K.E.E.N. skills | The Fourth Revolution Blog

How Career Risk Management is about Enhancing Your Brand

Career risk mitigation lies entirely in developing your own personal Brand.

As I was lately discussing career management with an acquaintance employed by an international company that just decided to shrink the local office, the conversation came upon career risk management.

When you work as a full-time employee and devote yourself 100% to your employer, your risk is to be made redundant and lose your entire income. In today’s world, showing fantastic abilities and creating great value for your employer might not be sufficient to ensure a total risk mitigation – things might happen at the other end of the world which you can’t do anything about and affect your position independently of your competencies and skills.

There is only one thing you should do to mitigate this risk: develop your Brand and your visibility continuously. Make yourself visible to the outside world, and develop your brand in your industry and beyond. Have references of publications you can show. Ensure that a Google search on your name will yield fantastic references.

It might not be natural for an employee, but think about it: the time is past where organizations were emotional about you as an employee. You need to be ready to walk away or to be pushed through the door any time. Your Brand will shield you. Even as an employee, you need to take time and effort to brand yourself and develop it. If you present it well, your employer will even be grateful of your increased visibility which will shine (temporarily) upon them.

What’s your brand? What are you doing to develop it?

Another great picture from Hugh MacLeod at gapingvoid.com!

Why Risk Management is Really about Long-Term Survival

Age old wisdom: In investing and in life in general, avoiding fatal situations that kill us generally means that we can’t strive for the best possible returns. In other words, trying to follow the best strategies giving the highest returns can be seductive but generally also entails fatal risks – great on the short term but unsustainable on the long term!

Jared Diamond just published a new book, ‘The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies’, in which he describes in details those cultural traits of traditional societies that we should maybe consider re-introducing in our modern world.

age-old farmer wisdom — Do you follow the age-old wisdom of having numerous small plots of value-creation?

In the field of risk management, he reminds us of age-old practices of hunter-gatherers and farmers, that evolved through time for their resilience. For example, traditional farmers generally farm a large number of different small plots (7 to 15 depending on the cultures) in different areas. This is clearly sub-optimal in terms of work, effort and yield. Yet it is the strategy that survived generations because it is the only strategy that ensures survival: diversity in location of the land plots means that even the worst years, some plots of land will give some returns and the farmer’s family will not starve. The current strategy of large fields and unique crops can only work in a developed system involving money where food can be bought in the case of a poor crop.

We are attracted by the stars that produce temporarily incredible returns on investment, that have incredible short-term success. We only forget that it always comes with substantial risks including bankruptcy or starving.

Success on the long term is about survival, and if possible comfortable survival; not great spikes of success followed by abysmal failures. Remember this the next time you’ll feel some hint of envy looking at some other young overnight success. It is defined by luck and in most instances, it is just the premise of a fatal evolution the other way.

Success is just about survival.

Overcome the Fear of Picking Yourself

Seth Godin says: “The problem isn’t that it’s impossible to pick yourself. The problem is that it’s frightening to pick yourself. It’s far easier to put your future into someone else’s hands than it is to slog your way forward, owning the results as you go“.

Most people wait to be picked (or to be lucky, which is a variation of it). That’s plain wrong. About all successful people did not wait, they just picked themselves. More in this great Seth’s post.

Again and again I find that you are what you believe you are. As I need to assert myself as a consultant in situations that are not always easy, I make sure that I act consistently with the identity I want to have. I pick myself for that activity, and I shape my identity accordingly. I am today what I want to become.

What about you? Have you picked yourself? Why wait? Just be what you want to become. Don’t be afraid: the world will bow to your will!

Why Reserves are Key to Face Uncertainty

It is a well known fact in military command that Reserves are the key to success in the uncertain world of battle. As exposed by General Vincent Desportes in his book “Decider dans l’Incertitude” (in French), an excellent book about decision-making in uncertain conditions, reserves are the main tool to manage uncertainty.

empty fuel gauge — How often do you run without reserves? Is that wise?

The higher the uncertainty, the more courage the commanding officer must have in increasing the size of its reserves. According to Churchill, engagement of the reserve resources is indeed the utmost responsibility of the one in command (and it often makes the decision in battle).

