What's luck got to do with it?

I’ve had a ‘lucky’ day today as I was able to coach all my clients over the phone while also doing some networking mixing, blogging, online networking, cooking and playing with my kids….I guess I was just ‘lucky’ that I had time to do all of that today or wasn’t I?

Don’t you hate it when you get to achieve something really important at work or in your personal life and people blame it to your luck?

Certainly I’d love to be as lucky as William Kiefer who won big time in the lottery a week ago right here where I live. He is donating 60% of it to charity. I could have been the winner, if I only played the lottery!

If I let luck determined my life, then I’d be better off letting the stars determining my future. So, here’s to my original question, what does luck have to do with the outcome of our choices?

It is like swimming with sharks and having the bad luck of being bitten by one. Isn’t it truth we control our choices; therefore, our actions are consequence of our own purposeful intention?

My grandma never wished me luck when I was going for a hard test in college; she would place my head between her hands and whispered to my ears her hopes that my judgment would make the right call. Didn’t I know how wise her words were at the time!

Luck is not anything else that the results of your judgment call or is it simply that?

I have a client who lost her very successful job at a major international corporation, after working with me in refining her Professional Brand; she did her homework and started selling it among her contacts. She got interviews with stakeholders and decision makers of companies that did not even have jobs available on her technical field as she understood the importance of being ahead of the game, but guessed what; she got a job only a few weeks after her job search started. Wasn’t she ‘lucky’?

Is it a ‘lucky’ coincidence to find the job of your dreams or just the result of a lot of hard work, preparation and use of multiple resources?

I see quite often e-mails from people asking for help to find a job just because they’ve never done a bad job in their careers. I wonder they must be pretty average not to define themselves in positive terms. Those people do not provide a compelling reason to help them, to refer them to a potential employer. They do not even offer a single career highlight to be used in their ‘defense’; therefore, they are out of luck when nobody passes their resume to potential hiring managers or recruiters.

Decide today to play your lucky card! That means, go and invest in yourself, work hard towards your vision and keep an eye on your competition. Thomas Jefferson said: I'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it’.

Does the big fish really eat the smaller one?

Successful entrepreneurs and professionals can tell you how networking has been core to the fulfillment of their visions. Even politicians have figured this out already. Social Networking for instance was Key to Scott Brown's success. Tea party twitterers, Facebook friends, and Blogspot buddies helped him win big time as a junior U.S. Senator from Massachusetts.
If examples like this are all around us probing how networking and social media influence stakeholders and decision makers; then, why do people listen to the toxic voices in their heads? Why do they hide behind a resume that does not sell? Why do they have a plain profile in LinkedIn and let hideous Facebook pictures filter in the web for recruiters to see when they Google their names? Why do they network rarely and just come to terms with the network when in urgent need? Why don’t they invest in themselves and give up their chance for success?

It is like a ‘big fish theory’ in which by replicating the force of nature, the bigger fish eats the smaller one creating a chain reaction. But does it work for us that way? Does it have to be like that?

What makes a fish a big one? The size? Its speed? Its power? As we are talking on people terms let’s discard size as a factor and think on speed and power.

But, how can any of us compete against bigger fishes on this sea to be faster at catching the opportunities and powerful enough to win over our competitors? NETWORKING! Look at the picture.

What makes the power of the ‘big’ fish? A bunch of synchronized little fishes moving on the same direction towards a goal. They are connected. They all know why they want; they are following the leader within.

Switch your perspective for a minute and look at your current situation in ‘fish terms’. Where is your network? Have you identified your key allies, mentors, sources of major expertise, best practice holders? Have you identified your own Brand to market it effectively? And are you truly connected to a common ground level to swim at a more powerful speed towards each other’s vision?

Can you visualize yourself moving faster, smarter and with much less struggle by tapping into the resources of your Network? I can. Then, what are you waiting for?

"Our success has really been based on partnerships from the very beginning."

- Bill Gates

Will the Universe conspire in your job transitioning favor this 2010?

“When you want something, the entire universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

This is a phrase that comes from one of my favorite personal books - the Alquimist by Paulo Coelho -. When I read it back in 1997 while I was on a long solo business trip to UK I was very impacted by it. It was a perfect moment in my life and a phrase that made sense to it. Inspirational stuff you may say.

