Archive for category: First Sun Blog

You are here: / / First Sun Blog

Your #Career : Dale Carnegie Said you Can Ask Yourself a Basic Question to be Less Anxious…In Circumstances like These, There’s No Magic Panacea that Will Stop your Thoughts from Spiraling Out of Control or Alleviate the Physical Manifestations of your Fears.

/in /by

Being anxious is a fundamental part of being human. But there are certain situations in which your rattling nerves can take a terrible toll on your ability to function normally. Maybe you haven’t gotten a full night’s rest or eaten a proper meal in weeks because you’re convinced that your business is going under any day now.

APDale Carnegie.

In circumstances like these, there’s no magic panacea that will stop your thoughts from spiraling out of control or alleviate the physical manifestations of your fears.

Yet there is a psychological exercise that can help reduce some of that anxiety, thereby helping you address the root cause of the problem because you’re able to think more clearly. It’s based on an anecdote from Willis Carrier, founder of the modern air-conditioning industry, and it’s cited in “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living,” a 1948 book by Dale Carnegie.

Carnegie’s also the author of “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”

Like this Article ?…Share It !    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 300K+ Growing  Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network: (Over 8K+ Members & Growing !)   www.linkedin.com/in/frankfsc/en

  • Twitter: Follow us @ firstsunllc

educate/collaborate/network….Look forward to your Participation !

continue of article:

Here’s how it breaks down:

1. Ask yourself, “What’s the worst that can happen?”

2. Prepare to accept the worst.

3. Figure out how to improve upon the worst, should it come to pass.

Carnegie outlines how the exercise helped Carrier break out of a nervous rut. While working for the Buffalo Forge Co. as a young man, Carrier found that a new gas-cleaning service his company provided wasn’t as effective as he’d hoped.

“I was stunned by my failure,” Carrier told Carnegie. “It was almost as if someone had struck me a blow on the head. My stomach, my insides, began to twist and turn. For a while I was so worried I couldn’t sleep.”

At some point he realized that worrying, while understandable in this situation, was relatively counterproductive. That’s how he landed on the three-step exercise.

First, he realized that the worst that could happen was that his company would have to remove the machinery that wasn’t working and lose the $20,000 they’d invested.

Next, he accepted that potential outcome. The company could qualify the loss as the cost of researching a new strategy.

Finally, he figured out how to improve the situation. If the company bought $5,000 worth of new equipment, they could resolve the issue.

Ultimately, that’s exactly what the company did, and they ended up making $15,000, because the additional equipment proved effective.

As Carrier told Carnegie, “[W]hen we force ourselves to face the worst and accept it mentally, we then eliminate all these vague imaginings and put ourselves in a position in which we are able to concentrate on our problem.”

In other words, when you’re worried, it’s like walking around in circles in a dark room. When you accept the potential negative outcome, it’s as if someone turns the light on and enables you to find the exit.

Businessinsider.com | October 20, 2015 | 

#Leadership : 5 Things You Can Do To Improve Your Relationship With Your #Boss (& Your Next Boss)…The Simple Fact is That the Relationship Between #Bosses & the #Employees they Oversee has Changed Significantly Over the Past Several Decades.

/in /by

“A great boss changes your career. Carefully consider your boss and be prepared to take an ‘innovator’ role yourself–it’s not just up to them to reveal themselves it’s up to you to ask the questions.”

 

 

As offices across the country close out a week marked by celebrations of “Boss’s Day,” now is a great time to consider your relationship with your current boss–could it be improved, or maximized in some way?–or what kind of notes you might want to strike with your next one.

“The most important driver of employee engagement is the relationship they have with their immediate manager,” says Piera Palazzolo, Senior Vice President of Dale Carnegie Training. She says the most successful relationships are those where bosses and employees really get to know one another.

“That’s different from years ago, when you weren’t supposed to ask any personal questions. Those lines are blurred now, people want you to care about them, particularly if there’s something going on in their lives that might affect their performance.”

To that end, we checked in with Palazzolo and LinkedIn Careers Expert Nicole Williams about what you can do right now to get a faltering relationship back on track, get the most out of an already positive one, and plan for what you might want out of your next one.

1- The simple fact is that the relationship between bosses and the employees they oversee has changed significantly over the past several decades.

“An employer feels they need to work hard to keep you at the company,” says Williams, adding that at the same time, “the expectation is you won’t need as much guidance and hand holding.”

Couple that with the changing nature of office environments that now include a new generation of employees with totally different work styles, and your boss has a lot on his or her plate.

“In terms of command and control this generation is much more apt to question their boss’s judgment, and the expectations for bosses are higher. They’re expected to be more empathetic and in-tune with what this employee’s needs are.”

For some bosses, particularly those who came of age in much more formal, hierarchical work settings, this may be a tall order. Eliminate the guess work and learn to be super direct about your bosses goals for you and your team, and how you can best meet them. Ask specific questions about their communication style and preferences.

“The easiest way to is to find out and ask,” says Palazzolo. “‘How often should I check in with you? If I come across a stumbling block, what’s the best way to reach out to you?’ Find out. Don’t guess. Make sure you’re understanding exactly what’s expected of you.”

 

Like this Article ?…Share It !    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 300K+ Growing  Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network: (Over 8K+ Members & Growing!)  www.linkedin.com/in/frankfsc/en

  • Twitter: Follow us @ firstsunllc

educate/collaborate/network….Look forward to your Participation !

continue of article:

2) Personal lives are a bigger part of the workplace now–but not all bosses are on board.

Both Williams and Palazzolo emphasize that bosses and employees that get to know each other tend to form more supportive teams.

“By and large the best boss-employer relationships have a level of personal depth. You have a level of empathy and can help look out for one another,” says Williams.

