Lawrence Fine

How many times have you heard someone who didn’t get a job or didn’t get a project say “see, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”?

First of all, this is wrong. If you truly are exceptional at what you do, it will offset who you do or don’t know.

Second of all, if this isn’t wrong (and if you aren’t exceptional at what you do, than it’s much more true) than you should be tracking your assets and figuring out who you know, who you can network with to expand your contacts and how you can make sure you do know the right people when necessary

True talent will offset good contacts. Good contacts will beat bad contacts with equal ability.

If this is true, rather than complain about things, increase your talent and increase your contacts… or, continue to complain about how others know the right people

Just something to think about

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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It seems many business people take the approach that “our damn lawyers” are always holding them back. They also feel “those stupid IT people” are making their lives miserable. Occasionally they throw in “accounting just makes us do unnecessary paperwork instead of letting us do our real jobs”

The smarter approach is taken when people realize it shouldn’t be an “us vs them” mentality but rather involving these groups from the very beginning to find the best way to do things.

Rather than having IT tell them why they shouldn’t do something, if they involve the IT department from the very beginning to find the best way to do things, it makes everyones life easier. If the legal department is involved from the beginning, rather than hoping they will approve a new approach, they would be able to make sure things are done the right way and not have to worry about “road bumps” later on.

Some will always take the “us vs them” approach but life would be easier to look at things from a “we” approach

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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“A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought, there is visible labor and there is invisible labor” wrote Victor Hugo.

It’s an interesting quote because in looking back at your work, how much unnecessary visible labor have you done because of a lack of invisible labor?

People see others hard at work and they are impressed even though the work they are doing might be completely unnecessary. People see others sitting in place thinking and they wonder “couldn’t he be doing something valuable with his time?”

Combine good planning with hard work and great things can be done. Just hard work or just good planning usually results in nothing successful being accomplished.

Just something to think about

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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You have two choices. You can hire someone who is very good at what they do or you can hire someone who is very good at what they do AND is passionate about what they do.

Who would you hire?

If you are like most people you would hire the person who is both good and passionate about what they do. If that is the case, wouldn’t it make sense to look at it from the opposite perspective?

Do what you are passionate about and most likely it will be much easier to be very good at it as well.

It’s easier to get good at something you love doing than it is to learn to love doing something that you are good at.

If you would want to hire someone who is passionate about what they do, doesn’t it make sense to do what you are passionate about and try to make a successful career out of that?

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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If you make the initial contact with someone when you need something from them, you are probably too late.

If your first contact with a person involves asking them for something (a job, money, anything) you probably will get a “no”.

Networking involves making a true connection with others. It’s not a one time thing. It’s not a one shot thing. It takes time, commitment and is two sided (if your intention on networking is to figure out how to “get something” from someone else, first figure out how to give them something…then if/when you want something the likelihood of getting a “yes” goes up dramatically).

The funny thing is those people who need to network the least are usually the best networkers. They aren’t looking for anything from others when they meet them. They simply are expanding their network of contacts and are helping others out when they can. In turn, when they might need help from others, those people are much more likely to want to help them.

Don’t wait to network till you need to, you will probably be too late. Do it everyday and do it in person (if you are using technology to network, such as Facebook or LinkedIn, use it as a way to facilitate in person technology, not as a replacement for it)

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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A big name to you might not be a big name to anyone else.

Bringing someone in with a big name doesn’t do you any good if others don’t know the names.

It’s common to promote events by bringing in a celebrity but if you have to first explain to people who the celebrity is it defeats the purpose. You might be better off promoting something else.

Just something to consider.

Have a great day

Lawrence

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Save yourself first

You can’t save other people if you can’t haven’t saved yourself first.

If you are depressed you won’t be able to help others out of their depression until you start to get out of yours.

If you are struggling financially you should work to get yourself out of debt before trying to get someone else out of debt.

It might seem very selfish but if you take care of yourself first you will then be more successful helping others.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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A lot is written about leaders. Some is written about followers. Almost nothing is written about Gellers (partially because it’s a term I made up for this and is pronounced Jeller).

There are positive leaders pulling the followers in one direction. Negative leaders are pulling the followers in another direction.

The challenge is, which way do the followers go?

The Geller is the person who brings the group together. The Geller keeps the group together. The Geller is the one who helps the group go in the right direction.

The Geller might not make the big decision but is the one who makes sure the big decision is followed.

The leader frequently does the big picture stuff. The Geller makes sure the details are followed.

The leader gets most of the credit. The Geller makes sure things work

A good leader with a good Geller can do wonderful things. A good leader without a Geller will frequently fail. A Geller without a good leader will also frequently fail

If you find a good Geller, feel blessed (and feel free to give me credit for the word Geller!)

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Some people vastly overestimate their abilities.

Some people vastly underestimate their abilities

Both types are frustrating but I would much rather be around those who underestimate their abilities because once they realize their capabilities, the sky is the limit. Those who vastly overestimate their abilities frequently never learn otherwise

Just something to think about

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Organizations conduct surveys, studies, reviews etc but how many are willing to allow others to see the results?

I use a number of the applications from 37signals.com and one of the things they are now doing is when a person contacts customer support and the issue is resolved, they allow the person to do a real simple evaluation by choosing one of three options (it was great, it was good, it wasn’t good). While this isn’t unusual, the thing that does make it unusual is anyone can see the last 100 evaluations by going to http://smiley.37signals.com/

The various “smiley faces” show whether the evaluation was great, good or not good. When a person does this evaluation, they also have the ability to write why they gave that evaluation and the written part is not disclosed to the public because it’s possible private information might be included in the comments.

It takes a great deal of confidence to let others truly see how you are doing. Are you that confident?

Just something to think about

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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