Career Post: How Can You Be Sure About Your Career Direction?

Let’s say that you want to reach the level of Director, or V.P. or maybe even get to a C-Level chair. As much as you say you want to follow this trajectory you have doubts. You question whether or not this is the right path and you look for evidence to prove, to yourself, you know what you want. You can lose confidence and berate yourself because you’re “supposed” to know what you want. After all you’re an adult. That’s what adults do, right?

How to Be More Persuasive in 2014

What will make you more persuasive in 2014? Thinking less about what you want and more about what you deliver for others. Work with the principle of benefit exchange to win over your colleagues.

A benefit exchange is the heart of persuasion. It answers the question, "What's in it for me?" for the person you are seeking to influence. In other words, it's a benefit you promise in exchange for someone taking your desired action.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s 7 Leadership Secrets

His autobiography is released today, so what lessons can we draw from this sporting icon?

When Manchester United boss Sir Alex – the most successful manager of a British soccer team in decades – announced his retirement back in May, it generated more than 1.4 million Twitter mentions within the first hour. This ranked as more significant than the death of Margaret Thatcher, if slightly less so than the announcement of the new Pope.

So here are Sir Alex's seven leadership lessons:

The Secret Key to Success and Failure - "You"

Aspiration is the greatest ally anyone can have in their rise to success. It gives "you" a reason to move forward despite obstacles and setbacks. But why put "you" in quotation marks? Because there is more than one you to consider. Human beings have divided natures. As pointed out by Plato two millennial ago when he compared the soul to a chariot being pulled upward by a white horse and downward by a black horse. Depending on which horse you encourage, your personal fate is in your hands.

Editorials: Don't Work for your Boss, Work for your Company

It’s no secret that businesses today are a bit obsessed with hierarchy. You probably go to work every day and report to someone, who in turn reports to another person...and so it goes up the hierarchical ladder. This traditional structure has established the idea that we’re all just “doing time,” attempting to please our bosses until it’s our turn at the top.

But this standard view of work is creating a huge disconnect between companies and their employees. In a hierarchal structure, you can wind up losing sight of your company’s goals and visions. You may end up feeling like a worker bee with little autonomy, and your passion for what you do, as well as the work you turn out, can suffer as a result. This is a lose-lose situation for both you and your company.

Article: The Single Biggest Threat To Your Job

The biggest threat to your job might come from an unexpected place. I believe that there is a hidden assassin lurking in the background waiting to finish you off in your job. Let’s face it, job security is high on everyone’s wish list right now, especially at times of economic downturn when it might not be so easy to quickly find another one.

So how secure is your job? Where is this hidden threat coming from and how can you put yourself into the best possible position to keep your job? I believe the biggest threat to your job, indeed most of our jobs, is coming from from an unforeseen eliminator. I believe that our improved ability to capture and analyse data will allow us to automate most jobs. And I am not just talking about the manual and un-skilled jobs but any job, including the jobs of knowledge workers, doctors, journalists and even sports coaches.

The First Things a New Leader Should Do to Build Trust

As a new supervisor nearly 30 years ago and as Lockheed Martin CEO and President, building trust has always been my top priority. That’s because I’ve learned over the years that if you don’t have a bond of trust with the people who can help you succeed, business comes to a screeching halt.

Article: How to Spot a Great Leader in Four Easy Steps

Leadership can be an incredibly hard concept to define and an even harder quality to learn. There are some who argue that great leaders are born but I have always believed that you can learn and develop the necessary skills through hard work and experience.

No Job Posted...Send Resume Anyway?

I got this question from a reader regarding submitting a resume to companies that don't appear to be hiring:

In one of your webinars recently you said go straight to the companies and avoid the postings. My question is: Do you make sure that a company is hiring or do you just send your letter and resume and hope for the best? Some companies do not accept resumes if they don't have a specific job opening.

The answer is "no." You shouldn't blindly submit your materials. But, not because a company won't accept them. They will. However...

