Bud Bilanich | The Common Sense Guy

Soft Skills Are Important Too

Monday’s Wall Street Journal had an interesting article entitled MBA Programs Hone ‘Soft Skills’.  In part, the article said, “business schools are devoting greater attention to topics such as teamwork, leadership, and communicating – the ‘softer’ side of management.”  Pfred Dvorak the author, said that prominent MBA programs at Dartmouth, MIT, USC and Stanford are focusing more of their instruction on soft skills like communication and brokering compromises.

To me, this is good news and bad news.  It’s good news in that I have long held that the higher one goes in an organization, the less important hard skills become.   It’s bad news because I think it’s a shame that a move to teaching soft skills in business schools is long overdue.

In my star power model of career and life success, I argue that there are five keys to success: Self Confidence, Personal Impact, Outstanding Performance, Communication Skills and Interpersonal Competence.  Only one of these five – Outstanding Performance -- is rooted in hard skills.  The other four are all soft skills.  (See my other blog www.CareerSuperStar.com for more information than you probably want on each of these five.  The posts on February 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 will give you a good overview of my thinking in this area.)

To me it’s just common sense.  The higher you go in an organization, the more you have to rely on other people to get the work done.  The more you rely on other people, the more you need to be self confident, make a positive personal impact, have good communication skills and be interpersonally competent.  I’m glad to see that leading business schools are starting to figure this out.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming a success in your life and career.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

"L's" for Coping With Crises

Last week, I reviewed a Cancer for Two by Dave Balch, the compelling story of Chris Balch’s battle with breast cancer and Dave’s role as her helper and care giver.  Dave sent me a book mark that goes with Cancer for Two.  It has some “L’s” to help you cope with crisis.  I think these “L’s” are valuable – in life, not just in crises -- so I am posting them here.

• Level with each other.  Sharing your fears helps reduce them.
• Laugh.  When you laugh, nothing changes…but you feel better.
• Live in the moment.  Focus on things you can control, not the things you can’t.
• Look forward to something.  Remind yourself that your crisis won’t last forever, even though it seems like it will.
• Let people help you – but only if you really need it.
• Limit yourself to one crisis at a time.
• Lift your spirits by taking time for yourself.  Remember what they say on airplanes – “put on your own oxygen mask before helping others with theirs”.
• Lower the bar.  Don’t expect so much from yourself until things are better.
• Lose people that upset you.  Some well-meaning people try to help but actually make things harder.  Avoid them and reduce your stress.

Cancer for Two is a great book – a love story and a story about the strength of the human spirit.  Do yourself a favor, get a copy and read it.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming a success in your life and career.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Personal Responsibility and Interpersonal Competence

Frontier flight 862, Denver to Phoenix; I get on late because I’m on standby trying to get an earlier flight.  I have a middle seat, 14 B.  When I arrive at row 14 there are two women sitting in seats A and C.  I say hello, stow my bags and get into my seat.

The woman in 14 A, Cheryl Munsey, smiles at me, looks at the book I have in my hand, and says “that looks like an interesting book”.  I’m rereading Suzi Pomerantz’ book Seal the Deal which I reviewed earlier this week.  We chat a minute about the book and then lapse into some general conversation. 

Cheryl is an associate for Isagenix, a health and nutrition company.  She is on her way to Phoenix to participate in a four day train the trainer program.  She is one of only a 100 people in her company chosen to participate in this event.

As it turns out, Cheryl and I know a few people in common.  And, she’s very personable.  We chat the whole time the plane is taxiing, and through take off. 

As soon as the plane is in the air, the woman in 14 C rings the flight attendant call button.  The flight attendant makes an announcement on the loud speaker saying, “we are still in our ascent, will the person who rang his or her call button turn it off until we reach our cruising altitude.  Leave it on, only if it’s a real emergency".

Ms. 14 C leaves the light on.  I’m worried that she might be ill.  The flight attendant struggles down the aisle.  When she arrives at our row, Ms. 14 C says “I need a pair of headphones, these people are talking too much and driving me crazy”.  As she is saying this, she is removing ear plugs. 

I feel bad about this.  I tend to speak softly in crowded, enclosed places like airplanes, and was surprised that our conversation was annoying her – especially when she was wearing ear plugs.  I say to Ms. 14 C, "I apologize if we were annoying you.  I didn’t realize we were speaking so loudly”.  She says, “I was trying to sleep”, and puts on the headphones that the flight attendant gave her. 

30 seconds later, she rings the call button again.  When the flight attendant comes back, she says, “I need another pair, these aren’t drowning out these people”.  I thought this was kind of peculiar.  Both Cheryl and I were stunned.  We hadn’t said anything since her original comment that we were speaking too loudly.