Are you a believer? Are you inspired? Do you truly believe in yourself? What about your vision? How are you coming across to those that encounter you? What is the perception you create with your Brand? Are you pushing the Universe to conspire in your favor or sitting in front of your computer screen hoping to be discovered by a head hunter that comes across your resume at a job board?

I love conspiracies, the intellectual ones driven with such passion that can’t be defeated. Are you a key actor in your own conspiracy?

First and foremost, take full accountability of your life. Then, ask yourself:

1. Are you still aware of your vision? When was the last time you stopped to reflect on it?

2. Are your actions connected to it? Is your job transitioning where you want it to be? Are you taking every necessary –well planned and prepared – step to get you to your vision?

3. How aligned are your resources to it? What kind of networking, volunteering, and contribution you are making to ensure you are not one number of the unemployment statistics? Are you paying forward or you're always looking for something?

4. Are you having some fun? Can you tell, honestly, you are doing your best? Do you remember the Jerry Maguire movie in which there is a part Jerry finally gets what it really means to be #1. Being oneself, dreaming big time, daring and risking it all and above all, using a very distinctive brand that eventually put him in top of his competition to win it all.

5. Do people trust you? Gain TRUST as your biggest commodity value. Have you read the Speed of Trust by Covey? If high trust organizations outperform low trust organizations by 286% on Total Return to Shareholders can you imagine how your total return will be when you manage your own Professional Brand by adding Trust as one of its core competencies?

Get inspired in your job transition process. It is all right to experience ups and downs. The job, the unemployment, the size of the house or the car will never determine who you are. You do!

Remember …“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

Are you a Jay Leno or a Conan O’Brian?

Like most of us - whether we like it or not – the news are all about the feud between NBC, Jay Leno and Conan O’Brian. It would probably be one of those unfortunate events that we would discard as trash if it wasn’t by the fact that one of the characters may be terminated right in front of the public eye.


I am not much of a TV night show follower but I went to the web and watched the Internet clips in which Jimmy Kimmel made a parody of Leno and Letterman did the same in his own style. In case you don’t know, they are the competition and have taken sides with O’Brian. Now the question is: Is it fair for Leno or O’Brian to be on the spot for a NBC decision?

And here’s how I think this matter relates to most of us.

1. Have you ever got transferred to do a job that someone else did before being terminated? Or promoted to a higher level job?

2. Have you been a new hire to replace someone who was fired?

3. Have you started a new job that you have not many qualifications for and worry that your performance may not be up to speed to what is expected?

4. Have you been transferred to a job you did not even asked for and placed under a Personal Improvement Plan just a few months after starting it?

5. Do you feel exposed and on the spotlight due to your own job scope changes and Company restructuring?

I am sure we did not have the cameras following us but we certainly had peers talking about it either on our face or in our back.

How others perceive you are at work does not have to do to whether you are the kindest person on Earth or not but how you do your job and manage relationships with others. At times, your professional brand will be placed under the public scrutiny (not as much as Jay Leno’s Brand I hope!) but if you have a clear level of consciousness on the critical elements of your Brand, then you should be able to manage either a ‘damage control’ strategy or a campaign that sells its attributes as its best.

A former manager I had taught me when I was on my early career that perception was everything. I have struggled for years with the concept (even now) but if a strong percentage on how decisions are made depends on what others think of us, wouldn’t it be nice that we assumed CONTROL of our Brand to move on and successfully into quiet waters?

I am curious how a corporation like NBC is going to manage a decision that due to the current economy will have a lot of repercussion in the public perception but I am even more interested in seeing how the story will unfold for Leno and O’Brian in their own Branding strategies and campaigns.

Now, what would you do if those were your shoes? Do you know your own professional brand well enough to manage it consistently and create an aligned perception of it across the board?

Is it funnier to laugh at someone else's expenses? Hum! well, yes, only if we are talking about Leno and O'Brian who are certainly doing a fantastic job in making us laugh at their business.

Open Up your presents today!

