Mike Figliuolo – Page 78 – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

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Entries by Mike Figliuolo

How to Thrive in a World Without 30 Year Careers

July 30, 2012 /6 Comments/in Career, Training /by Mike Figliuolo

This ain’t your daddy’s or mommy’s business world anymore. I’m sure you’ve figured that out already. First of all, people use cell phones. This is a fact I’m constantly reminding my father of… “Dad, turn on your cell phone when you’re not home.” “Why? Then it will ring. I’m retired and I don’t want to be bothered by everyone.” “Dad, the only people who have your number are me, Mom, and my sister…” He still doesn’t get it… The career world he lived in has changed as well. Dad had a first career for 17 years at a large company that rhymes with AT&T (which makes his aversion to phones even more bizarre). After those wonderfully predictable pension-based years, it was a series of smaller “careers” – 6 years, 6 years, 3 years, 5 years, retirement. For him, it was no big deal. 5-6 years is plenty of time to get settled in a home and community. It’s not a huge issue to demonstrate progression in a “career” at a company in 5-6 years and to move after that. But the world continues to change. For those of us in the workplace, we’re part of a new dynamic. Let’s spend a little time with Roger Daltrey “talkin’ bout my generation.”

What Zappos Can Teach You About Competing and Winning

July 25, 2012 /2 Comments/in Books, Customer Service, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Strategy, Training /by Mike Figliuolo

It’s an honor and a privilege to bring you some thoughts from bestselling author Dr. Joseph Michelli (author of The Zappos Experience and The Starbucks Experience) on how to reduce the risk of becoming a commodity. Enough of me… here’s Joseph. Every business is at risk of becoming a commodity. So how is it that some travel agents still thrive after the advent of Priceline and Travelocity? Why do some companies maintain premium pricing while similar businesses have to resort to discounting to attract price sensitive consumers? And the most important question of all, how can YOU assure that YOUR business doesn’t fall into the commodization trap? The recent recession has only reinforced the economic truth that brands that “wow” customers – thrive and survive! Conversely, brands that simply satisfy consumers are at the risk of extinction! While the lessons, I’m sharing here could’ve just as easily been drawn from my books about Starbucks, Ritz-Carlton, the Pike Place Fish Market, or the UCLA Health System, I’ll offer insights and tools courtesy of Zappos (The Zappos Experience: 5 Principles to Inspire, Engage and WOW). Zappos is an online retailer who defied the odds and built an Internet empire, initially as a virtual shoe store and now expanding its inventory well beyond shoes alone. Zappos has always charged top dollar for its products and has succeeded primarily because they innovated an experience that consistently exceeds the expectations of customers, vendors, and people who simply encounter the brand. To help you appreciate how Zappos might serve as a provocative benchmark for your customer experience, let me cover the 5 principles outlined in The Zappos Experience:

Two Ways You Can Get Promoted

July 24, 2012 /8 Comments/in Career /by Mike Figliuolo

So which exercise do you prefer – push-ups or pull-ups? Push-ups are so basic and easy. Back in my “in shape” days it was no problem to knock out a hundred or so in a shot. Pull-ups? They can be a bear. The funny thing is, in business, push-ups are much harder to do. Of course I’m speaking about two ways to get promoted. As usual, I’m speaking in tongues. I’ll explain, but first let me set some context. Many folks spend a lot of time figuring out how to get promoted into that next role. They do a great job of goal setting and execute the plan in an exemplary way. Despite all this, the promotion proves elusive. At that point, they start wondering what they need to do to get to the next level. Their three options become clear: wait (not attractive), do a pull-up, or do a push-up. Waiting Clearly waiting isn’t exactly the long suit of someone seeking out a long awaited promotion. Over time, that strategy becomes frustrating and eventually they’ll depart the organization in search of greener pastures. Let’s keep things simple and take the waiting approach off the table because if you’re reading this blog, you’re probably a real go-getter.

Fundamentals for Defining a Positive Organizational Culture

July 18, 2012 /6 Comments/in Communications, Guest Blogger, Leadership /by Mike Figliuolo

Today’s post is by Seth Cargiuolo who I *know* is a smart guy ‘cuz he’s a Chief Knowledge Officer. Here’s Seth… Defining a culture is easy: as I’ve written about before, it’s what you do and who you promote. Working that culture into something that you want or changing a pre-existing culture, and then maintaining it, is not easy – no matter what people try to tell you. Whether it’s a company, a department, or a project team, you’re going to struggle to build and maintain the culture you want. Getting people aligned with your vision requires change, which, as we all know, people tend to resist. They do so for a variety of reasons – even people who are actually “change-friendly” sometimes can’t help themselves from hindering progress. There are thousands of resources available to leaders who wish to embark on a change process, ranging from high-priced consulting firms to free e-books, all of which will provide a variety of strategies, frameworks, tactics, benchmarks, and advice on how to do it. I’m not here to say that any of those avenues is better or worse than any other. That’s a fight for another day. What I am going to do is give you three fundamental steps you absolutely need to take before any of those options even have a prayer of working. How many times have you heard the phrase “culture change starts with you“? There’s a reason everyone repeats this mantra: because it’s true. If you’re reading this you probably already get that leadership is about modeling behavior, encouraging and supporting your followers, and reinforcing good behaviors – not just telling folks what to do, or inflicting yet another “initiative” on your people. So how can you start building the change yourself? Here are The Three C’s, words […]