Here's Why Your Resume Won't Get Seen...

When I tell people to go straight to the company, what I mean is there's no point in applying online unless you have someone you know in the company who can walk your credentials into the hiring manager and ask them to pull your resume from the thousands they've received online and take a closer look. Yep, I said THOUSANDS. Today, applying via job boards is the easiest way to look for a work - so, everyone is doing it. Yet, it also happens to be the least effective method for getting noticed. Why? The ATS (applicant tracking system) employers use to gather applications automatically screen you out for not being an exact keyword and experience match for the job. Still, people continue to waste hours upon hours filling out online applications only to be shocked and disappointed when they never hear back from the employers. They say to me, "But J.T., I was perfect for the job." I respond, "Yes, you and hundreds of other people." The reality is your chances of making it through the online process and into the hands of a human being are only slightly better than you winning the lottery.

Effective Job Seeker Rule #1: Submit Resumes to Actual People

Want to improve your odds of getting noticed by employers? Only submit your resume and cover letter to human beings. How? Network and connect with employees of the companies you desire to work at. Then, when a job gets posted you are a match for, instead of going into the ATS blackhole, you can reach out to your contacts and see if they can help you get your credentials in the hiring manager's hands. There's a reason 80%+ of jobs today are gotten via referral - it works!

No Job Posted? Even More Reason to Network

When there's a company you'd like to work for but they've no jobs posted, you've got an opportunity to prepare for the day they finally hire for your skill set. You can start the networking process now with employees and get to know first-hand what it will take to eventually earn a position at their company. Better still, you may learn about the "hidden" jobs at the company. The ones that are open but not posted anywhere online. While sending a resume to HR will likely end up in the circular file. (a.k.a. trash can), connecting and having meaningful conversations with employees will result in you being fully prepared to fast-track your resume to the right hiring manager.

What other tips can readers share to help people get around ATS and connect directly with employers? I'd love to hear your comments below.

J.T. O'Donnell

Networking Rules for Job-seekers: the Good, the Bad and the Almost Perfect

"Networking is about meeting people you know who can vouch for your past performance and connect you with people you don't know."

After writing The Best Job-hunting Secrets of All Time, and reading the comments, I can safely conclude that 20% of job-seekers find networking necessary, appropriate, and comfortable. Another 20% find it necessary, but uncomfortable. The rest are either not doing it, or doing it wrong.

As I've stated loud and clear on these pages many times, applying directly to a job posting should represent no more than 20% of your total time looking for a job. Sixty percent should be on networking. The other 20% represents a bunch of clever techniques to help your resume be found and get contacted by a recruiter. This post will focus on the 60% networking piece.

For job-seekers there are some major advantages to networking over applying directly. For one, you'll be able to bypass the gatekeepers. For another, you'll increase your chances of being interviewed and hired by 5-10X. Even more important, candidates who are highly referred are judged more on their past performance and future potential than on their level of skills and experiences. That’s why I tell candidates not to directly apply to a job unless they’re a perfect fit on skills and experience. If not, they need to be referred by someone who can vouch for their past performance and future potential.

Networking is not about trying to meet as many people whom you don't know. This is almost as ineffective as applying directly to a job posting. Networking is about meeting people you do know who can both vouch for your past performance and future potential, and willingly recommend you to others. Here’s how this should be done:

1. Meet 3-4 people who can vouch for your past performance and future potential. These should be your best first degree connections. Younger people can use their professors, advisors, or important church or social connections as their first degree connections.
2. During the meeting review your resume or LinkedIn profile and ask for feedback. Then ask these people if they would be comfortable recommending you to people they know who are connected to others in companies or industries of interest.
3. If the answer to Step 2 is no, find out why, and/or find some better connected people.
4. If the answer to Step 2 is yes, obtain the names of 3-4 people and their contact information. Then ask the person who is vouching for you if they would call the person on your behalf, or send an email introducing you.
5. Research your connection's connections and ask about specific people. In addition to asking people you know who they know, you can turn this around and ask them about specific people they’re already connected to who you'd like to meet. This is possible using LinkedIn, since you’re able to see your first degree connections' connections (at least if they haven't hidden them).
6. Network backwards. Start with a job of interest, and using LinkedIn, find out who you're connected to who knows someone in the company who can refer you.
7. Be direct and be proactive. When you meet these second degree connections be prepared to ask about specific people they know, and about specific jobs at their companies. All of this information is on LinkedIn. Asking to be referred to a specific person or a specific job will result in more connections and more interviews.
8. Don’t be a pest, but keep your network warm by maintaining an active PR campaign. Spend a few hours each week sending emails to those who have helped you in any way. Make them personal.
9. Establish some metrics to stay focused. Treat the job-hunting process as a job, not a hobby. As a minimum, you’ll need to track meetings per week and the number of recommendations per meeting. The overriding goal should by 50-60 people in your job-hunting network within 2-3 weeks.

Networking is how you turn 4-5 great contacts into 50-60 connections in 2-3 weeks. As described above, networking should represent 60% of your job-hunting efforts. It will take about 20-30 hours per week. This is roughly 10-15 new contacts per week via the phone, which should convert into 5-6 one-on-one meetings every week. The rest of the time should be on LinkedIn researching their connections and finding open jobs in their companies. Within 2-3 weeks you’ll start hearing about some real jobs of interest. The person doing the recommending will think it’s a coincidence, but you’ll know it’s a result of your hard work.

Getting referred increases your chances of being interviewed and getting a better job by 5-10X over applying directly. This is a pretty good trade-off since it only takes three times the effort. Even better, some of the connections you make along the way will surprise you, and put you on a path you never even considered.

Lou Adler

10 Things Job-Seekers Must Do to Get a Better Job

... rather than complaining, take some advice from Jim Rohn: “Things will get better for you, when you get better.”

Given this state of the economy, the best thing any job-seeker can do to get a better job is to be more thorough, more savvy and more aggressive. The following are some basic guidelines for the thorough and savvy parts. These are not optional. Neither is the aggressive part, but I’ll leave that up to you.

Some Big Ideas Job-seekers Must Follow if They Want to Get a Meaningful Job

1. Applying directly to job postings should represent no more than 20% of what you do. Getting referred to a job is 5-10X more effective than applying directly. If you’re going to apply, only apply to jobs when you’re a perfect fit for the skills and experience listed on the job description.
2. Leverage your understanding of the recruiter’s role. Many recruiters are gatekeepers who don’t know the job and will just box-check your skills and experiences. Others are extremely talented, who want to work with the best people to craft great career moves. You must avoid the former and seek out the latter.
3. Implement a 20/20/60 job-hunting plan. A job hunting plan requires a performance-based resume, an understanding of how recruiters find candidates, and applying through the backdoor. Networking is the key to the backdoor. It must represent 60% of what you need to do.
4. Focus on the job, not the money. It’s better to be underpaid than overpaid. Getting promoted or obtaining a big compensation increase will only occur after you’ve demonstrated great performance. You need to put yourself into these situations. Ignore anyone who says otherwise.
5. Present your strengths and weaknesses via short stories. No one believes general statements. You must validate each of your strengths with a specific example of how it was used in a real job situation. In addition, you need to demonstrate how you’ve turned your weaknesses into strengths. Never say you don’t have any weaknesses! It means you’ve stopped growing.
6. Divide and conquer by asking the universal question. Very early in the interview, or phone screen, you must ask the interviewer to describe the focus of the job, some of the big challenges, and how the new person’s performance will be measured. Pick at least two from this list. Then prove each is a core strength using the SAFW response below.
7. Practice the universal answer to any question. You need to be able to prove every strength with a specific example. Form your answer using the SAFW two-minute response: Say A Few Words – Statement – Amplify – few Examples – Wrap-up.
8. Weave the 10 Best Predictors of Job Success into Your SAFW Response.  Make sure you have an example proving you possess at least three or four of these strengths. Then during the interview ask if these traits are important for on-the-job success. Of course they will be. Then give your example. Note: this is a slam dunk!
9. Use the phone screen to minimize the impact of a weak first impression. Even if you make a good first impression, it’s important to ask the universal question (see above) early in the phone screen. Answering it correctly will increase the likelihood you’ll be invited to an onsite interview. This will help focus the actual interview on your past performance, instead of box-checking your skills and experience, or judging you on first impressions.
10. Uncover any concerns before the end of the interview. To determine where you stand, ask the interviewer about next steps. If they’re not specific, you probably won’t be called back. In this case, ask the interviewer what’s the biggest concern he/she has about your background. Then ask how the skill, trait or factor mentioned is used on the job. To overcome the concern, you’ll need to use the SAFW two-minute response to prove you can handle the requirement.