But not all bosses want to hear about your weekend or the problem you’re having with your brother-in-law. In that case, you have to find other ways of communicating and forming bonds. Williams suggests breaking the ice by asking about your boss’s previous work experiences and what they learned in other positions, which allows for reflection and honesty without the pressure of talking about your current workplace.

And when it comes to conversations about that current workplace, ask open-ended questions to try to learn what they want, then pin down your to-do list with more specific queries.

“A lot of anticipation is required,” says Williams. “Whenever possible, clarify asking what it is that they want. Pose it from the perspective of, ‘I want to help you to perform.’”

3) It’s okay if your boss plays favorites, but be strategic as to how you play back.

Lots of bosses have their pet employees–the ones they get along with particularly well, the ones they know they can dump extra projects onto, the ones who just to seem to curry favor for no particular reason. If this sounds like your manager, consider how you can be strategic in developing a positive, confident relationship.

Insecurity and anxiety, says Williams, don’t just ruin romantic relationships.

“Desperation sneaks into professional relationships as well, and ‘Like me!’ tends to backfire. Hold back, and let your performance be the key to ingratiating yourself. You’re not even talking about what you’re bringing to the table, you just bring it.”

And don’t forget about forming strong relationships with  your coworkers, particularly if your boss’s affections are distributed arbitrarily. Performing as a strong team player and an independent leader is a great way to distinguish yourself.

“When other people like you, that triggers to the boss that you might be someone who’s worth paying attention to.”

 

4) Know when it’s time to part ways with a boss who’s holding you back. 

It is possible to develop a productive relationship with a challenging boss, but it’s also important to know when it might be beneficial to move on.

“Choosing your boss is really important in terms of your career,” says Williams. “You can have a bad boss and learn as much as you can from them, but if they’re starting to impede your morale, and you can’t separate this bad boss from you and your performance, that’s a warning sing.”

5) Considering a new job? Don’t forget to think about what kind of boss you’d like to have, and be on the lookout for that. 

Knowing what kind of person you’d like to work for can be an important key to your success, and while it’s not always something you can truly control, you can be on the lookout for hints as to what kind of manager a person might be. Williams recommends paying careful attention during interviews to a person’s office, their behavior in an interview setting, and what kinds of questions they ask.

An entrepreneur, or a boss with an “innovator” personality, for example, will be someone who will challenge you continually and present new opportunities for growth–but they won’t necessarily manage you actively, you’ll likely have to do a lot of the leg work.

“The innovator’s office is generally speaking a mess,” says Williams. “This person is more likely to check their email or smartphone over the course of a conversation. You can see their wheels turning. They talk more about themselves.”

A boss who’s less comfortable with forming more personal relationships, meanwhile, is less likely to “have personal photos. All of [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][their] office supplies have to do with the office, you don’t get any indication of personal interests.”

“The kinds of questions they ask you help indicate what management style they have. Someone who’s more ‘ice queen’ will ask a lot of open-ended questions about what you’ve done in the past, what kind of responsibility you’ve had, “says Williams, whereas “A micromanager wants to know specific details.”

Additionally, Palazzolo recommends finding out more about the person’s history with the company, particularly their tenure.

Ultimately, the best thing you can do for your relationship with your current or future boss is to view it as something that requires active management and development for maximum benefit.

“A great boss changes your career. Carefully consider your boss and be prepared to take an ‘innovator’ role yourself–it’s not just up to them to reveal themselves it’s up to you to ask the questions.”
This is an update of a post that appeared previously.

Follow me on Forbes and Twitter.

Forbes.com – October 18, 2015 |  Kathryn Dill , FORBES STAFF

[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

#Leadership : 7 Things That Make Great #Bosses Unforgettable… #Google Knows that People Don’t Leave Companies; They Leave #Bosses.

/in /by

Once again, Google has topped Fortune magazine’s list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. This marks Google’s second year in a row at the top of the list, and their sixth victory overall.

 

Most people assume that Google tops the list because of their great benefits and all of the fun and perks that they pack into the Googleplex. But that’s just part of the equation.

Google knows that people don’t leave companies; they leave bosses. But unlike most companies, who wait around hoping for the right bosses to come along, Google builds each Googler the boss of their dreams.

Their people analytics team starts by researching the qualities that make managers greatat Google. They’re the managers everyone wants to work for. Next Google built a training program that teaches every manager how to embrace these qualities. Once managers complete the program, Google measures their behavior to ensure that they’re making improvements and morphing into managers that Googlers want to work for.

 

Like this Article ?…Share It !    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 300K+ Growing  Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network: (Over 8K+ Members & Growing !)   www.linkedin.com/in/frankfsc/en

  • Twitter: Follow us @ firstsunllc

educate/collaborate/network….Look forward to your Participation !

 

continue of article:

Google is building bosses that are so good, they’re unforgettable. And why do they do it? In the words of Laszlo Bock, Google’s SVP of People Operations, “Our best managers have teams that perform better, are retained better, are happier — they do everything better.”

Indeed they do. Unforgettable bosses change us for the better. They see more in us than we see in ourselves, and they help us learn to see it too. They dream big and show us all the great things we can accomplish.

When I ask audiences to describe the best and worst boss they have ever worked for, people inevitably ignore innate characteristics (intelligence, extraversion, attractiveness, and so on) and instead focus on qualities that are completely under the boss’s control, such as passion, insight, and honesty.

Google’s program isn’t the only way to become a boss people want to work for. Any of us can study the unique qualities of unforgettable bosses to learn valuable skills.

1. Great bosses are passionate. Few things are more demotivating than a boss who is bored with his or her life and job. If the boss doesn’t care, why should anybody else? Unforgettable bosses are passionate about what they do. They believe in what they’re trying to accomplish, and they have fun doing it. This makes everyone else want to join the ride.