Team Development is Not a Straight Line Drive

July 11, 2012 /3 Comments/in Guest Blogger, Leadership, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Today’s guest post is by Sean Glaze, an expert in team-building and coaching. You can read more about him at the end of the post. Here’s Sean… As a basketball coach, I used to talk to my team about the importance of the straight line drive when we focused on offensive team development. The idea is to get your ball-handlers to attack the basket without making a “banana cut” that might allow the defender to recover and get back in front of the ball. Once you beat the man with your move to the rim, your job is to go in as straight a line as possible. Obviously, all defenders are normally taught to push out all drives as wide as possible and to get the ball to move further to the side instead of in a straight line to the goal. The team who most often won that battle of straight line drive attempts usually won the game. But as much as our coaching staff would talk about straight line drives in regards to developing our guards and their dribbling skills, the concept of straight line drives outside of the basketball court is a dangerous fallacy. People too often believe that success is a straight line drive. They want to assume that you start at point A and go immediately to point B without the distraction or bother of anything other than a direct path. But success is not found by traveling a straight line drive.

What I Learned from a Day Without the Interwebz

July 3, 2012 /0 Comments/in Business Toolkit /by Mike Figliuolo

We had a wicked storm blast through town the other night. Trees were snapped in half like the Jolly Green Giant with a bad case of ‘roid rage walked down the street. Then it happened – the beautiful iridescent “DATA” light on my cable modem went out. NOOOOOO! My fears were confirmed when I went to turn on the cable and watch some Storage Wars – the Interwebz was down! I panicked and ran around the house in my pajamas screaming at the top of my lungs. After I accepted my (hopefully temporary) Internet-less reality, I assessed the situation and began my plan of action to keep my business running. I learned four critical lessons any business leader should know during a time where your business is not fully operational. Hopefully you can learn from my experience so you’re properly prepared to handle a shutdown crisis like the harrowing one I’ve endured. I’ve generalized these lessons to apply to any kind of business that loses a key capability during a crisis (e.g., machine downtime, loss of personnel due to a strike, inclement weather catastrophes, etc.). 1. Plan ahead. If there are tasks you can automate or contingency plans that you can put in place, build them now. This blog post is late. Normally they post on Monday mornings at 7AM. Usually I have a few posts slotted to run weeks in advance of the post date. Those go up automatically whether my Internet connection is live or not. This time around I hadn’t planned ahead and when the net went down, I couldn’t deliver my product on time. For your business, you can prevent some of these issues pretty easily.

Organizational Change is Like a Wet Diaper

June 27, 2012 /3 Comments/in Communications, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Today’s post is by Marty Stanley, author of Get Out of B.E.D. and the newest member of the thoughtLEADERS team. The question: “What do organizational change and wet diapers have in common?” may not be a question that organizational leaders would consider asking themselves or their teams. But it is a question that could truly provide a thought provoking discussion and result in some changed behaviors, if they are willing to think differently. So what do they have in common? (insert drum roll): both organizational change and wet diapers are uncomfortable! The difference is that most people in organizations hate change and babies love it… and babies like to be changed frequently! But most good organizational leaders and corporate soldiers will say they “embrace change,” “foster change and innovation,” or “champion change.” Unfortunately, their day-to-day behaviors, operational processes and reward structures often times support the status quo. I’m going to suggest that organizations need to remember the wet diaper and act like an adult and take action to change things especially when it’s uncomfortable. Thinking inside the box, following long standing, established organizational protocol and chains of command are often what gets rewarded. And in some organizations, the mere mention of change can be a career limiting move. So why would someone rock the boat? Why would anyone willingly champion change that will most likely, be met with overt or passive resistance or good old fashioned lip-service?

