Leadership

This Veterans Day, Thank a Veteran by Offering a Vet a Job

November 8, 2013 By Marta Goertzen

On October 15, 2013, President Obama awarded the Medal of Honor to Army Capt. William Swenson for his heroic actions during the 2009 Battle of Ganjgal in eastern Afghanistan. Captain Swenson was an Afghan Border Police advisor in support of 1st Battalion 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Bridgade Combat Team, of the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) at the time of the battle.

According to the Medal of Honor description, he pulled numerous comrades out of danger in an ambush. Much of the battle and, particularly, Capt. Swenson’s heroics were captured on video thanks to a video camera on a colleague’s helmet.

Captain Swenson is re-enlisting. After leaving the Army in 2011, he could not find a job. That’s right. This hero, who risked life and limb for the USA and his comrades, never found a job when he returned home. Unbelievable. According to an article in the Washington Post, Capt. Swenson is single and living in Seattle where he spends free time alone in the mountains. He can’t find a job.

On this Veterans Day, we thank Captain William D. Swenson for his service and bravery. You are truly an example to us all of exemplary leadership.

We encourage everyone in a position to hire to consider hiring a veteran. The person you hire could be like Captain Swenson, a true leader.

Millennial’s are different – Vive la difference!

October 15, 2013 By Marta Goertzen

Katherine-Marissa-Burik I guess it is inevitable that people of different ages have different perspectives. Life events shape perspectives and priorities. Generations experience events from unique perspectives. This is particularly important these days since we have four generations in the workforce today: the Greatest (born in the 30’s), Baby boomers (born since the 40’s), and Gen X (born since the 60’s).

According to Jeanne Meister, in an article by Rawn Shah in Forbes, we will soon have five generations since folks are retiring later these days. He says, “In prior years, we have had three or four generations at a time with some but not vast differences in work behavior.”

The fun part is that, this time, there are big differences between generational perspectives and behavior. It is critical to understand others’ perspectives.

I was born at the tail end of the Baby Boomer generation, coming to age in the 70’s with Watergate and the end of the Vietnam War. My daughter is 25 – smack dab in the middle of the Millennial generation. She was 13 when the World Trade Center went down on her birthday. I think these kids are the most interesting generation of all.

I read with interest the info graphics “Maximizing Millennials” by Brandon Weber. We all need to pay attention to Millennials. There are so many of them that they are really pushing the average worker age down. By 2014, 36% of the U.S. workforce will be Millennial, increasing to 46% just six years later. This very diverse group of people will have a huge impact on the workplace.

These folks are very tech savvy. I hear older folks (Boomers) complain that young people don’t talk to each other anymore and that they always seem to be checking their cell phones. Why text when you can pick up the phone and talk to someone! These are the same kids who had the TV on while listening to music doing homework. Turns out, they switch attention back and forth between media platforms at work 27 times per hour on average compared to only 17 times for previous generations.

So yes, they can be concentrating and very productive looking at a computer, checking email, texting, and listening to their iPod simultaneously. I can’t get my Boomer husband to answer a question while watching a football game. It is not necessary to understand how Millennial’s do this. We must accept that they can.

Millennial’s don’t make their job their entire life. They are motivated by more than money. When I was 25, I wanted a job where I could be respected, get good pay and benefits, and make friends. My life revolved around my job. Not so much with this generation. They value meaningful work over high pay or a sense of accomplishment from work.

They want to learn and grow with a company. In the article, “65% said the opportunity for personal development was the most influential factor in their current job.” They will leave if they don’t see opportunities for personal development. A talented friend, Katie, just left a very good job for a promotion to another company after three years. She said she didn’t see the opportunities even though she had been promoted twice in three years and was highly regarded.

They want to lead. According to the survey, “92% of surveyed 21 to 24 year olds felt entrepreneurship education as vital in the new economy and job market.” This struck home when my daughter announced she planned to attend an MBA program focusing on entrepreneurship.

Millennial’s outnumber Boomers and soon will outnumber us in the workplace. Their values reflect the way we raised them – to be independent, curious, and to grow.

We raised them this way. Now we need to figure out how to work with them! This will be fun.