How delightful is to open a new present and ‘play’ with it. That new mini I-Pod or the coffee maker, the new bike or the special craft made by your kids…mmmm! Can you feel the distinctive smell?
I also love the feeling of finding one of my old toys. It is like when I go visiting my mother’s house and I go through those old photo albums and keepsakes, I get certainly nostalgic and I remember those ‘old times’ when things were different.

Then, my question is when did ‘different’ get a negative connotation? When did we start shaping ourselves to the 'play-doh' of the times forgetting our own texture and colors?

I have a fascination with originality. If it comes from your heart and you’ve taken the best is there combining it with your own genius, then we have ‘something’ and even we may get quite a number of those ‘things’. Do you know what those things are? IDEAS! your own and unique ideas. The ones that trigger your actions to where nobody else has put foot on before…your own vision!

Everyone has a gift, the main obstacle to use it resides it in oneself. Either there is a cultural reason that prevents you to enjoy your own greatness at something or a personal one that acts like a barrier with a huge sign that says: TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED.

But why are you prosecuting yourself for daring to think and dream BIG? How about playing pretend these holidays to figure out you have the right to claim a territory of your own in your life? There, you can be your own CEO to collect your dues and direct your future at your best on your own to what is there waiting for you to dare to obtain it.

Are you laying on your couch Resting In Peace while you watch a re-run of the Survivor finale or brainstorming already in what to do different, what lessons have you learned already that could take you to a next level in your career and life in 2010?

It is your call, your business, your choice as you are the Producer, Director and main actor in your own reality show called: Living a life you deserve to call your own!

Open up your presents (=TALENTS) today and enjoy the smell, the feeling, the excitement of starting to play again with them!

Have fun!

What moves you to action is what makes you WHOLE

Two days ago while meeting a spiritual counselor I’ve known since I was a child I couldn’t help but laughing at her very ‘apparently simple’ reflection that she was grateful to God for having giving her health. This comes from someone who has had multiple sclerosis for most of her adult years. She is one of the most amazing individuals I’ve met in my lifetime. When she talks to you while sitting on her wheelchair, her strength, joy, faith and evident choice of happiness makes you forget everything else but the power of her words and her message. She makes me wonder about how inaccurate the term ‘handicapped’ can be on a situation like this. Is she a handicapped individual for not using her body fully or are we the handicapped ones for not making the difficult choices that get us closer to our vision?

She has listened to people problems almost everyday for more than 40 years (maybe even more than 50!). She has supported, encouraged and moved others to action. She’s done more from the wheelchair in her room – without Internet connection - than most.

She is an inspiration and a true example to follow. Then, I am inspired by the Season (it is Christmas to me, by the way) and moved deeply by her presence and life example. Now, what moves you? What can take you to the next level? I mean, what can get you from your thoughts to real brave coherent actions?

I’ve witnessed and listened this 2009 to many stories of people who impacted by their surroundings blame the outcome of their lives to whatever events have happened to them, instead of, reflecting on the choices that put them on that particular spot on the first place.

How wonderful would be for all to take advantage of the Season to re-think in what makes us handicapped individuals or whole fulfilled ones?

No background noise or reactions to words but openness to what is there to really listen to. I met this extraordinary woman who I am immensely proud to call not just my friend but a spiritual guide and I listened with my heart, soul and ears to what her words/actions had to tell me. I also stayed in the moment, ‘squeezed’ the best of it and have taken it with me to think further.

As she is thankful to God for her health I am thankful to all the fallings, doors shut on my face, broken pieces and leaps of faith…I am thankful that I am willing to get out of the career coaching talk to move into a personal territory that triggers to most our choices; therefore, our current lives and future to make us whole with no excuse but the one we may paint in our minds on our own.

I see the choices she’s made everyday to be happy inasmuch of her physical pain and health difficulties but her election is to be thankful, to be at God’s service by helping others to choose what will hopefully make them whole and happier.

Everyday it is up to you what path to take to move you closer to what you truly want that creates some sense to your life and a meaning to it or as I even coach my own little kids at every single chance ‘happiness is a choice and not something that happens to some’.

P.S. I dedicate this to you my dear Alida, even if you do not have Internet access in your room, I am sure your life has changed the world for the better!

The Top Ten Presents to give to yourself this Season (and mostly free!)