4 Tricks to Nail the Interview

June 25, 2012 /2 Comments/in Career /by Mike Figliuolo

Interviewing for a new job sucks. It’s stressful, scary, mercurial, and confusing. Whether you’re interviewing for a job at a new company or you’re vying for a bigger role in your existing organization, interviewing is still a painful process. That said, there are a few basic tricks for nailing the interview and increasing the likelihood you’ll land the role. For the sake of speed, I’m going to skip over all the resume stuff as I’ve covered it in depth many times in posts like THIS and THIS and THIS and THIS (I told you I’ve covered the subject a lot). Remember – all a resume does is get you invited to the party. Once you’re there it’s up to you to nail the interview. Surprisingly, not a lot of what I’m going to share is earth shattering. That said, I’ve seen people blow it on these four things more often than a junkyard dog gets fleas. I’m not promising that if you do these four things that you’ll get the job but I will promise if you don’t do them you don’t really stand a chance of getting the role. Write your stories You’re going to get asked some pretty predictable questions in the interview. You can either blather on and spew some rambling stupidity from your mouth or you can offer a well-rehearsed and clearly thought out story. I suggest having ten to twelve stories at the ready. Your stories should have four major components each:

5 Steps for Tackling Your Role as a New Leader

June 20, 2012 /6 Comments/in Guest Blogger, Leadership /by Mike Figliuolo

Today’s guest post is by Carolyn Knight. Few of us are natural-born leaders. When most of us are placed in a leadership position, we have to spend some time learning how to effectively lead, mobilize, and inspire people. In order to become better at any job, you have to learn new things and be open to growth and change. This is especially true when you’re given some sort of leadership role. If you’re new to a leadership role and trying to figure out how to become a better leader (or if you just need to brush up on your leadership skills a bit), keep reading. Here are 5 things you can do to become a better, smarter, more effective leader: 1. Learn to influence, rather than force When you force employees or other people you’re leading to do things, they often resent you for it. They feel powerless under your leadership, and they become bitter. Once they become bitter, they do whatever it is that you’re forcing them do to halfheartedly, and they keep their eyes open for other opportunities that will allow them to break free from your dictator-style leadership. As a leader, you should strive to influence those in your charge to work better and try out different ways of doing things. You do this with open, honest conversation and by explaining why you think certain things should be done certain ways. 2. Be transparent

8 Great Tools for Building Your Blog

June 18, 2012 /62 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Innovation, Social Media /by Mike Figliuolo

I get the irony of blogging about blogging but given I already talk about talking, I’m okay with that. This isn’t a topic I typically hit on but as the thoughtLEADERS Blog continues to grow and thrive and I get people asking me about what works and what doesn’t, I figure it’s worthwhile to dedicate some airtime to the topic of building your blog following and turning it into real value. No, I’m not Chris Brogan and this isn’t going to be some massive SEO/SEM treatise. This is nothing more than a list of the best tools, techniques, and widgets I’ve learned and used over the years. I use and believe in these tools and I hope you’ll get as much value out of them as I have. First, allow me to spell out some social media principles and beliefs so you understand how and why I use the tools I do. Outposts: I believe in outposts (e.g., twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook) serving as a first point of contact for someone to run into me and my business. From those outposts, the primary goal is to get folks to come here to the blog or our main website. I always want to build the conversation and relationship on “my turf” so to speak. Those outposts also allow us to interact with folks in their “natural element” so we’re in front of them when they’re looking for content. If you want to see examples of our outposts, check us out on Twitter at @Figliuolo, @thoughtLEADERS, and @1PieceofPaper. On Facebook we’re at thoughtLEADERS and One Piece of Paper. Make it Fun: Entertain first. Engage second. Sell third. No one is coming to a boring-assed business blog. If you want their attention, entertain your audience. Do things like talk about your topic of interest […]

8 Great Reasons for Pursuing a Life of Training

June 13, 2012 /5 Comments/in Guest Blogger, Training /by Mike Figliuolo

Today’s guest blogger is Tim Hoff – an expert in the field of ongoing training. Here’s Tim: No matter what your job title is or what industry you work in, ongoing training is essential to your continued career growth. While you may be an expert at your current job or in a particular area, continuing education can help prepare you for a variety of experiences and help you land more opportunities. If you’re not yet completely sold on the idea of getting more career training, here are ten excellent reasons to help you understand its importance: 1. Enhanced skills. At the root of continuing education is the desire to improve job skills. People come into the business world from a variety of different backgrounds, and ongoing training gives employees the chance to pick up abilities that they may have missed in their formal education. On a personal level, you may find that you lack specific marketing skills, for example, or that you wish to improve your leadership abilities. Continuing education, whether through in-house training, seminars, or professional organizations, gives you a chance to round out your skill set. 2. Job security. Employers retain those employees who can demonstrate continued value to the company. You should continually look for ways to improve your performance in your current position as well as opportunities to take on new responsibilities. Getting more education can help you gain the skills you need to be ready for changes at your organization or in the industry. 3. More options. More education will give you more and better options for advancement at your organization or changing careers. On average, employees change jobs or careers more than 10 times by the time they’re 40. Improving your educational outlook can help you become eligible for promotions and make you more […]