2. They stand in front of the bus. Some bosses will throw their people under the bus without a second thought; great bosses pull their people from the bus’s path before they’re in danger. They coach, and they move obstacles out of the way, even if their people put those obstacles there in the first place. Sometimes, they clean up messes their people never even knew they made. And, if they can’t stop the bus, they’ll jump out in front of it and take the hit themselves.

3. They play chess not checkers. Think about the difference. In checkers, all the pieces are basically the same. That’s a poor model for leadership because nobody wants to feel like a faceless cog in the proverbial wheel. In chess, on the other hand, each piece has a unique role, unique abilities, and unique limitations. Unforgettable bosses are like great chess masters. They recognize what’s unique about each member of their team. They know their strengths, weaknesses, likes, and dislikes, and they use these insights to draw the very best from each individual.

4. They are who they are, all the time. They don’t lie to cover up their mistakes, and they don’t make false promises. Their people don’t have to exert energy trying to figure out their motives or predicting what they’re going to do next. Equally as important, they don’t hide things they have the freedom to disclose. Instead of hoarding information and being secretive to boost their own power, they share information and knowledge generously.

5. They are a port in a storm. They don’t get rattled, even when everything is going haywire. Under immense pressure, they act like Eugene Kranz, flight director for the Apollo 13 mission. In the moments after the explosion, when death looked certain and panic seemed like the only option, Kranz kept his cool, saying, “Okay, now, let’s everybody keep cool. Let’s solve the problem, but let’s not make it any worse by guessing.” In those initial moments, he had no idea how they were going to get the astronauts home, but, as he later explained, “you do not pass uncertainty down to your team members.” People who’ve worked for an unforgettable boss often look back later and marvel at their coolness under pressure. That’s why, 45 years after Apollo 13, people are still talking about Eugene Kranz and his leadership during that crisis.

6. They are human. And they aren’t afraid to show it. They’re personable and easy to relate to. They’re warm. They realize that people have emotions, and they aren’t afraid to express their own. They relate to their people as a person first and a boss second. On the other hand, they know how to keep their emotions in check when the situation calls for it.

7. They are humble. Since these bosses don’t believe they are above anyone or anything, they openly address their mistakes so that everyone can learn from them. Their modesty sets a tone of humility and strength that everyone else follows.

Bringing It All Together

For many unforgettable bosses at Google and elsewhere, things clicked once they stopped thinking about what their people could do for them and started thinking about what they could do to help their people succeed.

Inspire. Teach. Protect. Remove obstacles. Be human. If you cultivate these characteristics, you’ll become the unforgettable boss that your people will remember for the rest of their careers.

Who is the greatest boss you ever worked for? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below as I learn just as much from you as you do from me.

 

Forbes.com | October 15, 2015 | Travis Bradberry

 

Your #Career : What to Do If you Think you’re About to Be Fired…Employees Often See the Signs a Termination is Coming Long Before it Actually Happens. Supervisors Avoid Them. Coworkers May Even Avoid Eye Contact.

/in /by

In Many Cases, a Worker is Subject to Repeat Disciplinary Meetings & May Even be Cautioned that If Behaviors Don’t Improve within a Certain Time Period, Dismissal is Guaranteed.

Employees often see the signs a termination is coming long before it actually happens. Supervisors avoid them. Coworkers may even avoid eye contact. In many cases, a worker is subject to repeat disciplinary meetings and may even be cautioned that if behaviors don’t improve within a certain time period, dismissal is guaranteed.

But whether an employee is braced for being fired or it comes as a complete surprise, the impact is usually just as devastating.

In instances where an employee sees it coming, it can be easy to wonder if action can be taken to prevent it from happening. Here are a few things you can do if you fear termination of employment is in your immediate future.

Don’t assume

Before you start desperately scrambling to save your job, take time to figure out what brought this fear on in the first place. Are you listening to rumors or is it just a general feeling in the air? Unless you’re absolutely certain your job is in jeopardy, don’t approach your employer or initiate any fact-finding missions with your co-workers.

Instead, spend your energy working as hard as you can to do the best job possible. If you’re concerned about your performance, speak to your supervisor about what you can do to improve without mentioning your fear of being fired. You’ll likely gain valuable feedback that you can put to use.

Like this Article ?…Share It !    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 300K+ Growing  Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network: (Over 8K+ Members & Growing !)   www.linkedin.com/in/frankfsc/en

  • Twitter: Follow us @ firstsunllc

educate/collaborate/network….Look forward to your Participation !

continue of article:

Change your behavior

Of course, the best thing you can do is change the behavior that might lead to the end of your employment. Do you perpetually miss deadlines or turn in substandard work? Is your negative attitude impacting the employees around you?

Take time to determine the behaviors that are putting your job in jeopardy and do everything you can to prove to your employers you’ve changed. Pay close attention to your business’s superstar employees and ask for their advice. You’ll likely find your coworkers are more than happy to help a struggling team member, especially if you phrase it in a way that indicates you look up to them.

Clean up

When it becomes fairly clear your days are numbered, go through your work-issued devices and remove any personal information. Clean up your email inbox, as well. Your employer likely will lock your accounts on the day of your termination, so if you have any personal information you need, save it and take it home.

Begin discreetly taking home personal items like knickknacks and family photos, since you’ll likely be asked to box everything up in mere minutes before being escorted from the building. Try not to make your clean-up effort obvious to avoid alerting coworkers and supervisors to the fact that you’re preparing for a speedy exit.

Stay classy

No matter what happens, remain professional and classy at all times. The coworkers who watch your exit today could be the very people who help you later in your career.

