Education

What do Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Sara Blakely all have in common? Well, apart from being an exclusive card-carrying member of the Billionaire Boys and Girls Club, all four remarkably share the same three traits of a postage stamp. Let me explain. I recently wrote a book titled, How a Postage Stamp Saved My Life: 21 Powerful Tips to Defeat Depression, Skyrocket Your Self-Confidence & Achieve Your Goals.

After working in the private sector for over 25 years, I took up a senior position in the public sector last year, so I guess this article was always going to be written. My assessment of both systems.

Happy New Year! This is the start of my fourth year writing this blog for Careers in Government and I am sure many of you that have been following it are wondering what there is left to discuss on the subject of Information Governance? The answer to this can be found in the time honored tradition of “out with the old, in with the new”! Every organization uses the new year to act on some new strategic plan and every Information Governance must be ready for it.

One of the frustrations job seekers identify is the limitations of the resume and job interview for putting across who they really are. They may lack experience and their qualifications are no longer enough to convince employers. Many employers are risk-averse, particularly in tough economic times, and go for the tried and tested candidate. How do you get across your potential and persuade an employer you are a better bet?

A couple months back I listened to a TED Talk by Jon Bowers titled, “We should aim for perfection – and stop fearing failure”. I could not help but consider the relationship between ideas on perfection and failure to the recent trend of near daily stories of sexual harassment and impropriety of men in positions of power.

Managers and leaders are knowledge-thirsty by nature, constantly looking for ways to improve upon their existing skill-set. On top of this, they are looking for techniques to motivate and inspire their workforce. Though most successful people tend to spend a lot of their time reading, we’re lucky enough to live in an environment where we can digest information in a variety of different ways.

Teaching is an interesting art. There are so many things to learn from it. Students are a great source of inspiration for all educators. They bring in new information, new perspectives, and new points of view. If instructors think they know it all, teaching proves them wrong. You never know everything, and you can certainly absorb fresh knowledge daily.

It’s the time of year where many of us are talking about what we want to lose–a few pounds, some bad habits, a toxic relationship. Today, I’m inviting you to consider what you have to gain– investing in a few key actions to improve your credibility and enhance your reputation.

Consider the postage stamp. The postage stamp has sharp, laser focus. It does not get distracted. It has only one goal. It pays attention to what it must accomplish. At the end of its days, it will have engraved on its epitaph: “It secured its success through its ability to stick to one thing.” When I interviewed author Darren Hardy, he said, that the greatest challenge today is controlling our attention. “We are living in an era of epic distraction," he said. "There is so much that begs for our attention. We are forever in reaction mode, whether it be to our inbox or social media accounts. But we must learn to be insanely focused.

Earlier this fall, my wife and I attended a wonderful evening dinner theater, in which the themed evening was “A Tribute to Frank Sinatra”. During the course of the show, we were entertained to no fewer than 50 of the great melodies made classics by Ol’ Blue Eyes. Prior to the show, we settled in for a magnificent dinner, and during that time, our host came out to greet the audience. After announcing some memorable anniversaries and special occasions among those in attendance, the host offered a wonderful short story about Sinatra.