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Your #Career : 5 Things You Need to Do to Set Yourself Up for a Promotion…Identify the Skills you Need to Make yourself Stand Out from the Competition.

November 7, 2016/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

Everyone wants a promotion, but it’s not as simple as waiting a year or two to “get” one. That’s because promotions are earned, not given. This is especially true at the leadership level; professionals need to prove their worth and show that they’re ready for career advancement.

Demonstrating value isn’t making a one-time presentation to senior leadership about why a promotion is deserved. It requires a conscious effort to improve and grow as a leader and simultaneously position yourself as a high-performing professional. Here’s how:

1.Demonstrate a track record of delivering.

The first, basic step to any kind of career advancement is competence. It sounds really simple, but it’s something that many professionals just assume. After a certain amount of time, employees just expect a promotion, but they don’t stop to think if they really are effective.

In fact, a September study from Leadership IQ found that fewer than half of employees know if they’re doing a good job.

Prepare for a promotion by reviewing past performance evaluations. Are there any gaps in performance? Talk with managers, supervisors, and co-workers. What needs to be improved? What can be done better?

Look at strengths, too. Gather data, records and any other evidence of a solid track record for delivering. Look for goals that have been met, successful completed projects, and other accomplishments that show effectiveness. Then, use these examples in performance talks with senior leadership.

Finally, look at which skills fall between strengths and weaknesses. Identify the middle skills that, with a little bit of effort, can show a visible increase in performance.

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2. Delegate strategically.

Professionals can’t take on more responsibility if they’re always swamped with work — especially leaders. Great leaders delegate tasks and lead employees through them, freeing up their time to focus on strategy and other high-level tasks.

Leaders ready for career advancement should take a look at what they spend the majority of their time at work doing. Is there room for more responsibility? Can certain tasks be delegated to the team? Can their time be better spent on strategic initiatives and guiding the team as opposed to actually doing the groundwork?

Once tasks are appropriately delegated to the team, ask senior leadership for more responsibility at the strategic level. Ask for challenges and demonstrate the capability to take on more.

3. Gain a bird’s eye view of the organization.

To be competent in their current position, leaders need to understand their team and their department, and find ways to improve processes, employee satisfaction, and success in that silo. But for career advancement, leaders need to have that same ability across the organization.

Having a broad view and understanding of the organization is a sign that leaders are ready for the next step. As professionals move up in the company, they need to be ready to bring innovation and make changes across the business.

Promotions bring new opportunities to lead, implement changes, and make decisions that will have a positive impact. But to launch new ideas and initiatives, leaders need to know the business inside and out. They need to understand the company vision, mission and strategy and with this broader picture in mind identify what the company is doing well and what can be improved. They need to know what has and hasn’t worked in the past, the role of different departments and leaders within the organization, and the overall guiding mission and vision.

To prepare for this change, take a step back from daily responsibilities and look at the organization as a whole. Are there any gaps in knowledge? Talk to senior leaders, different teams, and others within the company to fill these gaps and learn as much as possible. To make the most of these conversations and leave a good impression, understand the company’s competition, market and goals.

4. Effectively communicate.

Communication is a huge part of effective leadership, and the best communicators know that it comes down to context. After all, research conducted by our company, Skyline Group International, Inc., found that leadership exists on a spectrum. In other words, leaders are seen as effective depending on the situation and their audience.

For example, our research found that men in leadership tend to listen to understand the main points of what the speaker is saying while women in leadership tend to want to understand what the speaker is feeling. Both of these strategies can be effective, depending on the situation and the audience.

To reach the next level of their career, leaders need to understand this and develop different communication tactics. That way, they can be effective whether they’re communicating with clients, team members or the CEO.

5. Establish an executive presence.

For leaders, part of career success comes down to how they represent themselves. Leaders need to have a certain level of executive presence for career advancement. What exactly does that mean?

Executive presence refers to how leaders conduct themselves in the workplace and how they are seen by their colleagues and employees. Our research suggests that men in leadership are seen as more effective when they command respect, while women who present themselves with poise and authenticity are seen as more effective.

However, great leadership comes down to balance. Find a middle ground between these two gendered extremes to be respected by peers and viewed as senior leadership material. Behave in a way fitting with company values and demonstrate a personality and professionalism expected from an executive.

Entrepreneur.com | November 17, 2016 | Thuy Sindell and Milo Sindell

#Leadership : 4 Steps to Reinventing Yourself After Hitting Rock Bottom…Failure is the Unpleasant Beginning of Being Reborn as an Entrepreneur.

November 2, 2016/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

Hitting rock bottom — as energetic, smart and business-savvy entrepreneurial — types, this dreadful phrase is simply not in our vocabularies.

But it happens — even to the best of us who think we are completely prepared for this roller coaster ride in the pursuit of success. And if you don’t want to commit career suicide by going back to that nine-to-five job that made you jump into entrepreneurship in the first place — you must navigate through the tough times. So, how do you do that? Where do you turn when you’re awash in the confusion, anxiety, self-doubt and worry of “rock bottom?”

“Anytime I hit into a wall,” David said, “I reminded myself why I was doing what I was doing. I connected to my vision. And I realized that no matter the hiccups along the way, it was still way better than committing ‘career suicide’ and going back to being an employee. It was not an option.”

David Schloss, now co-founder and CEO of digital-marketing company rampify.com and one of the most respected names when it comes to Facebook advertising, can tell you how to navigate through that unwanted world — because in 2014, he hit rock bottom himself. He had just been “going through the motions,” he recalled. He had no real goal in mind. “I simply had no direction,” he said. “I felt totally lost.”

On Halloween that year, David had $0 in his bank account. He was only 72 hours away from either coming up with his rent payment or getting kicked out. His car was two weeks away from getting impounded. It felt like walls were closing in. His business was crumbling — and he was very close to throwing in the towel and going back to working a day job.

Thankfully, David was able to turn things around. He didn’t go back to being an employee and instead created his own thriving marketing company. Here are four tips from David that will help you through the tough times, get back on track and rise up in the business you were meant for:

1. Let yourself be vulnerable.

Life isn’t always sunshine and roses. We hit walls. Sometimes we lose. We struggle. Too often as entrepreneurs, we hide those struggles. The problem is, if you don’t let yourself be real and vulnerable when you’re struggling, then it will actually hold you back from progressing through the tough time.

