What Do Eulogies Have To Do With Job Interviews?

There's a new book out called, "Farewell, Godspeed: The greatest eulogies of our time". Morbid I know, but the authors share some examples of powerful communication concepts. It was written by Cyrus Copeland, who was in advertising for a number of years, he left that to pursue of truth, beauty, and narratives that last longer than thirty seconds of memory. Here are their five key points to delivering a great eulogy.

1. Start strong. Madonna eulogizing Gianni Versace said "I slept in Versace's bed."
2. Personal is best. Great eulogies tell what the person meant to you with your style however, captures the uniqueness of the individual.
3. Tell the truth. You have to be sincere. We can sense when a person is not.
4. Be specific. Point to specific areas the person has made an impact.
5. Finish memorably. James Wood on Bette Davis - "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy eternity."

Eulogy's share more in common with job interviews than near death experiences. Like a job interview, a key meeting, or pitching your message - eulogies are an example of capturing a message to share with a specific audience. The principles of great communication are the same (even if a eulogy carries a far more emotional message). Also, like a eulogy you have a limited time to share your message and leave a lasting impression. One final thing about a great eulogy..you get a sense of connection with the person..which I believe is the most powerful influencer on who gets the job.

What's Your X-Prize

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Originally uploaded by CareerJoy.

Eight years after the competition was announced, the X-Prize was won. The X-Prize was $10 million for the first privately built ship to carry three people 100 km into space within a two week span. It was SpaceShipOne (SS1), built by Scaled Composites, that was the first to reach the goal.


Reaching space was only one aspect of the goal Scaled Composites set out to achieve. For them, this was a commercial venture and to be successful they needed to manage costs and attract partners. Were they successful? Absolutely.


SS1 cost close to $30 million which sounds like a lot until you compare it to a NASA shuttle at nearly $35 billion! So much for cost effectiveness, how about partners? Just this past Monday, Richard Branson of Virgin fame announced his intention to use the technology from SS1 to build five Virgin Galactic SpaceShips that will eventually provide 3-hour space flights to consumers with a lot of dough. Tickets will cost around $150,000 a piece.


SS1 has many lessons for us, I want to focus on two. First, goals are critical for success. Second, goals make us better than we are. I'll only write about the first one this week.


Careers without goals are really career accidents. Going to work everyday without an objective gets you a dollar but that's about it. When you lack direction you aren't able to capture the full value of your career. Careers are an opportunity to learn and grow in the things you love. The discipline of making goals asks us to understand the things we love, our values, and ambitions. Great goals give us a reason to count costs, dig deeper, and take risks - the ingredients of success.


At CareerJoy we can help you identify goals that will help you succeed. We can help you build a strategy that moves you forward in a successful career. Work with one of our coaches to define your X-Prize.


PS Congrats to my Dad. Last weekend he qualified for the Boston Marathon. That has been a goal of his for many years. Dad I am proud of you.


Along the Road with you...

Are You An Underdog?

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Originally uploaded by CareerJoy.

A few weeks ago the Boston Red Sox won the World Series. Their last World Series win was in 1918 (and Leaf fans think they've got it hard - heck they've only been waiting since 1967)! Right from the start, the Sox were the underdogs. Before the series started, I heard a commentator work from statistics to show that man- for-man the St. Louis Cardinals where the stronger team. The problem is statistics don't win championships - people do.

We've all worked with people who were hired because they look strong on paper or they excel in an interview scenario. But there are facts and then there's performance and it's performance that counts when there's a key win on the line.

Performance is the responsibility of coaches. And in Boston's case, batting coach Ron Jackson was a key contributor. Jackson was their fourth coach in four seasons and his job was to help batters deal with the up and down challenges of a season. His strategy was to focus on changing the mindset of the team and he got the goods. Boston came out on top even if they weren't the "best" team.

So, who's helping you improve your game? Our coaches can work with your stats to help you find your edge. If it's performance you need - you need a coach.



Along the Road with you...

The Incredibles. What about you?

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Originally uploaded by CareerJoy.

Bob Parr was super. Then he lost it. Never heard of him? He's Mr. Incredible (no, he's not one of our clients). Bob's one of the heroes in Pixar's new movie, "The Incredibles" (You know, Pixar, where Steve Jobs, iPod maker by day, is savvy cartoon spinster by night).

