It is a true pleasure when you speak with people who are aware of your challenges and competing priorities, who have deep understanding of your industry and who do not try to pressure you or your team into further engagements via additional calls, meetings or demos. Those true professionals demonstrate the value of their product or a service, share pricing …
Don’t fall in love with your product, service or industry
Respect and value your mission, vision and values, stay true to who you are and what you stand for, but be flexible and innovative when it comes to your products and services. Consistently review and re-imagine what you are doing, redesign them, augment them with the right strategic partnerships and focus your effort, energy and actions on areas that you …
Rules of engagement
Learn the system and the rules of the game before you begin playing it. Same applies to your organizations, industries or markets. Learn what works, what doesn’t, how are decisions made and who is able to influence the outcomes and contribute to performance. Once you have done your homework, leverage what you have learned for your future actions in service …
Experience is a lot more than the number of years alone
Experience is what we are all after when looking for a new hire (obviously in addition to personality, skill set and education to name a few). However, this elusive experience is not equivalent to the number of years candidates have, but it is much more related to how were those years spent. When looking to hire, ask yourself, better yet, …
Job interviews and acronyms
Job searches and everything they entail can be challenging, time consuming and a bit unnerving at times. The crowning moment and the one you are really after is an in-person interview. Once you get there it’s all on you to demonstrate value, share ideas and “sell” your vision. Now, once you are seated in front of the search committee it …
How long should you stay in your current job?
How long should I stay in my current job? It is a question asked by most (if not all) of us at some point in our careers. However, the answer is not as common and varies widely across industries, positions and individuals. No matter how long you may have been at a particular job, if it is no longer challenging, …
Engage with your industry
Engage with your colleagues, profession and industry by attending seminars, conferences and meetups, both local and global. Learn from others who are wiser or more experienced; learn from those who have done it successfully; learn from those who are a bit further along than you on this journey. Additionally, and equally as important, don’t forget to share what you know …
Never stop learning
Learning is essential and as such should never stop. Do what you can to broaden your horizons each and every day; learn something new and don’t forget to contribute to your respective areas and professions as well. Educate yourself formally and informally, get involved (attend conferences, seminars; read books, journals, websites…) and expand your experiences. Do all of this with …
Selecting the most valuable conference to attend
It’s been a while since I went to a real professional conference (been to a number of one day seminars, presentations and demos), but not a real targeted conference. I think it’s time to change this and become more involved in the technology world outside my immediate area. Also, considering that I’m planning to introduce additional improvements within our team …
Know what you manage
I’m a strong believer that you must know the area you are managing. You should have either moved up in that industry or took some time to actually get yourself up to speed on current practices and common knowledge. Being only a manager of people without having the necessary (even if only fundamental) knowledge directly related to the area you …