However, we’d like to offer some wisdom taken straight from the news this week that  suggests a better route for those who aspire to greatness.

U.S. skier Hannah Kearney upset Canadian Jenn Heil to win the gold medal in the women’s moguls competition last Saturday night. It was the first gold of the Vancouver Winter Olympics for America and if you were watching - it was an amazing feat of athleticism on the part of all the skiers.

During a post win interview, Hannah credits her coach for her success. Turns out that on the morning of her gold medal day, her U.S. Ski Team strength coach Alex Moore gave her a note card. On it was a collection of statistics of the work she had done leading up to this day. It was a reminder of the lifetime commitment she had made leading up to a stormy, blustery night on Cypress Mountain.

The note card listed all the work that Hannah had done to prepare for this moment. It included over 1,000 water ramp jumps, 200 hours on a bike, 1,400 squats, 480 pullups, 14,000 jumps and 170 recovery sessions, and more including squats of 300 pounds!

 - all since Kearney turned off her World Cup title season last May and focused on Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010.

Hannah said during an interview “He gave it to me just to give me the confidence to know I had done everything I could and had prepared for this day,” said Kearney.

She may have had the drive to earn the gold but she didn’t do it alone, nor could she have done it without coaches to instruct and guide her, to motivate her, to mentor and inspire her.

We are here to be sure our clients posses the same degree of confidence by knowing that they have done everything to prepare for and then successfully transition from college to a meaningful and fulfilling career.

This article by Pat Wiesner, retired CEO of WiesnerMedia,  has some great comments about how your attitude can make or break an interview.  He says: “We won’t have nearly the success just sitting there properly and answering questions. We have to grab on and live up to our responsibility as half of the interview. There are a couple of things you can try hard to communicate about yourself in a job interview: the effort you are capable of and your sense of team.”

Re-read what Mr. Wiesner wrote. You are half of the interview.

He also wrote: “We need to put into true words just who we are and what our values are so that our prospective new employer can judge just how we will fit into his/her needs.”  

These are wise words for sure but can you, right at this very moment, tell a stranger who you are and the value you would bring to the workplace? This is crucial especially for those without a lot of work experience or for those who want to change career direction. As important as a great attitude is, I would add to that, the ability to clearly articulate how you best work and communicate with others, how you take in information, solve problems and make decisions and how these abilities match the role, as well as the work and communication style of the hiring manager you are interviewing for.

What’s your future going to look like?

If you don’t know, then you should check out the video we just completed. It explains our entire Excelerate program in about 3 minutes. Check it out here!

- The responsibility made me nervous

- They insisted that all employees get to work by 8:45 every morning. Couldn’t work under those conditions.

- Maturity Leave

From A Page A Day Calendar on 1/5/10

Technology has allowed our society to stay connected which can be a great thing no doubt. Email, texting, cell phones, video chat, Facebook are all great ways for families to keep in touch at a moments notice. However, many parents continue to be the helicopter parents they were in grade school and high school. Now it’s just done (in most cases anyway) virtually. 

Helicopter parents often do not know when to land or perhaps do not want to land which would allow their children to fly on their own. The goal of these parents is admirable although misguided in the sense that making the road straight and clear of obstacles seems like the best way to provide their kids with every advantage but in actuality it teaches dependence instead.  These “rocks on the road of life”, these hardships when faced and conquered provide valuable lessons of self-sufficiency, and a mastery of life’s complexities.  It’s one thing to pretend being an adult when you are a kid, it’s quite another when a person handles adult responsibilities that come with actually being one without mom and dad around.

I first experienced the helicopter phenomenon in the late 1980’s as a hiring manager for a large company in California. I received a call from a woman who was looking for a job as a delivery driver. I asked her what kind of work experience she had and she told me that she wasn’t looking for work but she was looking for work for her son.  I was shocked and told her that if he as interested in work that he should give me a call himself. He never called me. Luckily that was the first and last time I encountered a helicopter parent in action in the professional world. Self-advocacy is a required step toward independent adult-hood.

By Howard Pankratz
The Denver Post

Posted: 11/03/2009 10:00:12 AM MST

Updated: 11/03/2009 10:41:59 AM MST

A 29-year-old man who claimed he was attacked and stabbed by three people - skinheads or Hispanic males - confessed Monday night that he stabbed himself because he didn’t want to go to work, Edgewater Police said today.

The man, Aaron Siebers, walked into his employer, the Blockbuster Video store at 1921 Sheridan about 6:30 p.m. Monday, and reported the attack. He said the trio was dressed in black.

Siebers, of Denver, had a deep stab wound to the lower leg plus several superficial knife wounds, according to Steve Davis, spokesman for the Edgewater Police Department.

Wife: Credit card debt, does it ever end?
Spokesman: Maybe I can help.
Husband: We sure could use it.
Wife: We’ve tried debt consolidation companies.
Husband: We’ve even taken out loans to help make payments.
Spokesman: Well, you’re not the only one. Did you know that millions of Americans live with debt they can not control? That’s why I developed this unique new program for managing your debt. [Holds up book] It’s called, “Don’t Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford”
Wife: Let me see that. [Reading from book] If you don’t have any money, you should not buy anything. Hmmm … sounds interesting.