Jim Collins and Morten Hansen, in the book “Great by Choice“, come to the same conclusion: those organizations that thrive on the long term have a far more conservative view on balance sheet and establishment of financial reserves. They don’t necessarily seek the just-in-time; they don’t over-borrow; they don’t extend themselves too thin, even if they find an opportunity to do so. They make sure they are resilient to uncertainty.

Individually and in our organizations, reserves are important. Even if it means some loss of efficiency, they can make the decision when it comes to the realization of specific, unpredictable situations. Not to mention that reserves gives peace of mind when facing the usual ups and downs. Having some reserves is an important approach I also use in my small start-up even in growth mode.

What about you? Do you have enough reserves to face uncertainty? What about your organization? What will you do about it?

How to resist the increased immediacy of our world!

We live in a world of ever increasing immediacy. This tends to change significantly the way we behave. We can’t spend a few minutes without watching our devices!

In social networks, our posting history is soon unavailable, after a few days at most. It is difficult to search for past posts. Even in the case of emails, data shows that people tend to forget ever sooner those emails that are not on the top of the pile (see “Is Email Open Rate Decay Increasing?” blog post by Christopher S. Penn). A reason might be increase in the use of mobile devices with a much more limited screen and usability of scrolling down!

Curve showing optimal twitter frequency for marketing (from marketingsavant.com)

The curve above suggests that for marketing purpose, tweets should be sent many times per hour!

In the same time, tools that allow to read content in an asynchronous manner like Google Reader are being discontinued by their producers.

So, are we supposed to be permanently hooked up to our devices so as to not miss the latest update or news? Isn’t it a conscious strategy by marketers to push us to remain hooked in front of our tiny screens? Does that really correspond to a need?

Every time I disconnect, or I stay in a situation where I can only connect once a day or so, like during holiday time, I feel like it is enough. Not so much changed in the meantime.

One of the skills in the Collaborative Age will be the ability to manage time. To resist to this behavior expected from us to remain hooked to our social network feed.

Will you use these holidays to get off the hook and disconnect for a while? Practice your time consciousness?

Those Who Matter Won’t Mind You Saying What You Think

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter won’t mind.” ~ Dr. Seuss

When you speak your mind, you will disturb. You will disturb the nicely arranged uses, customs and habits that are so easy to repeat without questioning.

That’s a given – you will disturb and the world will try to fight back to stay at the same equilibrium.

As a result, most people avoid creating this disturbance.

Yes, of course, if you say what you really think, most people will object. But not the few ones who matter. And that’s what is really important.

Be certain that the few that won’t object are those that really matter to you. So, just move on and change the world. What are you waiting for?

How Flexibility is Essential in Confronting Uncertainty

It is amazing how the military problem of winning battle is close to the problems we face in our daily activities. Contrary to what most people think, successful armies are war are not organizations that are strictly centralized and hierarchical and wait for detailed orders to act.

Napoleon at war — Napoleon, a leader of the Collaborative Age? His behavior in battle was deeply delegative and collaborative!

History has shown repeatedly that battle is a case of unpredictability, where battle is conducted in a deep ‘fog’. Even our modern technologies do not manage to lift it, because it is all about predicting what happens in the head of the adversary. Periodically some approaches to battle or brazen Generals tend to believe uncertainty and chance can be reduced and believe that technology or intelligence should drive action; these approaches have led to the worst disasters of military history.

In military tradition, the most successful generals seem to have been those that have understood that they had to account for a large uncertainty. To do that, they only give the general direction and vision and let their subordinates take all the necessary initiatives based on what is happening in the field. Control by the general in command is thus not on the detail but only on the overall situation. This allows the necessary flexibility – exploiting opportunities where they appear and managing the unexpected where it occurs. This principle of delegation was typical of Napoleon, and inspired many successful armies in the next two centuries.

Flexibility of the organization and leadership at all levels have thus been for a long time the approach of successful armies.

How can we apply these teachings to our everyday life? We can’t expect to control everything that happens, because it depends on events and decisions by others, beyond our control. We need to give responsibility to those in the action, support them in terms of resources, and align them with a simple-to-understand vision leveraging on the organizational culture. We need to expect the unexpected and keep an eye on the general direction.

Reference made to General Vincent Desportes’s book “Decider dans l’Incertitude” (in French), an excellent book about decision-making in uncertain conditions.