Getting a job is no fun. It’s hard work. But working hard on the wrong things is a waste of time. So rather than complaining, take some advice from Jim Rohn: “Things will get better for you, when you get better.” Learning the ten techniques above is a great way to start.

Lou Adler

20 Motivational Business Quotes to Read Every Morning

Like most entrepreneurs, my office is cluttered with motivational books, approaches and quotes. Some of these quotes are taped to my desk, while others are hanging on the wall to review every hour or so.

Not a day goes by that I don't review the following quotes. It inspires me to focus on what's most important to accomplish during that particular day, and to not get sidetracked by email, tasks or clutter that don't grow the business.

Here are 20 of my favorite quotes. I hope they inspire you as much as they inspire me.

“Out there in some garage is an entrepreneur who’s forging a bullet
with your company’s name on it.”
Gary Hamel, Business Writer

“If you don’t make mistakes, you aren’t really trying.”
Coleman Hawkins, Jazz Musician

“Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable
combination for success.”
Napoleon Hill, Author

“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that
which should not be done at all.”
Peter Drucker

“I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for
failure, which is: Try to please everybody.”
Herbert B. Swope, American Journalist

“If you have always done it that way, it is probably wrong.”
Charles Kettering, Engineer

“I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be
flexible at all times.”
Everett Dirksen

“Without customers, you don’t have a business. You have a hobby.”
Don Peppers & Martha Rogers, Return on Customer

“Judge a man by his questions, not by his answers.”
Voltaire

“The minute you’re satisfied with where you are, you aren’t there anymore.”
Tony Gwynn, Hall of Fame Baseball player

“Speed is useful only if you are running in the right direction.”
Joel Barker, Future Edge

“They always say time changes things,
but you actually have to change them yourself.”
Andy Warhol

“An organization becomes bewildered rather than energized
when it’s asked to do too much at once.”
Michael Hammer & James Champy, Reengineering The Corporation

“If you try to do something and fail, you are vastly better off
than if you had tried nothing and succeeded.”
The Back of a Sugar Packet (Anonymous)

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
Phil 4:13

*****

Do you read motivational quotes as part of your work day? Do you have any particular sayings that have made a difference in your life?

Joe Pulizzi

Editorial: The 10 Most Irritating Phrases Ever! Don't Use Them

Whether you are at work or at home, with colleagues or friends, there are some words or phrases that can drive the people around you to complete insanity. Especially if you use them again, and again and again!

The trouble with these words is that they are not something we have carefully chosen to most eloquently make a point. No, they are just filler words that we got into the habit of using. They often don’t mean anything, they are just there to irritate.

In some people the use of these repetitive, nothing-saying, filler-words has reached epidemic proportions. I believe we need to cure this and stop using them. When I say stop using them I don’t mean completely. I don’t mind if someone uses them appropriately. I use most of them. What we have to stop is using them repeatedly and without meaning!

