9 things really 12 I know now that I wish I knew when I was graduating

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9 things (really 12) I know now that I wish I
knew when I was graduating

• Mickey Glantz
• Modified 23 December 2009

I was never really good in math
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• KEY POINTS
• Your 1st job will not be your last job
• Whats a perfect job?
• All roads lead to Rome
• What skill set do you need to get there?
• Jack of all trades. Masters of some
• Talent, alone, is never enough
• Iacoccas Nine characteristics of leaders
• An observation about being clever
• Where do ideas come from? Anywhere.
• The connect effect
• Understand how bureaucracies operate
• Always have a Stretch Goal
• Summary Kites rise highest against the wind

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Your first job will not be your last job!
Warren Buffet77 First Job Newspaper delivery
boy Bill Gates Greatest Wealth - 57 Billion at
age 53 First Job Congressional page Sergey
Brin Greatest Wealth - 18.7 Billion at age
35 First Job Student Michael Dell Greatest
Wealth - 17.3 Billion at age 43 First Job
Dishwasher for a Chinese restaurant Steve
Jobs Greatest Wealth - 5.4 Billion at age
53 First Job Gopher at Hewlett Packard Oprah
Winfrey Greatest Wealth - 2.7 Billion at age
54 First Job Part time radio news
broadcaster Mark Cuban) First Job Bartender
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My goal to create a perfect job in an imperfect
workplace

• Rarely do you find THE perfect workplace
• There are always challenges and constraints to
  cope with, most of which are neither of your
  making or choosing
• Often, it will be up to you to
• Create that perfect job in an otherwise imperfect
  setting

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What do you see as a perfect job for you?
Perfect has different meanings to different
people The King of Bhutan has developed a
happiness index
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All roads lead to Romewhat do you want to see
along the way?

• At its peak, the Roman road system spanned 53,819
  miles (85,004 km)
• In the days of the Roman Empire, all the
  empires roads radiated out from the capital
  city, Rome.
• There are different ways to achieve ones
  objectives
• The way you choose to go will depend on what you
  want to see along the way.
• Each road has a likelihood of coming with
  surprises, both good and bad

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What skillsdo you need to get there?

• Identify your skill set
• DO NOT let your degree define your skill set.
  Your skills are more than that
• Your degree exposes some learned skills but many
  of your talents are hidden.
• BE explicit about your skills.
• have more marketable skills than you realize! Put
  them on paper.
• It pays to be an intern
• hands on experience pays off in the marketplace
  for jobs

Louise Reid, 1993, Netpac.com
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Jack of all trade. Master of some.

• We are now living in a multitasking world, doing
  many things in parallel and not in series.
• Read articles and books in other disciplines.
  Many ideas exist in one field that can be very
  useful in other fields.
• My personal experiences suggests the need for a
  modification of the adage jack of all trades and
  master of none. I believe making it is possible
  to be a jack of all trades and become a master of
  some as well.

Some tools can do it all!
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Never say never, butTalent is never enough

• You can be the smartest person in the workplace
  the best researcher, the sharpest tech whiz, but
  your talent, taken alone, is never enough to
  please the string of bosses above you.
• You got to have heart, passion, personality and
  compassion.
• Youve got to be a people person and care about
  others you work with.
• Take some time away from your own work to learn
  about what those around you are working on.
• If you want to be a manager, then strengthen the
  9Cs
• that Iacocca identified as key to a managers
  success.

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Iacoccas 9 leader characteristics

• Iacocca identified nine leadership qualifications
• 9Cs!
• Curious, creative, can communicate, has
  character, courage, charisma, conviction, is
  competent and has common sense

He forgot CLEVER
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Being clever adds what to your skill set?

• I said that I wasnt clever.
• I was just noticing how things were, and that
  wasnt clever. That was just being observant.
• Being clever was when you looked at how things
  are
• and used the evidence to work out something new.
  
• (Mark Haddon, 2002)

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Where do ideas come from? Anywhere and
everywhere be inquisitive

• New ideas can come from anywhere and by accident
• Be open minded
• Can come from other disciplines and applied to
  your area of interest
• Get recharged away from work
• Starbucks?
• Airplane flights?
• Advertisements?

Edward Hopper Nighthawks, photo by R.W. Clark
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The Connect Effect Networking pays off in the
long run

• The connect effectbuild networks (easy to do)
  and maintain them (much harder to do!!)
• Brainstorming works because We are smarter than
  me!

http//images.businessweek.com/ss/06/02/social_net
working/source/1.htm
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Understand how a bureaucracy works

• Before you set out to speak truth to power, make
  sure those you tell can handle it.
• Know the system you are up against. Information
  is power.

A Few Good Men, Parody, Jack Nicholson
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• Always have a stretch goal
• Do not short-change your own ideas
• If you think you cant, you probably cant

(Stretch goals can bedefined as goals set above
current expectations but are difficult to
achieve)
Photo BNPS
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Kites rise highest against the wind - not with
it. (Winston
Churchill)
There is an Iron Law of Challenges