“Enhancing Your Executive Edge: How to Develop the Skills to Lead and Succeed” by Kim Zoller and Kerry Preston (McGraw-Hill Professional, $25).
You may not be an executive in your organization, but you are the CEO of Me, Inc. As the CEO, you are responsible for your career planning and follow through. There are two sides of the career-advancement coin: technical skills and interpersonal skills.
The authors point out that technical mastery alone won’t advance your career. Why not? The higher you climb the career ladder, the more you have to rely on subordinates, peers and senior managers to help you get your job done.
Developing interpersonal skills requires self-evaluation of your personality. Key in on things others look at as turn-offs: arrogance (smartest one in the room), blame game (not my fault), credit-taking (I…), one-upmanship, sarcasm and short fuse. When you don’t play well with others, they don’t want to let you play.
Check your procrastination quotient, too, because it can be a “reputation squelcher.” Do you wait until deadlines are approaching before tackling assignments? Do you do the jobs you like to do first? Your procrastination often has a domino effect on others. Making them wait on you to finish your piece shows a lack of respect for them and their work schedules. They won’t trust you to do your job.
Everything you do and say becomes your brand. The strength of your brand affects your ability to develop the strategic alliances needed to get things done and find support for ideas. The authors provide a 10-step method for developing a “Strategic Alliance Plan.” In a nutshell, it identifies your advocates and go-to people, those with whom you interact and those whose bridges you’ve burned. Then you connect dots to see who deals with whom. Your advocates’ connections can help you bolster relationships with the other groups. If you find you have too few advocates, it’s time to recognize that the CEO of Me, Inc. has to spend time rebranding.
To develop the mindset needed for honest self-evaluation and building strategic alliances, read Chapter 18 first. It contains Q&A interviews with those who have honed their executive edge.
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“The Young Entrepreneur’s Guide to Starting and Running a Business” by Steve Mariotti with Debra Desalvo (Crown Business, $23).
Mariotti, the founder of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, offers been-there-done-that advice to wannabe entrepreneurs. While he targets youth, wannabe entrepreneurs of any age will find the information and advice helpful.
“Think like an entrepreneur” tops his advice list. Business opportunities are created by marrying passion and skill for something with opportunity. An opportunity differs from an idea in four ways: 1. It fills an unmet need and/or solves a problem for customers. The smaller the need or problem, the less likely you can create a successful business. You need to do market research.
2. It will work in the current business environment. Change and competition are constants. One-trick ponies can’t maintain a competitive edge unless they can consistently deliver value faster, better and cheaper.
3. It can be brought to market quickly. Even though you think your idea is new or different, there are other people and businesses that may be thinking the same thing. You have to be able to get to the market quickly.
4. You have the resources to make it happen. This doesn’t just deal with your specific product/service skill. Starting and running a business requires management skills, too. You have to manage money, sales, an operating infrastructure (including HR, accounting and legal,) and maintain knowledge of the target market.
Key takeaway: “Entrepreneurship gives you an opportunity to prove what you can accomplish.” Even if you choose to run a business as a money-making hobby, the experience will make you business savvy and financially literate — and help you get ahead in your day job.
Jim Pawlak is a nationally syndicated book reviewer.