Why Chronic Inconsistency is the Signature of Mediocrity

“The signature of mediocrity is not an unwillingness to change, the signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency” – quote from the book “Great by Choice” by Jim Collins and Morten Hansen. In this book, the authors explore what makes start-ups successful or just about mediocre, but that probably applies to us as well to us individuals as to organizations.

get rich quick ad — Attractive ways to make you believe you’ll get rich quick…Who do you think will actually get rich?

This view is a bit surprising, but upon closer examination it is so true. It is so easy to give up to the latest attractive fad and to change focus so often that nothing important really gets done! According to the authors, successful organizations are successful because they stick to a rigorous discipline day-in and day-out, whatever the latest trend and event. Only rarely do they adapt their way of working to deep seated trends.

Lack of focus is the plague of many people and organizations I know. The search for the miracle solution pervades our society – it is enough to look at all these get-rich-quick solutions to which so many must succumb to! Yet without continued focus on a very limited number of initiatives, nothing decisive will get done.

Being consistent is boring. It’s long winded. It’s not attractive and remarkable at first. Yet it is the only way to become an overnight sensation… 10 years after you started.

Be boringly consistent in the short term to become remarkable on the long term. Spread your focus inconsistently, enjoy thrill on the short term and you’ll remain mediocre on the long term.

Which one do you choose?

How to feel forever young

I stumbled upon this quote from Om Swami: “When your life has more memories than ambition, consider yourself old“.

Old Man — Is that the way you are feeling today?

Om Swami goes on: “When all you have to talk about is how you did this in the past or how you did that in the past, how you were amazing a decade ago or how you were so incredible back then. When you no longer live your present or look up to your future, when all you do is reknit the same stories in the present using yarn of the past, you are old. An unfailing sign of the one who feels old within is they mostly talk about their past“. (the entire post is here)

Stop feeling old. Remain forever young. Have ambitions and projects. The past is the past, the future is open. Go for it.

How can you stop trying to please everyone?

This posted started with reading this famous quote: “I don’t know the secret to success, but the secret to failure is trying to please everyone” – Bill Cosby.

Still we all have this tendency to try to please everyone – or at least, not to create too much fuss by displeasing people. It’s emotionally draining to be in these situations where we create negative reactions. It could even turn out to be dangerous – and that’s when our primitive lizard brain prevents us to act.

So, how did our normal trouble-avoiding mechanism become a stumbling block in today’s society? Because for sure, making your mark will involve moving people from their established situation and negative reactions (see our post on criticism)! And more importantly, how can we escape that psychological trap?

It all boils down to passion and purpose. With passion, you’ll be emotionally lifted and you’ll overcome objection. With purpose, you’ll push towards your goal, overcoming any obstacle in the way (which obviously will involve making some people unhappy). When your passion aligns with your purpose is when you become irresistible.

Don’t please everyone. Choose who you won’t please, and do it for a purpose. Be passionate. And you’ll change the world. Your world.

What are the most powerful intervention modes with people

Did you know that the most effective interventions when interacting with people involve movement?

closed position body language — In this ‘closed’ situation, intervene first to open the posture before even thinking getting any idea through!

As a coach I have learnt to listen to people. Holistic active listening, which means also observing body language cues, eye movement, as well as listening to the world and the tone of the voice. It was a passive observation. And initially I thought that talking would be enough to elicit questions and actions. It was, to some extent, but I did not appreciate to the fullest the power of our biology.

It is actually much more effective to first move the person in a posture that will be receptive to the moment. In fact, it is almost sometimes a prerequisite for an effective intervention or an effective negotiation. This intervention can take many forms, and generally aims at establishing an open, straight and happy state. Because our physiology retro-acts quickly with our mood and mindset (like the post on “How simple is it to get positive emotions” showed in the case of the Laughing Clubs), it opens many possibilities.

Due to our education we often over-estimate the power of rational argument and under-estimate the effectiveness of posture and well-being in the moment. Be careful to change the posture of your interlocutor and you will get much better results in discussions, coaching, negotiation or any interaction where effectiveness of interaction is important.

Learn to intervene on other’s posture. You’ll see that you will multiply your influence. Start today.

Choose – be a critic or a hero?

Too often we praise critics instead of praising those that go down in the arena to do things – real stuff that is, that can change the world.

As Theodore Roosevelt so well said: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better”.

Theodore Roosevelt continues: “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Are you exposing yourself in the arena or do you just watch from you cozy critic’s seat?

Hat tip to Robin Sharma.

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