Monday Musing – 16 days into November 2015

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no_barriersBINGsearchforcontinuityimaes111615 Continuity in everything is unpleasant.  Cold is agreeable, that we may get warm.  Pascal

 

New words that describe continuity, words we might want to use and one word with 12 meanings are the subject matters of the following three recently posted articles on different aspects of continuity in today’s workplace.

 

http://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/38-convincing-words-and-phrases-to-adopt-immediately-.html

 

http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/12-reasons-to-hire-employees-who-make-mistakes.html

Have a great week in your careers!

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive & Career Management Coach

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4th Day of Ethics and Compliance Week 2015

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Even when there is no law, there is conscience. Publilius Syrus It’s Ethics and Compliance Week and I would like to share with you two anagrams for you to consider. Have a great week! E nvy crept into the conversation … Continue reading

When YOU least expect it…

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barn-owlfromBING101915What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think.  This rule, equally arduous in actual and intelligent life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness.  Ralph Waldo Emerson

It continues to give me pause of the biases people have, based either on age or appearance.  Each generation often greets another generation with surprise, rather than acceptance of what knowledge/skills they have.  I experienced this phenomenon again yesterday when a person couldn’t believe that I passed an exam, because her unconscious bias placed the biggest look of surprise on her face I haven’t seen in a long time.

Positive outcomes during the day often balance the negativity we may experience.  It is a work in process to learn how not to take certain actions personally or become judgmental of what may be said.  The daily balancing of our soft skills is the platform for managing ourselves and others in our career path.

Surprising ourselves with what is curious could be a mantra that leads us to self-development.  As you Choose Who You Want to be Known As this week, when you least expect to — have fun practicing the element of surprise of a curious situation.

Enjoy your day!

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach

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Impossible fun . . . with curiosity

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th6NJHG7XZMickeyMouseclipartBING092515It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.   Curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.  Walt Disney

Earlier today I published a post on LinkedIn Pulse with the Title of The Three R’s.  http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/three-rs-jo-ann-m-radja.  Here is a modified version of that post.

A man in a creative job had been working on a new project. He submits it to the client and a discussion ensues. Even though the project was deemed unacceptable for the marketplace, he believed the discussion was fair. It was such a shock and a setback to subsequently learn his staff was hired away from him (except one man) by the company who deemed his work was out-of-fashion. This story occurred sometime during the 1920’s.  Whether it is a myth or a restatement of history, unfortunately, this story rings true for many people.
The terms of reinvent, re-engineered, retooled or right-sized were not spoken in this creative man’s era; his story has universality for us today, some 90 years later.  What Walt Disney did with his one employee was to collaborate and re-work his original drawings. Mickey Mouse was then born and introduced to the community. Many of the action terms we use today – customer driven, vision and focus, brain-storming new ideas and visualizing real-world activities for the new character – took place in the development and implementation of the Mickey Mouse character.

How quickly do you rebound from a serious let-down? What did you tell yourself to regroup and continue on? Did you re-frame the situation or just recognized perhaps the timing was all wrong? Stating these questions another way: What feedback did you receive that continued the spark in you to recognize, relate and resolve your actions to the next step? How frequently do you rely on YOUR three R’s As You Choose Who You Want to be Known As?

During the month of October, I hope your three R’s work to your best advantage as you recognize, relate and resolve.

The Three R's542by478

“Jo Ann” M. Radja Executive and Career Management Coach

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“Talk to Inform” – Your Storyboard

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0511-1204-0312-1815_Woman_giving_a_presentation_at_a_lectern_clipart_imageBING080615 As is often the case when you are looking for something, you come across another idea.  Here is an idea that may be of interest to you when you want to create a storyboard for your next writing, presentation, or meeting at the office.  It’s called, “Talk to Inform – Visual Aid Mate.”   [I am not the author and unfortunately, this color visual  aid shows no company name or copyright information.]

It consists of 10 boxes printed on legal size paper, landscape print setting.  Talking to Inform not only requires a Subject, but the Importance of the Benefit to your audience as well as an Outline of how you are going spend the audience’s valuable time during your Talk on the Subject. [Boxes 1 through 3]

Boxes 4 through 8 contain the Body of the Talk that may contain your personal experiences, expert opinions, analogies, statistics, facts and examples of how your Subject Matter relates to the audience.  Boxes 9 and 10 represent how you Recap and Confirm the Benefit to the audience.  So completing these 10 boxes and you’re done!

We all look for ways to streamline our work flow and I hope this brief idea is helpful to you when you need a self-management tool.    Have a great week in your career!

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive & Career Management Coach

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Appreciate your continuing to Visit this Blog

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Thanks to all of you for your Comments and Likes this year.  It is much appreciated. With gratitude, Jo Ann M. Radja

1st Day of July, 2015

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It’s the first Day of July and here in the Midwest, many people begin to prepare for the 4th of July weekend, here are a number of ideas and thoughts to consider:

 

F orever and always we say

T o celebrate and

H old our values high.

