#Leadership : How to Stay in Control of your Meetings…Meetings.  The Bane of Many of our Existence. They Suck Up Time and are Often Unproductive or Don’t Yield the Results we Expect.

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I want to talk about a specific type of meeting today — a Board Meeting — but this could easily apply more broadly.  A find many board meetings highly unproductive in that they are often just a date in the calendar where management is set to update its investors and other board members of its performance over the past time period.
This is a total waste.

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No board will know your business better than you do but if managed properly they should be the most informed people about your business than any full-time executive. And because they have the luxury of sitting across multiple boards they ought to be able to bring you a helicopter view of the decisions you need to make in your business.

If you have board members you respect you owe it to yourself to run more productive sessions where board members contribute. So here’s a short guide to achieving that.

What you Before Sets the Course for How Well the Day Goes

  1. Make sure you send your financial and operating metrics no less than 72 hours before the board meeting — even better if it can be a week in advance.
  2. Schedule calls with each board member prior to the board meeting. Walk them through the numbers, make sure they understand the key issues and ask their impressions. Make sure you ask if there are any strategic concerns or topics they want to discuss at the board meeting.
  3. Fix an agenda for the meeting. Send it out 72 hours in advance. Since you’ve already walked through financial & operating metrics the board meeting ought to be the time to run through 2–3 big strategic issues the company faces.
  4. This is your chance to tell board members what keeps you up at night and let them offer you input into what they would do. I would think a 2–3 hour meeting with 2–3 topics ought to do. If you’re slightly later stage it might be 5–6 hours.

 

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In a perfect world you’d know the issues you want to discuss well in advance and you’d prepare a deck to guide the discussion. It ought to lay out the key issues, provide 3 options per issue and state which one management is leaning toward. If you provide these slides in advance you give board members a chance to reflect and come prepared for a real discussion.

israel techMohamad Torokman/Reuters

The mistake most founders make is sending out last-minute board packs. Investors sit on many boards and have many other job tasks so often if you get a deck the day before and you’re in back-to-back meetings and a dinner you’re only likely to have a cursory look at the materials prior to meeting.

It may feel like a victory if you get through the board meeting unscathed and with few questions and mostly the board members feeling good. This is failure. It is a waste of what should be valuable resources to you and it is a failure on your part to push yourself to really think about the long-term issues you’re facing.

Still, this is how 70% of board meetings are run. And management is mostly grateful to have it over to “get back to focusing on the business.” These leaders are short-term tactically focused more than strategically minded and this is has consequences.

Optimizing Performance During the Meeting

If you nailed the pre-meeting work then the board came to the meeting fully knowledgeable about the agenda and thus the objectives of the meeting.

The following are the biggest mistakes I see founders make in board meetings:

  1. Allowing board members to get in the weeds. Even the best intentioned board members sometimes ask very detailed questions out of curiosity or thinking they are helping and in effect take the meeting off course. A board meeting shouldn’t be the place an investor questions why you’re focused on customers A and not customers B. It shouldn’t be the place where they ask why you have 8 sales reps and not 6. These are tactics — not strategy. The best strategy is to let the board member ask his or her question, write it down, tell them it’s a good question and one you’re happy to spend time with them explaining after the meeting but that your goal for today is to address the bigger issue of X.
  2. Allowing board members to bring up topics not on the agenda. If you don’t allow time for board members to give you agenda feedback in advance then they have the right to bring up topics you weren’t expecting. But if you have a pre-call and ask their issues in advance then you have the right to say, “That’s a good question. It’s not a topic we’ve prepared for today and nobody raised it in our pre calls. So I’d like to note it and we’ll either address it between meetings or bring it to the next board meeting.”
  3. Not pushing for votes. Ultimately if you’re seeking for approval or board consensus on an action (getting approval for a budget, raising money, investing in CAPEX, firing a head of sales — whatever) your job is to hold a discussion in which all board members who want to voice an opinion can do so and ultimately pushing for a vote or a resolution. My preferred strategy is for you to shape the issue by saying, “Here is what we’re pushing for. Here are the alternatives we’ve considered. We’d like to get your input.” Now if you did your pre-meeting job you already know people’s views. I would start the conversation by asking somebody to weigh in. It’s not your job to debate every board member. If somebody takes an aggressive tone against your desired outcome you can rebut it or you can call on somebody on the board who shares your opinion and ask them to weigh in. Over time you’ll figure out who the most persuasive board members are and who backs down too easily. Control the discussion. Make sure people feel heard. And if you think you have the votes then it’s time to say, “Ok, I think we’ve heard everybody’s opinion on this topic. If it’s ok with you, I’d like to propose we put this to a vote. All those in favor of the budget we’ve outlined … (or all those in favor of the budget we’ve outlined with amendments to the cost-line offered by Bob).” The reason I point this out is that all too often decisions go round and round and run out the clock with no sense of moving towards a decision. Honestly, people hate making decisions. It’s your job to guide them there.
  4. Not controlling the clock. A good number of board meetings don’t have somebody managing the clock. Let’s call them “the Andy Reid of board meetings.” It’s very common that low or mid impact issues are discussed at length at the start of the meetings and key issues are rushed in the final 20 minutes of a board meeting when people are tired or in a hurry to get to the next board meeting. It’s really hard to manage a meeting and manage the clock. When I run important meetings like my annual investor meetings I have my partner Stuart Lander watch the clock. He’s better at it than I am and it makes sure we don’t train valuable time and rush important stuff at the end.
  5. Letting loud mouths control the discussion. It’s no secret the every board meeting has vocal people. If they’re constructive, knowledgeable and often right then you tend to let them do more talking than others. Still, meetings are best when you get multiple people’s opinions. And even worse is when the loud mouth isn’t the smartest guy in the room. My strategy is the let loud mouth get his or her say. And then politely say, “Listen. I think I’ve got the gist of your argument. It’s helpful. I’d like to just bring a few more people into the discussion to make sure we hear from everybody.” It’s disarming. It’s very hard for them to say, “No! I don’t want to hear from anybody else!” (even though that’s what they’re thinking). And then you should actually call on somebody and say, “Mary. What do you think? Do you think it would be a good idea to expand to more markets this year or are you feeling more cautious?” Here’s the reality. 90% of the people in meetings won’t shut up a loud mouth to they rule the day.
  6. Allowing non board members too much of the floor. Many boards have observers on them. Sometimes it’s because you have strategic investors. Sometimes it’s because the VC brings associates to the meeting. Many of these people can be helpful. But for the most part observers should stay silent unless engaged because otherwise you find out that some board meetings have 14 people in them and become totally unproductive. If every board observer speaks as much as every board member then they really are … board members. This is because very little is ever formally voted on so if they have the same amount of floor time they might as well be board members. Or better yet, manage their expectations about how much they’re expected to voice an opinion at board meetings vs. “observe.”
  7. Allowing mobile phones, iPads and computers to be used freely. We live in an attention-deprived world and people are their own worst enemies. I highly recommend a “no devices” policy. If this gives your investors angst then have 5 minutes every hour of device time. Literally stop the meeting, let everybody do their quick emails and then restart with no devices. Things have gotten so bad in recent years. It seems in most board meetings there’s always at least one member not really paying attention and then the group discussion / dynamic is lost. Trust me — if you get people to agree to this you’ll get way more productivity from the increase in concentration. If you run poor meetings by letting people talk too long then don’t be surprised if people push back against the no devices rule.
  8. Don’t allow the remote body to control the tenor of the meeting. There are always times where one member needs to be on a web conference or telephone call due to travel conflicts. It is what it is — you have to accept that. But your priority in running the meeting has got to be to the people in the room. I’ve been to a number of meetings where everybody who traveled ended up having a sub-optimal experience to constantly make sure the remote person was engaged. And half the time you know they’re zoned out and checking email. That’s why I like web conference over telephone — it keeps people more honest. But either way the priority is the room. If you constantly compromise by repeating things to the half-paying-attention remote person — frankly that’s bullshit.

