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e: johnt<at>jjthompson.net
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During baseball
conditioning, I frequently heard the term "muscle
memory" used to describe how an athlete's body will
respond to similar taxing experiences. Muscles are
conditioned to react based on some core training,
baseball skills, strength, speed, and agility
fundamentals. When a player finds oneself in a situation
they have trained for, their body reacts as conditioned.
Similarly, I believe that when someone finds themselves
in a situation at work, they react based on the way they
have been trained or conditioned, primarily based on
past experiences and fundamental philosophies. The
following are some core principles that I believe in.
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The Client is King |
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This is perhaps the most basic
concept out there, but I have seen many service
providers forget this basic rule. At the end of the
day, our goal is to provide our client with solid
advice and timely deliverables that meet and exceed
their expectations.
Note that our goal is based on the
client's expectations, not our own. If we disagree
with the direction or strategic focus of a client,
it is our duty to advise them that we have an
alternative. If the client chooses to stick with
their previous direction, the best partners jump in
with both feet, roll up their sleeves and help the
client succeed to the best of their ability given
their chosen course.
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| Always Be
Selling |
I am only as good as that which I can offer someone
else. At work, I am constantly selling my services
and experience to those around to supplement their
arsenal that can be utilized to deliver top notch
solutions to our clients. After work, the
relationships established with restaurant management
leads to mutually beneficial large group outings,
guaranteed reservations, and special treatment, with
the return promise of continued business.
When I was in college, I was fortunate to be a part
of the American Marketing Association where our
mentor frequently spoke of personal branding. "Your
brand is made up of each interaction, each
impression, each word spoken about you, and the by
the results of work you leave behind." He taught me
that whether it is your email signature, the way you
dress, the shoes you wear, or your voicemail
message, you are shaping the way people view you and
how they will react to you, use your services, or
how they will rely on you. In essence all these
thoughts and expectations make up their
interpretation of your personal brand and are "the
real you" according to them. The way they see you is
based on how you interact, how you sell yourself and
whether or not you deliver on that sale - your
promise - your brand.
As I am only as good as that which I can offer
someone else, and the way they view my offerings is
based on my brand. That brand determines if you get
picked for projects, if the client requests that you
serve them, and whose bid on contracts are accepted.
Develop your brand, sell your brand, and sell it
continuously... always be selling.
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It's about trust. Tell it how
it is, take the heat, and always have a proposed
solution |
There are two types of people you can work for or
provide services for. People who are trustworthy,
and those who aren't. If you are working for someone
who is not trustworthy, then if you tell it how it
is, you will likely take heat from them, but gain
the respect of others. Make sure someone else at
their level knows the heat and the solution.
If the person you are working for is trustworthy,
then they expect the same from you. The unspoken
promise is that you will figure out their goals, and
objectives, and then do everything you can to make
sure they achieve them. To be a "yes" man will only
hurt their ability to accomplish their objective, so
at the end of the day, they will rely on the person
who they can trust to tell it how it is, no matter
how bad the news may be... then they will expect you
to have a plan to fix it and then have the ability
to follow through with the plan to ensure that the
issue is resolved.
In the 11th hour, who is your boss going to turn to,
the person they can trust to help them achieve their
objective or someone who will tell them what they
want to hear, knowing (or worse, not knowing) that
it will preclude the boss from achieving his or her
objective? The boss will turn to you. |
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Be a "do-er", make things
happen |
At the end of the
day, there are two types of people: those who get
things done, and those who don't. There is no middle
ground here, as people either accomplish an
objective, or they don't. Its black and white. I
want to be seen as someone who gets it done, anyway,
anyhow. Now, being that I understand project
management, there are always 4 factors: time, cost,
quality, and scope. As I want to be someone who can
always get it done, my responsibility is
to figure out which of these factors will be
impacted based on client / management expectations
and then propose solutions and recommendations and
then to execute the decided upon course of action.
If that approach is followed, and the action plan is
pursued to completion, then I hope I will always be
seen as someone who can get it done.
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