But then, maybe it’s just me? Maybe I am the only one that gets irritated by that? Or do you get annoyed and tired of hearing someone talk like this:

“To be honest, at the end of the day you are literally going get into trouble, seriously. I mean, you better be careful, if you know what I mean. I am just saying.”

Or this:

“Awesome! This is, like, I mean, totally seriously, like, the most epic band I have ever heard. You know what I’m saying. I am literally going to, like, die if I can’t go and see them.”

Some might argue it is just teenagers. No. I believe that every decade has their favorites. For me, the two examples show this nicely where the first one would typically come from someone a little older and the second from someone of a younger generation.

We seem to use these words to fill pauses in our conversations. My recommendation is to actually pause, instead of bombarding people with meaningless words that simply make it more difficult (and exhausting) to understand what someone is saying. Pauses are fine! Pauses are natural.

Here are my top ten most irritating filler phrases:

1. “At the end of the day” – What does that even mean? Does it mean later? Just leave it out!
2. “To be honest” – Why, are you normally not honest with me? What a crazy thing to say!
3. “If you know what I mean” – If I don’t know what you mean I would probably tell you. I don’t need a prompt.
4. “You know” – Is this a question or a statement?
5. “Having said that” – Yes, you have just said that. I was here, you have been speaking to me and I don’t need you to tell me that you have just said something to me!
6. “Like” – This is especially annoying if it is inserted a number of times into every single sentence. Why, oh, why?
7. “Literally” – Should mean ‘figuratively’ or exactly as you say. It makes so sense to ‘literally explode’ or to ‘literally die’.
8. “I am just saying’” – Yes, I have heard it. Should this make me feel better about the fact that you have just offended me or said something that didn’t make sense?
9. “Seriously” – Are you saying that you are telling me the truth or are you using it as a replacement for ‘yeah’ – I am, like, seriously confused!
10. "I mean" – Some people litter this phrase into every single sentence they say. It must be one of the most meaningless phrases of all.

So, is it just me? Or do these words drive you nuts too? No seriously, like, totally 'comment' on this post! I am just saying, if you know what I mean? Finally, feel free to add other phrases you find particularly infuriating into the comment field – let’s make it the most complete list, like, I mean, seriously, EVER!

Bernard Marr

EDITORIAL: Don’t Be A Perfectionist

Perfection isn’t the secret ingredient to professional success. In fact, constantly chasing perfection may actually ruin your career.

The negative connotation of perfectionism may not be easy to swallow at first. This is because we’re taught to go above and beyond whenever possible. The act of fine-tuning, revisiting, and tweaking a project or task to perfection often derives a level of pleasure.

But in all reality, you’re actually losing time and potentially annoying your manager, coworkers, or even your clients or customers. Sure, perfection may be achievable, but what do you really gain from reaching it? Perfection is such a subjective thing, one man or woman’s idea of perfection is unlikely on par with another’s.

It’s time to set a new standard for perfection in your life: Make 80 percent the new 100 percent. By using the 80/20 rule, once you knock out 80 percent of a task, the remaining 20 percent gets you diminishing returns. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with completing something to where it’s “good enough,” because to some that’s perfect.

Still not sold? Here are a few downsides to perfectionism:

1. You think hard work and perfection go hand-in-hand. For some reason this idea has become a norm for most people in their professional lives. Working hard on a project to please a client and your boss doesn’t always mean achieving perfection.

In fact, wasting time attempting to make something perfect may actually leave your clients, boss, or coworkers unhappy. Remember, you can always revisit the project to make necessary updates and edits based on feedback.

2. Things take longer to get done. Regardless of your profession, as an avid perfectionist you’re likely going to spend more time accomplishing things on the job. The more time you spend in the development cycle tweaking things, the less time you’ll have for other projects. In the end, you may end up having to put in overtime to meet deadlines. Know when your project is complete and don’t waste time revisiting it.