Aside from maintaining your reputation, being professional is much more likely to lead your employer to think he might have made a mistake than being unprofessional, which only confirms the wisdom of the termination. Even after you’ve put the termination behind you, refrain from maligning your former employer in any way. This only reflects poorly on you.

A termination can be grueling, but if you take the right steps, you may be able to avoid it. If you can’t avoid it, you should still take measures to make the process as painless as possible.

Being fired can actually open the door to opportunities you never would have had otherwise, leading you to your next big challenge.

John Boitnott is a journalist and digital consultant who has worked in TV, newspapers, radio and internet companies in the U.S. for 20 years. He’s an advisor at StartupGrind and has written for NBC, Fast Company, Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur, USAToday, and VentureBeat, among others.

Businessinsider.com | October 12, 2015 | John Boitnott

#Leadership : How Successful People Make Smart Decisions…With so Many Decisions Taking Up Each Day, Learning to Prioritize Them & Make Them Effectively is Essential to your Success & Happiness.

/in /by

Your days are filled with a constant stream of decisions. A study from Columbia University found that we’re bogged down by a good 70 decisions a day.

 

Some decisions are minor, like what to eat, which route to drive to work, or in what order to tackle tasks. Others are more difficult, like deciding between two job offers, whether to move to a new city for someone you love, or whether to cut a toxic person out of your life.

With so many decisions taking up each day, learning to prioritize them and make them effectively is essential to your success and happiness.

While I’m familiar with many strategies successful people use for effective decision-making, what follows are the cream of the crop.

They Turn Small Decisions Into Routines …

Decision-making works like a muscle: as you use it over the course of the day, it gets too exhausted to function effectively. One of the best strategies successful people use to work around their decision fatigue is to eliminate smaller decisions by turning them into routines. Doing so frees up mental resources for more complex decisions.
Steve Jobs famously wore a black turtleneck to work every day. Mark Zuckerberg still dons a hoodie. Both men have stated that these iconic images are the simple result of daily routines intended to cut down on decision fatigue. They were both aware of our finite daily ability to make good decisions, as is Barack Obama, who said, “You’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits. I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing, because I have too many other decisions to make.”

… And Make Big Decisions In The Morning

Another great way to beat decision fatigue is to save small decisions for after work (when decision fatigue is greatest) and to tackle complex decisions in the morning, when your mind is fresh. When you’re facing a stream of important decisions, a great trick is to wake up early and work on your most complicated tasks before you get hit with a bunch of distracting minor decisions (phones ringing, e-mails coming in). A similar strategy is to do some of the smaller things the night before to get a head start on the next day. For instance, lay out your outfit at night so you don’t even have to think about it when you wake up.

 

Like this Article ?…Share It !    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 300K+ Growing  Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network: (Over 8K+ Members & Growing !)   www.linkedin.com/in/frankfsc/en

  • Twitter: Follow us @ firstsunllc

educate/collaborate/network….Look forward to your Participation !

continue of article:

They Pay Attention To Their Emotions

There’s an old saying: “Don’t make permanent decisions based on temporary emotions,” and it definitely rings true. Successful people recognize and understand their emotions (including their intensity and impact on behavior) so that they are able to look at decisions as objectively and rationally as possible.

Unfortunately, most people aren’t good at managing or even recognizing their emotions.TalentSmart has tested more than a million people and found that only 36% of us are able to accurately identify our emotions as they happen. Strong decision makers, on the other hand, know that a bad mood can make them lash out or stray from their moral compass just as easily as a good mood can make them overconfident and impulsive.

They Evaluate Their Options Objectively

When really wrapped up in a decision, successful people weigh their options against a pre-determined set of criteria because they know that this makes decision-making easier and more effective. Here are some helpful criteria to consider: How does this decision benefit me? How does it hurt me? How does this benefit ___? How does it hurt ___? Does the decision reflect my values? Would I regret making this decision? Would I regret not making this decision? Does this decision reflect my values?

They Sleep On It …

Sleeping on your decision ensures that you have clarity of thought when you approach it the next day. It also allows time for your emotions to run their course. When you act too quickly, you tend to react, but when you give more focus and time to your decision, you expose important facets of it that you didn’t see before.

… But Not For Too Long

Successful people know the importance of gathering as much information as they can, but at the same time, they make certain not to fall prey to analysis paralysis. Instead of waiting for the moons to align, successful people know that they need to have a timetable to follow in reaching their decision. Once they set that date, they are motivated to do their homework and some soul searching in order to meet the deadline.

They Use Exercise To Recharge

The stress of a major decision naturally produces cortisol, the chemical that triggers the fight-or-flight response. Cortisol clouds your ability to think clearly and rationally. When you find yourself stressing about a decision, try exercising. As little as 30 minutes is all it takes to get a good endorphin-fueled buzz and to return to mental clarity. Exercise also helps you get past that fight-or-flight state by putting the cortisol to practical use. Research shows that long-term exercise improves the overall functioning of the brain regions responsible for decision-making.
They Always Go Back To Their Moral Compass

Successful people know the importance of sticking to their morals when making an important decision. Morals serve as trusted guides when your emotions are pulling you in a different direction.

They Seek Outside Counsel

When approaching a decision, we have a natural tendency to pick an alternative and then to gather information to support that decision, instead of gathering information and then choosing a side (this is called confirmation bias). A great way to beat confirmation bias is to seek outside opinions and advice from people who bring different perspectives to your situation. Their perspectives help you weigh your options more objectively and to spot your subjective or irrational tendencies.

 

Forbes.com | October 7, 2015 | Travis Bradberry 

#Strategy : 21 Highly Successful People who Rebounded after Getting Fired…From Steve Jobs to Jerry Seinfeld, here are 20 People who Turned their Termination Into an Opportunity.

