Did you watch this video?
http://markmccluretoday.com/video-email-to-your-ceo
I assume none of my readers have ever sent such a career limiting email!
I’m certainly not encouraging it in any situation where you are still performing an employee role.
But I do recommend you send it in one particular case – when you are the CEO that I speak of.
So, if you did show up at 3pm each day, what might happen?
To find out, I recommend that all “career experience owners” complete this 5 minute drill:
Watch this short video.
There’ll be a test tomorrow…
– Mark McClure
Well, it says here that:
“Mark McClure took up the challenge and successfully completed the Challengers Trophy held in Mid Wales 29 May to 1 June 1991″.
I’ve got the certificate in front of me. Honestly, I really do.
And the medal is hanging from the whiteboard on my wall – it means that much to me.
Has your career ever included working as part of a fantastic team – with a group of people that you feel more than just a professional affiliation?
Ever wondered how that comes about and why it’s generally so fleeting?
Yes, it bugs the heck out of me too – mainly because I only experienced it twice in my career so far.
In 1991 and in 2004.
Employees: When’s the last time you selected and then attended a training course paid for by your employer?
Business Owners: When’s the last time you invested money in your own education?
For me, both questions are linked because looking back on time spent as an employee, I recall passing up several opportunities to take first class training in a business skills area.
Why?
Because I was “too busy”.
And now as a business owner, I can see the real value such knowledge would have delivered.
Still, all is not lost because I didn’t begin this venture just to be buried in operating multiple specialist functions -that’s what staff and contractors are for…
One skill set I am glad I did get trained in was Project Management (PM).
Back in early 2001 I saw an email about going on some PM training for Prince2.
You can read all about the course syllabus at the link below – in fact it was an Xansa instructor who came out to Tokyo and gave the course.
http://www.xansatraining.com/prince2-practitioner.php(Oct 2011 Update: This site is no more! Do a search for “Prince 2 Practitioner” )
Signing up would mean a week out of work, some after class book study and a written exam at the end of the week.
The temptation to say, “nah, too much work to catch up later” was there.
However, this was one occasion where a supportive management and learning culture made a subtle but real difference – as they actually encouraged me to go on it. Hurray!
Attention all managers – please reread the previous paragraph!
And so off we went, to the swanky Tokyo Century Hyatt hotel no less, where the course was great – and the lunches even better. (I can remember struggling to stay awake between 2-3pm most days!)
Anyway, I completed the course, took the test and received my Prince2 Practitioner status some weeks later.
The really cool thing was being able to apply the knowledge gained on lots of IT projects over the next 5 years.
And most important of all – that very same skill set is still applicable in running projects in my own Internet business.
A real honest-to-goodness transferable skill!
Why, they’re as valuable as gold dust these days.
Alas, some form of laziness must have got the better of me because I didn’t renew my certification status before July 2006. And so I am no longer a registered Prince2 practitioner to the outside world. But I am still using the skills on a regular basis.
I leave you with this challenge:
Find a course / book/ CD / mp3 which teaches a skill you are interested in and have a use for.
Then make a business case for it, get the funding and just do it.
You never know when it might come in handy one day…
(And yes, all you 1980s music fans, the post title’s inspired by a Steve Winwood song. Check out “Night Train” if you want some music that’ll be transferable centuries hence imho.)
– Mark McClure
I paid my money and took the online career anchors test I mentioned in this post:
http://markmccluretoday.com/career-anchors-do-you-know-what-yours-are
It took about 15 minutes to complete and was in multiple-choice format.
Here are my top 3 anchors as reported by the test:
And here were my top 3 from a few years back while in paid employment.
The test results were included as part of a 6 page PDF report.
I also downloaded a 72 page workbook written by Prof. Schein that goes into additional detail on career anchors and their relationship with career development and the characteristics of jobs that attract or are a good ‘match’ for our top anchor(s).
Since I’m now running a business, I will put completing this workbook on my own training and development plan – most likely to be done between Christmas and start of Japanese New Year Holidays.
And if I think there is interesting and useful material to share with you, then I’ll do so in a future blog update.
In the meantime, it’s back to focusing on the two primary activities of this business – sales and marketing.
Have you worked out what’s on offer yet?
– Mark McClure