding back innovation, sucking profits from bonuses, and demotivating great people who eventually leave. And, by definition, these executives reach a plateau. Whether you’re an executive or not, I suggest you take bigger risks to move your career forward (and for fun). Make big plays. Take initiative for change at a stra

I learned the ‘can do’ lesson early in my startup experience. In 1996 the President of our .com startup suggested I find and email 500,000 people. The word SPAM wasn’t even invented, so there was no depository of email addresses or list brokers. After a week of searching the “Information Superhighway”, I found sources for about a hundred emails. I was stumped, and went back to him with questions, “How did you come up with that number? Did you have a strategy or idea on how to

In any company with multiple product lines or divisions there are some parts of the company that have high margin % and/or high revenue growth (preferably both), and some that don’t. For Dell, for example, there’s high margin and high growth in servers, storage, and service. You find lower margin % and lower growth in workstations, desktops, and consumer laptops. Which divisions do you think will hire more people and the best people? Managers in those high margin divisions ar

I learned a painful lessons early in my management career. It is foolish to try to control too much. First, I discovered I didn’t have all the right answers (amazing!). But more importantly, the company couldn’t get as much done, my employees didn’t learn, and they became unmotivated when I micro-managed or took over from where they left off. Early in my career I had a web developer working for me who sent me a page he designed. Rather than making suggestions and letting him

I asked the one of the best manager's I've had what what he looked for in his next position and these were his three criteria: opportunity to learn, challenging role, and fun. That stuck with me because it’s simple and makes sense. What else is there? If I’m learning I’m expanding my skills. If it’s a challenge it means I’m going to accomplish something worthwhile. And it has to be fun otherwise passion won’t be there. If you’re thinking of a new job, run them through these t

Sometimes it’s helpful to have something recognizable on your resume. My first interview with Dell in early ‘99 was for managing Dell’s Small Business site. I was a finalist with someone who had no online experience. But, she had worked at Coca Cola and Deloitte. So, the small business division ended up choosing her. Fortunately, they liked me enough to refer me to the Consumer division for a peer position. I was hired and enjoyed a prosperous career at Dell. What happened t

Inform your manager and peers about what’s going on. In 1x1s, in email, in staff meetings, make sure you are giving updates and status on projects, action items, and goals. If someone emails you something, respond back that it was received and when it will be done. Then email when it was done. It sounds simple, but this closed loop process builds confidence with your manager, his peers, and your colleagues.

If there’s one piece of advice I’d give anyone in any job who wants to be considered a ‘rockstar’ it is to take initiative. Be entrepreneurial. See opportunities to improve before you’re told to improve them. Look for new opportunities. Think outside your responsibilities. Mistakes are easily forgiven when you have an employee that is going to be ‘making plays’. Think about the expectations of your role and responsibilities as a triangle. Now, if you put a circle inside the t

Throughout my career I’ve worked for and with many bad managers, some good ones, and a few great ones. The great ones manage the business well, motivate the team, and make the right calls…but they are also genuinely motivated to help you succeed. They provide air cover to get things done, they look for connections, introductions, development opportunities. They force you to stretch. They share career advice, lessons learned, and best practices. In short, if you work for the r

But more to the point, it’s important who you GET to know. You may know many people, but are they the right people. And further, do you have a deep, trusting relationship with the right people? Who will go out of their way to help you? Who wants to help you? How much do they know about you? What soundbites will they share? How influential are they? Who is in their circle of influence? Then ask yourself, how do you invest your limited networking and relationship-building time.

When word of mouth takes off on a product there is usually a small sentence, maybe a couple, that are shared about that product. “It was voted motor trend car of the year three times.” Or, “These are the shoes Jordan wears.”. Word of mouth is delivered in soundbites because they are easy. And people like easy. For me, my soundbites may be I've written two books, or he ran Dell.com, or he owns a stunt driving school, or he was co-founder of Capital Factory, or he's a serial en