In David’s period of uncertainty, he did something that proved to be a powerful key in his turnaround — he let himself be vulnerable. David had hundreds of business friends on Facebook. Realizing he needed help, David reached out to every last one of them for advice and guidance. Two things happened.

“First, I discovered I wasn’t alone,” he said. “Other entrepreneurs had gone through similar things.” Knowing that other people had made it through, too, helped David develop confidence that he could also get through it. “Second, they were able to give me actionable advice to get on the right track.” It was that advice that got him moving in the right direction.

Had David stayed “closed up,” he wouldn’t have had the support he needed from others to help him move forward. When you’re in a tough spot, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Sharing the struggle is the bravest thing you can do. Being vulnerable isn’t a sign of weakness — it’s a sign of strength.

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2. Develop a vision.

It’s difficult to know if you’re progressing when you don’t know where you’re going. In “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” Stephen Covey talks about beginning with the end in mind. Know where you want to end up at the beginning of the trip — it’s your guiding north star. In David’s comeback, asking himself, “What do I want to create?” proved to be powerful.

“Asking that question,” he said, “is what helped me develop a vision for the future I wanted.”

David used the advice from his colleagues to help him get super clear on the vision and direction he wanted to go. It’s that vision that helped him get out of bed in the morning and get to work.

Vision is critical. If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know when you get there?

3. Create an action plan.

Vision is knowing where you’re going. Action is how you’ll get there. You’ve heard “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” While that’s true, there’s an important distinction to be made — your plan must be based on “action” instead of based on “results.”

In my first book, “Fish Out of Water,” I explain how successful people focus on what’s inside their control, versus outside their control. While the result is not always directly within your control, action is.

David got clear on where he wanted to go, and then he made a daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly plan of action of how he was going to get there. To him, his success wasn’t based on the amount of money he made — it was based on the actions he took to make that money. He set time aside to focus on personal development. He committed to contacting at least three people every day to create a conversation without pitching or selling anything. He created two training videos every week to provide value to his audience. David believed that if he took the right actions, results would come as a byproduct of those actions — and they did.

4. Persist.

It’s no surprise that things don’t always go the way you planned. Persistence is a decision to keep moving towards the vision no matter the hiccups along the way. It’s not just doing what it takes — it’s doing whatever it takes. It’s falling down and getting up again anyway, as David did.

“Anytime I hit into a wall,” David said, “I reminded myself why I was doing what I was doing. I connected to my vision. And I realized that no matter the hiccups along the way, it was still way better than committing ‘career suicide’ and going back to being an employee. It was not an option.”

Planning is what gets you moving toward your vision, but persistence is what keeps you going.

Entrepreneurship is a fulfilling journey, not just a satisfying destination. It’s not just about where we are going — but who we become. Throughout the process of crawling up and out of the dreaded rock bottom, David began to realize he wasn’t even the same person anymore. So just remember, when you’re in a tough spot as an entrepreneur, it just means you’re being reborn into the new you. Embrace the new you.

Entrepreneur.com | November 2, 2016 | Calvin Wayman

Your #Career : Former Wall Street executive Sallie Krawcheck Explains the Best Way to Ask for a Raise — and Get One…Just Because you Deserve a Raise Doesn’t Mean you’re About to Get One. More Often than Not, you Have to Ask — and Then Back up your Request.

November 1, 2016/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

At the S.H.E. Summit in New York City in October, Sallie Krawcheck — the former Wall Street executive and founder of Ellevest, an online investing adviser for women — spoke about ways women can proactively bridge the gender pay gap. But her advice can be applied universally: Don’t just ask for a raise, she said — provide definitive proof that you deserve it.

“Be as quantitative as you can be,” she said. “Put numbers on paper.”

Vague requests can easily be denied, but hard facts are far more difficult to argue with.

Krawcheck suggests keeping a running list quantifying everything you do, from the number of clients you bring in to the size of the budget you manage to the work you do on each project. When you go in for a performance review or salary negotiation, you’ll be prepared with indisputable evidence of exactly what you contribute to the company.

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Krawcheck also advises looking up your position on sites like Glassdoor and Fairy God Boss to know how your current salary compares to the marketplace and gain an idea of how much you should be making.

“We have more resources now than ever before,” Krawcheck noted. “We should be excited about technology.”

As Krawcheck suggests, it’s smart to make the salary negotiation about the facts and leave personal emotions out of it. Demonstrate why you deserve a raise and how you’re contributing to the company, don’t whine about wanting more money.

“You should always link individual performance to departmental goals, and then to overall company goals and how what you’ve done directly impacted each,” Adam Ochstein, founder and CEO of StratEx Partners, previously told Business Insider.

And if you get denied, don’t take it personally — find out why it isn’t possible right now and what you can do differently. Don’t be afraid to be direct: “Ask, ‘What can I do to make this amount?'” Krawcheck said.

And then do it.

Businessinsider.com | November 1, 2016 | Emmie Martin

Your #Career : Want To Nail Your 2016 Performance Review? Show You’re Versatile…Doubling Down on your Specialized Knowledge Might Not Pay Off Like it Used To.

October 31, 2016/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

With only two months left in 2016, performance review season is officially upon us. As many of us know all too well, it can be an awkward experience. But one key to nailing your review this year may be a departure from conventional wisdom. Typically we’re told to make a strong case for how well we’ve performed in our particular roles—show you’ve mastered the job skills required of you and delivered great results, and now you’re ready to move on to bigger challenges.

And it’s not that that’s bad advice. But as the workforce evolves, the value of a broad-based skill set may be rising. Your employer might not even be totally aware of the shift, but they’re more likely to need jacks-of-all-trades than they did even a year ago. Here’s a look at why, and how to play into that trend during your next review.

THE RISING VALUE OF VERSATILITY

“I guess you can look at me and say that I didn’t specialize in anything,” UX designer Amanda Yarmolich reflected recently. “But a lot of times, it ends up being more valuable to have somebody who can kind of pick up whatever you need.”

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Yarmolich isn’t alone in that sentiment. According to the 2017 salary guide published earlier this month in the design magazine HOW, employers will gladly pay top dollar, “but they expect value, which comes in the form of worker versatility.” And that may not just be a quirk of design-focused industries. Yarmolich works for the insurance marketplace eHealth. In her recent experience, “You just have to be ready to do whatever needs doing at the drop of a hat.”