Finally, the best run meetings are the ones that happen before the meeting.

  1. If you have important decisions to make know where each vote comes out before the actual meeting. That way you can make necessary compromises to win support or at least gather more data to overcome objections if you know about them in advance.
  2. If some board members aren’t persuaded on a decision that you want made use board members who are on your side as proxies. Instruct them in advance that you may need them to advocate more loudly in the meeting. Your board allies also should be counted upon to deal with unruly or over-talkative board members.
  3. If you do a board dinner do it the night of the meeting not the night before. When you have a board dinner the night before everybody talks about all of the key issues there so the actual board meeting feels perfunctory and people pay less attention.

I’m sure there’s more. But I’m out of time and you’re out of attention. Hope that helps a bit. No, I haven’t proof read or even read a second time. I’ll visit it again in the morning.

Read the original article on Medium. Copyright 2016.

Businessinsider.com | July 25, 2016 | Mark Suster, Medium

#Leadership : 4 Mental Practices To Achieve Your Full Potential…Can you Begin to Live your Best Life Ever by Applying a Series of Simple Mental Techniques in your Day-to-Day Life ?

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Personally, I’ve been on an evolving journey when it comes to mindset strategies for success. In my twenties, I thought it was all hogwash and I just wanted to learn practical tactics—things to do. In my thirties, I began to realize the importance of slowing down and how the right psychology can lead to the right activities. Now in my forties, I’ve come to understand that the inner game is the true driving force to the outer game.

Book Visions at the Top

In Visions to the Top: A Millionaire’s Secret Formula to Productivity, Visualization and Meditation, Justin Ledford shares his methods for achieving success in every area of life. He explains how readers can tap into their dreams, and begin using them as the driving force for goal attainment. Himself no stranger to struggle, Ledford personally used techniques of intention, visualization, meditation, and planning to overcome many obstacles and to build several multimillion dollar businesses. Here are his top four practices.

The Power of Intention

People who achieve greatness in their lives don’t get there by chance–they know their purpose when they start their personal journey, and they kept that intention alive as they proceed. He writes:

“Precise intentions are like looking through binoculars. You must know what you are looking for, and in order to spot your target you have to have a general idea where it’s located. Even when you are looking straight at your target, in order to see more detail, you need to zoom in. That is what precise intention does, it locates and magnifies that which you want. If you are focused with laser precision on what you want, and are taking action to move towards it, you’ll get it.”

Ledford refers to a study by Dr. Masaru Emoto, which revealed that our words and thoughts impact every cell in our bodies. Words are very powerful, with the ability to effect our entire being in either a negative or positive fashion.

Whatever follows the word “I” will dictate our feelings and actions. Therefore, Ledford suggests that instead of saying weak comments like, “I don’t know if I can get this done”, start using empowering statements such, “I am committed to having the best month of my life.”

With a few decades of experience under my belt, I truly believe that our outer world is just a reflection of our inner world. We are where we are in life, because for the most part that’s exactly where we want to be.

Ledford advocates the use of Visualization–a practice which he believes helps to rewire the subconscious mind. While he presents an overview of the many different techniques for using mental imagery, Ledford suggests:

“By getting in the habit of tapping into where you will be one year from now and going to that spot through visualization, you will be rewiring your subconscious– increasing your belief in yourself and seeing your success as possible. Believing in your intentions, and taking the appropriate action towards attaining these goals will ensure that a world of opportunities open up–you will begin to meet the right people, and will find yourself being in the right place at the right time.”

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Meditation

Meditation has grown rapidly in recent years as more and more studies show that it can help reduce stress levels, lower blood pressure, strengthen your body’s immune system, improve cognitive functioning, increase productivity and stimulate creative thinking.

Ledford believes meditation is also a powerful strategy for success, allowing you to easily and effortlessly go after that which you seek. He suggests that when meditating, we should, “Bring an image of your dream or goal to mind so that it can be planted in the fertile soil of the subconscious, programming plans for you to achieve it.”

Stop Being Busy and Start Being Productive

Most people make the mistake of confusing busy work for being productive. While checking your emails, and listening to voicemails are important, they are not activities that directly impact your goals. In order to be successful, it is extremely important that you learn to prioritize.

