Having a good mentor is a great way to start your career. They can save you time, teach you tips and tricks and introduce you to connections that will help you throughout your working life. Below is an extract from a piece written by Ryan Holiday, which offers some excellent tips for navigating the start of an internship.
Read MoreYou might be surprised to find out that some people find it difficult to say 'no'. Perhaps they think it's rude, impolite or inflexible. It's not. Of course, it's always good to show a collaborative spirit, to be open to change, constructive criticism, and to do things that are in the best interest of the group (within reason).
However, if something is clearly negative for the person involved, it's important to be able to have the difficult conversation; to say 'no'; or ask for what you really want (e.g. more money, time, responsibility). With that in mind, you have to find your own comfortable way of saying it but here are some examples:
Read MoreStress is a part of life and cannot be totally avoided - so we need to learn to deal with it as best as possible. Consider these things that are inside your control and...
Read MoreWhat if you knew exactly how you were doing at work? What if your goals, bonuses, performance reviews, successes and failures were all available not only to you but to everyone in your company? How would you feel? Nervous right? Scared or anxious?
This is what happens at the worlds top hedge fund - Brightwater, run by Ray Dalio, and he attributes his success to the system.
Read More“There’s nowhere to go” is a common complaint from employees working for small or medium companies. It signifies a drop in motivation as even though they enjoy the environment and the work if they feel there are no opportunities for progression, they start to look elsewhere. This is further compounded by their managers agreeing with them about the state of the organisation. Here’s a strategy that may help.
Read MoreWhat if you wanted to study more about leadership, marketing, sales and strategy? What if you wanted to do an MBA but didn't have the time, money or opportunity? Below are 25 handpicked books that I think are an excellent crash course in business. No, they don't cover every area, in particular finance has been omitted. But they do teach a lot of valuable lessons and have been of huge value to me personally.
Read MoreKevin Kelly, a writer and editor from the US penned a wonderful blog called 1000 True Fans. Check it out here if you haven't read it before. Although I'm sure that many of you may have read it before, it's such an important piece that it's worth reviewing again here.
Read More"That was my car and that's where I was sitting", he said as he pointed to a photo showing a massive hole in the front of a three-door hatchback where the driver's seat should be. 8 years later and still undergoing surgery, he has been through a lot. I was surprised by how frank this young man was and impressed with his light-hearted way of talking about the moment his life changed forever. Any problem I had seemed totally trivial in comparison.
Read MoreWriting is a tough gig for many reasons:
Our world is changing so quickly, I believe it's imperative that we develop the ability to learn quickly in order to keep up. Our employers or our clients often require us to consume and understand large amounts of information in a short space of time. This is very challenging without practice.
Read More‘Can I have more money?' is one way to start the conversation, although not a very elegant one. Perhaps a more structured conversation would work better?
In my experience, employers are often open to giving their staff more money or a promotion, but not without good reason. For example, asking for a salary raise for doing the same work probably won’t yield you much success, however, offering to help the organisation 1. Solve a significant problem or 2. Make more money, will provide you with much more leverage. Also, keep in mind that the more you necessary you are to the business, the more inclined they will be to keep you happy at work compared to if you can be replaced easily by someone else who has similar skills.
Read MoreIt’s better you hear it now than in ten years, or realistically speaking - five years. Many people have already been forced out of a job because they’re too expensive to employ and slower than a machine. It’s happening now more than ever but this isn’t a new phenomenon. Since the 70’s robots have been widespread, with the earliest known standardised industrial robot created in 1937. Nowadays robots are becoming household items, helping with everything from cleaning, lighting and heating to monitoring the garage door and making coffee. The changes are gradual and sometimes unnoticeable, but very real.
“The factory of the future will have only two employees, a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to keep the man from touching the equipment.” Warren G. Bennis, University of Southern California, Professor of Business Administration
Read MoreIf you get a chance, there's a top podcast by the Harvard Business Review on the 4 Behaviours of Top-Performing CEOs. You would be forgiven for thinking that CEOs are the most well educated, business-savvy, mistake-free people in the corporate world, but you'd be wrong.
[There's] almost an equal amount of CEOs who graduated from Ivy League school undergraduate (degrees) as there were who didn't actually graduate from college at all.
- Elena Botelho, co-author of the article “What Sets Successful CEOs Apart”.
Read MoreStarting a business is a great idea - IF you know what you're doing. But it's not a good idea to work for yourself just because you've decided that you hate your job. Sounds obvious I'm sure, but many people still do it. If you do decide that you're going to take the leap, please keep these points in mind:
Read MoreAre you familiar with the daily bombardment of email, text, instant chat and social media while trying to get real work done? Don’t worry, Jason Fried, the CEO of base camp, has some tips for us all, especially those who work in small team environments and want to find better ways to concentrate. I picked up these lessons from the Harvard Business Review podcast, which I highly recommend for anyone interested in business or organisational psychology.
Read MoreHopefully, you don't struggle with this yourself, and you believe taking action towards your goals will yield good results. But not everyone feels like that. Recently, I met a young man (19) who was fully convinced that he would be poor, and a slave his whole life - that there was no alternative. This was a very sad thing to hear. Imagine if you thought that nothing you did would make any difference, that you would always be poor and that you'll always have to work 12 hour days for minimum wage. You might find it hard to keep hope.
Read MoreThis is a warning. It happens to many smart people that are diligent and well qualified. They get seduced. There, I said it.
Read MoreHere is a piece that I wrote this week in an answer to a blog I wrote before called This is your career. I wanted to show the two perspectives between passion and satisfaction. I hope you like it!
Read MoreJargon is everywhere - job descriptions, management meetings, LinkedIn and business literature (especially Harvard Business Review) to name a few. But what does any of it actually mean? And is it useful?
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