How come? For one thing, the changing macroeconomic landscape is pushing more employers toward low-labor business models—in other words, to find ways of getting more value out of fewer people. That necessity may have first gripped recruiters amid the last financial crisis, but since the recovery since then has been so incremental, it’s seeped into many employers’ hiring mentalities.

As one staffing expert told Fast Company earlier this year, “We’re seeing more cross-pollination among industries than ever before,” which is not only expanding what counts as “transferrable skills,” it’s also requiring workers to be more comfortable tackling a greater range of tasks—including unfamiliar ones. That type of agility is becoming less of an added bonus and more of a basic prerequisite for many job openings in a widening variety of fields.

On the other hand, employers have always prized versatile workers. In his 1957 book The Problems of Design, famed industrial designer George Nelson observed that employers have long sought “general flexibility in relation to almost any situation. Translated into action, this means an ability to bring a high level of detached perception to any problem, and this has a very special kind of value to management.”

The difference now is the change from management preference to economic imperative. Corporate boards seem to understand this value, judging from the kinds of people they put in the corner office. The New York Times recently reported that the quickest path to CEO these days is a circuitous one—often via several functional areas—according to new research suggesting that a mix of skills may now count more than simply long experience in one specialty.

COMBINATORIAL CREATIVITY

These utility players are what coauthors Kenneth Mikkelsen and Richard Martin describe as “neo-generalists” in their new book The Neo-Generalist: Where You Go Is Who You Are. They use the term to describe knowledge workers who excel in “combinatorial creativity.” As Mikkelsen described it to me, “Neo-generalists are people who expand their craft by bringing in knowledge from disparate areas and creating new ideas and methods from those new combinations.”

Martin added that knowledge workers everywhere often feel their organization or industry is too siloed, but he believes it’s the type of worker that makes this true or untrue: “We are arguing that people who have a more neo-generalist mind-set make a difference because they deliberately step outside of those silos.”

Hiring managers may be wising up to this idea. Not only are versatile workers often more cost effective, they also bring silo-busting behaviors to companies that help organizations stay innovative over time. What may have started as a dollar-stretching measure often turns out to be a competitive advantage.

HOW TO BE THE NEO-GENERALIST YOUR BOSS IS LOOKING FOR

According to Martin, “Everybody has the potential to be a neo-generalist—absolutely everybody. But it’s a question of being willing to accept that learning is never done, that you’re never a finished article, always beta.”

FastCompany.com | LISA BAIRD | 10.31.16 5:00 AM

Your #Career : The Right Way To Discuss Your Failures In A Job Interview…Take Complete Ownership—Even If it Wasn’t All your Fault. Here’s How.

October 31, 2016/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

In interviewing hundreds of people, I’ve found that the way a candidate answers one key question tells me more about them than any other. I’ll usually wait until the candidate has relaxed somewhat and begins to open up. Then, about halfway through the interview, I’ll ask, “What has been a moment of significant professional disappointment or failure, and what caused it?”

Do they focus on a lost promotion, or a failed project? Do they make it about themselves, or about their company?

Straightforward enough, right? Yes, but I’m listening for a few key things. First, it asks an interviewee to come up with a specific moment. Rather than the standard “What are your weaknesses?” question, which more often provokes groans from jobseekers, it asks for a concrete professional incident. But this gives a candidate plenty of options: Do they focus on a lost promotion, or a failed project? Do they make it about themselves, or about their company? You can see a lot of their personality by how they interpret the question.

What’s more, by asking what caused the failure, the question doesn’t require an applicant to take responsibility for it, though they might choose to. In my experience, these are three types of answers I typically hear—with some responses earning better marks than others.

THE NON-FAILURE FAILURE

I once spent too much time on a project because I refused to hand over something that I couldn’t be proud of.

This is the answer that induces silent yawns from hiring managers. It’s a candidate’s attempt to convey a strength wrapped in the veneer of a weakness. You’ll often get this answer from people early in their careers who aren’t yet comfortable with the idea that failure and weakness are part of any job.

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If a candidate who’s still early in their career answers this way, I’ll often give them a second chance: “That could also be interpreted as a moment of strength and having high standards. Do you have another example?”

If the candidate is more experienced, though, this answer worries me. It implies they still haven’t learned to be comfortable with their own shortcomings. Acknowledging your weaknesses is critical to making career progress—you first need to know when you mess up and then think critically about why.

So as an interviewer, if you can only get a “non-failure failure” from a candidate, it may be time to move on.

THE BLAME-IT-ON-OTHERS DISAPPOINTMENT

I once was due for a promotion, but my manager didn’t give it to me because there was another candidate who was my boss’s favorite.

This answer upsets me the most. It shows that the candidate doesn’t focus quite enough on the things that are actually within in their control, choosing instead to rationalize their disappointments by putting responsibility on someone or something else.

This type of employee may not be looking (or ready) to grow outside their current role; they’re simply expecting to get promoted just for doing their job and nothing more.

But not necessarily. Sometimes life is really is unfair. Maybe they wereslighted! While this might be true, when you’re hiring, you want to find people who view any situation as an opportunity to assess how they might’ve done things differently to achieve a better outcome—even if they weren’t at fault. You want people who put the burden of responsibility on themselves, even if others may share in it, too. These are likely to be the hires who will surprise you by going above and beyond.

COMPLETE OWNERSHIP

I was once working on a project, and the client hated the result. I realized that I could’ve put more effort into the project and worked to better understand their needs up front. It taught me a lot about my approach to kicking off new projects going forward.

This is the ideal answer. When someone says this, I often have to stifle a grin.

Make no mistake: There are multiple people or systems at fault in pretty much any failure situation. The point isn’t to ask a jobseeker to pretend otherwise; in this example, it’s more than likely that the client didn’t do a perfect job of explaining what they wanted, or maybe they changed the scope of the project after it started. Even so, it’s still critical for a candidate to take complete ownership of a problem. That’s the starting point for finding any workable solution.

So yes, complete ownership might seem extreme, but the people who default to that tendency may have some serious advantages over those who don’t. First, they may be more likely to view situations through the lens of, “How can I improve this?” Rather than wait for others to change, they quickly take action within their span of control to improve a situation—including persuading others to act. They realize that their role in the company isn’t just their narrow job description, but includes doing whatever it takes to get a successful result.

When you’re hiring, you want to find people who view any situation as an opportunity to assess how they might’ve done things differently.

