Career advancement in the 21st century looks drastically different than it did even a decade ago. Climbing the proverbial corporate ladder isn’t as much of an option as organizations outsource, offshore and flatten their hierarchies. Instead, you have to continually develop your personal suite of skills by taking lateral moves, and sometimes steps backwards, that [...]

I was very fortunate to moderate a panel of metro Phoenix healthcare executives on January 23rd, 2013. The event was organized by the Arizona Healthcare Executives (AHE), was held at Grand Canyon University and the topic was Career Positioning: Proactively Managing Your Professional Development. The panel included Tim Bricker, President and CEO of Mercy Gilbert [...]

Noted management expert Peter F. Drucker once said, “Since we live in an age of innovation, a practical education must prepare a man for work that does not yet exist and cannot yet be clearly defined.” The same theory applies to innovation and finding meaning in one’s career. You must learn continually and prepare for [...]

On October 24th I attended the Global Wealth Management Summit at the Thunderbird School of Global Management. A variety of world-class speakers spoke about economic uncertainty, policy changes and how investing will change in the coming decade. I love attending these events because they provide considerable insight into implementation strategies for career transition and your [...]

Jim Rohn once said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” Whether we like to admit it or not, we are greatly influenced by those closest to us. They can affect multiple aspects of our lives, but most importantly how we think. Because thoughts have the ability to [...]

In part one of this two-part blog you learned how a common tool, the P.E.S.T. analysis, can help determine the Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors that will influence your career search. Below are the second five (5) factors that will have an impact on your career. 6. Career Ladder is now a Jungle Gym [...]

Organizations spend considerable amounts of time determining what changes in the marketplace will materially affect the implementation of their strategic plans. A common analysis tool used to determine changes and trends is the P.E.S.T. acronym. Attempting to determine the Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors that will influence your business helps to lay a strong [...]

Dan Froomkin wrote a piece recently about the steady decline of wages in America. Read it here. He argues that neither political party has a specific plan for the long-term creation of meaningful, high-wage jobs. Froomkin quotes Jeff Faux, a progressive economist who founded the Economic Policy Institute, throughout the article. Faux’s research suggests that [...]

People in career transition, or those seeking career change, often struggle with a variety of issues related to making the transition. You have probably seen those around you fall into one of the following six categories. You may also fall into one of them yourself. I think I know the process I want to do [...]

We all know the war for talent is heating up and is going to get real hot, real soon. But why should any organization choose you over the other 300 individuals who applied for the same position? We can talk about resumes, unique selling propositions, personal branding and the strength of your network, but in [...]

For decades, professionals worked long hours and put in the extra effort required to climb the career ladder. They searched for the next project, relationship or strong performance appraisal that would allow them to be considered for a promotion. The world, and the career growth process, was relatively structured and predictable. Not anymore. Incredible amounts [...]

The creation of the “think global, act local” concept is commonly attributed to Patrick Geddes, a late 19th – early 20th century Scottish biologist, sociologist, philanthropist, and forward-thinking town planner. Similarly, the Japanese were the first to develop the concept of “glocalization”, the practice of conducting business in accordance of both local and global considerations. [...]

A few months back, I blogged about entrepreneurship and its value in a society with more distaste of corporate power and cradle-to-grave employment. Read it here. In a separate post, I argued that the Millennial generation is struggling with 20th century constructs of leadership and are fighting for a more meaningful career where they can [...]

I can’t tell you how many executives I know that are content in their work who still interview with other organizations regularly. They don’t do it because they want to change employers, they do it because they want to ensure their interviewing skills are current. In an economy where 84% (according a recent Manpower survey) [...]

Perhaps the most important part of the 21st century career search is recognizing that it is never ending. Too many people quit looking for work as soon as they find work. However, the basic constructs of the relationship between business and labor have drastically changed. Business is no longer an environment providing cradle-to-grave employment. Many [...]

Keeping a positive frame of mind during an extended search for meaningful employment is difficult. However, there are a variety of strategies that you can employ that will mitigate negative feelings as you search for the next wrung on your career ladder. Ten things that will help maintain hope, positive thought, and motivation: 1. Set [...]

The 21st century job search is evolving. We can no longer simply review job boards and company websites. Approximately 75% of the available positions are never posted electronically. If they are posted, human resources or the hiring manager already has a candidate selected and your application will be overlooked. My suggestion is to look at [...]

It is good practice to reflect on your past experiences to see how you can best use them to sell your skills to a potential employer. I cringe when I see resumes that list job responsibilities from the company’s job description, but don’t take the time to detail how the person truly impacted the organization [...]

Prior to the start of the Great Recession, there was significant demand for labor, so individuals simply had to apply online to a company’s website to be considered for an interview. It’s no secret that the job search has evolved over the last two and one-half years. The changes to the labor market have forced [...]

How many times have you, or someone you know, talked about not wanting to speak in public? Giving presentations in public can be a scary thing. In fact, it’s commonly referred to as glossophobia, the fear of public speaking. People experience anxiety prior to delivering their content, will attempt to avoid the event altogether, or [...]

In 2007 Jennifer J. Deal, research scientist for the Center for Creative Leadership, wrote a book about the various generations in the workplace and how they were similar. She called the book Retiring the Generation Gap: How Employees Young and Old Can Find Common Ground. She found that all generations are similar in the following [...]

It is no secret that the unemployment rate has remained high during the recession and the recovery because of a mismatch between the jobs needed for the 21st century and the 20th century skills currently available in the workforce. There are a variety of events occurring that are fostering change, but the change is occurring [...]

W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne wrote Blue Ocean Strategy as a way to describe how organizations could simultaneously pursue differentiation and low cost. The aim being not to out-perform competition in the existing industry, but to create new market space, thereby making the competition irrelevant. The authors believe that current competitive strategy is a [...]

I sat down with a friend recently to share stories about the holidays and how the new year has started, but also to talk opportunity. He talked at length about how his professional environment was impacting his personal environment in a very negative way. His comments didn’t surprise me as many of the people I [...]

A recent global study by Accenture suggests that while many people are unhappy in their current jobs, the majority plan to stay in their current roles. More than half (57% of women and 59% of men) indicated they were unhappy, yet 69% indicated they were not planning to leave. Why? They cited flexible work arrangements [...]