All of this should just go into one of those irritating, bizarre moments in life, and be forgotten.  However, it makes a point about which I have posted several times: personal responsibility and interpersonal competence.

The woman in 14 C never told Cheryl and I that we were disturbing her sleep.  Instead, she chose to complain to the flight attendant about our conversation.  It came across to both Cheryl and me as a pretty hostile gesture.  We both wondered why she just didn’t ask us to speak more softly as we were disturbing her sleep.  That’s what an interpersonally competent person would have done.  That’s what someone who was taking responsibility for herself and her needs would have done.

It’s called being assertive.  Assertive people stand up for their rights, but do it in such a way that they do not offend other people.  Passive people let others trample on them, and don’t stand up for their rights.  Aggressive people get what they want, but at the expense of others.  In this case, Ms. 14 C was being aggressive – she complained to the flight attendant about our conversation, without first letting us know that we were making it difficult for her to sleep.  And, she wouldn't accept my apology when I offered it.

The common sense point here – the two common sense points actually; 1) take responsibility for yourself.  Tell people how you feel.  Don’t let others do things that make your life unpleasant.  2) Stand up for yourself in an assertive, not aggressive way.  Life doesn't have to be difficult or unpleasant.  We all can control how we react to the things that happen to us.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming a success in your life and career.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Strategic Hiring -- And Leadership

Since the theme for this week has evolved into books, I have another book about which I’d like to tell you.

Strategic Hiring: Tomorrow’s Benefits Today by Stephen Blakesley is a good read for anyone who runs a business or is in a leadership position in a company.  In my opinion, Strategic Hiring is an unfortunate name, as the book covers much more than just the employment process.  Part 1 focuses on finding the right candidate, but in Part 2, Mr. Blakesley turns his attention to topics like: productivity, managing performance, creating a culture for success and coaching.  He sums up everything quite well in his final chapter The Direction for the Future.

Each chapter ends with a list of Things to Remember.  These lists do a great job of summarizing each chapter. 

For example the Things to Remember from the chapter on Identifying the Best Candidate include:

• Be prepared to fill the job before it becomes vacant.
• Three key interviewing skills: questioning, listening and observation.
• Develop and learn to use behavioral questions.
• Communication is 55 % body language.
• Know the answer for which you’re looking before you ask the question.
• People-reading is a learnable skill.

The Things to Remember for the chapter on Coaching include:

• Training without coaching is ineffective and a waste of money.  Employees are set up for failure when coaching is not provided after training.
• Coaching brings about consistent improvement and sustained changes.  Training that is not followed by coaching will result in a brief change of behavior, but the old behavior will soon return.
• People need feedback.  That is something which is lacking in today’s organizations.
• With the right training, every manager can be a coach.

The book is worth it for these types of nuggets alone.  Strategic Hiring is a quick read, full of easily implemented ideas.  As I’ve said, I think any small business owner or anyone in a leadership position in a company will benefit from reading it.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming a success in your life and career.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

The Patient/Partner Project

This is turning out to be book review week.

Recently, I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of Dave Balch.  Dave is a professional speaker and internet entrpreneur.  He was kind enough to send me his book Cancer for Two: an Inspiring True Story and Guide for Cancer Patients and Their Partners.

Dave’s wife Chris, is a breast cancer survivor.  Cancer for Two is the remarkable account of the journey they took together once Chris was diagnosed with breast cancer.  The chapter titles are important dates during the time of Chris’ diagnosis and treatment.  Dave says of this time, “It was her job to get better.  It was my job to do everything else”. 

Books like this are especially interesting to me, as I am a cancer survivor myself.  Cathy, my wife was strong for me when I was diagnosed with Thyroid cancer.  She supported me through my surgery and the subsequent radiation treatments.  I couldn’t have made it without her.  It would have been a little easier for her had she had the opportunity to read this book as we were dealing with my cancer.

While dealing with a deadly serious subject, Cancer for Two is not without humor.  One of the appendices is entitled Good Things About Having No Hair.

1. Save money on razors/no shaving equipment.
2. An empty drawer where you curling iron, hair dryer and several different brushes were located.
3. Save on shampoo, cream rinse, hairspray, gel and mousse.
4. No need for a brush means one less thing in your purse.
5. Don’t care if the windows are down in the car.
6. Don’t have to use deodorant (not that she had to anyway…)
7. Since it takes less time to get ready, she is rarely late any more.
8. Save money on haircuts, color and perms.
9. No loose hair on your clothes.
10. No bikini waxes (yes, when you lose your hair, you lose ALL of your hair…)

There also are some great “Chris-isms” and “Dave-isms”.  These “isms” reveal both Chris and Dave’s sense of humor as well as their humanity.

