The tipping point of your career

You may have heard of the book The Tipping Point, written by Malcolm Gladwell. It has been recommended as one of the 10 most important business books of the 1990s, and the author is a Canadian to boot. His premise for the book is this; at some point, certain businesses or trends take off. Think Google, Amazon, ebay, blogging, iPods, and, most recently, YouTube. These ideas and brands were small and unknown until you told two friends, and I told two friends, and so on. Before we knew it, these ideas and tools became things that we wondered how we ever lived without. The growth of these companies has been great for us, and has created a number of billionaires and millionaires in the process.

The “tipping point” is a series of events, people, money and circumstances which come together and meet the market at the right time. When this occurs, things shift and businesses take off. I have observed this phenomenon with our clients as well. I had a new client in this week – she recently asked for a more flexible work schedule. She is in a leadership position within her organization. Her boss suggested to her that this wouldn't be fair to others. This was her Career Tipping Point. It was the event that convinced her it was time to move on to a new role.

Like business, a career tipping point doesn't happen overnight. In my experience as a coach, it is typically a 1 to 2 year process that can be both positive and negative. In many cases, you need to be more patiently persistent. All of a sudden, it seems, things come together for the positive or the negative.

In my client’s case, her boss's action, combined with the context of the past, helped to create a clear picture to her. While the decision was negative, it was time for her to take action. For you, the tipping point could be a new project, or a call from a Head Hunter, or a new boss. In all of these cases, remember you have choices.

It is time for our September Draw - we are giving away a copy of Malcom Gladwell's book for one lucky reader who will share with us their thoughts from this week’s Ten Minute WORKout. Email me at alan@careerjoy.com if you want to share your story.

This week’s Ten Minute WORKout:

What was the last Career Tipping Point that occurred for you? How did you deal with it? What was the most positive outcome of this situation?

Along the road with you,

Alan Kearns

Body language and job interviews

I have arrived back home safely from my trip out west. We flew as a family on August 16 - if you have been reading the news lately, that was supposedly the day when 12 airplanes were going to be blown out of the sky with IPODs and a tonic mixture that wasn’t meant for drinking. Thank goodness it didn't happen, not to mention that we might have had to hitchhike back to Toronto.

On our way through the gate, I saw a table full of liquids. Due to new airline regulations, there is no point in bringing water on board (or, in my daughter’s case, her lip gloss). While I was in the Calgary Airport speaking with the Barista (Starbucks language, referring to the person who serves you at a coffee shop) I noticed a lot of lonely bottles of water sitting on their shelves. “How are sales?" I asked. Great for cookies and CD's, but not for coffee and drinks. Liquids and airports don't mix that easily these days. I joked to my wife, pretty soon we are going to have to fly naked!

Well, not according to the airport screening authority. They are introducing SPOT. No, it’s not a new type of dog. SPOT stands for Screening PAssengers by Observation Techniques. The Israeli airport security have been using this technique for a number of years. They don't need to look at your bags - they look at your face.

This sounds a lot like a job interview. Research involving job interviews showed that the interviewer relies heavily on the following information:

55% visual impact (dress, facial expressions and body language);

38% tone of voice; and only

7% from what you actually say.

Officers (or in a job interview, HR Managers) look for facial expressions, body and eye movements, change in vocal pitch and other indicators of stress. "The questions themselves are not significant, it is how the person answers that shows whether they are telling the truth" said Thomas Robins, Chief of Security at Logan Airport. I know from my many years of recruitment that my decision whether to pass a candidate on to a client was based on what I really thought the person had to offer, not what they told me.

The good news is that you can still take a bottle of water to an interview!

This week’s 10 minute WORKout:

Take a few minutes to think about your last job interview. What was your confidence like? How well prepared were you - about the company and the role? What did you truly think of the opportunity? What could you do to be better prepared for your next interview?

Along the road with you,

Alan Kearns

Becoming an Expert Part 2

In last week’s WORKout we discussed the role of time in becoming an expert at what you do. The second important piece of this discussion is motivation.

According to Wikipedia (the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet), motivation refers to the ”initiation, direction, intensity and persistence of behavior”. It is the encouragement to do something.

I often say to clients that motivation covers a multitude of sins. One of my clients is a professional hockey player who has been in the NHL for 10 years. I asked him if he noticed anything about the stars on the teams he has played for. Using the “m” word, he explained that the stars would always show up early for practices, stay late after a game to cool down and stretch. They were not doing it for the money - they all had guaranteed contracts - it was because of motivation.

