Showing posts with label career. Show all posts
Showing posts with label career. Show all posts
Book Review- Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!
In this easy to read book the author outlines the differences in the financial decisions taken by the poor, middle class and the rich people. The rich people become richer by investing in assets. An asset is an investment which “puts money in your pocket”. That means that an asset is something which generates a positive cash flow. A liability is an investment which drains money out of your pocket and creates a negative cash flow. Against the contemporary belief, the author argues that the investment in the house you live is a liability and not an investment. Individuals should strive to build assets so that the cash flowing in your pocket is equal to your expenses – that is to be financial independent. One can pay their bills by a steady income but cannot create wealth. The author advices young couples to not invest all their money in a big expensive house, instead, concentrate on purchasing assets which will make them financially independent. The second point author emphasizes is to start your own business (work for yourself) and create a career ladder than climb a career ladder. Small businesses and corporations have enormous tax benefits. A short history of income taxes in United States is very interesting. The corporations spend first and then pay taxes, while the individuals must pay taxes beforehand. To conclude, the book provides commonsense financial and accounting advice for making sound decisions. A person not familiar with personal finance or just starting his/her career can find the book immensely useful. The author repeats many times that “make money work for you” instead of “work for money”.
When employees think & act like owners…
A few weeks ago I attended “The Great Game of Business” management leadership series seminar by Jack Stack. Jack started with his experience of working with SRC which at that time was a nearly bankrupt division of International Harvester in Springfield, Missouri. That's when Jack Stack and 12 other managers took over and came up with $100,000 to put toward a loan of $9,000,000 (A debt ratio of 89 to 1 -- the highest leveraged buyout in corporate America to date). Jack lays his emphasis on creating a business of business people. The three mantras for success of a business are -
1. Create leaders.
2. Become a successful business of business people.
3. Create business people who think and act like owners.
Stack’s methodology states that making money is not just the responsibility of the upper management and executives. Stack is a strong proponent of open book management where the employees understand the financial performance and strategic goal of an organization. Stack summarizes his ‘game’ as follows-
1. Know and teach the rules
2. Follow the action & keep score
3. Provide a stake in the outcome
1. Know and teach the rules
- High involvement planning (twice a year)
Part 1
- Market analysis
- Market competitive data
- Customer survey results
- Our strategy to accomplish growth
Part 2
- Sales and marketing performance
- Forecast for 12 months + 4 years
- Contingencies
- Employee buy-in survey results
- Financial planning (annually)
- Income statement
- Cash flow statement
- Balance sheet
- Bonus program/critical number
- Succession plan
- Business Training
- Classroom /formal training
- Tuition refund
- Interactive /informal training
2. Follow the action (weekly) & keep score (daily)
- Forward thinking - Adjust to a radically changing environment.
- Communication - A collective sense of responsibility for the direction and performance of the company.
- Create Wins - Reflecting day to day movement. Moment to moment excitement.
3. Provide a stake in the outcome
- Instant recognition - People need to be recognized for their contributions and their talents. They don’t want to be treated as part of a mob.
- Career opportunities
- Ownership equity - Believe in creating wealth for those you work with while you create wealth for yourself.
Introduction to Principal Component Analysis
Recently I delivered a seminar on Principal Component Analysis at University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati. Presentation is available as a PDF file. The PCA method is explained with a simple example wherein the Graduate Office has to admit 2 students out of 4 applications received based on three dimensions i.e. GRE score, GPA and the Professor Rating. Principal Component Analysis or simply PCA is a data dimension reduction technique popularly used in case of a multidimensional data. It calculates the principal components which are linear combinations of the observations in the direction of maximum variance.
A point to prove
It’s been a month or more that I am working full time after my graduate studies. As a new hire and especially coming straight out of the school you always try to be the “yes” man in the company. Be (hyper) active and try to make contribution wherever possible and somehow create a “say” in the company. Yes, I did the same for my first job four years back by being over concentrated and involved, trying to somehow impress my boss. But is it a good strategy especially in the long run? I was thinking over this issue and tried to simulate the pros and cons of such “unnatural” behavior.
