Evaluating from your audience, customer or potential client perspective can be overlooked all too easily.

How to cope with rejection:
Find someone you can trust to be independent and ask them to evaluate your offering, discover where your holes are and address them. It’s all too easy to get caught up in the enthusiasm of ‘it’s-great-because…’

Certainly hold on to that feeling and do some bench testing before you ‘go-live’ with a real, potential customer. Better still ask someone you don’t really class as a supporter; the feedback may surprise you.

Practice makes perfect? maybe; more accurate to say, change becomes less scary the more you experience it, and by default, easier to deal with.

Homework: do one thing each day which scares you; let me know how you get on.

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It’s certain there will be job losses, how many and exactly where, is yet to be announced. Kraft will already be working on the who and where but as yet, all that remains a closely guarded secret. There are legal implications and competitive consequences of divulging information about job cuts so we’ll just have to bide our time until the official announcements are made.

As with any business deal, Kraft believes there is a benefit to be derived from the acquisition of Cadbury. If there was not a financial return to be leveraged, why bother?

It’s possible though less likely that new products or markets can be sourced in an already mature marketplace, so it’s more likely that cost savings have been identified. Integration of ‘back-office’ systems as well as preferential buying terms from suppliers can also be anticipated but what about the human cost?

The takeover will mean significant change for those directly and indirectly associated with Cadbury.

We observers will likely have to wait for the passage of time to see whether this latest development benefits one of Great Britain’s world class brands.
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At 65, he is the first British pensioner to reach the summit of Everest.

What an inspiration for we couch potatoes; much respect Sir!

You have a spelling mistake on the ‘testimonials’ page of your website; “perfromance” should be replaced with “performance.”

Business leaders, managers and colleagues want solutions not more work to do, make it easy for them and your profile will rise.

A quarter of potential jobseekers will lie to get a job

HR directors and recruiting professionals need to be aware that almost a quarter (24%) of potential job seekers are prepared to stretch the truth in securing a job whilst 15% admit they would exaggerate about their skills, qualifications and experience, says SHL Group.

Research carried out by the talent assessment specialist, suggests that the current economic climate and the resulting competition for jobs could push candidates to bend the facts in their favour with 23% saying that tough economic times and the fact that other candidates would be exaggerating left them no choice if they were to compete for a job.

With more than ten people competing for each job, employers cannot afford to take CVs of claimed skills, qualifications experience as honest. The same is true of interviews. The current economic climate has created an environment of ‘ultra high stakes’ assessment with candidates becoming desperate to secure roles therefore it is vital that candidates are tested against the competencies required of the role and assessed accordingly and that there is a clear audit trail linking the assessment to the requirements of the job.”

Recruiting professionals are being snowed under with applications making sifting and selection an almost impossible and time-consuming task.

The research also revealed:

• Young workers aged between 18 and 24 years old were more likely to stretch the truth for a job than older workers (37% compared to 26% of 35-44 year olds)
• Potential candidates in London (20%) and Scotland (21%) were most likely to up their skills because they felt others would do so to compete for a job
• Full time students were most likely to try and fool recruiters with 39% admitting that the current economic climate and competition for jobs would make them stretch the truth.

1. Because you are already good and recognise that it’s going to take that bit extra to become Outstanding!

Your Executive Coach will hold you accountable for the actions that you agree to complete, will make demands of you that will continually stretch your performance and will challenge and motivate you to achieve them.

2. You have business experience but have neglected your own personal development
You work hard to ensure people in your team receive all of the appropriate training, but your own development needs have moved beyond generic training.  As a result, you have neglected your own development.

Working with an Executive Coach is not a personal indulgence but a significant investment in your rapid development.

3. You have reached a plateau in your current role and need to reignite your passion to strive for the next level.
Working with your Executive Coach will build a clear impression of the value contribute to your organisation and help you contribute at your highest level.

4. You’re simply not getting the best out of your people.
Leadership is the new watchword for career success, building on the key elements you need is an area to explore with your Executive Coach.  Eg. How to achieve the balance between professional distance and open accessibility with your team.

5. Like most executives you’re swamped by targets, key indicators, metrics and ‘office-speak.’
As an independent observer your Executive Coach will act as a sounding board to offer an alternative perspective from your colleagues and direct reports. In a safe and non-judgemental environment you will work together to identify the fundamental issues that need to be addressed and select activities you believe will make the difference.

