Archives for October 2007

Inspirational Quotations #193

October 30, 2007 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Only necessity understood, and bondage to the highest is identical with true freedom.
—William James (American Philosopher)

What love we’ve given, we’ll have forever. What love we fail to give, will be lost for all eternity.
—Leo Buscaglia (American Motivational Speaker)

It takes as much time to wish as to plan.
—Unknown

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
—Mark Twain (American Humorist)

True wisdom is less presuming than folly. The wise man doubteth often, and changeth his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubteth not; he knoweth all things but his own ignorance.
—Akhenaten (Egyptian Monarch)

We need to learn to set our course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship.
—Omar Bradley (American Military Leader)

I touch the future, I teach.
—Christa McAuliffe (American Teacher)

Laughter is the shock absorber that softens and minimizes the bumps of life.
—Anonymous

Either I will find a way, or I will make one.
—Philip Sidney (English Soldier, Poet, Courtier)

You Have a Pile of Reading Material at Your Desk?

October 28, 2007 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

In this ‘information overload’ era, you confront a sizeable quantity of reading material everyday: books, magazines, newspapers, memos, reports, and so forth. You are incessantly pressed for time. Consequently, you probably have a stack of reading material accumulating at a corner of your desk.

Here are four habits to help manage your reading material.

Preview

Preview memos, magazine- and newsletter-articles. Scrutinize the table of contents, and for each article that may seem interesting, scan through section-headings, introductory and concluding paragraphs, illustrations and keywords in boldface or italics. If you ought to read an article, tear-away or photocopy the relevant pages and add them to a ‘To Read’ folder.
Preview books before buying or borrowing a book. Check reviews on Amazon.com or other websites. Scan the jacket cover, table of contents and chapter headings. After obtaining the book, focus on reading only chapters and sections that are relevant to your interests.

Organize

Discard old reading material. If your reading material expands into a disorganized—and perhaps intimidating—pile, consider discarding the older articles, likely at the bottom of your pile. The content of these articles may no longer be relevant. In addition, you will probably never get to reading them.
Classify for priority. Assess the importance of every article and organize your reading material into two or three groups. This way, if your reading stack gets unmanageable, you may discard the least-important group.

Expand Comprehension

Read with purpose. Throughout your reading, ask yourself questions such as “What are the key details discussed here? How are these details relevant? What are the take-away ideas? What can I learn? How can I change?”
Read the first and last lines of each paragraph to help grasp the premise of the entire paragraph. Check the summary or highlights first.
Study tables, illustrations, graphics and charts carefully. Characteristically, these visual elements contain comprehensive information that may summarize entire sections of text.

Stay On Top

Carry your ‘To Read’ folder in your briefcase or bag so you can read while waiting for an appointment with your dentist or at an airport waiting to board your flight.
Set aside time for reading. Dedicate convenient times for reading activities and add these times to your calendar. Even brief periods of focused reading can be very productive.

Concluding Thoughts

In this fast-paced world, reading can be overwhelming. By prioritizing and adopting the above habits, you can make significant improvements to your ability to read more quickly and efficiently.

Inspirational Quotations #192

October 23, 2007 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Love doesn’t make the world go ’round; love is what makes the ride worthwhile.
—Franklin P. Jones

The greatest secret of success in life is for a person to be ready when their opportunity comes.
—Benjamin Disraeli (British Head of State)

Whatever expensive toy you give your little child, they will always like the box better.
—Olive Redmond

Humor is laughing at what you haven’t got when you ought to have it.
—Langston Hughes (American Novelist)

There is no rule more invariable than that we are paid for our suspicions by finding what we suspect.
—Henry David Thoreau (American Philosopher)

When we don’t speak up about something through cowardice we must remember, silence is not always golden, sometimes it’s just plain yellow.
—Unknown

We are, each of us, angels with only one wing. And we can only fly embracing each other.
—Luciano de Crescenzo

The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.
—Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus

A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. You must break out of your current comfort zone and become comfortable with the unfamiliar and the unknown.
—Denis Waitley (American Motivational Speaker)

Stephen King’s Tips for Writing Better

October 21, 2007 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Here are tips on writing from the celebrated science-fiction author Stephen King’s popular book “On Writing–A Memoir of the Craft.” The first third of this book is a short memoir of the prolific author and the second section, the namesake “On Writing,” is unadulterated inspiration for serious authors and anybody with an inclination to improve their written communication skills.