Second, they’re the ones who are most likely to improve their own skills by choice. Rather than waiting for formal training, they spend their downtime teaching themselves the ins and outs of a new marketing technology, for instance, or how to program in a new language. They’re passionate, and they’re problem solvers. They realize their own potential and constantly pursue a better version of themselves.

Finally, taking complete ownership of your failures shows you’re someone who avoids politics. Rather then expending emotional energy complaining about other team members, these people realize their own ability to influence a situation and address interpersonal issues head-on.

So while it may seem a little reductive, try testing out this interview question as a hiring manager. It may help you build a team of people who shirk petty politics and are always striving to improve their own skills. And if you’re a job seeker and an interviewer asks you to discuss your failures, don’t hold back—own up to what went wrong and how the experience taught you to switch up your approach. That just may improve your chances that the interview itself will turn out a success.

Allen Gannett is the CEO of TrackMaven, a content and social marketing analytics company. He is based in Washington, D.C., and can be followed at @Allen.

FastCompany.com | ALLEN GANNETT | 10.30.16 5:00 AM

#Leadership : 100 Podcasts That will Make you Smarter and More Successful…If you Have an Interest in Entrepreneurship, Tech, Leadership, Business, Creativity, Or just Learning and Expanding your Mind, Here are 100 Podcasts that can Help you Bring your Best to All you Do.

October 30, 2016/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

Podcasting is a great way to learn and be inspired. It’s a new use of technology that hearkens back to the original social medium, storytelling.

If you have an interest in entrepreneurship, tech, leadership, business, creativity, or just learning and expanding your mind, here are 100 podcasts that can help you bring your best to all you do.

Pick out a few to start with, then get ready to listen and learn while you’re in the car, on the treadmill, or during your morning commute.

1. Entrepreneur on Fire

Be inspired and learn from stories of entrepreneurship. Hosted by John Lee Dumas.

2. Office Hours

Business journalist and author Daniel Pink interviews business leaders and thinkers such as Biz Stone, Malcolm Gladwell, Tom Peters, and Harvey Mackay.

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3. The Smart Business Revolution Podcast

Dedicated to entrepreneurs and business owners growing their business strategically and intelligently. Topics range from social-media tips to interviews with entrepreneurs. Hosted by John Corcoran.

4. S tartUp Nation

Insights into entrepreneurship and small business. Hosted by Jeff and Rich Sloan

5. Solo Smarts

Kelly McCausey interviews “solopreneurs” and offers tips and updates related to running a solo business, with an emphasis on internet-based businesses.

6. Accelerate Your Business Growth

A variety of topics and guests from the business world. Hosted by Diane Helbig.

7. Stories From the Influencer Economy

Ryan Williams converses with people who have launched careers from content, social-media, and digital platforms.

8. How to Start a Startup

Lectures from Sam Altman/Y Combinator’s Stanford University course, with Sam Altman, Dustin Moskovitz, Paul Graham, Adora Cheung, Peter Thiel, Alex Schultz, and more.

9. Defining Success

Zeb Welborn talks with successful people about what makes them successful and why some succeed when others fail.

10. The Growth Show

HubSpot CMO Mike Volpe interviews top executives on building and growing a business.

11. The Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders

A weekly seminar featuring an entrepreneur or leader. From the Stanford Technology Ventures Program.

12. Inc. Uncensored

A lively weekly podcast exploring startups, entrepreneurship, technology, and high-growth businesses. Hosted by Inc.’s editor, Jim Ledbetter.

13. TEDTalks Business

Stories and insights from innovators, entrepreneurs, and business researchers drawn from TED conferences, TEDx events, and partner events around the world.

14. HBR IdeaCast

Analysis and advice from the leading minds in management, including professors, scientists, authors, and other leaders across the business community, hosted by theHarvard Business Review.

15. Knowledge@Wharton

Articles and videos based on research, conferences, speakers, books, and interviews with faculty and other experts on global business topics.

16. The Economist Radio

Audio content from The Economist magazine.

17. Seth Godin’s Startup School

Marketing and business thought leader Seth Godin guides entrepreneurs through building and running their dream business.

18. Entrepreneur’s Journey

Yaro Starak addresses topics specific to online businesses and talks with successful entrepreneurs.

19. So Money, with Fanoosh Torabi

Interviews with top business minds and discussion of issues in finance, investing, and entrepreneurship.

20. The Entreleadership Podcast

Lessons from Dave Ramsey on business, team building, and leadership.

21. Leaders in the Trenches

Gene Hammett interviews a variety of entrepreneurs, authors, and speakers.

22. Manager Tools

Information about new tools and techniques to further your management and career objectives.

23. All in: Elevating Your Leadership Game

Interviews with leaders in business and global affairs to elevate your leadership. Hosted by Alicia Dunams.

24. The Introvert Entrepreneur

Beth Buelow interviews business owners for insights about overcoming challenges.

25. As Told by Nomads

Digital marketing specialist Tayo Rockson interviews leaders in business, culture, travel, and global affairs.

26. Six Pixels of Separation

Mirium president Mitch Joel discusses digital marketing, new media, and personal branding for online businesses.

27. This Is Your Life

Michael Hyatt’s weekly discussion of intentional leadership.

28. Accidental Creative

Practical everyday practices to help keep you prolific, brilliant, and healthy in life and work.

29. One Simple Thing

Hosted by Dave Kirby. Focuses on small actions you can take today to improve your life, your business, and your world.

30. Grit

Formerly titled Quit, this call-in show, hosted by Dan Benjamin, focuses on helping people sort out problems, evaluate options, and make changes in their lives.

31. The Social Hour

Social web experts Sarah Lane and Amber MacArthur present social-media tools, news, and profiles.

32. Ambitious Entrepreneur

Host Annemarie Cross helps new entrepreneurs discover how to stand out from the pack.

33. Dose of Leadership

Interviews with relevant motivation and influence experts from a wide range of fields. Hosted by Richard Rierson.

34. Learning With Leslie

Leadership, marketing, and entrepreneurship, with Leslie Samuel.

35. Duct Tape Marketing

John Jantsch interviews influential marketing professionals on far-ranging business topics.

36. The Engaging Brand

In-depth interviews with recognized figures in social marketing, social business, and social leadership, hosted by Anna Farmery.

37. Social Triggers Insider

Derek Halpern gives straightforward, no-nonsense business and marketing advice.

38. The Entrepreneur Effect

Focuses on complex issues of marketing.