3. You’re probably doing more work than necessary. Why put extra work into a project if it isn’t going to pay off in the end? Remember, after completing the necessary 80 percent of the project, the last 20 percent will only bring you diminishing returns. Focus on developing the minimum viable product or MVP. Stamp out the nagging feeling that tells you to tweak the project further and settle on creating the minimum amount of work that will lead to the most success.

4. You aren’t delegating. If your perfectionism is getting in the way of trusting your team, you have a real problem on your hands. Some tasks are better handled by others, and knowing how and when to delegate will make you a better employee and leader. Collaborate and coordinate on projects or parts of projects with your team and give them full ownership of the task. Don’t micromanage their work, just trust their abilities.

5. You aren’t reaching maximum efficiency. Time equals money. Too much time spent on one aspect of a project means your company is either losing money or you’re overcharging your client or customer. Focus on getting things to meet the necessary requirements and then move onto other tasks and projects. If you’re wrapped up in the details of a project too early on, you’re probably missing out on other important opportunities.

6. You’re fearful. Are you scared what will happen if a project isn’t perfect? The obsessive hunt for perfection may have you working based on fear. It’s OK to fail sometimes, and you never know, what you might consider to be far from perfect could seem genius to another person. Sometimes moving away from your perfectionist habits means taking risks and leaving things at the “just good enough” stage.

7. If you’re not already burned out, you will be. Perfection-induced stress, anxiety, and frustration aren’t doing your overall health any favors. You’re probably spending far more time at work than necessary and thinking about work when you’re not there.

Next time you’re sweating the details, ask yourself this: How can I create something that’s good enough and awesome?

How do you manage your perfectionism?

Ilya Pozin

EDITORIAL: Microsoft & Nokia: Who's Buying Whom?

When a prosperous company buys a struggling company you have to wonder what they're really buying.

Here's how to think about it. A company is defined as the sum of three values: resources, processes and priorities (RPP). Everything of value can be classified into these three categories.

When one company buys another, it's the equivalent of one set of RPPs trying to engulf or swallow another set of RPPs. The simplest (naïve) interpretation is that an acquisition is the purchase of Resources in terms of customers, sales, profits, etc. It might be of assets like employees, intellectual properties, brand etc. I say this is naïve because Resources are the easiest to value – they can be measured – and valuing only what can be measured while ignoring what can't be measured is deeply mis-pricing.

So most people look for the "R" value or the value of Resources in an acquisition. It may be naïve but it is what markets typically value because it's what they can price. But what happens when the "R" is flimsy or fleeting?

The answer has to be that it's the Processes or even Priorities which are valued by the acquirer.

These are difficult to value which, as I've argued in The Innovator's Curse, is why they are not reflected in a share's price. When there is a price paid for these fuzzy assets, they are often interpreted as a "premium" to the market price. But that may not be the way a buyer sees it.

When buying a set of Processes, a buyer may see a bargain because their costs for building a similar process could be enormous, even infinite. In the case of Nokia, the process of building hardware may be infinitely valuable to Microsoft as they have had dreadful luck doing it themselves. But they're seen as value free to the market because it seems that there are many others who are building hardware.

The trickiest thing to perceive though is the value of a set of Priorities. Priorities are the answers to the "Why" question as much as Resources are the answers to the "What" and processes are to the "How." If you were to think in terms of software engineering, Priorities are the "Specifications" where the Resources are the data and Processes are the algorithms. They determine the direction and reasoning of why a company even exists. If you have bad specs, it never matters whether the algorithm is efficient and you have all the data: you are building the wrong thing.

Acquiring Priorities is also fundamental in that they are usually exclusive. A company typically only has room for one set. If there are conflicting priorities, they need to be sorted out else the company can end up in a state of internal conflict and dysfunction. So if you're acquiring a set of Priorities, it's likely that you'll have to discard your own. It makes most sense when a company which might otherwise be prosperous needs to change direction.

So, in a way, an acquisition of Priorities is almost a reverse acquisition. The acquired is actually "buying" the acquirer. The acquired company's Priorities (and hence Processes and Resources) become the guiding principles in the acquirer. It's what happened when Apple bought NeXT and may have happened when Disney bought Pixar.