• Chris-ism: “On the roller coaster of life, it’s my turn to be in the front car.”
• Chris-ism: “I am not my hair.”
• Chris-ism: “I look at people like the families of the victims of 9/11 and realize that I don’t have it so bad after all.”
• Chris-ism: “People think that I’m so brave and have such a good attitude, but I’m the same person I’ve always been.  It’s just that nobody every noticed.”
• Dave-ism: “Everything seems worse when you’re tired.”
• Dave-ism: “The more you learn about something scary, the less scary it becomes.”
• Dave-ism: “Don’t go there ‘til you’re there.
• Dave-ism: “There is great comfort knowing you are on the right path, even if that path is a scary one.”

The other appendices give great advice on coping with cancer: Tips for the Part Time Caregiver; Tips for Recording Doctor Visits; Tips for Reducing Stress.

This is a great book, because it is more than a book about cancer.  It is a book about love; how partners can help one another through difficult times – not just surviving cancer.  I recommend it to anyone who is in a committed relationship.

Dave says he is on “a personal, full time mission to relieve the stress of cancer, and help cancer patients by helping their partners”.  He has founded The Patient/Partner Project, a long term, multi faceted program focused on reducing the stress suffered by cancer patients and their families.  You can learn more about it at www.ThePatientPartnerProject.org, or by calling 1 8MORALSUPPORT (1 866 725 7877).

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming a success in your life and career.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Suzi Pomerantz Knows How to Seal the Deal

I have been catching up on my reading these past few weeks – and that’s good for readers of this blog, as I can recommend some really great books.  I just finished Seal the Deal, by Suzi Pomerantz.

Seal the Deal is subtitled The essential mindsets for growing your professional services business.  However, I think it is a great book for anyone who has a product or service to sell – including themselves.  Ms. Pomerantz describes a critical trinity of networking, marketing and sales, and the sweet spot at the intersection of all three.

Ms. Pomerantz provides the reader with ten easy to understand and follow steps – all of them based on teleseminars she has conducted – to getting more business.  I like this approach.  I am a fan of teleseminars.  Ms. Pomerantz provides transcripts of actual teleseminars.  This approach kept me engaged because of the anecdotes she shares that demonstrate the real world relevance of her advice as well as examples of how to use each of the ten steps. 

This format also allows the reader to treat the book as a 10 week self study course; as Ms. Pomerantz provides the actual worksheets she uses in her teleseminars to assist the reader in putting the ideas in her book to work.  In my experience, too many people -- me included – fail to actually put the ideas in the books we read to use.  Seal the Deal makes it really easy to put Ms. Pomerantz’ ideas to work. 

Ms. Pomerantz is very knowledgeable in her topic.  She is a Master Certified coach, who has been coaching executives for over 13 years.  She has worked in over 100 organizations world wide, including seven Fortune 100 companies.

I sell professional services, so I found this book to be especially interesting.  I like it because Ms. Pomerantz takes a no nonsense, common sense approach to helping readers find their own sales sweet spot.  Near the end of the book, there is a chapter entitled Integrating It All.  Ms. Pomerantz really pulls things together nicely in this chapter.  She offers a personal action plan worksheet and several very valuable checklists:

• 8 Visioning Ideas
• 13 Networking Ideas
• 12 Marketing Ideas
• 12 Sales Ideas

I especially like her Mental Positioning Checklist that includes such important bits of wisdom as:

• Be a connection seeker.
• Ask “How can I help?”  Focus on service, taking care of others and being helpful.
• Do what you do – and think referrals.
• Listen more than you speak.
• Provide exceptional service by making bold promises and over-delivering.
• You are always in a sales conversation: either you’re selling, or you’re being sold to.
• Adopt an abundance mentality.  You can make a difference and make oodles of money.  There are dynamic laws of prosperity.  You can read about them in Catherine Ponder’s book, The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity.

I’m going to pick up a copy of Ms. Ponder’s book.  If Suzi Pomerantz recommends it – that’s good enough for me.  After I finish reading it, I'll report on it in a blog post.

Seal the Deal is a book that any leader or small business owner should read.  Not only that, if you work the worksheets, you’ll be well on your way to sealing all of the deals you want – whether with the people you lead, or the customers you serve.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming the life and career star you are meant to be.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Marine Corps Leadership

Recently, I read a very interesting book entitled No Yelling: The 9 Secrets of Marine Corps Leadership You Must Know to Win in Business.  The author, Wally Adamchik, is a former Marine Corps Major who commanded a tank battalion and piloted Cobra helicopters.  He runs FireStarter Speaking and Consulting.