Get to the point. Do not waste your reader’s time with too much back-story, long intros or longer anecdotes about your life. Reduce the noise.
Write a draft. Then let it rest. King recommends that you crank out a first draft and then put it in your drawer to let it rest. This enables you to get out of the mindset you had when you wrote the draft and get a more detached and clear perspective on the text.
Cut down your text. When you revisit your text, it is time to kill your darlings and remove all the superfluous words and sentences. Removing will de-clutter your text and often get your message through with more clarity and a bigger emotional punch.
Be relatable and honest. One of the keys to doing that is to have an honest voice and honest characters with both bad and good sides to them. People we can relate to with all of their faults, passions, fears, weaknesses and good moments. Another key to being honest and relatable is keeping a conversational style.
Write a lot. To become a better writer you probably—and not so surprisingly – need to write more.

Communication is all about the audience: it is about directing the audience to identify with your point of view and comprehend the precise message you want to convey. The writing tips in Stephen King’s “On Writing” will help you focus on your message—be it in a speech, a blog post, an essay, or an email.

To echo the ideas summarized above, read my earlier blog article about beginning with the end: the most effective start to the communication process is to begin at the end and enumerate the outcome. List the conclusions the audience should draw from your effort. Setting a goal for your communication helps you collect and present ideas logically.

Inspirational Quotations #191

October 14, 2007 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

The crisis of yesterday is the joke of tomorrow.
—H. G. Wells (British Novelist)

A leader is someone who creates infectious enthusiasm.
—Ted Turner (American Businessperson)

Remember Yesterday
Dream of Tomorrow
But Live for Today.
—Anonymous

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.
—Helen Keller (American Author)

Remember yesterday, dream of tomorrow, but live for today.
—Anonymous

Chance is always powerful. – Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (Roman Poet)

Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.
—Vince Lombardi (American Sportsperson)

May you live all the days of your life.
—Irish Blessing

Pain is only weakness leaving your body, so don’t give up because it hurts keep going cause it makes you stonger.
—Unknown

There is no off position on the genius switch.
—David Letterman (American TV Personality)

Mentoring: The Best Advice You Can Offer

October 9, 2007 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

A newer employee recently approached you for advice on a particularly thorny personal problem she was facing at work. She had an idea for tackling her problem. You had discouraged her idea citing a couple of reasons and offered your own idea as the best solution to her problem. “Advice from years of experience,” you had added. She had nodded her head in agreement.

A couple of weeks later, you discover that she had disregarded your advice and pursued her original idea. You are now annoyed at her and grumble: “Such a waste of my time! Why do people come to me for advice when they don’t intend to pay attention to my ideas? Nobody seems to respect words of wisdom anymore.”

Does the above experience sound familiar? Aren’t we often all-too-eager to offer others advice?

In the above narrative, the newer employee may not have wanted to take the suggested approach—she followed her own idea to manage her problem. Herein is one fundamental reality about offering advice: people rarely listen to others’ advice if they see a contradiction in their advice. In other words, the best advice you can offer others is the advice that they come up with themselves.

Mary Kay Ash on the Art of Listening

Mary Kay Ash, American entrepreneur and founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics discusses the art of listening in her book ‘People Management.’

Some of the most successful people-managers are also the best listeners.

[One manager] had been hired by a large corporation to assume the role of sales manager. But he knew absolutely nothing about the specifics of the business. When salespeople would go to him for answers, there wasn’t anything he could tell them–because he didn’t know anything! Nonetheless, this man really knew how to listen. So no matter what they would ask him, he’d answer, “What do you think you ought to do?” They’d come up with a solution; he’d agree; and they’d leave satisfied. They thought he was fantastic. He taught me this valuable listening technique, and I have been applying it ever since.

Many of the problems I hear don’t require me to offer solutions. I solve most of them by just listening and letting the grieving party do the talking. If I listen long enough, the person will generally come up with an adequate solution.

Call for Action

When a person approaches you for advice, he/she may have some faint idea to tackle the problem at hand.

Or, the person has already developed an idea. He/she would like you to serve as a ‘sounding-board’ for the idea–to reinforce the idea and confirm that this approach is appropriate.

After listening attentively to the person’s thoughts, ask “What do you think you ought to do?” Skilfully, lead the thought-process and encourage him/her to develop the solution. With this buy-in, the person will more likely follow your—really, his/her own—advice.

