Carrying the Flame – Leadership Seniors Transition, Leadership Program’s Inaugural Session
The end-in-mind of these learning sessions is to: prepare the graduating Leadership seniors for a highly successful transition into their professional career and provide the early foundations for rapid and distinguished ascent on their career journey. The sessions will draw on the rich resources and learning experiences of its distinguished Alumni, Leadership Advisory Council Member and Leadership Program supporters, friends and families.
Our Illustrious Alumni:
Al Cooley, Class of 2007
Ian Mehok, Class of 2011
Kristine Scotto, Class of 2009
Vijar Kohli, Class of 2011
Mike shared the following as an introduction. The points were taken from a slide presentation by a friend at ADP:
5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I was Starting my Career…
- It’s ok if you don’t yet know what you want to be “when you grow up.”
- Knowing what you don’t like to do is just as important as knowing what you do like to do.
- Always do your best, even if you hate what you are doing.
- If you have stopped learning, it’s time to find something new.
- “Here is a simple but powerful rule: Always give people more than what they expect to get.” – Nelson Boswell
Our Learnings:
What are the things leaders do to pave the way for a highly successful transition and career?
Differentiate yourself – make your brand. There is a lot of competition out there and you need to stand out from the others. Determine how you will differentiate yourself from the competition. Create a brand that everyone will want.
Nobody will give you anything. They will only give it to you if they don’t want to do it. If you want something in the business world, you have to and get it yourself.
There are opportunities out there (e.g. a mentoring program people didn’t know of), you need to seek them out and find them.
Always put forth your best effort and be positive. People that are negative are known. They bring people down. People who are positive attract people and are know for it. You are labeled quickly – it takes only one person to say someone is unprofessional. You need to do it every day, even if you don’t feel like it.
You always need to make the best of it. It’s okay to not love what you are doing.
Have passion. Do what you want to do. Even when you are graduating, figure it out.
Use your time creatively. You have a 168 hours a week. There will be a steep learning curve . You need to figure out your job and also Time is one thing you will never get back.
Keep your mind open. You don’t know what will lead where. You could choose to be in landscaping tomorrow. You are finding out about yourself. Everything changes every day. Utilize your time and knowledge.
Leaders on top want fresh thinking – don’t be afraid to speak up. Show the value you can bring to them and the organization. They are not all stodgy. You will find some to be cool. You still want to act professionally.
You are on stage 7 x 24. Everything you do, people notice and form an opinion about you. People will take notice of the slightest things, even if you don’t think it’s important – e.g. people who come in early, on time, or late. Question: how do I want to be perceived – you brand. Keep pushing toward the person you want to be. People remember these little things – things that you don’t realize and can make or break you on the job.
Beware of: Excessive profanity – unacceptable, but people do it. Don’t!
You have to be doing something that you enjoy.
What does your social life look like?
Social life – new friends or college friends. When you graduate, this dissipates. It takes an effort. You find out who your real friends are. You are very busy and it is tough to get together. Social life is a lot different. You are so tired. You don’t have the energy to go out. E.g. When you went to high school and now it college, the close friends you will keep while those not so close… Work life takes so much of your time. Maybe if I have energy, I will go out Friday night. The good thing about your social life, you have money to drink and eat at nicer restaurants and clubs. Financially, you can do it.
You may not have a lot of days off. I don’t have time to visit friends. I am sitting home in my apartment on my own. The little things – going to the bank, getting a haircut, grocery shopping – they are not open when I have time. You start planning your day around getting the trivial tasks done because the rest of the time you are working or too tired to do anything.
Transit to the city isn’t fun. People say: you remind me of my daughter. People weren’t taking me seriously. You have to prove yourself, and go above and beyond.
One of the advantages of a large company – a lot of programs (e.g. mentoring, workouts) – nice to have those other things to do.
Holiday parties – very interesting scenarios. Open bars, nice, food, nice places in the city – not like Cryons for $30 – how people interact outside of the office. Proceed with caution. Some people come straight from work; some people change at the office and wear things you would never expect. People think that they are out with friends on Saturday night. People talk. Be aware of them. People get drunk and they don’t know who they meet. They totally miss the networking point. The parties are on a Thursday. You don’t want to come in on a Friday and be the talk of the town.
You are not the best friends with your work friends. You never know who is scouting you. They are not your friends at college. What you say is what will be repeated. It is a professional environment from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed.
The real world is very competitive. Everyone sees what other people do. If you show it, they will see. If you don’t drink, people will say you are in control while if someone is drinking and cursing, people will make a judgment about you. At the end-of-year people are assessed. It is not like college where everyone can get an ‘A’. There is a limited pool. People see you do something and think differently, you will be branded forever.
You always need to have a second answer to things. In college, there is one right answer. In business, you need to anticipate and have a second answer or solution to a problem. Don’t make it up! They will catch you so fast and you are dead. People go back and check. My year-end review will be worse. Never lie. You will never know when it will come back and bite you. Find a solution. Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. Once it is in your shop, you own it. You own it.
Performance review – I find it to be an important, validating experience. What I do during the year, gets recognized at the end of year. It’s a time also to hear my blind spots – an opportunity learn. It is a positive thing. Don’t take it personally. In college you get grades, presentations, feedback. New in business you don’t get any feedback. This was a big adjustment.
It is important during the year to track what you do in terms of accomplishments. Sometimes the people you work for don’t know what you have done so that you can come to those conversations and say what you did. Always keep your emails… a trail of what you did and how you did it. You forget what you have done. Archive them.
Email etiquette is important. People things put in email are ridiculous. They leave a track. What you put in an email, make sure you are comfortable that you would be okay with it being on the Wall Street journal.
Everything I do will be audited – my firm, my boss.
Work is a contact sport. I will interact with people – I break the ice with people. Go out of the way to introduce yourself to people. People are shocked that people don’t/haven’t reached out to them. People know you because you have networked, spoken with people – you establish a brand. My year-end review will not be that he only spoke with people in his year, but he spoke with people two tiers up. Promotions are about acceptance into a club, so networking in and out of the office is critical. Don’t be afraid to walk up and introduce yourself to someone.
Listen and remember things about people – important in networking. When someone tells me something about themselves, I make a note on a notecard (someone son’s name and what he does) – then you play it back and people are impressed that you remembered. It is the small things like that people remember. People feels like you listen to them… you have a connection with them.
Networking – for people with and without jobs. Get your name out there. Maintain contacts… and sustain them. Networking doesn’t stop. It is continuous.
Don’t make work 100%. Find a life outside. You won’t get more than two weeks vacation. Do something when you graduate. Don’t just work. You need different activities – pick up a hobby. Don’t be that boring person.
Session Learnings:
I like the open discussion.
Change the format – open it up to Juniors. “For senior I can give you guidance; for the juniors I can change their life.” Have a Junior session in spring.
Come up with an agenda based on learnings from previous sessions – what was covered; what needs to be covered.
The Seniors don’t know what they don’t know – need Alumni and Executive input.
Challenge the alumni to come up with a theme – bring someone new or bring someone
Alumni bring in their senior executives – not Council executives, but executives from their business.