39. Negotiation Academy

A podcast course in nuts-and-bolts negotiation, offered by Columbia Business School and hosted by Slate.

40. Online Marketing Made Easy

Strategist Amy Porterfield provides advice on social media and online marketing applicable to entrepreneurs in any industry.

41. Inside PR

Roundtable discussion of social-media and PR topics. With Gini Dietrich, Joseph Thornley, and Martin Waxman.

42. Self Made Man

The pursuit of excellence in business, relationships, health, finance, and legacy.

43. Planet Money, by NPR

Stories from the rapidly changing global economy.

44. IDEO Futures

The intersection of design, business, and entrepreneurship.

45. Build Your Tribe

Interviews and practical strategies from top internet influencers.

46. Breaking Down Your Business

Brad Farris and Jill Salzman use a top-five format to address issues facing small-business owners.

47. The School of Greatness

Lewis Howes shares inspiring stories from business, sports, and other fields in an exploration of what makes great people great.

48. Starting From Nothing

Successful entrepreneurs tell how they built their businesses entirely from scratch. Each episode includes a custom action guide.

49. Startups for the Rest of Us

Mike Taber and Rob Walling share insights from their experience building companies independently without venture capital.

50. Smart Passive Income

Pat Flynn from the Smart Passive Income blog covers online business and blogging strategies, income sources, and marketing for online businesses.

51. Beyond the To-Do List

Covers various aspects of productivity and living a meaningful life. Erik Fisher talks with real people about personal and professional productivity.

52. Internet Business Mastery

Aimed at beginners in the business world, with most content relating to business startups.

53. eCommerce Fuel

Host Andrew Youderian, an experienced e-commerce entrepreneur, provides down-to-earth, actionable advice with a humorous spirit.

54. CEO Exchange

PBS-sponsored podcast of interviews with leading CEOs. Learn from the successful captains of industry!

55. Marketplace

Daily business and economics news updates; some episodes on specialized topics.

56. The James Altucher Show

Author James Altucher interviews well-known figures from business and tech on topics including entrepreneurship, investing, and health.

57. The Tim Ferriss Show

The author of The 4-Hour Workweek talks with world-class performers in a variety of fields.

58. Social Media Marketing

Social Media Examiner’s Michael Stelzner navigates the social jungle with success stories and expert interviews from leading social-media marketing pros.

59. Youpreneur.FM

Author and speaker Chris Ducker discusses what it means to be a 21st century entrepreneur.

60. What Great Bosses Know

This podcast interviews managers and business leaders on practical skills they learned to become great bosses. Leadership lessons from the Poynter Institute.

61. The Chris LoCurto Show

Information to help you grow your leadership, your business, and your life.

62. Get-It-Done Guy’s Quick and Dirty Tips to Work Less and Do More

Tips on productivity, time management, making technology work for you, and other practicalities to help you save time for more strategic pursuits.

63. Marketing Over Coffee

Business marketing information and tips on social media, new technology, and other marketing tools, as well as interviews with marketing experts.

64. The Great Work Podcast

Michael Bungay Stanier talks with thought leaders about finding and sustaining your life’s work.

65. Foundation

Kevin Rose interviews tech entrepreneurs.

66. Eventual Millionaire

Business coach Jaime Tardy talks to millionaire entrepreneurs to learn their failures, advice, tips, and stories.

67. Killer Innovations Podcast

Hosted by Phil McKinney. As an executive at a leading high-tech company, Phil McKinney shares his experience, tools, tricks, and lessons learned about creativity and innovation.

68. The Bottom Line

Produced by BBC Radio 4 and hosted by Evan Davis. Wide-ranging panel discussion with business leaders.

69. Startup Grind

Interviews with successful entrepreneurs and thought leaders.

70. Smart People

Expert advice for all manner of personal and professional concerns.

71. The Solopreneur Hour

Hosted by Michael O’neal. The show is a “behind the scenes look” and deep dive conversation into what it takes to be a solopreneur.

72. Craftsman Founder

Discussions with authors and entrepreneurs provide a long view on startup strategy and writing books.

73. You Are Not So Smart

Explores issues of cognitive biases, heuristics, and logical fallacies through interviews with top scientists.

74. Freakonomics

Entertaining and wide-ranging stories about human behavior.

75. From Scratch

An NPR-produced podcast that explores the entrepreneurial life with leading pioneers from the business world, the social sector, and the arts.

76. Build and Launch

A weekly podcast focused on shipping small projects.

77. Daily Boost

Covers personal and professional topics including lifestyle design, balance, communication, career advancement, and success.

78. Mastermind Talks

For entrepreneurs who work on both their business and themselves.

79. Help My Business!

A nontraditional podcast that’s been called “The Daily Show for entrepreneurs.”

80. Bulletproof Radio

Information on technology for your mind, body, and life.

81. Crazy Is a Compliment

Linda Rottenberg shares smart lessons for cutting an entrepreneurial path in a turbulent world.

82. The Rise to the Top

David Garland helps “mediaprenuers” create and sell digital products and programs and how-to information online.

83. Get Busy Living

Benny Hsu discusses self-help, personal development, and better living.

84. 12 Business Ideas That Are Changing the World Podcast

Hosted by Allan Asher. What are the business ideas that are changing the world? Leading executives nominate the ideas and describe the challenges that are changing the way we do business today, and that will shape the business world of tomorrow.

85. Hack the Entrepreneur, with Jon Nastor

Discusses the fears, habits, and inner battles behind big-name entrepreneurs and those on the path to success.

86. 48 Days

Dan Miller, author of 48 Days to the Work You Love, discusses work, career, and business startup.

87. Women Who Startup

Celebrates, connects, and empowers women entrepreneurs.

88. Mixergy

A deep dig into the successes and failures of business founders and thought leaders.

89. The Full Ratchet

Nick Moran interviews venture and angel investing experts on successful investing in early-stage companies.

90. The 20-Minute VC

Includes topics related to venture capital, startup funding, and pitching to funders.

91. Free Thinking

A BBC Radio 3 stalwart featuring in-depth conversations with thinkers and cultural critics.

92. Marketing Smarts

Hosted by MarketingProfs, a leading marketing blog and education organization. Each episode tackles a specific issue.

93. Ask Gary Vee Show

Marketing, social media, and entrepreneurship advice.