Are you overwhelmed by the Holidays, the giving, the sharing, the socializing, the traveling, the mailing, the calling and the waiting for that special present you’ve been looking forward to get for a while (e.g. a job to many). Well, I came up with a list of my top 10 presents you could seriously enjoy by making you a happier person this Season ; therefore, a more likeable to anyone in your network.

1. Give yourself a day. Yes, it may sound overly redundant to tell you to do this as we apparently do this every day, the truth? Can you book a date with yourself to do just the things that make you happy? What about having your favorite breakfast, wearing your favorite clothes, listening to your favorite song while singing it out loud and having a blast with yourself for a whole day? Reward: Inner Peace and Joy.

2. Choose a Cause to give. I realize that times have changed, the unemployment rate is higher and economy is not at its best but most of us can make a difference if we compromise with an initiative we can relate to. Let’s say money is not in the booming department, still you can volunteer your time or your talent to make a difference with the added benefit of applying your experience and gaining visibility.

3. Be a friend. Everybody is so busy and stressed out these days that smiling has become a rarity. Use those face muscles and exercise, assume the best in others, adopt acceptance instead of judgment in your heart and spread the joy.

4. Surprise the ones you care about. A hand written letter instead of an e-mail, sipping some cocoa while enjoying a good fire, a hug and some appreciation words to that relative you care but do not get along with.

5. Be Thankful. Have you forgotten to thank the former colleague that referred to you to a key business contact that landed you a job? What about appreciating the effort others put on your cause asking nothing in reward but a thank you? Go and enjoy ‘paying your gratitude dues’ as it is never too late.

6. Pay Forward. I am glad you’ve made possible some of your goals, now what about helping others to do the same. The paying forward initiative is such a great way to embrace the best you are and you can achieve by planting your good deeds along your path.

7. Get out of your comfort zone. Assuming you have already tried a number of simultaneous resources to get you closer to your destination, what about pushing yourself out of your box to try something new. For those working on their presentation skills, what about trying Ignite or pecha-kucha instead of Toastmasters? Adventuring into unknown territory can certainly triggers your curiosity, empower your creativity and refine your ability to transfer your skills more effectively.

8. Dream a Dream! As a child I would dream of many things, the amazing part of the story is that I was actually taught to visualize and work hard towards my vision. A teaching I thought to be very personal has become what many called ‘the secret’. Do you remember the Kevin Costner movie in which he heard over and over again ‘If you build it, they’ll come’? Well, not trying to spoil the secret that there is not secret but to dare to dream big and work smart to make it true.

9. Play Pretend. Assume you’ve made it all the way to the top of that high mountain you have envisioned yourself. Watch around that vision, how it feels, how it looks like, where it is happening, who your allies are and write it down! Details count and playing pretend is such a fun and productive exercise to create a compelling vision.

10. Celebrate. Are you the result of a series of accidents in your life that happened to you or the creator of your own universe, the architect of its grounds, surroundings and outcomes? You are the product of your own choices and the amazing learning and experience you have acquired along the way is a great reason to celebrate. List your top 10 reasons for celebration and get in the Holiday season with joy, a vision and the confidence you will be at your best in 2010!

Happy Holidays!!!!

Are you a Do-Do?

Are you the kind of person that when asked ‘JUMP’ the reply is always ‘HOW HIGH’? And there you go jumping all along everyday at the beat of what others instruct you to do. Or, are you the workaholic that does a zillion things one after the other without reasoning the sense of all that work?

I go to a HRM class every other Saturday at Rice University where a wonderful professor, Mr. Davis, is always opening discussions about day-to-day HR matters. He empowers the class to be strategic on their thinking; therefore, more efficient in their decisions and definitely more aligned to the business needs.

He said something in one of the classes that has resonated with me since I’ve heard it. If you do a lot of things all the time, everyday with no strategic planning and no reflection (review) on the results, then you are repeating yourself constantly, so what happens when you just do, do, do stuff all the time? You become a do-do!!!!

Isn’t that obvious? Yes, you need that vision to align your action to and the space to check they are moving you on the direction you want to go. But lots of folks have become precisely a ‘do-do’ type of professionals and even worse, ‘do-do’ persons.