 

O nly in America do we truly enjoy

F reedoms other countries only admire.

 

J ustice wrapped

U p in red, white and blue.

L iberty, life and the pursuit of happiness for

Y ou.©Jo Ann M. Radja

 

 

May the sun in his course visit no land more free, more happy, more lovely than our own.  Daniel Webster.

 

The United States is the only country with a known birthday.  James G. Blaine

 

Where liberty dwells, there is my country.  Benjamin Franklin

 

Enjoy your day!

 

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach

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When the Journey, begins anew…

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“Feel the fear.  Do it anyways.”  Anonymous

I just finished reading Kimberly Weisul’s article in Inc. Magazine about Ms.Carey Lohrenz, a recently promoted Navy Tomcat fighter jet Pilot. http://www.inc.com/kimberly-weisul/high-performance-high-stress-advice-from-a-fighter-pilot.html    Ms. Weisul, an Editor-at-Large at Inc. Magazine teaches us how to interview.  I say this because her article surprisingly has many realistic stories about Pilot Carey Lohrenz’ career path on how she felt the fear and kept on going.

We love quotations because the words ring true for us and leave lasting perceptions and images in our minds.  Pilot Lohrenz’ words of wisdom on performance and leadership are:

“The number one way to reduce anxiety in a volatile environment is to write down your top three priorities and focus on those.”

“Almost all the pilots I worked with wrote notes on their hands – what went wrong and how to fix it” pretty quickly.

“It’s notoriously difficult to be an Officer.”          How she made it was taking on the fear and working through the experience to find a way for herself  to make it work – again, again, and again.  After each successful experience, Pilot Carey began a new journey to test herself against the next issue she was asked to handle.

As you work through your career this week, Choose Who You Want to be Known As, when you are pushing to make it through the day, the project or the week.  Enjoy your week!

Executive & Career Management Coach

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Bias, Bias why are you here?

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image from BING043015

Writing can be an incredible mindfulness practice.

Jon Kabat Zinn

Earlier today,  the following Blog was Published by LinkedIn.com/Pulse, under my name as a LinkedIn Publisher.  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/bias-where-you-jo-ann-m-radja. It was originally published under the title, “Bias, Bias where are you?”

I’ve modified the title for this careermanagement blog to, “Bias, Bias why are you here?” and added the above quotation from Jon Kabat Zinn.

“We move forward, pause, and keep on going. Yet, bias judgments of other people, bubble up, unexpectedly. Addressing these comments is not a simple task. Gossip is insidious. When it is spread by those who hold a position of authority, people believe it is true when it is not. Damage can occur when the gossip impedes your ability to work through your day, under stress.

Among other considerations, Mindfulness provides a stepping stone that gives you the support you need to handle the bias judgments. You will come to your own realization of how to handle the gossip. Stepping stones to handle the gossip have been handed down to us from present-day thought leaders, family members, educators and sages in past centuries.

Many people take the first step of speaking to the gossiper. Be prepared for an outburst; be calm and remember – this other person has a problem. Since you do not want to control the gossiper, take the first step to control how You Want to be Known As. You are responsible for your own actions in any conversation you have. Conventional wisdom tells us that gossipers are unhappy people who seek attention and who may be self-sabotaging themselves to gain some notice or popularity.

We all have an innate knowledge of what is right for ourselves (ethics) and how we want to be treated in situations that occur in our Careers. This understanding is the basis for my By-Line shown above, Choose Who You Want to be Known As. It can be subjective for you personally (considerate, pensive, hard-working, enjoys good humor), or objective as your actions with others are known to be (ambitious, collaborative, thoughtful, good listener, team-oriented).

It’s the last day in April, 2015 in your Career. Here’s an anagram for you to consider:

E nvy crept into the conversation

T he moment she couldn’t hide

H er feelings.

I t was unbecoming and noticed by the group.  It

C ontinued as her professionalism wained – although unwittingly,

S he set an example of what not to do as a leader.©Jo Ann M. Radja

Have a great month of May, 2015 when it begins tomorrow!

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive & Career Management Coach

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We Celebrate President Lincoln’s Date of Birth

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We celebrate and remember February 12th as the birth of President Lincoln here in Illinois.  Earlier today I published a blog on this subject, via LinkedIn.com Pulse, https://t.co/0Mu2ZA6TFw.  I hope you enjoy these quotations from President Abraham Lincoln.

Illinois Celebrates President Abraham Lincoln

“No man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent.”

“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important that any one thing.”

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice that thorn bushes have roses.”

“I can make more generals, but horses cost money.” And lastly, “I walk slowly, but I never walk backward.”

Enjoy your career day.

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Career Management Coach & Change Agent

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