Debt Statistics:

76 percent of undergraduates have credit cards, and the average undergrad has $2,200 in credit card debt. Additionally, they will amass almost $20,000 in student debt. (Source: Nellie Mae, “Undergraduate Students and Credit Cards in 2004: An Analysis of Usage Rates and Trends.”)

The average credit card indebted young adult household now spends nearly 24 percent of its income on debt payments, four percentage points more, on average, than young adults did in 1992. (Source: “Generation Broke: Growth of Debt Among Young Americans”)

Average credit card debt among indebted young adults increased by 55 percent between 1992 and 2001, to $4,088. (Source: “Generation Broke: Growth of Debt Among Young Americans”)

At the end of 2008, Americans’ credit card debt reached $972.73 billion, up 1.12% from 2007. That number includes both general purpose credit cards and private label credit cards that aren’t owned by a bank. (Source: Nilson Report, April 2009)

The average outstanding credit card debt for households that have a credit card was $10,679 at the end of 2008. (Source: Nilson Report, April 2009)

In the fourth quarter of 2008, 13.9 percent of consumer disposable income went to service consumer debt. (Source: U.S. Congress’ Joint Economic Committee, “Vicious Cycle: How Unfair Credit Card Company Practices Are Squeezing Consumers and Undermining the Recovery,” May 2009)

Total U.S. consumer debt (which includes credit card debt and noncredit-card debt but not mortgage debt) reached $2.56 trillion at the end of 2008, up from $2.52 trillion at the end of 2007. (Source: Federal Reserve’s G.19 report, February 2009)

There’s good news and bad news in Pink’s book. The bad news is: people who earn their livings using linear, logical, analytical skills (e.g., computer programmers, radiologists, engineers, accountants, CPA’s) may soon find their jobs in jeopardy (off-shored or programmed), if they haven’t already. The good news is: anyone can develop the traits upon which both professional and personal success and fulfillment will depend in the dawning Conceptual Age as Pink as coined it.

To determine what category you are in (good news or bad news) the author encourages us to ask three questions about our career / current job:
1.Can someone offshore do it cheaper?
2.Can a computer do it faster?
3.Am I offering something that satisfies the nonmaterial, transcendent desires of our abundant age?”

If you can’t answer no to the first two and no to the third, you and possibly your industry is trouble.

The overarching concept that the book doesn’t directly mention is that right brain directed skills are adept at creating value in the 21st century. Value creation is the goal of all free market economies and the United States, in particular, is currently in the cross roads between the information and conceptual ages. As a nation we are vulnerable to decline if we do not recognize this mega trend - transition from the information age to the conceptual age - and adapt to it from how we educate our students to how we conduct business.

The article is called The New Networking - click to open here.

Here’s my two minute summary of the entire article:

There is good reason for believing that traditional networking methods are self-serving: They are self-serving. The best way to form a network is not to try. Instead, allow a network to spring up around you. And such a network will inevitably form around you if you conscientiously follow certain steps.

Throughout our lives we learn about people who touch us intensely with their words or actions. What they do appeals to us. We admire their actions. The warm feeling of admiration lasts for a few minutes or an hour, and then it dissipates and you go on with your life. Don’t let this happen. The next time you find yourself in such a glow, contact the person immediately. Send a sincere note explaining what moved you, and express your admiration. Then follow with a specific offer of help. Be fully prepared to deliver if your offer is accepted.

Your intent is the key. The reason you are reaching out is not because you want to form a relationship with the person. You are reaching out because, if your offer of help is accepted, then you will do something that will engage someone who motivates your better self and might even leave the world a tiny bit better off.

Sincerity is crucial. If you don’t completely and honestly mean what you say, don’t reach out. It will not work. And you will feel smaller.

That intent to be of service is what makes Dr. Rao’s method so powerful. Traditional networking is based on direct reciprocity. Help people as an outward expression of the kind of person you are. This becomes easy if you only reach out to people who already touch you at a “values” level.

When you feel passionate enough about something to reach out to someone from that same place of passion, self-doubt and nervousness drop away. And if your sincere intent is to do something that will serve the greater community, that intent communicates itself in subtle and indescribable ways. It is picked up and reflected back on you. Do this consistently and you will never have to give the first manipulative thought to networking.

One day you’ll look around and discover that a strong network, full of people who want you to succeed, has sprung up right around you.

Read the article here.

You may not realize it but you already have established networks; family, social and professional. You are also continuing to collect useful experience from your work experiences that could help others. Don’t underestimate and undervalue your current networks and the need to develop them!

One point to remember is that networking isn’t a magic, short-cut to instant success. Individuals who are effective at networking focus on building deeper relationships that could be mutually beneficial over time. Effective networking will work only if you genuinely care about the people in your network.

As Tim Sanders, Chief Solutions Officer at Yahoo once said, “All of your knowledge won’t amount to much if you don’t have a network of people to share it with and enough compassion for the people in that network to understand that your success is a direct result of their success.”