94. On Being, with Krista Tippett

This NPR program podcast focuses on values, faith, and meaning in human connection and existence.

95. Stuff You Should Know

Conversational and entertaining, covering a little bit of everything.

96. TotalPicture Radio

Talent acquisition, HR tech, careers, leadership, and innovation tips.

97. PRI’s The World

Global news and politics.

98. Sales Gravy: PowerPrinciples Podcast

Hosted by Jeb Blount. Sales professionals are the elite athletes of the business world. Like elite athletes, you must train to win.

99. Catalyst Podcast

Hosted by Ken Coleman. Practical leadership and cultural insights through in-depth interviews with renowned leaders, sought after speakers, and best-selling authors.

100. Conscious Business Podcast

Hosted by Theo Horesh. This show looks at the emerging world of conscious business and examines the strategies, leaders, cultural conditions, and new markets that are driving its evolution.

Businessinsider.com | October 30, 2016 | Lolly Daskal

#Leadership : From Landing A Promotion To Harnessing Stress: October’s Top Leadership Stories…This Month’s Top Stories may Help you Put your Stress to Good Use, Write Better Cover Letters, or Even End the Year with a Promotion.

October 30, 2016/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

This month, we learned which cover letter gaffes turn hiring managers away, what kinds of work-related stress may actually be useful, and why the cybersecurity sector may want to consider recruiting musicians.

These are the stories you loved in Leadership in October 2016:

1. I REVIEW HUNDREDS OF COVER LETTERS—HERE’S WHAT I INSTANTLY REJECT

The days of the cover letter may ultimately be numbered, but they’re still widely used to screen candidates. These are some of the most common immediate disqualifiers, according to one experienced hiring manager.

2. I’M A CEO—HERE’S HOW I DECIDE WHETHER TO GIVE YOU A RAISE OR LAY YOU OFF

Got your eye on a raise or promotion by the end of the year? To get it, you’ll need to make a case for what you’re worth to your company. This month, one CEO shared the basic math he uses to make decisions like these, saying, “For every dollar that you hope to get in increased pay, you need to bring in three to five dollars to the business for your raise to make sense.”

3. USE THIS FORMULA TO TAME YOUR HOPELESS TO-DO LIST

Chances are your to-do list is a bit of a jumble, right? You’re not alone—the very act of prioritizing your daily action items sometimes doesn’t feel like a top priority. But with this straightforward method, you can give your work tasks some much-needed structure, and all you need to know are your ABCs.

4. SORRY, BUT SOME WORK-RELATED STRESS IS GOOD FOR YOU

Chronic stress can be a workplace killer, but researchers believe that smaller doses of “acute” stress may actually help us develop our skills and boost productivity. Here’s a look at a few ways to make limited amounts of job-related stress work in your favor.

5. GM TO TOP TECH TALENT: DITCH SILICON VALLEY FOR DETROIT

The legacy carmaker isn’t exactly known for its fast-paced, innovative culture, but CEO Mary Barra is trying to change that. With several key acquisitions under its belt, GM is picking up a few things from the tech world, hoping the best and brightest will take note.

6. 3 CRUCIAL THINGS I’VE LEARNED IN MY FIRST 30 DAYS AS A MANAGER

Becoming a new manager isn’t easy. For Buffer’s Katie Womersley, it didn’t help that she felt the people she was tasked with managing were better developers than she was. Here’s what she says it took to shake that self-doubt and settle into her new role.

7. GWYNETH PALTROW ON WHY HER MONTHLY CAPSULE COLLECTIONS SELL OUT IN HOURS

Paltrow told Fast Company this month that recent rumors she’d be leaving Goop, her lifestyle brand, are dead wrong. The company is growing fast, thanks in no small part to the “lean” startup methods that inform its new, curated product lines featuring just a handful of items at a time.

8. THREE WAYS TO WRITE SHORTER, MORE EFFECTIVE EMAILS

Email is only as effective as what it gets done, so this week we learned how to trim the inefficiencies out of our messages to make sure they accomplish more in fewer words.

9. MUSICIANS MAY BE THE KEY TO THE CYBERSECURITY TALENT SHORTAGE

Data breaches are becoming so commonplace that the cybersecurity sector can’t seem to grow fast enough to help organizations defend themselves. In fact, the sector is at 0% unemployment, and the race to find qualified talent is driving up wages. That means looking for crossover skills in unlikely places, and some believe that musical training may be one of them.

10. SCIENCE-BACKED WAYS TO BUILD CONFIDENCE WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE OUT OF YOUR LEAGUE

There’s plenty of advice out there for faking confidence, but the better approach may actually be to persuade yourself to actually feel the vibe you’re trying to project. Here’s a look at the latest psychological research on how to trick your brain into greater self-assurance.

FAST COMPANY STAFF 10.28.16 5:00 AM

Your #Leadership : 4 Hallmarks of Leadership in a Time of Crisis…So, the Message Here is: It Doesn’t Matter How Large or Small a Company yours Is; you Simply Can’t Ignore Crisis Communications.

October 29, 2016/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

Above all, the biggest mistake you can make in a crisis situation is doing nothing. Be prepared, work the plan, respond quickly and take appropriate action — lead. Your customers and your team may even thank you for it.

News of your imminent merger was just leaked by a young, ambitious journalist who caught your CFO off guard at a networking event.

Your CEO is being led out of your building in handcuffs.

These examples could all be real. Companies face such scenarios daily, and some are serious enough to bring down companies. The most recent and very public example is the Wells Fargo debacle, which culminated with the resignation of CEO John Stumpf. Those revelations were almost a textbook case of what not to do when a crisis arises.

So, the message here is: It doesn’t matter how large or small a company yours is; you simply can’t ignore crisis communications.

A great positive example of how to navigate the waters of a crisis? Skittles. The company’s swift and direct response to a tweet from Donald Trump, Jr., comparing a bowl of Skittles to Syrian refugees gained the candymaker praise across social media.

How do you plan and prepare for anything from a destructive tweet to a financial crisis? By having in place a solid crisis communications strategy. A documented, well-thought-out plan with actionable tactics. Just as a winning sports team has a crisis playbook, you can do the same, to help you make any bad-news scenario more manageable, less painful and, hopefully, ensure a positive outcome.

Here are a few tips on how to create a winning crisis strategy.

Have a plan, work the plan.

According to a 2013 study by the Institute of Internal Auditors, only 54 percent of respondents had a crisis plan. That’s insane.