Ledford recommends, as I do, that you should be identifying your daily Most Important Task (MIT), and tackling it first. This is the thing that will move you towards your goal, and is usually handled best in the morning when your energy levels are high. Doing so will provide you with a sense of accomplishment, which will then set the tone for the rest of the day.

He also suggests setting a timer to limit the time spent on a task, in order to further increase your productivity. For most of us, more time is not the answer, it’s about using the time we have more effectively. We tend to be more motivated when a task has a defined end point, and more focused when we know our time for completing something is limited.

The visualization and subconscious programming techniques laid out inVisions to the Top are simple, and accessible to anyone prepared to put in the work. They will go a long way to making sure your inner game is right, which will influence your outer behaviors and ultimate success.

Kevin Kruse is the author of 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management and “How Millionaires Plan Their Day: A 1-Page Plan (PDF).”

 

Forbes.com | July 25, 2016 | Kevin Kruse

#Leadership : Accelerate Your Understanding Of Teams With These 3 Facts… What are the Differences between a Group and a Team? Here are Facts you Should know to Accelerate your Understanding of Teams.

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If you don’t think teams are important, you’re living in a bubble . In the interdependent and technological world of today where the increasing pace of change is constant, teams are the lifeblood that drive better (read sustainable) business. Nobody is smarter than everybody, and while people certainly work beside others in the workplace, they rarely work with them. Here’s what I mean.

top view, group of students together at school table working homework and have fun

The difference between a group, where people work beside one another, and a team, where people work with each other, is this: there is no mutual accountability in groups, no shared purpose. Groups are essentially clusters of people with individual agendas who have their own definition of “winning.” There are no shared consequences and no accountability. Teams, on the other hand, depend upon each members’ efforts because they’re aligned toward a common purpose. Teams are guided by shared leadership and share a mutual understanding—and therefore accountability—of team roles, responsibilities, the scope of work to be accomplished and the purpose for which the team exists.

Here are three more fun facts you should know to accelerate your understanding of teams:

Teams adapt to circumstance. Teams are living, breathing organisms that change and morph over time depending on the task at hand. Not every team is—or should be—structured similarly, as the team’s mission will dictate team typology. If, for instance, a deadline is approaching and time is of the essence, then the team leader may assume a more “command and control” type of role where she goes point-to-point with each team member to ensure follow-through and timely delivery. If a team is in transition (i.e. rotating roles, new members) then there may not even be formal leadership as members try to figure out the best fit for 1) the team and 2) each member.

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Team dynamics are everything. What goes unsaid in meetings is oftentimes more important than what is. The challenge for organizational leaders today—and every day for that matter—is observing the social dynamics that fly beneath the radar—not because the leaders themselves are unobservant, but because running a team meeting and focusing on the agenda while also observing the unsaid intricacies of non-verbal communication is too much for the brain to ingest. If you’re running a meeting, for example, you’re focused on tasks and you simply don’t have the mental bandwidth to observe and reflect upon each members’ actions and how they impact the team as a whole. The problem is this: when social dynamics aren’t addressed then questions go unanswered and follow-on hallway conversations become the norm because there was either an unwillingness to address the dynamics in the first place or a lack of awareness to know they even existed.

Teams are valued, but rarely understood. Most companies claim they value teamwork but few really know what great teamwork looks like. If teaming was clear, then there would be more team-based rewards rather than corporate incentives that promote individualism. Here’s an example. While sales teams claim to be a “team” they’re typically incentivized as individuals. Meaning, that bonuses aren’t allocated based on the collective efforts of the team but rather the individual wins of each sales person, which only leads to sales reps encroaching on others’ territories, stealing others’ clients and doing everything they can do to promote themselves because that’s what they’re rewarded for.

If you want to understand how businesses operate, start by understanding the essence of teams.

Jeff is the author of Navigating Chaos: How To Find Certainty in Uncertain Situations and former Navy SEAL who helps business teams find clarity.

Forbes.com | July 25, 2016 | Jeff Boss

Your #Career : How To Get A Job In A Field You Didn’t Major In…Your Degree doesn’t Chain you to a Field for the Rest of your Career. Here’s How to Use What you’ve Already Learned to Try Something Else.

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 To graduate on time, you probably needed to declare your major by your sophomore year. But by the time graduation rolls around, it wouldn’t be surprising if your career ambitions have shifted to something outside of your major. Perhaps an internship didn’t turn out how you expected, or certain courses dampened your passion for the occupation you thought you wanted to pursue. So, now you’re in a tough spot, where your degree doesn’t quite line up with what it is you want to do.
College Graduate

The upshot? There’s no need to panic. “It’s natural for college students to change their career direction,” says Donald Asher, author of How to Get Any Job with Any Major. Furthermore, employers aren’t as hung up on your major as you might think. “Once you step off campus, hiring managers care a lot less about what your major was,” says Asher. “They care more about the fact that you have a college degree.”

After you’ve secured a diploma, it’s time to convince a potential employer to hire you, regardless of what your degree is in. These five steps can help you start off on the right foot.

PICK A CAREER, ANY CAREER

You know what you don’t want to do, but before diving into your job search, you need to determine what it is you do want to do. Your best play is to identify what industries are hiring and what skills are in demand, says Anne Brown, co-author of Grad to Great: Discover the Secrets to Success in Your First Career. Refer to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook, which publishes job descriptions, salary information, and hiring forecasts for more than 300 occupations.

 

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FIGURE OUT IF YOU’RE QUALIFIED

Once you’ve narrowed your search to one field, assess whether you meet the basic requirements to get hired in that industry. If you’re looking to break into a specialized industry (e.g., nursing), you might have to take more college courses before you can start applying for jobs. Fortunately, “for nine out of 10 of occupations, you don’t need additional coursework or training,” says Stephanie Waite, senior associate director at Yale’s Office of Career Strategy.

Want to work in a niche industry that demands specialized skills? You might need internship experience first, especially since most companies intend to convert their interns into full-time employees, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ 2016 Internship & Co-op Survey.

If you don’t want to commit to a full-length internship, you could shadow an employee for a week, says Asher. According to Waite, a growing number of Yale students are using short-term shadowing experiences to get a taste for what jobs are like. Shadowing can also be a great networking opportunity.