Organizations are laying off people resulting in much more work for those keeping their jobs and those who are job transitioning feel such a pressure that keep applying to job after job without thinking or assessing what resources are more effective in their search.

I can think of many disadvantages of being a do-do, such as:

1. Level of stress is much higher. I know someone whose health has been jeopardized a few times by the obsession of doing too much with no planning. Every week is the same story, level of stress, same old complaining talk of how time is never enough. How many trips to the emergency room will take for this individual to realize a CHANGE is needed?

2. Lack of joy. What pleasure is there to complete one thing after the other without celebrating any success, completion or closure of any of it? I couldn’t believe these days when I got a letter from my daughter’s school notifying the report card would be sent this Friday and reminding the parents the need to celebrate their kids’ achievements instead of focusing on what did not work on this period. Whoao! Are people even going so far in their obsession to do things that they do not even celebrate anymore their kids’ accomplishments? Then, where is the joy in the day-to-day living?

3. Routine kills creativity. If you assume your day is what you get and there is no sense to change any of it, can you imagine the level of boredom? Not counting the mechanical reaction towards every request to JUMP and keep JUMPING. There is a Charly Chaplin movie I love that makes a parody of a factory worker that does a manual activity with his hands all day and that when leaving work his hands keep moving on the same way no matter what he is doing or who he is with. Hilarious and sad, so are you out of ideas already?

4. A network disabler. Who wants to be around a ‘do-do’ or hire one? Yes, I know it depends on the job but when you have three interview candidates for a job and 2 out of 3 are ‘do-dos’ and there is that one that takes the time to reason and learn from previous experiences, who do you think will get hired? . Also, if you see someone who repeats itself all the time and no matter how long you see that person there is no change, what value would that person add to your network?

Now, use your ‘life brakes’, stop and start thinking on your vision, that strategy you need to make some sense of your actions and creativity to effectively achieve what you really want to have.

At the end, it is about how you decide to spend everyday what will make your life/job what you want it to be.

So, get rid of the ‘do-do’ spirit and awake the amazing person who hides beneath the covers of ‘too much work to do and too little time to think on anything else’.

Be an enabler of your life and career! BE!

Your coach,

Mariela

Are you on a diet these days?

Have you met those folks (not you, of course!) that when being a bit overweight and eating a big slice of pizza speak about the wonderful diet they are thinking on starting on Monday? And then, Monday comes; the diet is broken on Tuesday by that piece of candy nobody can refuse to have. Even if your diet last a whole week, it is a horrible week filled with cravings for everything you are missing that you want to have. You become a ‘foodaholic’, somebody whose life turns into an obsession with whatever cannot be eaten instead of enjoying the pleasures of other healthier foods available right at your table.


So, what does all this diet talk have to do with your career transition and/or development plan?

Easy answer, most people when looking for either a job or a career switch tend to focus in what they do NOT have, they get obsessed on that particular skill that they have NOT mastered and which according to their expectations they should be better at. Then, there they go ready to move into a whole world of opportunities thinking and hoping nobody out there finds out they do not have that, yes, that particular thing they have created and built into their minds as a barrier, an obstacle that will decrease their chances to be noticed or selected to what they want. They become ‘gapholic’ people that only see the gaps and the holes they believe make them incomplete.

What chances have somebody like that to be successful on this ‘career diet plan’? What do you think? Almost none. Frankly, there is nothing more appealing than precisely the opposite.

Have you met those ‘health gurus’ that when talking to you resemble precisely the image of everything you would expect from somebody that eats and lives healthy in the inside and outside. They do not seem to deprive themselves to what they need but to move forward with such a level of clarity to what they want. Have you got friends like that? They are attractive and inspiring. They truly walk the talk on what they believe it is best for them.

The same could apply to your career. What if you could live the dream and embrace who you are? Your achievements, your skills, your competencies, your built network, your own goals and acceptance of the potential you have to drive yourself to the top of that high mountain instead of the bottom of a high wall.

An effective career diet plan requires guts to believe you can and preparation to make you more effective in your path, it does not take away what you enjoy but takes you closer to what brings you joy: that job you have always wanted or the corporation you think you’d be perfect for. Can you imagine going to a networking event or talking to an interviewer with the passion that comes from the clarity on your own ability to conquer and do beyond what anyone else in your shoes could do?