Firstly if you are really cleaver and sharp, people will know your worth right away. You don’t have to take this “extra” effort to prove the point. The way you speak, express ideas or analyze a problem convey it all.
Secondly, you increase the baseline expectations and commitment level by such over capacity behavior. Remember, everyone including your boss expects you to work above or at least at the high level you set right at the start. As time progresses if you don’t deliver what you promised will decrease your credibility. This is shown in case 1. The commitment level set is much higher than the average delivery performance capacity. In this case due to the initial noise one can deliver above the mark but eventually your performance falls down to your “average” capacity which is much lower than the commitment level. Commitment level can only increase or remain constant but cannot decrease.
You should “Never over commit but always over deliver”. This mantra seems very trivial but really makes a marked difference.
Thirdly, making the initial noise in company can leave a bad impression. You may be perceived as an arrogant and the “over” smart type guy. This hinders your peer-peer communication, good-will and ultimately team dynamics.
The case 2 depicts a scenario where your performance is nearby the expectation/commitment level. This scenario is better than case 1 but not the best one if you are looking for a quick career progress.
Case 3 is the optimum. Here you deliver more than the expectation or commitment. Also there is a positive constant increase in the commitment level and your delivery level. Thus there is progress in your performance and responsibility.
So to summarize, it’s always better to take time to set the foot in the company. Understand the work, dynamics, and culture before you start making a “position”. Especially if you are student right out of the school you should “withhold” your excitement.
Firstly if you are really cleaver and sharp, people will know your worth right away. You don’t have to take this “extra” effort to prove the point. The way you speak, express ideas or analyze a problem convey it all.
Secondly, you increase the baseline expectations and commitment level by such over capacity behavior. Remember, everyone including your boss expects you to work above or at least at the high level you set right at the start. As time progresses if you don’t deliver what you promised will decrease your credibility. This is shown in case 1. The commitment level set is much higher than the average delivery performance capacity. In this case due to the initial noise one can deliver above the mark but eventually your performance falls down to your “average” capacity which is much lower than the commitment level. Commitment level can only increase or remain constant but cannot decrease.
You should “Never over commit but always over deliver”. This mantra seems very trivial but really makes a marked difference.
Thirdly, making the initial noise in company can leave a bad impression. You may be perceived as an arrogant and the “over” smart type guy. This hinders your peer-peer communication, good-will and ultimately team dynamics.
The case 2 depicts a scenario where your performance is nearby the expectation/commitment level. This scenario is better than case 1 but not the best one if you are looking for a quick career progress.
Case 3 is the optimum. Here you deliver more than the expectation or commitment. Also there is a positive constant increase in the commitment level and your delivery level. Thus there is progress in your performance and responsibility.
So to summarize, it’s always better to take time to set the foot in the company. Understand the work, dynamics, and culture before you start making a “position”. Especially if you are student right out of the school you should “withhold” your excitement.
Book Review: Winning Nice
Recently, I read “Winning Nice: How to Succeed in Business and Life Without Waging War” by Dawna Stone (Winner of the Apprentice: Martha Stewart and founder of Her Sports + Fitness magazine). Dawna brings in her myriad of experience and explains some real world situations and their solutions. Every chapter also has a sweet short ending summarizing the contents and listing the action points. Dawna also chips in experiences and success stories of some well-known names including Oprah Winfrey, Jim Marshall, Tim Wilkins, Bill Gates, Steve Forbes Cheryl Richardson and others. The book is divided mainly into two sections the basic seven skills to build your foundation and further tips and techniques to apply for a bright future in business and life.
