What You Learn Now Will Be Obsolete By The Time You Graduate

All good things come to an end eventually, even your carefree college days will be over and you will officially be entering the workforce.  Believe me; much of what you learn now will be obsolete by the time you graduate, so it is tough to say what courses or majors will best prepare you for the job market ahead.   In fact, even the numbers and types of jobs in the market right now are not a good indicator of the opportunities that will be available once you complete your MBA, but one thing is for sure, globally studies are showing that almost all hot future careers relate to areas of scientific advance, such as biotechnology, nanotechnology and energy technology.  You have probably noticed these are high skill level jobs, not management jobs.  Please do not expect to land a high flying managerial job right out of school. Those days are long gone now and would not be returning any time soon. In your early career stage you will rely more on your technical skills, if any, than on your text book managerial skills.  If you can prove yourself technically competent, only then will doors open for you in the management cadre.  I suggest you use your engineering foundation and apply it in a relevant managerial science, such as Supply Chain or Manufacturing Management.  However, ultimately your choice of career and major must depend on an assessment of your actual skill, abilities, personal qualities and interests.  That is the real formula for career success. 

Difference Between Career and Goals

How can we differentiate between career and goals?  For example, my goal is to earn a lot of money, but my particular job and career path, as well as the unemployment ratio in my field, do not enable me to achieve this goal. 
Bigger is better.  Do not belittle yourself.  Think big.
With al the hype about thinking big and being big and doing big thins, it has now become hard for us to imagine there being any value in thinking small and doing small thins.  But there is.  Your goal to earn a lot of money is a typical big picture goal that many people have and struggle to achieve.  What few people realize is that to achieve that big goal you need to take small steps.  Like my mother often told me, the ocean is made up of several drops of water.   Similarly, there are things you can do today, smaller targets, which will move you towards your bigger goal, like saving money, enhancing your skill set and networking with key people.  Having lots of money is an end result, and your career is one of the means of achieving this result.  But keep in mind that just having lots of money dose not necessarily equate with being successful.  For example, you could also gain lots of money through other means, like playing the stock market or even robbing a bank, but these means, while equally effective, may not match your personal value system.  Thus, success is not a Destination, just obtaining lots of money; it is journey, the process of getting that money, which is ultimately your career path. 

Are You Known for Politeness and Sincerity

Do people describe you as being sophisticated, classy, elegant, suave or refined? Are your dealings with colleagues, seniors, juniors, customers, family and friends known for politeness and sincerity? Does the inside of you match outside?
The path to success is a mosaic of many different positive attributes that we need to develop over time.  It is important to nurture as many of these aspects along the way.  Some may make the excuse of affordability when it comes to dress.  This is simply not true.  We do not need to be attired in the latest designer fashions, sporting brand name accoutrement to signify that we are someone.  What we really need is to be mindful of our appearance y being neat and clean with a good measure of personal hygiene4 thrown in.  be aware of the occasion and dress accordingly.  Your posture says a lot about you, as does your handshake and smile.  Good table manners and social skills that attest to your refinement will stand you in good stead.  But I must raise a flag of caution here:  you simply cannot work on the appearance part alone without building up the inside.  Without congruence, seamlessness between your inner and outer self, you will soon fall apart and perhaps even be thought of as a fraud.  The first steps in setting off in this direction are awareness and hen a desire to do something about it.  Help is available if you look in the right places.  What do you want for?

PPE..Positive Personal Energy

If you are  in a negative spiral during your workplace time, that will only cause you further misery.  This attitude contributes in a large way to most of the disease s that plague modern life.  On he other hand, positive personal energy makes everything achievable and as my friend Paulo Coelho says in his book the Alchemist; “the whole world conspires to help you…”
With PPE you become extremely attractive to others.  Your smiling face and cheerful disposition make you not just welcome but actually sought after.  You will be invited to contribute to exciting ventures and even your social life will be a thing of envy.  Relationships will blossom and adversity will easily be overcome.  The only thing standing n your way is you. 

Human Beings Need To Learn, Not To Train

HR Departments love their training role; training companies love to offer Train the Trainer programmes and employees love to for training.
Corporate awards look to measure the number of man hours and rupees spent on training.  Unfortunately, all of this is a thorough waste of time.  Why?  Because, in my opinion, you can train circus animals but human beings need to learn.  Semantics?  Perhaps.  But the fundamental difference is that in training, we teach a skill through repetition and reinforcement like circus animals? The receiver of the training only needs to learn ho to perform the task. However, when we get people to learn, they also get to understand the why, what and when along with the how.
Why are you performing this task?  How does it fit into your job and its deliverable?  When and how will you need to display this knowledge?  What is the impact of doing this correctly or incorrectly?  This is what you can get a human being to understand through the process of learning.
Another thing, “learning” implies some responsibility n the part of the individual receiving the lesson.  Take that away and it becomes the organization responsibility to provide the training as measurable activity as opposed to s systematic approach to leering that looks for productivity.  So the next time someone talks to your about training, bring out your pet seal, get him to um through a hoop, and reward him with a fish. 

