SkillInside

Brian Acton had a lapse in employment. Nobody wanted to hire him. He then started a company called WhatsApp and sold it to one of the companies that rejected him. The price was astounding 19 billion dollars. On a much smaller scale, early in my career, I was rejected because I did not have enough experience in IBM PC development. I had 6 months experience, IBM PC was on the market for 1 year at that point. I then wrote a spreadsheet program S2 for IBM PC which was used throughout IBM, including the group that  rejected me. An acceptance makes us happy, a rejection makes us stronger. If they do not see value in you, it is their loss. Your time will come. Here is why. 9 Sure you signs you will be successful: 1. You love to learn new things 2. You love to help others 3. You like to complete your tasks completely and make sure they are completed :) 4. You like to ask questions 5. You like to take responsibility 6. You are loyal to your team . Loyalty is the...

Motivating employees seems like it should be easy. And it is — in theory. But while the concept of motivation may be straightforward, motivating employees in real-life situations is far more challenging. As leaders, we’re asked to understand what motivates each individual on our team and manage them accordingly. What a challenging ask of leaders, particularly those with large or dispersed teams and those who are already overwhelmed by their own workloads. Leaders are also encouraged to rely on the carrot versus stick approach for motivation, where the carrot is a reward for compliance and the stick is a consequence for noncompliance. But when our sole task as leaders becomes compliance, trying to compel others to do something, chances are we’re the only ones who will be motivated. Why not consider another way to motivate employees? I’d like to suggest a new dialogue that embraces the key concept that motivation is less about employees  doing great work  ...

During the course of your professional career how many leaders have you come across that could be best described as a bully? How many were absolute pushovers? The fact is, being either a bully or a pushover doesn’t make for a good leader. Leaders with these characteristics don’t have a team that supports them. Instead, the most effective leaders possess assertiveness to motivate and manage their team while handling crises efficiently. But, what exactly is assertiveness and when do you use it with your team? To better understand assertiveness we first need to quickly review the four distinct communication patterns that we encounter daily: Passive:  These are the individuals who avoid conflict, get taken advantage of, and apologize often. Aggressive:  Many people view aggressive individuals as a self-righteous bully who is quick to criticize others and be dismissive of other's opinions. Passive-Aggressive:  Despite wanting to avoid con...

In recent months we’ve talked at different times with two leaders, each facing the loss of his job because of a corporate merger or acquisition.  Although their situations were the same, their responses could not have been more different. One was having a terrible time, to the point that he had even considering killing himself. The other was excitedly planning what to do next to create a new way to be successful. It led me to wonder:  What were the variables that led to such widely different responses? The first leader—the one who was struggling—had up to this point lived a charmed life. A perfect childhood in a loving, stable home, the best schools, graduation from a top college followed by a great job obtained with his father’s assistance. He had married his college sweetheart and they had a beautiful family—adorable twins, a boy and girl—with a fantastic home and even a luxury vacation home. The second leader came from a very different background. His pare...

Making sure the right people are in the right seats on your time is the most important role for any leader. As the CEO of a startup that's constantly growing and changing - Likeable Local, and the Chairman of a more-mature-but-still-fast-growing agency, this continues to be a key priority of mine. To understand more about the perfect employee, I thought I'd ask members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) about their best employees. The YEC is an invite-only organization comprised of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. I asked these CEO's and entrepreneurs what they believed was the 1 most important word to describe their perfect employee. Here is what they shared: 1. Motivated A motivated employee is likely to possess other qualities that make them the perfect employee. They will want to advance within the company so they will want to stand out. This means that are much more likely to communicate which is a key trait. They likely will ...

There are no shortcuts in business. In order to be successful there are some things that you must know. These are not all of them by a long shot, but IMHO they are 6 of the most important. 1.   Know how to sell. Selling means being able to convey why your product or service, which may be you if you are looking for a job, will make things better. Selling is never about convincing. It is always about helping. 2.   Put yourself in the shoes of your customer. If you know how to put the person you are dealing with in a position to succeed, you can be successful. In order to do this, you must be able to quickly understand the needs and demands of that person and those of the company(s) they work for or with.   Every person and industry is different. This is something that comes from investing incredible amounts of time to understand different industries, businesses, roles, and what has made them work and not work. It is a never-ending process of learning about...