NEXT: Advice on how to work with different generations.

We remember 9/11

September 11, 2013 By Marta Goertzen

World-Trade-Center Everyone has their own memory of the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001.

Recently we had the opportunity to visit the new 9/11 Memorial in New York City.

It is a moving monument to those who lost their lives, those who came to their rescue and rebuilding better and stronger.

Memorial The two monuments to the North and South Towers are deep pits with water gushing downward in recognition of those who lost their lives, now buried deep below the surface.

The new World Trade Center tower is a beautiful tribute to American resilience.

What will you do today to remember? How do you reflect the American spirit?

Remember Dad on Father’s Day

June 14, 2013 By Katherine Burik

My father was a school principal, a talented musician, an artist and archer, a learned man, a woodworker, an optimist, a simple man, a messy man. He laughed a lot and was curious about everything. He built boats and rode motorcycles. He opened the door to talk to Mormon missionaries because he enjoyed a good debate. He loved his family.

Other people might have seen a different perspective from where they stood. That is ok.

We all have a lot of dimensions. We see what we want to see. We remember what we want to remember. People are doing the same about you too. What do people see when they look at you? What will they remember?

I miss my Dad a lot. I think about him frequently and wonder what he would think about how my life is turning out. I am not defined by my job but I am defined by my character and the way I behave. I try to be curious, optimistic, and energetic just like my old man.

On this Father’s Day, take a moment to thank that multi-dimensional, probably imperfect man who loved and cared for you while providing an example of how to approach the world.

Thanks Daddy!

Katherine

‘The Compound Effect’ by Darren Hardy – A Book for the New-Job Seeker

June 4, 2013 By Marta Goertzen

If you believe that small, relatively insignificant decisions will make the difference in a successful job change, you are smarter than the average bear. And, you ‘get’ intuitively what the “The Compound Effect” by Darren Hardy explains in plausible stories and steps in a book designed to teach you how become ‘successful.’

I met Darren Hardy by subscribing to Success magazine. He is the publisher and hosts the CD that comes with each monthly printed edition. He tapes interviews with some of the guest authors or subjects of articles for the month. Every two or three months, a guest congratulates Darren on his ‘brilliant book, one of the most influential books I have ever read.’

I discovered that his guests were not just making nice with the host. If you believe in personal goal-setting, and every successful professional person I know lives by goals and a plan, you’ll profit from the message. This book is a very readable self-helper, interesting stories woven into a process message of habits leading to momentum leading to influence, and attaining large goals.

I hold some reservations about the value of “success” strictly in terms of material success, though. “Be anything you like,” Thomas Merton once said, “be madmen, drunks, and bastards of every shape and form, but at all costs avoid one thing: success.”

He has a point. There is a risk that the real person gets lost in the pursuit of material success when that is your sole or primary goal. Leading a life that matters, though, can be very good for the soul, and can include a sometimes surprising degree of material success. And I must confess, Darren Hardy’s carefully crafted checklists and strategies work for me, and are good for the wallet, and good for the soul.

‘The Compound Effect’ demonstrates that smart daily choices lead to energizing habits which compound into a momentum of good things. The good habit, for example, of daily gratitude for your life, lays a foundation of receptivity to opportunity. If you choose personal growth activities, (like speaking to professional groups about interviewing techniques and hiring practices), as opposed to being a spectator in life (like watching Indians baseball games), you will find yourself to be ‘lucky’ (actually co-authoring interesting e-books!) If you build a rhythm to your life based on healthy habits, you’ll influence and achieve far more than you imagined five years ago.

One of Hardy’s more powerful perspectives is that ‘success is something you attract by who you become.’ It all starts with an answer to ‘who do I need to become?’ His warning: you can commit to and do ‘correct activities’ and still not achieve what it is you seek, if you do not first see yourself in a different light. Success is both a seeing and a doing thing; the seeing part, for Darren, comes first. Getting a clear picture of who you will be next makes that reality happen.

So what does this book have to do with realizing your great new gig? Everything! If you are planning for new work or a new job or a change in directions for your career, go get it now! ‘The Compound Effect’ by Darren Hardy!