There is a great article in this month’s Men’s Health on reaching our goals of success. Whether it’s “happiness, freedom, or a bank account full of f-you money,” success is something we are all striving for. They identified five virtues that they considered the pillars of success: ambition, intuition, focus, courage, and leadership.

These qualities can help you reach your goal, whether you’re trying to build a hundred-million-dollar software firm or open an old-school diner out on the four-lane.
Read More

Some people stay at their first company of employment for their whole career. Others hop around a few years before settling in. Others hop around a lot. I recently left my first place of employment for family, and have discovered that leaving is not easy and not just packing my box and going (unless the leaving is due to you getting canned, in which case you do want to vacate fast).

Unless you want to burn bridges, there’s a lot of things that you have to deal with, including writing a letter of resignation to your manager, exit interviews, and paperwork. Aside from the administrative items, there’s the matter of co-workers and friends that you are leaving. Each of these is a topic that I’ll write about later. For now, the focus is the letter of resignation. Read More

For a lot of us, up until now the road map of life was pretty clear. We learn early on that you go to school. From kindergarten to grade 12 and later on maybe to undergrad and beyond. But there will be a time when the education stage of your life makes way for your professional life, and that’s when things can get a bit confusing. Where do you go from here? How are all those years in school going to help you get where you want to go? Here’s a few ways to put all that education to work.

Read More

Often times it it more how people perceive you at work that has more impact than the work you do. Of course, the work you do will also influence how people perceive you. I’ve seen perfectly capable people at work get the shaft because the general perception of them is that they’re totally inept.

An interview from Harvard Business School covers some key points, and many points that I hadn’t thought about before. Since we’re still starting off or at least early in our careers, there’s still time to start managing our image.
Read More

There’s nothing worse than finding yourself, a recent college graduate, unable to find a job, stuck with student loans to pay off, and with looming expenses of rent and other bills. Maybe your grades weren’t as good in college, or you picked a low-demand major (like English or Spanish), or perhaps you waited too long to begin your job hunt when everyone around you started months earlier. Whatever the reason, you’re now stuck in a rut, you’re lost, and you don’t know what to do. Read More

For many people, public speaking is not on their list of favorite things. In fact, many surveys have shown that people fear public speaking more than death. This anxiety arises not just for speeches, but can also arise anytime we get in front of a crowd to present our ideas and even for one-on-one conversations at work. However, it is undeniable that being able to clearly and persuasively speak in your professional life is crucial to moving up in the business world.

In studies done by Paul L. Witt, PhD, assistant professor of communication studies at Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, there are generally two types of people: Sensitizers and Habituaters Read More

I’ve always hated how people would always say you should only work at a job you love, because the chances of me finding a job I love is about as high as winning the lottery. For those of you who love what you do, consider yourselves blessed. Unfortunately, the rest of us need to make sacrifices doing what we don’t necessarily enjoy in order to live our lifestyles, but sometimes we might be sacrificing just a bit too much. Knowing when to say enough is enough is just as important to your career as finding the right job and it can be useful to recognize the signs that your job just isn’t for you.
Read More

Your morals are probably the most important and valuable things you can have. In other words, they are priceless. And yet, we sometimes find ourselves in a position where we consider jeopardizing our moral values in order to get ahead in our careers.

So I ask you this–If you were put in a position where in order to get ahead in your career, you would have to screw over one of your co-workers that you considered a friend, would you do it? Would you be willing to play the villain so you could reap the benefits and keep the treasure for yourself?
Read More

Getting your MBA just seems like one of those things that everyone does eventually in life. It’s just something that is simply expected of a young educated professional. However, times change and although getting a bachelor’s degree is probably just as necessary as getting a high school diploma, there are a those who argue that MBAs may not be the only path to take. Just look at Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Michael Dell, none of whom went to business school. And yet, more and more professionals are pursuing MBA degrees every year to the point that MBAs are like a commodity. So what’s the deal? Is an MBA necessary to advance your career? Read More

Impressions are a powerful thing. At work they are often the basis of work relationships and movement. In your private life it can influence having true friends. However, in our society most people won’t tell you to your face, “Hey, nice weather today. You’re an asshole.”

At work or personally, everyone has dealt with that asshole, be it the obnoxious co-worker or the overbearing boss (If not, then consider that maybe you are the asshole everyone else is dealing with). Guy Kawasaki recently had a mini series on his site about Bob Sutton’s The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t. Read More