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Subject: Career Survival: Wayne's Newsletter (Sept, 2001)

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CAREER_SURVIVAL_NEWSLETTER

Vol. 2 Number 8 - Sept, 2000
Publisher: Wayne McKinnon info@ITcoach.com
http://www.ITcoach.com
(C) ITcoach.com 2001
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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. BEING WHERE YOU NEED TO BE: keeping your career on target.

2. LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES: I thought I was wrong but I was mistaken...AGAIN

3. FIRE PREVENTION: dealing with the important but not urgent

4. CONTRIBUTING TO THE BUSINESS: sometimes you just need to get out of the
way

6. PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY TIP

SPECIAL NOTE:
Many people have asked me what the most significant thing
I have done get where I am in my career.

I know that the answer is in stepping back to look for a
broader perspective. I can't do that while I am working on
solving problems. (It seems that I can't think while doing,
at least not consciously so I reserve time to think).

This issue reflects what I have been thinking about this week.
Next issue we will be back to more tactical advice.

Regards
Wayne

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1. BEING WHERE YOU NEED TO BE: keeping your career on target.
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In light of the events in NY Sept 11th, being where you need
to be has special meaning.

I suggest that where we need to be more often is with those
people we love, or doing what we enjoy most, and not at the
office late at night fixing some computer or preparing some
last minute report.

I have spent far too many nights doing such things but a
number of years ago I decided to change that. Change isn't
always immediate, but if you don't begin the process it will
never happen.

For me it has happened but it took a lot of years to engineer my
career around my life. (Most of us seem to get that backwards).

I'm not done yet, but I am a whole lot closer than if I had
just been woken up by some traumatic event and decided that
drastic change was needed. If it all ended tomorrow I could honestly
say that I didn't miss out on much, or neglect those who needed me.

-Where do you want to be?
-what *SPECIFIC* steps will you need to accomplish in order to get there?
-When will you take those steps? (what can you do today no matter how small?)

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2. LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES: I thought I was wrong but I was mistaken...AGAIN
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With 20 years experience riding motorcycles on the street,
and 15 years racing on the track at speeds up to 150 mph,
I thought I was expert at handling any riding situations...

..Until one day while riding home, I was run off the road by a van
in a situation that I should have been easily able to avoid.

When the van moved into my lane I reacted by moving to the next lane.
Problem was I "under-reacted." Moving out of the way wasn't enough
and the situation got much worse when the van continued into my new lane
forcing me into the curb.
(don't worry, the bike was totaled but I was relatively unscathed)

Often your best advantage is to act quickly and decisively
to any situation before things get worse or the opportunity is lost.

I have often analyzed this situation to determine what I did wrong
(I was lucky to have the opportunity).

In fact I did nothing wrong, and everything right.
I just didn't do it enough to completely remove the threat.

I intelligently anticipated and reacted. I slowed but not enough
to avoid the second threat. I moved over but again not enough.

Last week I listened to one survivor of the World Trade Center
who found it remarkable that he saw no one in the stairwells
as he escaped. Seems many lives could have been saved by reacting
early and simply moving to the exits in a slow and orderly fashion.

Learn to be decisive and react early in any situation.
Evaluate your response once the situation is under control.
At best your actions may solve the problem, but at least
it will buy you time to analyze the situation. Make sure you react enough...

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3. FIRE PREVENTION: dealing with the important but not urgent
===============================================================

It is times like these that one gains clarity of
what is really important. maybe its time to commit to taking care
of those things whatever they are. Write them down if you have to
and refer to them frequently.

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4. CONTRIBUTING TO THE BUSINESS: sometimes you just need to get out of the
way
===============================================================

Commitment to doing the right thing is often fragile and ones
idea of what is the proper course of action can often be easily
swayed by a group.

You may have seen the interview where the CEO of one company
dutifully lead his employees towards safety. At one point
they met another group who convinced them to go up
away from the fire rather than down past it to safety.

By removing himself from the discussion he was able to
convince himself that his initial convictions where right.

Unfortunately his group did not follow his lead, but instead
followed the group and have not been seen since.

We each see situations from our own perspective. Sometimes you
need to let others go through the motions, draw their own conclusions
and see for themselves. Sometimes you need to go through the motions
yourself. Fortunately he was temporarily removed
from the situation long enough to see for himself, and decided to follow his gut.

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5. PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY TIP
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If you use a palm pilot, create an unscheduled appointment
to repeat on a daily basis. Use this appointment
to schedule things that you want to keep "top of mind"

If you use a day book, write the most important
non-urgent thing at the end of your week.

Schedule an outgoing e-mail message as a reminder to yourself
using outlook.

I hope especially in light of last weeks event that each of you
are secure in your knowledge of what is really important and
you are where you need to be.

Take care

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FREE ARTICLES FOR YOUR PUBLICATIONS
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Wayne McKinnon
The Executive Technology Coach / ITcoach.com
Suite531, 900 Greenbank Rd.
Nepean, Ontario Canada K2J 4P6
(613) 860-1384, Fax (613) 825-4895
mailto:info@ITcoach.com
http://www.ITcoach.com

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