“The Finch Effect: The Five Strategies to Adapt and Thrive in Your Working Life” by Nacie Carson (Jossey-Bass, $25.95.)
Finches and worklife? Yes. Charles Darwin studied finches on the Galapagos Islands. He found their beaks evolved over only a few generations to accommodate changes in the food sources. The finches thrived while their competition struggled to survive. Carson’s five strategies show how thriving in any workplace environment parallels Darwin’s finches “survival of the fittest” evolution.
Here are the five:
1. Adopt a gig mindset — When you’re content to perch on a rung on the corporate ladder, you lose perspective of what you could become. Inertia sets in as you do your job and hope that your employer “feeds” you opportunity, rather than a pink slip. Instead, take responsibility for your job security. View your job as that of a consultant under contract. Every task/project (i.e. gig) that offers the opportunity to learn and connect with others builds your marketability. When the opportunities diminish, it’s time to fly.
2. Identify your professional value — Rapper and entertainment mogul Jay-Z puts it this way: “I’m not a businessman; I’m a business, man.” Your professional brand is Me, Inc. What’s your value proposition? Unless you can define your uniqueness, you won’t soar higher than the flock.
3. Cultivate your skills — Employer-paid talent development means you develop skills that benefit the employer. You need to ascribe to lifelong learning and acquire skills that build your professional brand. If you’re not willing to spend your time and dime, you won’t be able to maintain marketability.
4. Nurture your social network — Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. provide the opportunity to communicate your professional brand. Employers and networking contacts routinely check your social media profiles. Use the sites to stay in touch, pose questions, respond to questions and join like-minded groups. Think seriously about separating your professional brand from your personal contacts.
5. Harness your entrepreneurial energy — This goes full-circle to gig mentality. Think like an owner, not an employee.
Your choice: Control your career or place it in the hands of your employer.
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“The Art of the Sale: Learning From the Masters …” by Philip Delves Broughton (The Penguin Press, $27.95.)
Everybody sells — not just professional salespeople. Think about it. Parents, politicians, preachers, teachers and corporate intrapreneurs sell. So do doctors, military strategists and environmentalists. Yet sales, as a profession, remains a low-on-the-totem-pole choice of careers.
Why? Delves Broughton’s study has shown that the image of the aggressive, vulture-culture salesperson motivated by commission plays a key role. While admitting that the business environment plays into that view, he shows that real salespeople build relationships, sell solutions and keep their customers sold.
Chapter 7, The Zen of Sales, discusses what separates the great salespeople from the ones with their hands in your pockets. The golden rules: Hard work and listening. Augie Turak serves as Delve Broughton’s example. Turak’s motto (borrowed from a Zen master): “You must study hard and never slacken your efforts, because if you do, you will be nothing but an ordinary human being.” The more calls you make, the more appointments you get, the more sales you make — as long as you learn as much from the rejections as the sales.
While Turak can talk your ear off when he’s not in sales mode, he knows that listening sells better than talking. He says: “Shut up and ask questions.” Check your ego at the customer’s door; your presentation isn’t about you. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. Think about the questions you’ve been asked and figure out why the customer was asking them. Then flip the script; by asking good questions the customer knows you’ve done your homework. As the customer responds, you see their picture of prioritized needs and wants. Stay in their shoes as you respond to their answers.
You’ll meet countless Augie Turaks through the drawn-from-life examples of salespeople who really care about their customers.
Jim Pawlak is a nationally syndicated book reviewer.