/in /by

Getting kicked to the curb by your employer can certainly be demoralizing. But these successful people prove that what may initially feel like failure may just be the launching pad you need for success.

From Steve Jobs to Jerry Seinfeld, here are 20 people who turned their termination into an opportunity.

Vivian Giang and Alana Horowitz contributed to earlier versions of this article.

Thomas Edison secretly conducted experiments in his office at Western Union that got him fired.

Wikimedia

Until one night in 1867, when he had a chemical accident at the Associated Press bureau news wire, according to “Famous Americans: A Directory of Museums, Historic Sites, and Memorials.”

Edison worked the night shift so he could have more time to spend on his inventions and reading. One night when he was experimenting with batteries, Edison spilled some sulfuric acid that ate through the floor and spilled onto his boss’ desk below.

He was fired the next morning, but decided to pursue inventing full-time and received his first patent two years later for the electric vote recorder, according to Bio.

 

Before heading to Yale, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was fired from her brief stint at a salmon cannery in Valdez, Alaska.

Lucas Jackson/Reuters

The former New York Senator recounted on the “Today” show on Monday that after graduating from Wellesley College, she and some friends worked their way across Alaska washing dishes, and she eventually wound up working in a fishery scooping out salmon guts.

“I was given a spoon and some boots and I was told to take out the insides of the salmon,” she said.

Clinton didn’t last long in that role, however, noting that the Japanese workers who were taking out the caviar yelled at her for working too slowly. “So they literally kicked me out of that job,” Clinton said.

She says they then placed her on the line packing the salmon head to tail. But when she noticed the salmon were “green and black — they looked horrible” and a peculiar stench, she questioned the man running the operation about the salmon’s quality.

“When I left, I came back the next day and the whole operation was gone,” Clinton said. “So I think that was the equivalent of getting fired.”  

During a previous inter viw on Letterman in 2007, Clinton called her stint at the cannery her “favorite summer job of all time,” noting its role in her future success: “Best preparation for being in Washington that you can imagine,” she said.

Steve Jobs was fired from Apple, the company he cofounded. His second act turned out to be bigger and better than the first.

REUTERS/Robert Galbraith

When Jobs was in his 30s, the very company he created fired him.

“I was out — and very publicly out,” Jobs said in a 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University. “What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.”

Jobs spent the summer of 1985 in a “midlife crisis” trying to decide what he wanted to do, from entering politics to becoming an astronaut, said Alan Deutschman, author of“The Second Coming of Steve Jobs.”

During his time away from Apple, Jobs cofounded computer company NeXT, which was later acquired by Apple, and launched Pixar Animation Studios. When he returned to Apple nearly a decade later, he brought the innovation of the iPod, iPhone, and iPad.

Walt Disney’s newspaper editor told the aspiring cartoonist he wasn’t creative enough.

AP Photo

In 1919, Disney was fired from one of his first animation jobs at the Kansas City Star newspaper because his editor felt he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas,” according to “The Wisdom of Oz.”

That wasn’t the last of his failures. Disney then acquired Laugh-O-Gram, an animation studio he later drove into bankruptcy. Finally, he decided to set his sights on a more profitable area: Hollywood.

He and his brother moved to California and began the Disney Brothers’ Studio, eventually creating Mickey Mouse and Disneyland and winning 22 Academy Awards.

Carly Fiorina was fired as CEO of Hewlett-Packard.

AP Photo/Jim Cole

The first female executive of a Fortune 500 company, Fiorina was forced to resign from HP after six years at the helm in 2005 after the controversial decision to buy Compaq in 2002 for $25 billion and subsequent lay off of 15,000 employees at Hewlett-Packard, International Business Times reports.

While she’s never held elected office,Fiorina announced her candidacy for president in May and currently is a frontrunner in the polls ahead of career politicians like Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio for the Republican nomination.

“I was fired in a boardroom brawl. And you know why?” Fiorina told CNN in August. “Because I challenged the status quo. It is what leaders must do. And when you challenge the status quo, when you lead, you make enemies. It’s why so few people lead.”

In the 1980s, Mark Cuban lost his job as a salesman at computer store. That was the last time he worked for someone else.

Screenshot from ABC’s “Shark Tank”

One of Cuban’s first jobs out of college was as a PC software salesman. However, he was more interested in cultivating new business than obeying his boss.

Cuban wrote in Forbes that, after a few months on the job, he had to opportunity to make a $15,000 sale — he just needed a coworker to cover him at the office and to get his boss’s approval.

After his boss told him not to make the sale, Cuban decided to go through with it anyway, and upon returning to the office with the check was promptly fired.

“But being fired from that job was the determining factor in my business life,” he wrote. “I decided then and there to start my own company.”

Shortly after his termination, Cuban started Micro-Solutions and has since earned an estimated $3 billion, according to Forbes.

J.K. Rowling spent too much time at work brainstorming story ideas.

Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

Rowling worked as a secretary for the London office of Amnesty International, but she dreamed of being a writer.

She secretly wrote stories on her work computer and daydreamed about a teenage wizard named Harry Potter. Her employers finally got fed up and gave her the boot, according to “Your Journey from Fired to Hired.“

Her severance check helped support her over the next few years, when she finally decided to focus on writing.

Today, she’s the author of one of the most successful book series of all time.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg used his severance check to start his own company. Now he’s one of the richest people in the country.

Getty

Bloomberg was a partner at investment bank Salomon Brothers. In 1998, they were bought out by the company that eventually became Citigroup. Bloomberg was let go, but not before receiving a hefty severance check, he writes in his autobiography, “Bloomberg by Bloomberg.” 