BUILD YOUR NETWORK

Although you don’t have a degree in the field you’re pursuing, you don’t have to build a network from scratch. Tap your school’s alumni database and go on informational interviews to learn more about the industry. Asher recommends reaching out to employees with five years of experience. “You don’t want to contact a vice president who hasn’t looked for a job in 10 years, and you don’t want an entry-level employee who doesn’t know the ins and outs of the industry yet,” he says.

If you’re looking at jobs in other cities, don’t hesitate to do informational interviews by Skype or phone, says Asher. Joining professional associations and attending industry events can also help build your network.

LEVERAGE YOUR TRANSFERRABLE SKILLS

Okay, so you majored in a different subject than your desired field. You likely still took a handful of general liberal arts courses—and those classes equipped you with some universal skills like writing, problem solving, verbal communication, and organization, says Kelly Kennedy, a career counselor at the University of Virginia. And if you took a leadership role on a class project, you may even have some project management skills in your back pocket. These transferable skills make you pretty marketable to employers.

Brown recommends seeing what skills are mentioned in job postings and then tailoring your cover letter accordingly to each position.

HONE YOUR INDUSTRY KNOWLEDGE

To show employers you’re worth hiring, you need to prove that you’re knowledgeable about what’s going on in the field. And while that’s a good idea for every job seeker, says Kennedy, it’s especially crucial if you don’t have relevant education or internship experience. Stay current by subscribing to company newsletters, reading industry media outlets, and following prospective employers on social media.

This article originally appeared on Monster and is reprinted with permission.

 

FastCompany.com |  DANIEL BORTZ, MONSTER |  07.23.16 |  5:00 AM

#Leadership : What I’ve Learned By Hiring More Employees With Disabilities…Less than a Fifth of People Living with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities are Employed, but Business Leaders can Help Change That.

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Everyone deserves a chance to succeed. And by my estimation, no group has been refused that opportunity more than people living with disabilities (PLWD). Sadly, less than one-fifth of this population is employed.

concept of a lightbulb on sand (environment issue)

Even though I’ve made expanding opportunities for PLWD my life’s work, I nearly denied my first PLWD hire, Andrew, a fair shake. My company sells wine and donates all profits to nonprofits, so we host tastings at grocery and liquor stores. Now one of my top employees, Andrew began his first tasting in 2015 like a pushy car salesman.

Within minutes, I was reconsidering my hire, anxiously coaching him between interactions. And something happened that, in hindsight, I should’ve expected: Andrew listened to me, improving his approach with each customer. After all, nobody gets a new job right on the first shot. By tasting’s end, customers were lining up to speak with Andrew. We wound up selling twice our normal volume that day.

Something else happened, too. I discovered the true value of employing PLWD—not as token employees but as real members of my team. Now, three of my 10 employees are PLWD, and as I’ve learned, integrating PLWD into a workforce takes a little finesse but is well worth the effort. If you’re an entrepreneur or business leader, these are a few ways you can hire and prepare PLWD to become some of your most indispensable employees.

1. START WITH AN INTRODUCTORY PROGRAM

On Andrew’s first day, I mistakenly threw him into the fire with little preparation. Instead, take some time and care with the on-boarding process. You can even progressively acclimate newly hired PLWD through internships, on-location work trials, or job shadowing. The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) found that nearly three-quarters of employers participating in these programs saw positive results; only 8% said support needs were greater than anticipated.

In 2009, AMC Entertainment began hiring PLWD. To integrate its new talent, the theater chain collaborated with the Autism Society in Bethesda, Maryland. When asked about the program’s results, AMC’s chief people officer told Bloomberg, “You end up being a healthier company from a lot of different perspectives: innovation, engagement, morale, productivity.”

So while your crew flourishes because of your inclusion program, rest assured knowing your company will benefit, too. The i4cp study found that employing PLWD increased customer satisfaction by 44% and enhanced brands by 34%.

 

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2. FIND THE BEST FIT

As is true for any employee, PLWD on your team thrive when their roles match their skills. Fortunately, PLWD have succeeded across employment categories, including administrative work, facility maintenance, food service, and patient care.

If you’re not sure which roles within your organization might work for PLWD, contact local agencies that specialize in connecting employers with PLWD candidates. While the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission forbids discrimination—positive or negative—based on disability, these agencies can recommend PLWD candidates who might fit with open roles. St. Louis Arc, for example, pointed me toward Andrew as a candidate for wine tastings. I’ve also received great recommendations from the St. Louis–based United Cerebral Palsy Heartland and The Center for Head Injury Services.

If you choose to hire a PLWD, consider customized employment. A Seattle man with disabilities, whom I’ll call John, and his employer tapped into his full potential using this approach.

Once a low-wage workshop employee, John told Carol Salter, who works for a disability advocacy organization, that he wanted to build engines. Carol knew John couldn’t earn the necessary certifications for the job, but as she watched mechanics hauling equipment, breaking down boxes, and cleaning spills, Salter realized John could tackle these tasks. Now John makes $11 per hour as an essential member of the shop, allowing higher-paid specialists to spend more time fixing engines.

3. QUESTION PRECONCEPTIONS AT EVERY TURN

We all like to think we’re sensitive and self-aware, but it takes constant vigilance to see how unconscious biases color our perceptions of others. Just as I reacted poorly to Andrew’s initial performance, too many employers see inability before giving PLWD a chance.

Mercy Healthcare, a local leader in hiring PLWD, earned my support by demonstrating how biases unfairly restrict this population. In one exercise, Mercy’s facilitators showed photographs of individuals and asked participants what jobs they appeared qualified for. Unsurprisingly, some highly educated PLWD were judged to be unfit for the very roles they were working in. Our first instincts can often be wrong, and that limits both employers and employees.

4. PRAISE WITH HONESTY AND PRECISION

Complimenting somebody for working as expected isn’t the same as celebrating a serious accomplishment. Consider how insulted you’d feel if you were told, “Congratulations, you met expectations.” Instead, acknowledge specific significant achievements, such as “You’ve packaged more parts than anyone on the floor this month, John. That’s a big deal.”