The section of resume and interview preparation is very good in content. Recent graduates and job hunters watch out for this section. The best part of the book is that Dawna has done a great job of translating her experience effectively into words in a simple and consistent language. Instead of being very philosophical, the book explains some real world issues and their solution. The language is simple, consistent and easy to understand. Some of the success stories are well explained to clarify the point at hand. Dawna also has touched upon some social issues in work place like sexual discrimination. The only weakness I found was that the book sometimes become a little repetitive and stretches itself around the main point.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and should prove a helpful resource to head start my career next week.
Feeling of “being a part of...”
Yesterday was my first day at work as a full time employee of a company. Six months ago I had a similar experience of the first day of work at work but as an intern and not a full time employee. Though both the times I was excited and eager there was a considerable difference in my goals and perception.
Firstly when I joined as an intern I knew this is going to be a short-term assignment. The goal was to make the most of it, try to gain as much knowledge as I can and try to get a full time position if the work and environment is favorable. I was never interested in company structure, policies or internal affairs. I remember when I just joined the company’s vice president left the company which somehow created a panic situation. Everyone was concerned about the company’s future and organizational change it will create. But I was least concerned, I was more focused on the task I was assigned and setting my foot in a completely new area. As an intern you are more focused on solving the current problem at hand (so that you can make that initial impression on your supervisor) and coming up with quick results. As my internship was in the research labs I was also interested in publishing papers and filing patents which will strengthen my resume. I never tried to get a broad understanding of field I was working. Everything was task specific and anything else was categorized as ‘others’.
On the contrary yesterday’s experience was completely different. The excitement level was may be the same but my perception and goal was completely different. I was more focused on understanding the company structure, organizational internal policies and broad understanding of my work responsibilities. I was scheduled for various meetings with “other” departments, meeting with HR and a welcome lunch with my manager. There was a certainly a feeling of “being a part of” as against being a foreigner. Also there was much more respect and importance given (that does not mean that in the earlier case there was no respect) where my whole team welcomed me and there were introductions with some senior members of the company. In the earlier case nobody knew (except my supervisor and core team) that I was a new employee (sorry… intern) in the company. Feeling of “belonging” to something makes you act and think in a different way. I hope I do a good job as a full time employee as I did when I was an intern (which helped me to get this job). Wish me best luck.
Firstly when I joined as an intern I knew this is going to be a short-term assignment. The goal was to make the most of it, try to gain as much knowledge as I can and try to get a full time position if the work and environment is favorable. I was never interested in company structure, policies or internal affairs. I remember when I just joined the company’s vice president left the company which somehow created a panic situation. Everyone was concerned about the company’s future and organizational change it will create. But I was least concerned, I was more focused on the task I was assigned and setting my foot in a completely new area. As an intern you are more focused on solving the current problem at hand (so that you can make that initial impression on your supervisor) and coming up with quick results. As my internship was in the research labs I was also interested in publishing papers and filing patents which will strengthen my resume. I never tried to get a broad understanding of field I was working. Everything was task specific and anything else was categorized as ‘others’.
On the contrary yesterday’s experience was completely different. The excitement level was may be the same but my perception and goal was completely different. I was more focused on understanding the company structure, organizational internal policies and broad understanding of my work responsibilities. I was scheduled for various meetings with “other” departments, meeting with HR and a welcome lunch with my manager. There was a certainly a feeling of “being a part of” as against being a foreigner. Also there was much more respect and importance given (that does not mean that in the earlier case there was no respect) where my whole team welcomed me and there were introductions with some senior members of the company. In the earlier case nobody knew (except my supervisor and core team) that I was a new employee (sorry… intern) in the company. Feeling of “belonging” to something makes you act and think in a different way. I hope I do a good job as a full time employee as I did when I was an intern (which helped me to get this job). Wish me best luck.
Interview Tips
Here are some tips and insights I will like to share to crack an interview. The tips are based on my experience of job-hunting for past 3 months or so. The journey was not so smooth. Initially I was rejected at the telephonic interview stage itself, then at intermediate and final interviews before I got couple of good and above expected offers. I have listed some tips from my experience and literature studied.