He used that money to start his own financial services company, originally called Innovative Market Solutions. The company, eventually renamed Bloomberg LP, aimed to make it easier for traders to wade through data and was worth $2 billion by 1989.

Today, the former New York mayor is work an estimated $38.4 billion, according to Forbes.

Julia Child was fired from her advertising job for “gross insubordination.”

Jon Chase/AP

In the early 1930s, Child was the advertising manager of home furnishings company W&J Sloane’s Los Angeles branch, according to Bio. She was fired for “gross insubordination” a few months after acquiring the position.

“I don’t wonder,” she reportedly wrote on her résumé, according to “Julia Child: A Life.” “One needs a much more detailed knowledge of business … than I had.”

Child went on to volunteer as a research assistant for a US intelligence agency during World War II; moved to Paris, where she developed a love for French cooking and attended the Cordon Bleu cooking school; adapted complex French cooking for everyday Americans with her acclaimed cookbook “Mastering the Art of French Cooking“; and become a television icon with her popular cooking shows like “The French Chef” and “Julia Child and Company.”

Colonel Harland Sanders was fired from dozens of jobs for his temper.

Wikipedia

According to KFC, Colonel Harland Sanders sold tires in the early 1920s and became the top salesman in Kentucky, but he was fired because of his temper.

Times reports he was fired from dozens more jobs before closing his first restaurant and going broke at age 65. He was reportedly fired from two separate railroad jobs, once for insubordination and the other time forfighting a colleague, and as a country lawyerafter assaulting his own client.

After losing his restaurant, Sanders traveled across the US looking for someone to sell his fried chicken. It wasn’t until 1964, when Sanders was 74, that the Colonel had more than six hundred franchised outlets for his chicken and he sold his interest in the company for $2 million to a group of investors, according to Bio.

Anna Wintour was fired from her first job as a junior fashion editor at Harper’s Bazaar.

Getty Images / Gareth Cattermole

The Vogue editor started her career in New York as a junior fashion editor at Harper’s Bazaar. She made waves for her innovative shoots, but editor Tony Mazalla thought they were a little too edgy. She got canned after a mere 9 months.

Getting fired was a great learning experience and never held back her style. “I recommend that you all get fired,” she told fashion students.

Shortly after leaving Harper’s, she became a fashion editor at Viva, and in 1988 she was named Editor-in-Chief of Vogue, a job she has held for 27 years.

Jerry Seinfeld didn’t know he was fired until he showed up for a read-through and his part was missing from the script.

John Minchillo/Invision/AP

In the early 1980s, before his hit show “Seinfeld,” the comedian had a small role on the sitcom “Benson,” but, according to the New York Times, Seinfeld and the show’s producers clashed over the character’s direction, and he was fired after only four episodes. 

Unfortunately, no one bothered to tell Seinfeld he’d been cut, according to “Jerry Seinfeld: Much Ado About Nothing.” Seinfeld showed up for a read-through of the script one day and found there was no copy waiting for him. The assistant director pulled him aside and told him that they had neglected to inform him he was no longer on the show.

Seinfeld was humiliated, but he went right back to performing at comedy clubs. After one performance, a talent scout for the “Tonight Show” was in the audience. Seinfeld landed a gig on the show and his career immediately took off.

Sallie Krawcheck, often called one of Wall Street’s ‘most powerful women,’ was fired from Bank of America in 2011.

REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Two years after hiring Krawcheck from Citi, Bank of America fired its former president of the Global Wealth & Investment Management division, Forbes reports. The decision came from Bank of America’s struggle in reorganizing its C-level execs after merging with Merrill Lynch.

“I got grateful when I got fired,” Krawcheck said at the Third Metric conference in June 2013. “I said, ‘How many people get to get fired, and it’s on the front page of The Wall Street Journal?'”

“If you asked me when it happened if I got fired from Citi because I’m a woman, I would have told you absolutely not,” Krawcheck later told Fast Company. “But now I’d say, not exactly.”

“I was invited to leave because I had a fundamentally different business perspective than the powers that be,” she said.

In 2013, Krawcheck acquired women’s networking group 85 Broads, which has more than 30,000 members in 130 countries, and renamed it Ellevate Network. 

The New Yorker gave Truman Capote the boot after he insulted poet Robert Frost.

Capote dropped out of high school to become a copy boy for the New Yorker, according to “Capote: A Biography.” His lifelong dream had been to be published in the prestigious magazine.

Two years later, Capote attended a reading by famed poet Robert Frost. Sick with a cold, Capote left in the middle of the meeting. Frost was deeply insulted, and knowing where Capote worked, he demanded that the magazine fire the boy.

Getting fired didn’t hurt his career. He began to submit short stories to magazines like Harper’s Bazaar and Mademoiselle. A few years later, he published his first novel.

Robert Redford was a lazy, sloppy manual worker. Turns out, his talents belonged elsewhere.

AP

As a teenager, Redford worked in the shipping yard at the Standard Oil refinery in El Segundo driving a forklift and cleaning tanks.

According to “Fired Up!” when a supervisor found him asleep in an oil tank, instead of firing him, they moved him to the bottle-washing department in the chemical building. But when he smashed a load of glass bottles, he was terminated.

Redford was fired from a number of other odd jobs after that.

“I got fired from the jobs I should have been fired from,” he said. “I took those jobs to earn money. The lesson I learned was that I wasn’t meant to do any of those things. I was never meant to be in the labor market.”

It wasn’t until Redford moved to New York to pursue acting that he found his career path.

A Baltimore TV producer told Oprah Winfrey she was “unfit for television news.”

Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

According to “Become Your #1 Fan,” Winfrey was fired from her evening news reporter gig with Baltimore’s WJZ-TV because she got too emotionally invested in her stories. A Baltimore TV producer reportedly told her she was “unfit for television news.”