The late Stella Young, a disability rights activist known for her journalism and comedy, took aim in a TEDx Talk at the way PLWD are praised for minor efforts, such as simply going to work—arguing that modern culture (especially in the social-media age) patronizingly holds up disability as a source of inspiration for those who don’t experience it.

Academic and PLWD Tom Shakespeare says this occurs because perceptions of the community are so low to begin with. By praising only when it’s truly deserved—much as you would any employee—we can break that mindset. In fact, we need to in order to integrate more PLWD meaningfully not just into the workplace and, hopefully, build a more inclusive society in the process.

But remember: While employing PLWD can make your company look good, the initiative can’t be about appearances. Top-performing companies, as i4cp found in its research, don’t hire PLWD for positive press or compliance. They do it—successfully—as a competitive strategy.

Including PLWD in your workforce can benefit your bottom line, but it’s all in the way you do it. And who knows? You may even find your own Andrew.

Scott Monette is the founder of 100 Percent Wine, a premium winery based in St. Louis that produces California wine. The company donates all profits to nonprofit organizations working to create jobs for people living with disabilities. Previously the chief financial officer for Ralcorp Holdings, Scott is now a dedicated father, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.

FastCompany.com | SCOTT MONETTE  | 07.21.16 |  5:00 AM

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Your #Career : 7 Jobs Paying $100k/Year That You’ve Probably Never Heard Of…As Jobs have Become Scarcer and Harder to Find, People are Getting More and More Creative in their Career Pursuits.

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Everyone’s trying to figure out how to make a living. Often, that means working awful, low-paying jobs (or two, or three) in order to put a roof over your head, and food on the table. But jobs come in all shapes and sizes, and if you’re willing to do the gross, the difficult, or the downright stupefying, there are high paying jobs out there, ripe for the picking.

costanza-golf-ball-768x580

As jobs have become scarcer and harder to find, people are getting more and more creative in their career pursuits. That means jobs are being created where none or few existed before, and many people are eschewing traditional employment arrangements to make a career freelancing or starting their own small businesses. Thesecan be high paying jobs in their own right, but there are still ways people are making upward of six figures doing things that very few people realize were even out there.

Unusual, but high paying jobs

As for those strange, unorthodox jobs, there are plenty out there. You just need to know where to look, and perhaps to be willing to do some things that other people aren’t. Perhaps you’d be willing to get some close, personal contact with lonely people? Or put your life on the line as a human bomb detector? Hell, you can even make a decent living diving in and out of ponds on golf courses. There are a lot of opportunities out there if you know where to look.

Here are a handful of high paying jobs that you may not have even realized existed.

1. Professional snugglers

Happy couple snuggling on a bed

Happy couple snuggling on a bed | Source: iStock

Willing to sell your body, but not willing to go for all-out prostitution? Well, you can get into the professional snuggling game and pull a pretty good salary. Of course, there’s no guarantee you’ll make six-figures, but there are apparently an awful lot of lonely people out there who will shell out big bucks for a little human contact. As far as high paying jobs go, it can get a lot more difficult.

 

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2. Personal shopper

A personal shopper at work

 personal shopper at work | Source: iStock

Perhaps you’ve heard of personal shoppers, but in all likelihood, you probably haven’t spent any time actually considering hiring one. But it’s an actual profession, and some personal shoppers can pull in more than $100,000 annually from their clients. Essentially, you’re paid to shop — tracking down and finding anything and everything your client needs, so they don’t have to.

3. Hand model

Hands on display at a Hairdressing Exhibition held at Olympia, London

Hands on display at a Hairdressing Exhibition held at Olympia, London | Fox Photos/Getty Images

George Costanza had “exquisite hands,” and if you yourself have some exquisite body part, you can put them to use as a model. The world needs body part models, in the same way it needs bikini models. Wrist watches and shoes don’t sell themselves, after all. In fashion hot spots like London, New York, and Los Angeles, you can make a decent living if you’ve got the parts.

4. Golf ball retrieval

Couple preparing for another round of golf

Couple preparing for another round of golf | Source: iStock

Golf is expensive, and running a golf course isn’t cheap either. So, how do you get all those golf balls back from the driving range and fairways that end up in the water? You’ve got to pay someone to go after them, and if you’re up to do the job, you can actually make a very good living. Check with your local course to inquire about their needs for ball retrievers.

5. Bomb detector

Metro Transit Police Special Response Team member patrols the Metro Center station with Sabre, an explosives detection dog

Metro Transit Police Special Response Team member patrols the Metro Center station with Sabre, an explosives detection dog | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Someone has to sniff out potential threats in public places or conflict zones — like bombs. And if you’re willing to do it, you can make upwards of six-figures. If you’re serious about becoming a bomb detection specialist, you can look at opportunities with local police departments (typically in bigger cities), the military, and government agencies like the FBI.

6. Ufologist

Amateur ufologists point out a UFO's flight path

Amateur ufologists point out a UFO’s flight path | Hector Mata/AFP/Getty Images

Nobody’s going to pay you to go out and stare at the sky, looking for flying saucers. But if you can manage to make a serious career in other areas — engineering, aerospace technologies, astrophysics, etc. — people may start listening to your theories, and you will be able to command speaking fees, or sell some books. There are famous scientists out there who have done it, and have become some of the world’s foremost ufologists.

7. Adventurer

Indiana Jones | Paramount

Indiana Jones | Source: Paramount

Want to be a real-life adventurer, in the vein of Indiana Jones? People manage to turn their passions for exploration and archaeology into careers, many earning quite a bit of money. A common way to become a professional adventurer is to start leading expeditions, or work as an academic with access to grant money to get out and explore the world. It’s not easy, but people do it.

Follow Sam on Facebook and Twitter @SliceOfGinger

 

CheatSheet.com | July 23, 2016 | Sam Becker

Your #Career : Is Your Attitude Toward Work Killing Your Retirement Dreams? … Do you Have a Generally Positive or Negative Impression of the Word “Retirement”?

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To help you make the most of this article, please consider these two questions: #1- Is yours a vicious or virtuous work/retirement circle below?…….#2- What is the next action you’ll take to move in the right direction?