Some companies are "Resource-heavy", some are "Process-heavy" and some are "Priority-heavy". Great companies tend to have great sense of priority. They may also have greatness in the other asset classes but it's rare to find a great company without a great sense of purpose.

So the question for the Microsoft Nokia deal is "What is Microsoft buying?"

Resources? Sure, there is IP and a team. But the chances are that not all the team members will be kept on. See what happened to Motorola after it was acquired by Google.

Processes? Absolutely. Microsoft needs device development processes desperately. They may seem a commodity but it turns out that running great hardware businesses is hard, very hard.

Priorities? Here we have to pause. To acquire Nokia's priorities means acquiring its business model – its belief system. Perhaps they will be discarded and they're not valued. Perhaps, as is often the case, the acquirer becomes allergic to the new priorities.

But Microsoft has made it clear that they are now a "Devices and Services" company. As much as Apple changed its name to exclude "Computer," Microsoft is almost changing its name to exclude "software". It will still make software, to be sure, but for it to get paid it needs to integrate that software into hardware and services.

My first thought on this is that Nokia's priorities are not sufficient for the company that Microsoft wants and needs to become, but there are some priorities which are necessary and which it values.

It may be too much to say that with respect to Priorities, Nokia acquired Microsoft, but insofar as Microsoft is having to transform its business model, what Nokia devices bring is an integral component of the new Microsoft.

Horace Dediu

How to Self-Promote without Being a Jerk

Is it possible to genuinely be interested in the needs of others, and still promote yourself? Absolutely, otherwise all the good people would be starving in the streets. But doing so requires that you skip the sort of "me first", self-centered promotion that many utilize.

Here are some tips for getting the right kind of attention:

Start with the facts. Keep your resume, bio and LinkedIn profile in perfect order. Be factual, clear and complete; If you doubled sales in a year, say so.

Plenty of people do the opposite: they make boastful claims in an article or email, but their profile is lacking the most basic details.

Make it very easy for people to get facts about what you have accomplished. The key word here is "facts." Don't brag, just tell the truth.

Acknowledge others. State your accomplishments in terms of how you have helped others. If you have clients, list the ways they have benefitted from working with you. If you volunteer, be proactive in supporting your favorite non-profits. When your team wins, give credit to the other team members.

Be helpful. The best articles, blog posts, comments and discussion topics serve to help other people. The wrong way to get a new client is to say, "I'm the best, hire me." The right way is to be so helpful that it becomes obvious to others that you are someone who adds value and brings the right attitude to tough challenges.

Beware... people are very good at spotting insincere contributions. Don't simply pretend to help others; actually help them.

Share freely. Few things bother people more than a "teaser" article that forces readers to share their contact information before gaining access to more valuable content. I get the sales and marketing reasons for using such an approach, but a far better strategy is to share freely and make it easy for people to contact you if they value what you have shared.

Be expert. It is much better to be expert than to say you are an expert. If you have worthwhile capabilities, use them. Write a book that imparts genuine insights. Teach others valuable skills. Be calm and focused in stressful situations. Look for actual solutions, instead of simply parroting tired, old phrases. Use your abilities in ways that other people value.

When you don't know the answer, just say so. It is human nature to fall into the trap of thinking you have all the answers. Newsflash: no one has all the answers. If you want to earn credibility, be the first to admit when you are over your head. Even better, send people to other experts who are equipped to answer their current questions; paradoxically, doing so will raise your credibility.

One last caution... don't be full of yourself. Never use these words to describe yourself: thought leader, visionary, insightful, or genius.

And please - if you are over the age of 20, never put your GMAT, LSAT, or SAT scores on your profile. Once you get into a school, it is bad form to tell others how you did it. Listing your board scores is equivalent to saying, "I'm smart, but I lack common sense."

Bruce Kasanoff