As a consolation, though, he offered her a role on a daytime TV show, “People Are Talking.”

The show became a hit, and Winfrey stayed for eight years, according to Bio.

Winfrey eventually became the host of “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” which aired for 25 seasons. She’s currently worth an estimated $3 billion, according to Forbes.

Before being named NFL Coach of the Year, Bill Belichick was kicked to the curb by the Cleveland Browns.

Christian Petersen/Getty

Since joining the New England Patriots in 2000, the head coach has led the team to six Super Bowl appearances and four wins. But in 1995, Belichick was fired from his first head coaching job with the Cleveland Browns by team owner Art Modell.

Belichick was named NFL Coach of the Year for 2003, 2007, and 2010 seasons and is the NFL’s longest-tenured active head coach. He is widely considered one of the best coaches in history, according to Bio.

Madonna lost her job at Dunkin’ Donuts for squirting jelly filling all over customers.

Michael Buckner/Getty Images

According to “Madonna” biographer Andrew Morton, when the artist dropped out of college and moved to New York to find fame, she had a rough start.

Strapped for cash, she took a job at Dunkin’ Donuts in Times Square. She didn’t even last a day. After squirting jelly filling all over a customer, her managers gave her the boot.

The Material Girl went through several fast food and waitressing jobs before she was introduced to the city’s punk rock music scene in 1979.

Ford didn’t want Lee Iacocca, so he brought his ideas to Chrysler.

AP

Iaccoca rose to the top of the Ford Motor Company, but he clashed with Henry Ford Jr., the company’s then-CEO and chairman, according to “Iacocca: An Autobiography.” After a string of unused and bad ideas (including the Ford Pinto), Iacocca was let go.

Iacocca was soon courted by Chrysler, which was in danger of going out of business. He took out a huge loan from the government and used it to revive the company. He brought several of his ignored ideas by Ford over to Chrysler, like the Dodge Caravan and the Plymouth Voyager.

He remained CEO of Chrysler until 1992 and is credited with helping the company achieve record profits, according to Bio.

Right before they started Home Depot, cofounders Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank were fired from their jobs.

Getty Images

Marcus and Blank were working for Southern Californian home-center chain, Handy Dan, when a corporate raider fired both of them, Entrepreneur reports.

The two men decided to start their own home-improvement store based on an idea they’d had while at Handy Dan: an entire store of discounts. They called it Home Depot. In less than a decade, they’d opened more than 100 stores and made over $2.7 billion in sales.

Handy Dan shut down in 1989.

Businessinsider.com | October 5, 2015 | 

Your #Career : 5 Reasons You Should Always Be Looking for a New Job…Often, We Get Comfortable (a.k.a. Lazy) in Our Current Positions & Don’t Think About What Might be Next for Us on the Ladder of Success. But you Never Know When your Dream Job Will Come Along—Or When you Might Lose the One you Have.

/in /by

You may be really happy in your job and that’s great. But if a recruiter calls or a friend tips you off to a great position that fits your skills, are you ready to pursue it? If so, is your resume current? Are you constantly connecting with people in case a better opportunity presents itself?

 

 

Often, we get comfortable (a.k.a. lazy) in our current positions and don’t think about what might be next for us on the ladder of success. But you never know when your dream job will come along—or when you might lose the one you have. Here are five reasons why you should be always be seeking out new opportunities and laying the groundwork for your next career move:

1)    Loyalty doesn’t pay. Gone are the days when people stayed at the same company for their entire careers and collected a gold watch at their retirement party. According to a Careerbuilder study, today’s Millennials spend an average of 2.4 years or less in the same position—and it doesn’t hurt them one bit. In fact, staying at a company too long can work against you. You may get promoted but you likely won’t see the kind of substantial salary increases that you would if you left for a new job. In addition, unless you’re able to move into different roles that challenge you and grow your skills, you may max out on learning in the same job for years. Lastly, while you may feel that your employer values your loyalty, when push comes to shove, if they need to make cuts or new leadership comes in above you, there’s no guarantee that your job won’t be eliminated.

 

Like this Article ?…Share It !    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 300K+ Growing  Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network: (Over 8K+ Members & Growing !)   www.linkedin.com/in/frankfsc/en

  • Twitter: Follow us @ firstsunllc

educate/collaborate/network….Look forward to your Participation !

continue of article:

2)    Things can change quickly. There are any number of reasons why you could be put in a difficult or precarious position and, suddenly, your previously secure gig could be on the chopping block. You could get a new boss who decides to bring in his own team or doesn’t think you’re as much of a rock star as your previous manager. Alternatively, if your company gets acquired, the new owner could choose to clean house or the business could go through a rough patch financially and be forced to streamline. You want to stay in control of your own destiny—not leave it at the mercy of shifting business priorities.

3)    It keeps you top of mind. Even if you’re content where you are, you should always be entertaining other options. Update your LinkedIn profile on a regular basis, expand your network and stay in touch with recruiters in your industry so they know to reach out to you when an even better job becomes available. If people don’t think you’re on the market, you won’t get those calls—and your competition will. I landed my last job by reconnecting on social media with the company’s CEO, with whom I had worked years ago, and asking him to have a catch-up coffee. It turned out that he had just started thinking about bringing in a head of communications. After I had started there, he admitted that, had I not gotten back in touch, he never would have thought of me as a candidate since I was at a much bigger, more established company and he didn’t think I would leave.

4) Every conversation is worthwhile. So, say you do get approached about a job opportunity and you don’t think it’s the right fit or the right time. Go on the interview anyway. Case in point: When I was director of PR at an internet company years ago, reporting directly to the CEO and running a department, I got a call from a recruiter for a senior manager position at a much bigger company, with three people above me, and I almost turned down the chance to interview. But I decided to take the meeting for the heck of it. Flash forward: I took the job, stayed there for over a decade and was promoted three times.