* Be positive, affirmative and confident. When asked a question about your weaknesses just do not start listing one weak quality after another or give a plain answer like “I do not have any weaknesses”. Both answers will prove detrimental for your interview outcome. Here are some answers I used for my interviews.
Q. What are your weaknesses?
English writing skills
“I thought my English writing skills were not at the expected level required in the professional world. However, over the time I think I have successfully conquered my weakness. I have more than three research publications in a span of one year of my graduate study here in United States. I am also an active blogger and some of my articles have appeared in the newsletters of some leading professional organizations”
Challenging and innovative environment
“After my undergraduate in Mechanical Engineering, I started working in a software industry primarily providing services. The mundane and unchallenging work started killing my research aspirations. I started to feel that I am no more innovative or novel. At that point, I took the decision to quit my job and pursue my graduate studies. Today I am proud to say that I have a patent and a rich experience of working in research and consulting environment with some publications and conferences under my belt.”
If you notice closely, I started with my weaknesses and effectively converted them to my strong points. This is what I mean by being positive.
* Ask questions. The Q&A session should not be unidirectional but an interactive session. This ensures that the interviewer is very much involved in the process and it also helps to reduce the number of questions. Ask questions about the job profile and show your curiosity in the organization structure, opportunities and business model. This will leave the interviewer with an impression that you have a genuine interest in working at his company. It will also demonstrate your communication skills and ability to question.
*There will be instances where you will not be able to answer some of the questions. Make sure you ask the answers to the questions at the end of the interview process. This will certainly leave the interviewer a positive interpretation about you and it will provide you a chance to add your thoughts/comments on the questions you were unable to answer earlier.
* Dress professionally with an appropriate appearance. It shows that you have respect and value for the person and the organization you are interviewing.
* It will be great if you can have your personal website listing your education, background, work experience and honors. Also, make sure you have listed the website URL on your resume.
* Please turn off your cell phones and other digital gadgets or at least turn them on the silent mode. This may sound a bit childish but I have personally being a victim of not taking proper steps in a haste.
* Make sure you understand the question before you start giving the answer. This is very necessary to keep the interview on track.
*Have a copy of your resume, publications, seminars, projects reports ready.
* Take notes, if appropriate. That means you should have a rough pad and a pen ready with you. It will also help you if you have to explain your point with help of a figures or a chart.
* Be punctual. Arrive some time before the interview and give yourself time to relax and be ready for the interview.
* One question I was asked during the interview was “How much salary are you expecting?” I was just not prepared for the question and after thinking a little bit, I gave some arbitrary answer. I made a terrible mistake.
Please have a range of salary and know your worth based on the job profile, company and location. Resources such as salary.com can be of a great help.
* A firm (not bone-crunching) handshake, smile on your face and a direct eye contact will leave a good impression.
* Notify your references about your interview with the specific company. This will keep them updates and assure you a positive feedback in case the company contacts them.
* Speak slowly but clearly. This is especially important if you are an international candidate having English as a second language. I know many of Indian friends who talk so fast that it is very difficult for a native English speaker to comprehend. Remember, clear communication is the key for success.
*Do not answer in air or try your luck in case you do not know the answer. It is always better to say, “I am sorry I am not aware of the answer at this point of time. But I will be more than happy to gain the required expertise and get back with you”.
* Avoid any strong perfume or scent usage, if any. The strong smell can some time annoy the interviewer. I have been involved in the reverse case when a woman interviewer used some strong perfume, which left me sneezing for initial ten minutes.
* Avoid any strong religious, national or personal beliefs or sentiments.
* Practice a mock interview with your friends, family relatives or coworkers. This will certainly increase your confidence.
* Do an in-depth research about the organization before the interview. Familiarize your self with the business, latest news, top management structure, products and other important facts.
* Send a thank you notification (hand written or email) appreciating time and effort for the interview. Also, make sure that you mention that you are very much interested in the job and the company and include your contact information.
Following the above tips certainly helped me to get the job. I wish you a very best luck for your job search.