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Work or retire as a concept of a difficult decision time for working or retirement as a cross roads and road sign with arrows showing a fork in the road representing the concept of direction when facing a challenging life choice.

Work or retire as a concept of a difficult decision time for working or retirement as a cross roads and road sign with arrows showing a fork in the road representing the concept of direction when facing a challenging life choice.

I ask because it dovetails nicely with a series of questions (inspired by Rick Kahler) that I use to begin most speaking engagements. These questions are designed to incite self-awareness, offering us clues about how our life experiences have shaped the (often unarticulated but powerful) beliefs that unavoidably influence the decisions we make with and for money.

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Regardless of an audience’s homogeneity, their responses are consistently inconsistent. I have, however, seen some generational persistency on the topic of retirement. For example, on average, baby boomers have a generally positive view of retirement—no doubt shaped in part by the incessant financial services commercials that promise a utopian post-career existence with beaches, sailboats, golf and an unlimited supply of vintage Pinot Noir.

On the other hand, the finance and accounting students that I had the privilege of teaching at Towson University—almost all members of the Millennial generation—had a generally negative view of the notion of retirement. This is for two prominent reasons:

  1. They pictured hot, humid, early buffet dinners in rural Florida.
  2. They don’t think that the American dream of retirement is available to them.

Interestingly, according to a new study from AARP focusing on full-time workers 35 and older, this generational pessimism is now creeping up the age ladder to Generation X and baby boomers as well. AARP reports that “while 87% of those surveyed who are working full time say they want to retire someday with nearly 70% of those hoping to retire by 65, just over half don’t expect to retire by 65 or at any age.”

Sheesh. Can I get a ho-hum?

It deserves mentioning that the working set 35 and older does appear to accurately assess their retirement readiness. Corroborating common perception with reality, the National Retirement Risk Index (NRRI) estimates that “52% of households are ‘at risk’ of not having enough to maintain their living standards in retirement.”

Old news, right? But what interests me a great deal more is the following finding in the AARP’s survey: “Although this group acknowledges that they will be working longer, fewer than one in five people across the Gen Xer and Boomer demographics say the thing that motivates them to get up in the morning is going to a job that fulfills them.”

So, more than 80% of the workforce over the age of 34 doesn’t like their work? No wonder they’re so stricken by this distressing conundrum: They desperately want to retire but can’t stand the only vehicle likely to help them reach their destination.

We must acknowledge that our views of retirement and work are inextricably intertwined.

It’s a vicious circle: If you don’t like your work, you’re likely to overvalue retirement. But if you undervalue you’re work, it’s logical to assume your performance will be less than optimal and, therefore, that your wages—your retirement savings engine—will be suppressed.

Vicious Circle

But there’s a virtuous circle to counter: If you love your work, it’s likely that you undervalue retirement. But ironically, because you love your work, it’s logical to assume your lifetime performance is improved and your lifetime earnings (and savings potential) are increased, better preparing you for retirement.

Virtuous Circle

Yeah, but it’s unrealistic to think that everyone can have their dream job! This is absolutely true, but that doesn’t mean we can’t purposefully and intentionally move toward it, shifting in the direction of a more virtuous cycle.

Or, in the words of career guru Jon Acuff, “Please don’t tell me you’re too busy to look for a new job and then show me your perfectly detailed fantasy football team.… Please don’t tell me you’re too busy to update your resume and then update your social media accounts incessantly.”

And most fascinatingly, the AARP study seems to help point us in the direction of a more fulfilling career: “If money was not a factor, most would volunteer or donate to a cause and travel the world.… The most popular types of ideal jobs for those who would switch are doing something that helps or teaches others and doing something creative or artistic.”

You probably don’t have the same talents that will likely launch 12-year-old Grace VanderWaal into a lifetime of fulfilling work (I still can’t watch this without choking up). But I’d be willing to bet that you could do something to move one step, small or large, in the direction of more fulfilling work, which will likely help you make and save more money over your lifetime while reducing any desperation you might feel about the need to retire.

To help you make the most of this article, please consider these two questions:

  1. Is yours a vicious or virtuous work/retirement circle?
  2. What is the next action you’ll take to move in the right direction?

I’m a speaker, author of “Simple Money” and director of personal finance for Buckingham and the BAM Alliance. Connect with me onTwitter, Google+, and click HERE to receive my weekly email.

 

Forbes.com | July 23, 2016 | Tim Maurer

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#Leadership : 10 Habits That Help You Learn Twice as Fast…Build these Ten Habits into your Learning and you will be Amazed How Quickly your Learning Speed will Increase.

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The world is in constant change due to advances in technology, science, and innovation. What was considered “hot” a year ago may no longer be relevant today. Just look at all the new social media platforms that have sprouted since Facebook was created.

Free- Lens Close Up

 

Despite all the good that change can bring, you have to keep up or you may get left behind. One of the best ways to stay competitive is to develop habits that can help you quickly learn new skills.

Here are 10 habits to incorporate into your learning to help you learn new material twice as fast.

1. Speed reading.
We know that many successful entrepreneurs read as a daily habit. For example, Warren Buffett developed the habit of reading several hours every day.

The average reader reads at approximately 200 to 400 words per minute. The expert speed reader can do read 1,000 to 1,700 words per minute. It’s no surprise that there’s tremendous value in being able to read quickly and efficiently.

Speed reading encompasses skills such as chunking (reading groups of words instead of one word by one word), minimizing subvocalization (reducing the habit of saying the words in your head as your read), skimming (reading through a paragraph quickly to look for important and related information), and meta-guiding (using a tool such as a pen to guide your eyes in your reading).

Speed reading requires practice but once you instill the skill as a habit, you will be able to get through much more information within a shorter time period.

 

2. Control your learning environment.

Have you noticed that there are times in the day when you are in the flow and learning seems easy but then there are other times when nothing is sinking in and it feels like you are fighting an uphill battle? We all have biological rhythms for our sleep, body temperature and even peak mental state. Figure out when you are most alert and aware and use that time to do your learning.

Being in a fearful, disorganized and stressed state will also block access to your inner stores of creativity and intelligence. To put yourself in an optimum learning mode, choose a safe, reasonably organized, and comfortable environment. Take deep breaths to help you relax and focus.