Not having a plan is like jumping out of an airplane without a parachute. Sure, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day efforts for growing and managing your business, but it’s delusional to think a crisis won’t happen to you. You can never fully predict when one, or fallout from one, will hit, but I promise you that 90 percent of potential crises are known and you can — and should — be prepared.

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So, to do that, have your team come up with all types of scenarios — from the common to the far-fetched. What are the most frequent negative scenarios in your industry? A disgruntled customer? Violence inside a store or at a facility? Stolen documents? An offensive social media campaign?

Next up? The actual plan.

Create a solid crisis communications plan that includes:
- Holding statements
- Emergency contacts
- An audit you can complete as facts are uncovered
- Approved messaging
- Template press releases
- A social media policy
- Designated spokespersons (have more than one)
Prepare holding statements for every scenario, no matter how unlikely they seem. I’ve had holding statements for everything from a negative social media situation to a terrorist threat. Cover your bases.

Designate the team. Ensure you have representation from critical areas like legal and HR and adequate representation from your c-suite.

Have a back-up to the back-up. Inevitably during a crisis, the head of legal will be on a vacation with no cell signal, or your CEO will be en route to Dubai and unreachable. The team needs to be enabled and empowered to make critical decisions without having everyone present. Or designate an alternate. The plan should clearly outline roles and responsibilities.

Disseminate information. Know how critical information gets to the right people; know the right place and the right time. For example, journalists, customers and others may be calling. Are your receptionists, call center teams or others prepared for questions? Have a plan so everyone knows where information will come from and how to respond, should someone call or even stop in at your company.

When a crisis arises, work with what you know.

Once a crisis hits, the team needs to quickly ascertain the level or significance of the crisis. Sometimes it’s just an issue, sometimes it’s more. And it can change over time or circumstance. So be prepared for anything.

Once you assess the situation, determine the facts. What do you know? Start working with that. Respond quickly, factually, genuinely.

Document all of the necessary information, including:
- A brief description of what happened
- What is being done to rectify the situation
- Steps being taken to prevent the situation from happening again
- Key contacts, names and details, like time, location and anything else that is known
- A website, social media handle/page or toll-free number for additional assistance or information

Social media is often the first medium where news breaks. The old adage was, respond within the hour. With social, you need to respond in seconds. Social media is an incredibly useful listening and communication tool, so make sure your team is monitoring the conversation online and responding quickly with what is known, plus appropriate apologies or statements. Not responding is not an option.

A word of caution: Don’t let speed be an obstacle for discerning your message. Be quick, but precise. Leave no room for misinterpretation. Once again, refer to the Skittles response mentioned earlier — be short, quick and to the point.

Create a “war room” for the crisis team. Your war room should be kept away from the core of your business, out of immediate sight and contact with employees, customers or others while the team assesses the situation. Rent a hotel suite if you must, but while you work through the situation, make sure you contain the information. Don’t print to a shared printer the rest of the company uses. Until you know more, being a little cautious, even a little paranoid, is not necessarily a bad thing.

Own it, fix it.

Implement a communications strategy to keep customers, stakeholders, and employees informed of everything that is known. Being up-front and honest is critical. Mitigate issues early on. Wells Fargo failed on all counts. It failed to apologize soon enough and underestimated the gravity of the situation and problem.

If your own company falters, fails or makes a mistake, don’t keep your mouth shut. Own it. Apologize for it. And take steps to make it right, quickly.

Ask for help when you need it.

An outside perspective can provide clarity and remove the emotion or opinion from a crisis. Consider hiring a consultant or third-party expert who can guide you through or speak to media and customers. I’ve worked with CEOs and chief legal counsel who wanted to take the hard line or let their emotions or opinions get in the way of ensuring the company response was quick and contained the right sentiment and messaging.

In contrast, a communications expert has navigated issues like this before and can offer credibility, experience and expertise you may not have within your company.

Above all, the biggest mistake you can make in a crisis situation is doing nothing. Be prepared, work the plan, respond quickly and take appropriate action — lead. Your customers and your team may even thank you for it.

Entrepreneur.com | October 28, 2016 | Jeffrey Hayzlett

#Leadership : How I Decreased My Weekly Office Hours From 40-plus to Less Than 8…Can a CEO Work Eight Hours a Week? Yes, and Here’s One Who Did It.

October 29, 2016/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

You sit down at your desk ready to destroy your workday. You brew a pot of coffee, break out your calendar and dive into your most important task.

And then it happens. The phone rings, or a co-worker stops by to say “hey.” Maybe your boss swings by to ask about those TPS reports.

Whatever type of interruption you face, you’re annoyed. And if you work in an office, you know exactly what I’m talking about: Just because you’re sitting behind that desk and have already “clocked in,” everyone thinks it’s perfectly okay to engage you. Unfortunately, these random engagements can absolutely kill your productivity.

Not only can they knock you off task, but they consume your mental energy for the day. I didn’t notice how much time I was losing before I had kids, but I notice it much more now that I have four. And yes, being a parent has severely limited my ability to endure small talk and mindless babble. Parents, you know what I’m talking about: 20 minutes in the hallway talking about last night’s game. A co-worker lamenting over workplace stuff. A leisurely lunch invite that turns into a two-hour affair against your will.

This is the type of stuff that can waste your productivity and reduce your potential.

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Creating space and forging a new path

After a few years of enduring these wasted moments and opportunities, I was convinced something needed to change. I wanted to get out of the office more, but to accomplish nearly the same amount of work. More importantly, I wanted to stop wasting so much time, when I could be home with my family or out enjoying life.

At first, I thought that leaving the office more often would be an impossible feat. I mean, how could leave more often yet still accomplish the same level of work?

Sure, I was the CEO of my own wealth-management firm, but that didn’t mean I could come and go as I pleased. If I wasn’t in the office, what would my clients think? Was my team even capable of running everything in my absence? What if something went wrong?

It took me a while to realize I was consumed with limiting beliefs. Fortunately, a few amazing entrepreneurs and thought leaders made me realize the error of my ways. First, I read Tim Ferris’ book The 4-Hour Workweek and realized what was possible. Using the strategies in his book, I could reduce my time in the office significantly, right? Second, I joined a coaching program called Strategic Coach. The program introduced me to the concept of “creating space.”