Positive Personal Energy ... Surest Ways to Success

One of the surest ways to achieve success is to bring positive personal energy (PPE) to everything you do.  In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to claim that success is not possible without it.  There are two distinct aspects to this characteristic, one being what it does for you and the other one what it does for others. 
Take a close look at your present behavior, do you find you have to drag yourself to work?  Force yourself to complete your tasks? Procrastinate and miss deadlines?  Do you moan and groan over each and every aspect of your life, job, relationships and personal life?

Self Critique Is Not An Easy Task

For those of us living in the nine to five box and doing the grind, as 2009 ends and the New Year beckons, this is perhaps the ideal time to muster up the cour5age to conduct an objective performance review – if only to gauge how productive we have been while at work this year. 

While self critique is admittedly not an easy task and especially not for people blessed with mammoth egos, a performance review is the only way to plan ahead by building upon our strengths and tackling our weaknesses.  However, the key to an objective performance review lies in remaining methodical, through and honest which means keeping lies out of the review and well at bay.  So if you have what it takes to start the New Year with a heavy duty reality check, now is as good a time as any to get started.  However, here are a few pointers that might be helpful as you go long:

Reviewing achievement6 Vs failure
List all the major projects that you have independently achieved this year as well as the ones where your contribution has been substantial.  Then make a separate list of projects where you have failed to deliver, or have not performed up to the mark.  If upon comparison of the two, your achievements outweigh your slip ups, you have reason to gloat.  But if not, then guess what your new year5 resolution should be?

Analyzing strengths Vs Weakness
Whether your core strengths lie in speedy multi tasking, efficient time management or effective team building, there will always be some skills where you will have an edge over others, and vice versa.  Review your weak areas and see where you stand after objectively comparing your strengths versus your weaknesses.

Measuring job satisfaction
Sometimes productivity depends upon how satisfied we are with what we are doing.  Do not be afraid to question what you are doing at the workplace and why.  If you are satisfied with your role, then things look good for you.  However, if not then maybe you need to rethink your career. 

All about Pandemic Planning

As HR managers proceed with their plans for staffing and compensation for 2010, they should also keep in mind the looming swine flu pandemic.  Pandemics often take many organizations by surprise preventing them from taking effective measure to counter their effects.  
The health and safety of every employee is the key to business continuity and it is incumbent upon all HR professionals to anticipate new threats and arm the management with contingency plans which complement business continuity plans.  

If your company is among those that are trying to grapple with the ifs of a possible swine flu pandemic, here are a few steps to help you prepare.
Appoint a pandemic flu coordinator and pandemic flu team.  This team will develop a plan that includes business contingency planning, employee education, prevention and response measures and internal communication.  This team should also be responsible for coordinating with the local health authorities.  

Prevention being the best cure, potential human to human transmission should be minimized by promoting hygiene and social distance3ing practices by educating employees about coughing sneezing and had sanitizing methods.  Traveling should e kept to a minimum and only undertaken if it is critical to business.
Review medical consultation services to provide employees with mandatory seasonal influenza vaccinations.  Include the provision of antiviral and pandemic flu vaccines in the medical insurance policies.
Identify essential job and develop contingency plans in the event6 of essential employees falling ill.  

Positive Attributes for a Path of Success

Do people describe you as being sophisticated, classy, elegant, suave or refined? Are your dealings with colleagues, seniors, juniors, customers, family and friends known for politeness and sincerity? Does the inside of you match outside?
The path to success is a mosaic of many different positive attributes that we need to develop over time.  It is important to nurture as many of these aspects along the way.  Some may make the excuse of affordability when it comes to dress.  This is simply not true.  We do not need to be attired in the latest designer fashions, sporting brand name accoutrements to signify that we are someone.  What we really need is to be mindful of our appearance y being neat and clean with a good measure of personal hygiene4 thrown in.  be aware of the occasion and dress accordingly.  Your posture says a lot about you, as does your handshake and smile.  Good table manners and social skills that attest to your refinement will stand you in good stead.  But I must raise a flag of caution here:  you simply cannot work on the appearance part alone without building up the inside.  Without congruence, seamlessness between your inner and outer self, you will soon fall apart and perhaps even be thought of as a fraud.  The first steps in setting off in this direction are awareness and hen a desire to do something about it.  Help is available if you look in the right places.  What do you want for?

Leadership Is All About Setting Examples

What is the difference in these two statements: I am the boss so I can come in whenever I want,” and “I am the boss so I must be in first.”
Leadership is all about setting examples.  In fact, nonverbal communication speaks much louder than all our verbosity in championing organizational values and behaviors.  From punctuality to civility, from meeting deadlines and commitments to keeping appointments, the number of ways in which we expose ourselves to the sever scrutiny of all around us is quite revealing.  Do I treat my peers and seniors with respect and deference while, at the same time, being scornful with those junior to me? Am I constantly late for meetings or playing management games to show how important I am?  Even seemingly minor things like the use of office facilities for personal benefit says a lot about my character.  Some of us believe that dictum should be: “do as I say, not do what I do.” Well, that does not work in today’s environment.
Other ways in which we can show who the boss is and still retain our dignity are: concern for the environment, concern for company resources and care for people.  Coaching versus finding fault, maintaining a big mind instead of a petty one are other such ways to build your stature in positive way.  That is the difference between authentic power and coercive power. 
So the next time you get the urge to show who the boss is, do it in a manner that promotes a culture of mutual respect.