Doors will get open; people will notice you and you’ll be happier managing your own ‘career diet’.

So, step out of that  pile of applications you have waiting for you on the job board you face everyday and start making phone calls to meet the people that will see what you bring with you on that amazing portfolio of attributes, achievements and competencies called: YOU!

Dare to do your best, dare to enjoy who you are and beat your competition while you do so. Walk the talk and BE!

Best success,
Your coach.

I love your accent!

What happens when your communication gets impacted by your belief that your accent makes you incompetent of telling others your story? What are the consequences of having a second language but feeling unsecured about your ability to speak it without an accent to make your point effectively go across?

So, is it the accent or your lack of self-confidence the one jeopardizing your networking skills and a successful job transitioning process?

On my former corporate life I was exposed to a diverse platform of clients that were from everywhere you could think of, even from places I did not know existed in our global geography. The meaning was that I worked in a particular organization with a very inclusive culture in which accents were taken as part of the day-to-day communications and where everyone was able to ask, if not understanding somebody else's words due to this reality. It was not a barrier but a cultural enabler that made it cooler, funnier, more relaxed and certainly inclusive to the point in which you would feel at ease and at your best by the acceptance of it. No offense was taken as no offense was intended. There was a global management team that felt like the Miss Universe contest but without the looks!
Certainly, though we experience everyday the consequences of a global market, we also live mostly in a domestic/local job culture in which we'll likely face what is called 'minority' or 'majority' tagging games. Does this matter when we talk about your accent and your level of confidence to market your brand? Do you feel a 'minority', I mean, less that something bigger and greater called 'majority'? Hopefully, you don’t.
You make your own brand with your history and then, you reveal it to tell the story that will connect you to those wanting to hear it and buy it.
So, do I believe in Accent Reduction programs? Certainly, if it is going to help you make yourself understood and at ease under any circumstance, then go for it but if what you are having is not an accent problem but a self-confidence issue, then you are looking at the wrong resource to get you on the right track.
First, let me give you some very old news, everyone, yes, EVERYONE has an accent. It is part of your roots and who you are. The trick is not to let the accent determine your professional identity but your own brand to be the one that speaks by itself with its own attributes. Do not misunderstand my words, I believe that if you live in a host country and you call it home, wouldn't it make sense for you to learn the language of it? However, there is a big difference between the accent and the lack of language proficiency, don't you think?

Second, TRUST yourself, your own guts and instinct more than anything else. I get quite often clients that have forgotten their STAR which is the inner talent that made them successful in their career journey to a point in which they can list the value of what they did with clear and tangible contribution. How can you go to an interview if you do not believe you've got what it takes and blame it to your own 'minority' sense or 'accent' image? It is just an image you made with words that does not tell the whole story of who you are and your previous successes. Life is no accident, so do not make your career a matter of coincidences when it's always been a matter of preparation, hard work and readiness to take on the next steps.

Third, yes, some people suck! But at the end, it is how you react to what they do what gets you closer to your goal or takes you away from it. I confess I have an accent! Ops! Now you know, I share this amazing ‘unique’ attribute with you and guess what? I looove it. It is who I am and my story is to play with it. I speak faster at a social gathering and much slower at a professional one. It supports my openness to those willing to hear me and struggling to get me whenever my pronunciation does not come across in the way their listening is used to or my tongue is intending to. It also ensures my own willingness to be at my best squeezing every single chance to communicate. I learn everyday; I listen to the stories behind the accents to SEE the person that is telling it. I am amazed at the talent, the dreams, the goals, the possibilities, the incredible contributions people with accents have made and will keep making ensuring our world is a diverse and inclusive one in which we all do our homework to be open and to get what others are telling beyond the accents, beyond the biases and beyond the self-doubts.

Open up to the possibility that comes from your own self, your identity, your strengths, your own special and unique accent…your brand
And please, stay one more minute here to reflect on the amazing words shared by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander in their book The Art of Possibility (Harvard Business School Press):
‘We can make a conscious use of our way with words to define new frameworks for possibility that bring out the part of us that is most contributory, most unencumbered, most open to participation. And why not say that is who we really are?