6. You feel married to your work.
If you’re ready to start taking control of your career and get even better results, then you should consider working with an Executive Coach.

7. Your frustrated by a lack of results!
If you continue doing what you have always done it’s likely you’ll get the same results.

Your Executive Coach will challenge you and get you focused on action to make the improvements that matter. You need to be open to change for this to be successful; the results can be dramatic!

How this incident will affect Lewis Hamilton’s reputation in the long term remains to be see.

Lewis is still a young man, how he will be remembered depends on how he conducts himself from now on; it’s not too late for him to establish his name as one of the all-time greats. Perhaps even to transpose his ‘brand’ beyond Formula One. Those who have sought to criticize the young man would benefit from a moments reflection; what would they have done in his situation?

Almost without exception, most people ‘tow-the-company-line’ and go-along with the instruction of their employer. It is the exceptional individual who is true to themselves irrespective of the consequences.

Lewis may be talented and marketable enough to live with the outcomes of such independence. After all, this is the mark of true talent!

Behaviour designed to enable the business to survive can have self-fulfilling outcomes however, meaning the organisation mearly makes it through and exists only.

OK, continuing to trade is a given, but what if this is at the expense of missed opportunities?

British Army military training offers an alternative strategy, it’s called ‘fight -through’ in essence it’s this:

when the enemy engages you they expect you to be shocked and probably get bogged down or retreat, you do exactly the opposite and take the fight to the enemy, it’s the last thing they expect and can, when executed well (requires talent, good training and confidence) lead to victory.

Applied to business right now it means, increasing the talent within your organisation, focussing on the key business issues, investing in the areas likely to make a real difference to your business.

Strengthen and develop your team, they are the ones who will influence/persuade and keep your customers with you.

Belief and attitude are powerful drivers, if your people feel you are supporting them and investing in them, they will reciprocate in spades. No employee wants to live a life ‘on-hold,’ sitting-tight until things get better.

Go-getters want action and have the energy to deliver, use this to your advantage; take the fight to the market, fight-through.

Ok, so the economic position is tough, few would disagree, however, spare a thought for those responsible for managing others, they too are under incredible and sometimes conflicting pressure to “grow the business” often, at the same time as “control costs.”

Inevitably this pressure spills over into managers’ behaviour and affects how they interact with members of their team.

My client, we’ll call him John, resigned from his job because he was experiencing intense pressure from his line manager which resulted in headaches, sleepless nights and a general state of “dread,” his words.

It’s tough out there, the working environment is probably more pressured than it’s ever been and prospects are, at least in the short-term, uncertain.

All the more reason to employ managers who are skilled in leading others; managers who understand how people tick.  Failure to have the right people in leadership roles will result in: resignations, a talent drain (good people have options elsewhere) and, this should focus the mind: employment tribunals!

Employment tribunals will:
1. Require time and effort;
2. Cost money (win or loose the case);
3. Affect the morale of those who remain;
4. Damage the employer’s reputation;
5. Affect how customers feel about the organisation.

So what’s the solution?
Make sure the people who manage others are up to the job. Identify the critical skills needed to do this in your organisation, define them, test for them and in a way which is reliable (do not rely on ‘gut-feel’ alone.) Not sure how to do this then talk to someone who does.

The following is a blog entry from Seth Godin (the internet guru.) It’s so relevant and apt, it’s here in it’s entirety, enjoy:

A friend advertised on Craigslist for a housekeeper.

Three interesting resumes came to the top. She googled each person’s name.

The first search turned up a MySpace page. There was a picture of the applicant, drinking beer from a funnel. Under hobbies, the first entry was, “binge drinking.”

The second search turned up a personal blog (a good one, actually). The most recent entry said something like, “I am applying for some menial jobs that are below me, and I’m annoyed by it. I’ll certainly quit the minute I sell a few paintings.”

And the third? There were only six matches, and the sixth was from the local police department, indicating that the applicant had been arrested for shoplifting two years earlier.

Three for three.

Google never forgets.

Of course, you don’t have to be a drunk, a thief or a bitter failure for this to backfire. Everything you do now ends up in your permanent record. The best plan is to overload Google with a long tail of good stuff and to always act as if you’re on Candid Camera, because you are.

We have been warned!