Fifteen years ago Bob was a super-hero. Unfortunately, a few of the people he saved sued him for damages and the legal establishment forced him out of his true passion: super-heroing. Now Mr. Incredible is just plain Bob and he works as an insurance claims adjuster at Insurcon. Insurcon's motto is "Your life is in our hands"; ironically Bob's life isn't looking too good. Instead of a super-hero, Bob is flabby and super-sized.

Without ruining the story, Bob gets his swing back and everyone benefits. He gets back to using his real talents. Bob becomes Mr. Incredible again. We want our clients to experience this kind of transition. So, to get you started, we are giving away 10 passes to this movie.

To get two free tickets, send an email to Super@CareerJoy.com and tell us one of two things. Tell us why you're a super-hero at work and what you did to get there (how you matched your talents and passions with your job). Or tell us why you are not a super-hero (maybe you don't understand your talents or you can't find the right job) and what's holding you back. We'll do a draw this week to determine the five winners.

Hey, around here, "Your life is in YOUR hands".



Along the Road with you..

Are You Asking The Right Question?

Christy Clark is the former Deputy Premier of British Columbia. Her departure isn't the result of gambling scandals, ferry boondoggles or financial wrongdoing. No, she simply asked the right question and its answer meant leaving public office.


One night in September, after a hectic day, Christy sat down to relax with a glass of wine. She had just put her son to bed and her thoughts were turned, as they often were, to the challenge of fitting her family life into her public career. And suddenly she realized she'd been asking herself the wrong question. With an unexpected shift in perspective, she asked how her career could be fit into her family.


"When I asked that, I realized that I have to step away from politics for a little while to find balance" said Christy. "It is not symbolic of women in politics. It's just that my family needs more of me"


So often in life it isn't the questions we ask, but rather the way we ask them. For Christy, rephrasing the question freed her to consider life's priorities in a different way and shed new light on options she hadn't previously considered.


Questions can be a powerful tool in assessing your career life. When asked at the right time, a question can break loose important new insights. Sometimes, simply being asked the question by someone you can't ignore is all that is needed for an important revelation.


In these last few years I've met more and more clients that aren't asking the right questions. It's a rare visit that I don't hear: "You know, I never thought of it that way". This is good because helping clients ask the right questions is exactly what CareerJoy is all about. Even better, we help you find the right answers too.


Contact us to get started on answering the right questions. It's important. I think Christy's son would agree.


Along the Road with you...

Finding Simple Answers

Recently I got a new PowerBook (our firm loves Macs) and I was trying to get online. After trying 4 or 5 different ways, I was getting frustrated. I had just concluded that my new Mac had a problem with its modem when my son, Aidan, noticed my frustration. He helpfully suggested, "Dad, why don't you turn it off and then on again". I'm thinking, "You're 7 years old, it is not that simple". But I tried his solution anyway. Glad I did. 3 minutes later, problem solved-tahdah!


My point, simple is best. We sometimes misunderstand simple as simplistic, not true. It's a rare occasion that a problem requires a truly complex answer. Simple is faster, more effective, and often less costly. Yet, people continue to look for complicated answers when a simple one is presented to them. Perhaps they fear the obvious is too easy. Maybe easy isn't impressive. Or it might suggest they shouldn't get paid so much for their role. But I still contend that it's best to keep it simple.


Our CareerJoy coaches have adopted a maxim shared by a doctor friend: When you hear hoof beats, think horses, not Zebras. Look for the obvious solution first, if that doesn't succeed start moving to nuances. Hey, if it works for doctors.


Along the Road with you

What if all you need is a simple tool?

On Saturday, my 7-year-old son, Aidan, was working on his homework. His assignment: find simple tools and draw a picture that illustrates what they do. Aidan was really excited to do this. He's really coming into his own with his problem solving ability. So, once I had explained the homework to him (without any examples), he took off to his room with a kick in his feet.


A few minutes later Aidan came running back; he was totally excited and impressed with himself. He showed me two great pictures: one of a spoon and one of a knife. The spoon was to lift things and the knife was to cut things.


At CareerJoy, most of our process, coaching, and tool set is simple - as simple as knifes and spoons. When we need them, we also have more complex tools too. We've recognized it's important to focus on solutions rather than fancy (and ultimately distracting) tools. So when a spoon does the trick - we use one.


Along the Road with you...