* Be positive, affirmative and confident. When asked a question about your weaknesses just do not start listing one weak quality after another or give a plain answer like “I do not have any weaknesses”. Both answers will prove detrimental for your interview outcome. Here are some answers I used for my interviews.
Q. What are your weaknesses?
English writing skills
“I thought my English writing skills were not at the expected level required in the professional world. However, over the time I think I have successfully conquered my weakness. I have more than three research publications in a span of one year of my graduate study here in United States. I am also an active blogger and some of my articles have appeared in the newsletters of some leading professional organizations”
Challenging and innovative environment
“After my undergraduate in Mechanical Engineering, I started working in a software industry primarily providing services. The mundane and unchallenging work started killing my research aspirations. I started to feel that I am no more innovative or novel. At that point, I took the decision to quit my job and pursue my graduate studies. Today I am proud to say that I have a patent and a rich experience of working in research and consulting environment with some publications and conferences under my belt.”
If you notice closely, I started with my weaknesses and effectively converted them to my strong points. This is what I mean by being positive.
* Ask questions. The Q&A session should not be unidirectional but an interactive session. This ensures that the interviewer is very much involved in the process and it also helps to reduce the number of questions. Ask questions about the job profile and show your curiosity in the organization structure, opportunities and business model. This will leave the interviewer with an impression that you have a genuine interest in working at his company. It will also demonstrate your communication skills and ability to question.
*There will be instances where you will not be able to answer some of the questions. Make sure you ask the answers to the questions at the end of the interview process. This will certainly leave the interviewer a positive interpretation about you and it will provide you a chance to add your thoughts/comments on the questions you were unable to answer earlier.
* Dress professionally with an appropriate appearance. It shows that you have respect and value for the person and the organization you are interviewing.
* It will be great if you can have your personal website listing your education, background, work experience and honors. Also, make sure you have listed the website URL on your resume.
* Please turn off your cell phones and other digital gadgets or at least turn them on the silent mode. This may sound a bit childish but I have personally being a victim of not taking proper steps in a haste.
* Make sure you understand the question before you start giving the answer. This is very necessary to keep the interview on track.
*Have a copy of your resume, publications, seminars, projects reports ready.
* Take notes, if appropriate. That means you should have a rough pad and a pen ready with you. It will also help you if you have to explain your point with help of a figures or a chart.
* Be punctual. Arrive some time before the interview and give yourself time to relax and be ready for the interview.
* One question I was asked during the interview was “How much salary are you expecting?” I was just not prepared for the question and after thinking a little bit, I gave some arbitrary answer. I made a terrible mistake.
Please have a range of salary and know your worth based on the job profile, company and location. Resources such as salary.com can be of a great help.
* A firm (not bone-crunching) handshake, smile on your face and a direct eye contact will leave a good impression.
* Notify your references about your interview with the specific company. This will keep them updates and assure you a positive feedback in case the company contacts them.
* Speak slowly but clearly. This is especially important if you are an international candidate having English as a second language. I know many of Indian friends who talk so fast that it is very difficult for a native English speaker to comprehend. Remember, clear communication is the key for success.
*Do not answer in air or try your luck in case you do not know the answer. It is always better to say, “I am sorry I am not aware of the answer at this point of time. But I will be more than happy to gain the required expertise and get back with you”.
* Avoid any strong perfume or scent usage, if any. The strong smell can some time annoy the interviewer. I have been involved in the reverse case when a woman interviewer used some strong perfume, which left me sneezing for initial ten minutes.
* Avoid any strong religious, national or personal beliefs or sentiments.
* Practice a mock interview with your friends, family relatives or coworkers. This will certainly increase your confidence.
* Do an in-depth research about the organization before the interview. Familiarize your self with the business, latest news, top management structure, products and other important facts.
* Send a thank you notification (hand written or email) appreciating time and effort for the interview. Also, make sure that you mention that you are very much interested in the job and the company and include your contact information.
Following the above tips certainly helped me to get the job. I wish you a very best luck for your job search.
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