I was never in the military, so I was interested in hearing what Mr. Adamchik had to say about leadership Marine Corps style.  I liked what I read.  The book is broken down into nine chapters.  Each chapter covers one of the principles of Marine Corps leadership:

1. Integrity
2. Technical Competence
3. Set the Example
4. Self Awareness
5. Take Care of People
6. Make New Leaders
7. Commander’s Intent
8. Culture and Values
9. Rehearsals and Critiques

This book is well organized.  Each of the chapters is broken down into three subsets.  For example the chapter on “Integrity” includes sections on being trustworthy, being consistent, and knowing your non negotiables.  The chapter on “Self Awareness” has sections on knowing yourself, personal style and situational awareness. 

Mr. Adamchik does a great job of providing examples of these principles to bring them to life.  I liked the way he provides both Marine and civilian examples.  In my opinion, this is an effective way to demonstrate the power of the principles from two different leadership perspectives. 

Finally, each chapter ends with a list of questions that Mr. Adamchik calls “End of the chapter application for individual consideration and group discussion.”  These questions help the reader apply the ideas covered in the chapter.  Application is key – that’s why I like the questions Mr. Adamchik provides at end of each chapter.

In summary, No Yelling is a book well worth reading.  It makes some great points on leadership.  It brings these points to life through interesting and engaging examples, and it challenges the reader to apply these points.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming the life and career star you are meant to be.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Great Leaders Never Give Up

In late December and early January, I did a series of posts on what leaders need to do to help the people they lead to succeed.  These tips were related to one of the points I make in my book 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations: create a committed and engaged workforce.

Developing and communicating a clarity of purpose and direction is another of the 4 Secrets.  Organizational values are helpful in communicating clarity of purpose.  Values guide decision making.  They help people figure out what to do in ambiguous situations.

In this post, I will concentrate on one of the things great leaders do to use values to communicate their organizations clarity of purpose.

Great leaders lead by never giving up when it comes to promoting their organization’s values to the people they lead.

Great leaders never compromise on the many things that are important to the success of their business and the people they lead.  Organizational values are important to the success of any business.  Values provide the clarity that the people leaders lead need to move the business forward.

All of the people you lead are responsible for conducting themselves in a manner consistent with your organization’s values.  Great leaders make sure that their leadership behaviors are consistent with their organization’s values.  In this way, the people they lead have a solid values model.

Great leaders set the tone for the people they lead.  These leaders know that the people they lead will follow their example – whether it is appropriate or inappropriate.  Great leaders know that if they are cavalier about organizational values, the people they lead will follow their lead.  These leaders also know that if they are diligent about organizational values, the people they lead will follow their lead.  It’s a fact of leadership life – the people you lead, follow your lead.  So lead well.

In their excellent book, Walk the Talk and Get the Results You Want, Eric Harvey and Al Lucia say, “values are the gold in each of us and the real fortune of any organization.”  Great leaders don’t let their organizations’ fortunes sit around and gather dust.  These leaders use organizational values to help the people they lead achieve greater and greater things.  That is afterall, their responsibility as a leader. 

To meet this responsibility, great leaders focus on the person in the mirror.  These leaders focus on how organizational values relate to them – as leaders and as people.  These leaders set a positive example for the people they lead, by ensuring they act in a manner consistent with organizational values. 

When it comes to values, great leaders: know the way, show the way and go the way.  That’s how they earn the right to demand the same of the people they lead.

And, truly great leaders never give up.  These leaders know that persistence is the key to leading with values.  If you want to reach your leadership potential, take a tip from great leaders, and use your organization’s values to help the people you lead become outstanding performers.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming the life and career star you are meant to be.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Great Leaders Lead by Redirecting the Behavior of People Who Are Not Living Organizational Values

In late December and early January, I did a series of posts on what leaders need to do to help the people they lead to succeed.  These tips were related to one of the points I make in my book 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations: create a committed and engaged workforce.

Developing and communicating a clarity of purpose and direction is another of the 4 Secrets.  Organizational values are helpful in communicating clarity of purpose.  Values guide decision making.  They help people figure out what to do in ambiguous situations.

In this post, I will concentrate on one of the things great leaders do to use values to communicate their organizations clarity of purpose.

Great leaders lead by redirecting the behavior of the people they lead who are not living organizational values.