There is also research indicating that varying the room temperature can also influence your ability to learn. Try to maintain your room temperature between 72 degrees and 80 degrees Fahrenheit in order to optimize your learning ability.

 

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3. Take notes.
Taking notes helps our brains to analyze and synthesize the information that we are learning. The very act of writing makes our brains think that we are undergoing a mini-rehearsal of the information.

Research has shown that making notes using a keyboard does not help students remember the information as well as writing it down. Writing is much slower than typing and when writing, we are forced to make quick judgments about the information that we are hearing. When we type on a keyboard, often we are not thinking about the information but merely copying it word for word.

To increase your learning speed, try to develop the habit of making hand-written notes.

I am a big fan of using tools like Evernote to sync all my notes across all my devices. It can scan and read written notes, and keep track of audio notes. This gives me confidence in the fact that I’ll never misplace an important note no matter how I decide to create the note.

4. Combine all learning modalities.
All of us have preferred learning modalities: visual, auditory, reading/writing and kinesthetic (VARK). If you are a visual person, you will find learning a lot easier if you see the new material presented visually, such as through pictures, diagrams or PowerPoint. If you learn best by listening, then you will love podcasts, interviews, and audiobooks. Those with a reading or writing modality learn best when they can read the information and write down notes. If you are kinesthetically-inclined, you learn better when you can use your hands and physically touch or try something out for yourself.

By understanding what your preferred learning modality is, you can speed up your absorption of information by choosing a learning system that supports your modality.

For even faster learning, combine all modalities. For example, if you are reading about coding skills from an article, read it out loud to yourself and draw a mind map while you are doing this. Then immediately try the code on your website.

5. Create mental associations.
You can shorten your learning time by creating mental associations to link what you already know to new information. Techniques such as using a familiar acronym or rhyme to help you remember different types of marketing sequences, using favorite colors to help you remember algorithms or visualizing something interesting about a client to help you remember their name are all ways for you to create mental associations.

The more mental association techniques you know how to employ, the easier it will be for you to increase your learning speed.

6. Exercise your brain.
A brain is just like any muscle in your body — the more you exercise it, the more effective it becomes. Try learning something new, set yourself a new challenge or use fun resources like BrainHQ and Lumosity to increase your attention, memory, cognitive abilities and brain speed. The more you train and exercise your brain, the faster your learning will be.

7. Listen to alpha state-inducing music.
We have four major types of brainwave patterns: alpha, beta, theta and delta. Out of these, the alpha state (approximately eight to 13 Hz) is where our concentration is best and peak learning is easily achieved.

You can help your brain to enter into the alpha state by listening to music with a beat of eight to 13 Hz (such as baroque music) while you are learning. Even if you don’t like baroque music, you can use other types of music with similar beats. Try to avoid music with singing as lyrics can be distracting.

8. Modified practice after six hours.
Malcolm Gladwell first popularized the concept of deliberate practice in his book “Outliers: The Story of Success.” Deliberate practice is practicing with intentional focus on skill improvement and focusing on growing out of one’s comfort zone. In his book, Gladwell uses the concept of deliberate practice to explain why some athletes and musicians improve so much faster than others.

More recent research has found that by modifying your practice slightly, you increase your learning speed, especially if you are trying to learn motor skills. This is because the process of modifying your practice supports brain reconsolidation where existing memories are strengthened with new knowledge. The ideal time to do your modified practice is six hours after your first practice as the brain takes about six hours to do its reconsolidation work.

9. Get hands-on experience.
Nothing beats learning like actual hands-on experience. Textbook knowledge transforms into something much more useful when we can combine it with practical knowledge.

For example, you can read as much as you want about share investing but until you actually buy your first shares of stock, you won’t understand what the process actually entails and what it is like to put real money on the line.

Another alternative is to fully immerse yourself in the experience of learning. For example, if you were trying to learn Spanish, spend a few months living in Mexico and don’t allow yourself to use any English while you are there. You will pick up the language a lot quicker than using audiobooks and textbooks.

10. Teach someone else what you are learning.
When you teach someone else what you are learning, you retain approximately 90 percent of what you have just learned, especially if you do this immediately after learning.it yourself.

By sharing your knowledge with someone else, not only are you helping someone else but you will also discover quickly how well you know your subject and discover any gaps.

Build these ten habits into your learning and you will be amazed how quickly your learning speed will increase.

Entrepreneur.com | July 20, 2016  |  Chris W. Dunn

#Leadership : 4 Stress-Management Tips for Reducing Anxiety and Getting More Done…If you Let Stress Consume you, it can Hurt your Productivity and Eventually Impact your Bottom Line. For that Reason, it’s Important to find Coping Mechanisms that Allow you to Worry Less.

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Anxiety not only impacts your productivity, but it also disrupts your health and well-being. By learning how to manage your stress and finding healthier ways to cope, you can eventually begin to enjoy the chaos of the day.

Free- Barbed Wire

Stress is an inevitable part of working for or running a business. Despite its many rewards, it can be difficult to ignore the many pressures that come with an entire company resting on your shoulders. As your business grows and you bring on more employees, that sense of responsibility will only increase, leading to varying degrees of anxiety.

If you let stress consume you, it can hurt your productivity and eventually impact your bottom line. For that reason, it’s important to find coping mechanisms that allow you to worry less. You’ll then be able to focus on what needs to be done, which is growing your business. Here are a few tips for keeping your entrepreneurial anxiety in check.

1. Set goals and work toward them.

Anxiety often comes as a result of trying to accomplish everything at once. Instead, cut your larger goals into small, manageable chunks and work toward reaching each small milestone every day. Celebrate when you make significant progress toward a goal. Over time, you’ll learn to pay more attention to what you’ve accomplished rather than feeling daunted by the many things you have left to do.

Related: Calm Down and Take These 7 Daily Steps to Deal With Stress

Experts recommend rewarding yourself as you reach certain milestones. That will give you something to look forward to in the near future, which will also keep you from looking past the milestone to what you’ll need to do next. Set aside time each month or quarter to review your long-term goals and update your progress on each of them. You’ll likely notice how much you’ve accomplished in the previous term and feel good about your momentum.