Inspirational Quotations #190

October 8, 2007 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

No matter how much it has done for your mind,
your education has been a failure if it has failed to open your heart.
— Francis de Sales

What we all tend to complain about most in other people
are those things we don’t like about ourselves.
— William Wharton

Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.
— Muriel Strode

Love is not a feeling, it is a decision—to do the very best we can for the other person.
— Unknown

No man…can be a genius;
but all men have a genius,
to be served or disobeyed at their own peril.
— Ananda Coomaraswamy

If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy,
if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has
power to move you, if the simple things of nature have
a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive…
— Eleonora Duse

May there always be a smile on your face and laughter in your heart.
— Unknown

Deeds, not words shall speak me.
— John Fletcher

The aim of life is to live,
and to live means to be aware,
joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.
— Henry Miller

Work joyfully and peacefully, knowing that right thoughts
and right efforts will inevitably bring about right results.
— James Lane Allen

Interviewing Skills #4: Avoid too many ‘I-I-I’ or ‘We-We-We’ answers

October 7, 2007 By Nagesh Belludi 1 Comment

A job candidate that I once interviewed claimed credit for a new customer-service strategy across her company. Following the interview, in speaking with her references, I discovered that the candidate was responsible just for implementation of a corporate-wide initiative only in her particular facility. She had done this job exceedingly well; however, the initiative was not her idea, nor was the new IT-system installed to support this initiative, as she had claimed. Further, her work was restricted to her location only. Clearly, the candidate had overstated her achievements. She had likely used too many ‘I-I-I’ answers.

One of the persistent problems with the job interview process is that candidates tend to exaggerate their achievements in their résumés and in interview discussions. Interviewing is, therefore, one of the toughest managerial-tasks: in the 30-or-45 minutes of a face-to-face interview or a telephone interview, it is very difficult to identify specifics of a candidate’s achievements and place them in a border context. A job candidate can easily distinguish himself or herself by helping the interviewer with this challenge.

Avoid Too Many ‘I-I-I’ Answers

In the modern organisation, a lot of work, and consequently, success, is a function of circumstances—of opportunities available and teamwork. Success is often about being in the right place, at a right time, with the right people and doing what is right.

When interviewing, distinguish yourself by clearly demonstrating an understanding of the role of respective contexts in your projects and their successes. Justify your achievements while acknowledging others’ contributions. Use constructs such as “the marketing manager had this great idea. I teamed-up with him, conceptualised the idea and executed the new initiatives in my engineering organisation.”

Too many ‘We-We-We’ Answers are Bad Too

On the other hand, interviewers from specific backgrounds tend to use too many we-answers. Cultural upbringing may encourage these candidates to display humility, be modest in discussing achievements and consequently avoid I-answers where possible.

I can think about numerous instances when I have requested interviewees to stop using we-answers and describe achievements specifically in terms of what the candidate did–by using the I-answers.

Balance is Key

Acknowledging the circumstances and clarifying context of successes helps interviewers develop a broader perspective of your achievements and understand your credentials easily. By carefully balancing the I-answers with we-answers, you can

demonstrate humility and respect for the contributions of team members
establish the bounds of your contributions and claim credit you deserve for your achievements.

Interviewing Skills #3: Avoid Second-Person Answers

October 1, 2007 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Consider the interview-question “Tell me about a time when you were criticized. How did you react?”

Or, a poorly-worded equivalent: “How do you handle criticism?”

In response to such questions, job-candidates frequently answer in the second-person: “When you are criticized, you need to … Instead of getting defensive, you must listen and understand the significance … Ask how you can improve ….”

Narrative Styles in Communication

Best Answers use the First-Person

In answering interview questions, the best way to impress an interviewer is to relay your credentials and accomplishments in terms of personal success stories—first-person answers alone achieve this effect. Use constructs such as “I did this …,” “my team discovered that …,” and so on.

Answering questions in the second-person amounts to advising the interviewer–that can be a turn-off.

And, by using the second-person, you sound disconnected from the topic of your answer; you cannot relay a personal experience that provides clues to the specific skills the interviewer is looking for in asking a particular question.

In interviews, use first-person answers exclusively: present lots of ‘I’ answers and the occasional ‘we’ answer. Do not answer in the second-person.

Further Reading: The ‘Point of view’ page on Wikipedia offers details on the narrative first-, second- and third-person styles.

Archives for October 2007

Preview

Organize

Expand Comprehension

Stay On Top

Concluding Thoughts

Wondering what to read next?

Wondering what to read next?

Mary Kay Ash on the Art of Listening

Call for Action

Wondering what to read next?

Avoid Too Many ‘I-I-I’ Answers

Too many ‘We-We-We’ Answers are Bad Too

Balance is Key

Wondering what to read next?

Best Answers use the First-Person

Wondering what to read next?