One exercise we did involved tallying up how many free days we had taken in the last year. Why? Because they said we needed to learn to “create space” in our lives. And, to create that space, we had to give ourselves a break and some time off. Over time, the mental exercise of “creating space” allowed me to figure out what was important in my life, then outsource the rest.

Third, I started listening to productivity geniuses like Michael Hyatt. Highly productive entrepreneurs aren’t born that way, Hyatt says. They learn to become ultra-productive by mastering their environments. According to Hyatt, constant interruptions and distractions are the number one obstacle entrepreneurs face as they check off their to-do lists and work toward their goals.

And that is a shame, Hyatt say his websites. “Entrepreneurs and executives like us have too much value to contribute to our businesses and the people that matter most in our lives to let distractions drag us down,” he says on.

Just listening to experts like these taught me to “create space” and step away from my situation, to a certain extent. From there I set out on a path to limit distractions and build a better workday. Over time, I brought my office time from 40 hours per week to less than eight hours, with no impact to my productivity and even greater earnings over time.

How did I do it? Five ways.

1. I hired strategically. Although I already had a drector of relations on staff, I added an associate advisor, as well. The associate’s job was to be “me” when I wasn’t there — giving expert advice to our clients and providing the service they deserve.

This is where I think a lot of small business owners fail. Scared that no one could ever stand in their shoes, they refuse to outsource their most important work. But, if you want to reduce your hours, this step is crucial.

It took a while to get everything set up. For several months, I had to work 60-hour weeks to teach this new hire everything he needed to know. But once the hard work was done, I had a trusted and polished counterpart to lean on.

2. We started documenting our processes. Eventually, I learned I could make my life easier by streamlining processes I did over and over. A tool that I stumbled on, Sweet Process, helps you create processes for everything in your business.

Using this tool, we began creating processes for higher-level tasks such as opening new accounts. From there, we created processes for making bank deposits and processing client contributions. Once we got all the higher-level tasks squared away, we even created systems to take over the small tasks in our workday.

Creating all those processes takes a lot of work up-front work, but once you’re done and new people you’ve taken on are trained, you never have to do these things again. Even better, if you eventually have to hire someone new or replace someone, your documented processes can serve as a training manual.

3. I “created space” and scheduled time for being away from the office. Once I hired more people and created processes, I had to schedule time for being away, to see if my new strategy could work. So, that’s exactly what I did — even though I had to force myself to leave the office.

At first, I spent time hanging out at a coffee shop or working from home. That way, I could test my new employee’s abilities without stepping away completely. Once I felt more comfortable, I started taking Tuesdays off. Then I started added more “off days” to my calendar each week. Eventually, I was down to just eight hours in the office each week, yet everything was still running smoothly. And yes, it felt great!

4. We improved communication. Before I reduced my hours, I had used email, texting and Google Chat as my primary sources of communication. This worked fine for a while, but we eventually realized we were losing conversations and details this way.

Then we stumbled on Slack. Slack allowed us to create channels specific to certain needs for our financial advisory firm; we could conduct ongoing conversations by searching past ones for details. Where we had once lost important information and conversations, Slack kept all of our correspondence in one place.

5. We reviewed actions and looked for ways to improve. Just as happened in the military where I participated in After Action Reviews, I created a process for weekly reviews in my office. We didn’t review one other’s work per se, but instead, how the week had done in general. How was our communication? Did everything get done? Did anything fall through the cracks?

By highlighting any gaps in our communication and planning, we could find ways to improve. And that’s exactly what we did. Over time, we improved everything from our daily communication to results for our clients.

Final thoughts

Where I once felt I could never step away from the office, I now work less than 8 hours each week at the office. And as the final nail in the coffin and proof that everything I outlined here works, we have drastically improved our profitability as well. In fact, Alliance Wealth Management (my firm) is on pace to grow revenue by 31 percent this year.

With more time on my hands, I am now able to be a better father and husband. In addition, I’ve created space and time to do something I have always wanted to do — which is to create a course geared toward financial advisors who want to become a force to be reckoned with in the online space. And you know what else? My course, The Online Advisor Growth Formula, is on track to add $100,000 in revenue to my business this year.

This fact underscores the idea that more work hours doesn’t always mean greater results and that, sometimes, less is more.

None of this could have happened if I had never stepped away – and if I had never listened to the savvy productivity experts who forged this path for me.

If you’re tired of working more to accomplish less, make sure to listen to the experts that study productivity like it’s their job (because it is). You might feel “stuck” working too many hours now, but a few small changes can make a world of difference.

Entrepreneur.com | October 28, 2016 | Jeff Rose

Your #Career : 13 Verbs Employers and Recruiters want to See on your CV/Resume…Survey of 150 Employers to Find Out What they Want to See on Your Resume – and Here is the Consensus.

October 27, 2016/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

CV writing: it’s a deeply awkward process – from working out which tense to write in (hint: do past tense) to deciding whether to list your love of paragliding among your hobbies.

But now CV writing service StandoutCV has surveyed 150 employers to find out what they want to see on your resume – and the consensus seems to be that those who can manage, deliver, improve and reduce (very Austerity Britain) are more employable.

In fact, the word “managed” came out on top, with 92 per cent of employers saying they wanted someone who can take responsibility. Meanwhile, 65 per cent of employers said they’d like someone who can negotiate.

1. Managed

Shows recruiters you have control over your responsibilities and are able to drive results

2. Delivered

Shows the end product of your work by explaining what you have delivered

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3. Improved

If you’re an employee who can be brought on board to drive positive change within an organisation, you will be invaluable

4. Reduced

Reducing company spending or resource use in particular is hugely beneficial

5. Planned

Planning is the backbone of success

6. Supported

Showing that you can support others is another way of proving that you can be relied upon

7. Influenced

The ability to influence others is a necessary talent for getting things done in any industry

8. Trained

Shows you have of expertise in your field along with the gravitas and communication skills to deliver training sessions

9. Resolved

Businesses face problems every day: if you can prove your ability to resolve issues, you will impress recruiters

10. Presented

Public speaking of any kind can be a daunting task but it’s a hugely valuable skill for any employee to have

11. Analysed

Data is a vital currency in any organisation, but it’s worthless without staff who can analyse it and understand its implications

12. Developed

Development drives progress and advancements across all aspects of life

13. Negotiated

People often assume that negotiation is purely a tool for sales staff; but actually, it can be applied to many areas of business.

Businessinsider.com | October 27, 2016 | Emma Haslett, City AM