 

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2. Outsource and automate.

Business owners often work long, tiring hours, whether they’re running a one-man operation or they have a full staff. Either way, it’s important to find ways to offload as many daily tasks as possible. The more routine the duty, the more likely someone else should handle it. If you can’t afford a salaried worker, consider a part-time entry-level worker or outsourcing to a freelancer.

In addition to human service providers, you can also use technology to free up time without sacrificing work output. Software can take over your invoicing and bookkeeping features, for instance, often without the errors that you might make when you’re multitasking or rushing to get to your next meeting.

3. Learn coping mechanisms.

“Mind over matter” may sound like jargon, but anxiety and stress really are under your control. Relaxation techniques can help you when stress is at its worst, with your mind racing and your body tense. You don’t have to take an hour or two to attend a class to practice relaxation. In fact, you can just lock yourself in your office for 15 minutes in the middle of the day and do a few exercises to center your mind.

Related: How Successful People Deal With Stress

For some, however, learning to relax is an art. Look for meditation classes or mindfulness-based yoga courses near you. You’ll be able to take the information you learn in class with you throughout the week. Over time, you probably won’t need a class at all to utilize healthier ways to deal with stress.

“As a business owner and trial attorney, anxiety is a natural and healthy thing,” says Robert May, founder of The May Firm. “However, when it feels too big I really try to step back and take a couple minutes to put things back into perspective. I take a few calming breaths and focus on the task at hand and not everything that needs to be done. Also, take time to do something for yourself.  Sometimes just taking my dog for a 30-minute hike really helps.”

4. Recognize clinical anxiety.

For some people, anxiety goes beyond a reaction to daily stressors. If your anxiety is getting in the way of living a happy, productive life, it may be time to seek professional help. With an anxiety disorder, you feel general anxiety about life events even when that level of anxiety wouldn’t seem merited by others. In some cases, anxiety can accompany clinical depression or panic attacks.

“Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental illnesses in the United States,” says Cole Rucker, CEO at Paradigm New York, a center that works with teens suffering from anxiety and depression. “With treatment, you can learn coping mechanisms and even find medication that helps regulate the condition, which will in turn help you lead a healthy, productive life.”

Related: 4 TED Talks to Help You Deal With Stress and Anxiety

Anxiety not only impacts your productivity, but it also disrupts your health and well-being. By learning how to manage your stress and finding healthier ways to cope, you can eventually begin to enjoy the chaos of the day. Whether you use relaxation techniques or learn to meditate, just a few minutes when stress is at its worst can make a big difference.

 

Entrepreneur.com | July 22, 2016 | Dan Steiner

 

 

#Leadership : You’re in Trouble if You Ignore These 5 Applicant Red Flags…I’ve Made every Hiring Mistake in the Book. Everything I’m Warning against Here, I’ve already Done. Which just Goes to Prove I’m One of You.

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Most managers/entrepreneurs learn hard lessons about hiring the right people only after they’ve hired the wrong ones. Even after realizing the mistake, business owners still can be prone to errors in judgment.

Free- Bench on a Lonely Beach

Whether you’re an established entrepreneur or an executive manager who could use a refresher or a newer entrant to business ownership, it’s worth knowing these five characteristics of potentially disastrous hires.

1. They’re job hoppers.

People who hop from job to job will hop away from you sooner or later — and much likely, it’s sooner. In this case, the past predicts the future. Every job-hopping applicant I’ve interviewed has provided an excellent reason for leaving every past employer. Job hoppers are incredibly effective at explaining their rationale.

While some industries and skill positions defy universal application of my unwritten rule, I look for people with stable, long-term employment at one company in their professional careers. To my way of thinking, that’s five or more years. Younger candidates get a bit more leeway and a lower threshold. The most important factor is a candidate’s ability to develop a relationship with a company over an extended period.

2. They can’t tell you what they did at their last job.

Watch out if the candidate’s current or previous role was amorphous, with equally unclear achievements. Entrepreneurial companies must focus on people who can increase revenue, build things or get things done. Doers might have roles not tied to revenue or products, but they should be able to explain tangible results.

While I look for stable employment within a company, I’m also aware that people with ambiguous roles can hide at larger companies — sometimes for years. Candidates should explain in clear language what they actually did and how it specifically helped the company.  Think of the consultant scene in “Office Space” and the question posed to each employee: “What would you say you do here?”

 

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Related: What Really Happens When You Hire the Wrong Candidate

3. Their names return negative search results.

It’s an easy call if a Google search of the candidate’s name reveals he or she has been sued for skydiving naked off the Empire State Building. In real life, though, it’s rarely that simple. At minimum, vet all candidates with an online search and a thorough scan of social media platforms — within legal limits, of course.

Managers/Entrepreneurs necessarily focus on getting things done quickly. In hiring terms, that can be a huge mistake. Remember the saying: “Hire slow, fire fast.”

4. Their references give less-than-stellar feedback.

People generally don’t want to say bad things about others. During reference checks, asking a variety of subtle but probing questions could save your company money and embarrassment (or worse). I’ve noticed a tendency to downplay this phase of the hiring process. It’s become a check in a box on a form. Legitimate due diligence demands more. It’s so rare today to get any sort of negative feedback that I’m concerned when a reference contact has anything even slightly unflattering to say about a job candidate.

Related: When Hiring, Give Negative References More Weight

5. They talk negatively about others.

This one’s a dead giveaway. When candidates speak negatively about a current or former employer, colleague or acquaintance, they’re giving you valuable insight into their very characters. People who put down others will be more inclined to bring that same negative philosophy to their role, your company and your team. It is not worth the risk to hire these individuals, no matter how impressive their credentials.

Here’s another red flag that didn’t make the Top 5 list but also speaks to character or fit: They don’t do the basics. These candidates know little to nothing about your company, are rude to or dismissive of your front-office reception staff and forget to follow up the interview with a thank-you note.

Managers/Entrepreneurs necessarily focus on getting things done quickly. In hiring terms, that can be a huge mistake. Remember the saying: “Hire slow, fire fast.”

 

Entrepreneur.com | July 21, 2016 | Brian Hamilton