There are over 700 players in the NHL. A majority are paid over $1 million a year. The guys that are making $5+ million per year and are signed to long term contracts are not always the most talented, but many are the most motivated. Interesting how a higher motivation level not only leads to a longer career, but also can lead to 5 times more income.

In a recent study by Roland G. Fryer, an economist at Harvard University, scientists looked at underperforming schools in New York City and Dallas. They offered rewards of $10 to $20 to motivate students to show improvement over a three week period. The early results have been very encouraging. It is not that the students they selected were any more intelligent, but rather, it was through the use of different methods of encouragement that students have begun to perform better.

Often when a new client comes to see me I ask the “m” question: “What was the factor motivating them to deal with their issue?” In many cases, the client had been wrestling with the issue for a number of years. Generally, it was an external circumstance that motivated them to act, much like the children in the study. We often need rewards. I knew someone who, every time he ran for more than 2 times that week, bought himself a CD.

If you want to be a star, you need to be motivated, and you need time - time plus motivation is like adding a turbo charger on your career engine.

This week’s 10 Minute WORKout:
Think of a time when you were highly motivated in your life. What were the circumstances surrounding this time? What are the missing elements in your life now?

Along the road with you,

Alan Kearns

How do you become an expert in your career?

If you have been through a Tim Horton’s drive-thru, you know that you can get a meal or coffee that is decent in two minutes or less, at a price that won’t break the bank. It is not quite the same when you go to a restaurant like Canoe. For those of you not familiar with the place, Canoe is a “5 star” restaurant in Toronto. At Canoe, not only do you get to taste exquisite dishes, but you also get to experience luxury and comfort from the moment you enter the door until you pay your bill (which is also not quite the same as Tim Horton’s!). At Canoe, the staff are truly experts in their field.

There are two main issues to becoming an expert: time and motivation.

Time: it takes approximately 10 years on average to become an expert at anything. Whether you are learning a new skill in anything from plumbing to brain surgery, there will always be an initial learning curve. Researchers followed a chess player in Canada called DH. They tracked him over a 9 year period from amateur to one of Canada’s leading masters. Neil Charness, professor of Psychology at Florida State University, found that DH analyzed chess positions much the same as other players, but he was able to rely on a vastly improved knowledge of the chess positions and strategy in general.

This research is now called the “10 year rule” - it takes a decade of study and effort to master any field, including yours. It makes for a great question to ask anyone you are buying services from; “How long have you been in business?”. Time creates experiences, and experiences create wisdom.

As in the Canoe experience, it takes a lot of training to move from Sous Chef to Matre D, to Head Chef. Think of the cumulative amount of training and time that it takes to put together a 5 star meal. Now think Tim Horton’s - in almost every Tim Horton’s that I have been in, there has been a notice for help. Once new staff is hired, they are trained and left to their own devices in about 2 days - hence the difference in experience and taste. Double/Double just doesn’t cut it. There are no short cuts to a great meal, or a great career.

In next week’s WORKout, I will discuss motivation.

This week’s 10 minute WORKout:

What courses or training could you take to upgrade your skills, and become more of an expert? Take some time to investigate some of the extra training that would help you with this.

Along the road with you,

Alan Kearns

Are you waiting in the heat?

I am currently on an airplane on my way to visit some very good friends in Calgary. It is the middle of a heat wave in Toronto - as they say, hotter than, well, to use a more pleasant description, Darwin Australia (where your laundry can dry in 10 minutes on the line).

As I was driving to the airport to meet my family, I spotted at least 100 limos parked in a holding area. The drivers were sitting in their cars, waiting for their turn to pick up passengers at the terminal. I am not sure how many of them are satisfied in their careers, or not, but I was struck by this picture. How many people in life are sitting, just waiting for the right opportunity?

I recently hired a limo – the driver introduced himself and asked me if I wanted to read the Globe and Mail or The National Post. When I arrived at my destination, he handed me his business card and asked when I was returning. Would I need a limo back? This gentleman was not the type to sit and wait. He was proud of what he was doing - he went the extra mile, and he paid attention to opportunity. I would be surprised if he and his $60,000 Lincoln Continental were sitting and waiting for clients. Some people wait, some create. It’s your choice.

Today’s 10 Minute WORKout:

Write down two things that you could do in your current role to create new opportunities for you and your organization.

Along the road with you,

Alan Kearns