5) It’ll help clarify what you want—and don’t want. A few years ago, I got an offer for what seemed, on paper, like a dream job. But the process was agonizing—spanning five months of back and forth, multiple interviews, periods of radio silence and a management team that seemed highly disorganized. I turned it down because my gut told me it wasn’t a good move. Sure enough, less than a year later, they had eliminated the entire PR team and had gone through three CEOs. Paying attention to the signs confirmed for me what I didn’t want in a job or a company, which was indecision, changing priorities and a leadership team without a clear vision.

The upshot: You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by getting out there and going on interviews. At a minimum, it’ll expose you to new companies, businesses and people—which could help you at your current company. At best, it could lay the groundwork for future career moves. Either way, you’ll be on the road to success—and squarely in the driver’s seat.

Jessica Kleiman is a Branding and Communications Consultant and co-author of Be Your Own Best Publicist: How to Use PR Techniques to Get Noticed, Hired and Rewarded at Work.

 

Forbes.com | September 28, 2015 | Jessica Kleiman

#Leadership : 6 Surprising Reasons Younger Managers Perform Best…”He Doesn’t Have a Lot of Experience Managing People. Do you Think he Can Do the Job?” This is a Phrase we Hear More Frequently as Organizations Fill the Vacancies Retiring Baby Boomers Leave Behind.

/in /by

“He doesn’t have a lot of experience managing people. Do you think he can do the job?” This is a phrase we hear more frequently as organizations fill the vacancies retiring Baby Boomers leave behind. Recently, a younger friend told me his experience of being hired after receiving his graduate degree. Most of the team he would manage had been working for the organization for more than 10 years and were his seniors by approximately 20 years. Some of them expressed frustration about being managed by someone so young and inexperienced. Were their fears grounded? How effective are newly appointed managers compared to the older and more seasoned folks they replace?

 

Frankly, being an older boss myself, I assumed veteran managers would prove to be the more effective leaders. But the data surprised me. In a recent article forHarvard Business Review my colleague Jack Zenger and I explored our database of more than 65,000 leaders and looked more deeply at managers who were 30 years of age and younger (455 leaders) and compared them to an older group of leaders over 45 years of age (4,298). Once we separated the two groups, we looked at the distinguishing characteristics of each.

 

Like this Article ?…Share It !    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 300K+ Growing  Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network: (Over 8K+ Members & Growing !)   www.linkedin.com/in/frankfsc/en

  • Twitter: Follow us @ firstsunllc

educate/collaborate/network….Look forward to your Participation !

continue of article:

When comparing groups, we strive to make them as similar as possible. But by the very fact they were promoted to managerial positions at a relatively young age, we realized that those in the younger group were primarily high potential achievers. It is not common to be elevated into a managerial job at such a young age. Of the younger group, 44% ranked in the top quartile on overall leadership effectiveness when compared to all leaders in our database. In contrast, the older group contained only 20% who were in the top quartile. In all, the older group was a combination of leaders who were exceptional, more that were good and an expected percentage who needed improvement.

When we looked at the 360 data of the younger and more seasoned managers we found the younger group was rated more positively on every one of the 49 items. This is both surprising and excellent news that indicates there are talented young leaders in our organizations who will be capable of stepping into key roles.

However, like my friend, younger managers struggle with proving their worth. From the comments and data we saw that younger managers were not fully trusted and that others often felt they were not capable of representing the organization. People also complained that young leaders lack strategic perspective and deep knowledge of their industries. It is true that some things are only learned over time. But before pass over promotion of a younger employee due to their “inexperience” you should know what they really have to offer. Here’s what we found:

  1. Welcome change. The younger leaders embraced change. They did a great job of marketing their new ideas. They had the courage to make difficult changes. Possibly their lack of experience caused them to be more optimistic about proposals for change. It was as if they did not know that changes would be hard to make happen. They possessed the courage to take on significant changes and were more willing to be the champions of change projects.
  1. Inspiring behavior. Younger leaders knew how to get others energized and excited about accomplishing objectives. They were able to inspire other to high levels of effort and production to a even greater degree than their more experienced counterparts. Their older colleagues tended to more often lead with “push” while they lead with “pull.”
  1. Receptive to Feedback. Young leaders were extremely open to feedback. They more frequently asked for feedback. They wanted more extensive feedback regarding their performance, and they found ways to both digest and implement the feedback. Older leader then to be less willing to ask for and respond to feedback from colleagues.
  1. Continuous Improvement. It may be the result of the fact that they have less invested in the past, but the younger leaders were more willing to challenge the status quo. They were constantly looking for innovative ways to accomplish work more efficiently and with higher quality.
  1. Results Focused. Young leaders will do everything possible to accomplish objectives. They have a high need for achievement and will put every ounce of energy and effort they had into achieving their goals. In contrast, when someone has been in an organization for a long period of time, it is easy to become complacent and to see the status-quo as sufficient.
  1. Elevate Goals. The younger leaders were more willing to set stretch goals. Some older leaders have learned to sandbag a goal so they don’t have to work too hard or run the risk of falling short of a goal. Younger leaders were more prone to set stretch goals and inspire their team strive to achieve difficult tasks.

Every organization will need younger managers to fill in the vacancies left by their long-term predecessors. Understanding and leveraging the many strengths of this younger group creates a big opportunity higher performance and productivity. While younger leaders have challenges that will require focused effort and leadership development to overcome, they bring tremendous assets to the organization. They may likely be one of the most under recognized and under utilized resources in our organizations today.

 

Forbes.com | October 1, 2015 | Joseph Folkman