Labor Day Buzz
"Can you imagine being their age and working here?" Was a question that I'd get from a young coworker every time they'd bring in a new, middle-aged employee. Every time he'd ask that, I'd picture myself as this middle-aged guy starting a new job. Scary! I follow all of these folks on twitter and they share these awesome quotes. Sometimes their own quotes or sometimes famous quotes. I read one this morning, "The purpose of leadership is the create more leaders, not more followers."
What are YOU here for? - Everyone has their own race to run, but I am starting to understand what God has intended for me. I have been put here to help people. In my current role, there are times when I can absolutely help someone out, but my calling stretches far beyond a sales role. Your calling? Who knows.
"Success is liking yourself, liking what you do and liking how you do it."
There are plenty of ways to contribute to society. I applaud any person that makes it to work everyday and taking care of their responsibilities. That may seem common to you, depending on your perspective. There are people that have NO INTENTIONS to do anything legal. The only occupations that they're familiar with are from the streets. 1 in 8 black men in their twenties is in prison or jail. And 1 in 3 black males born today is expected to go to prison. (According to Martin Richard).
So regardless of how much money I make, if I can't do my part in decreasing those numbers, I am not doing what I feel is necessary for ME to feel satisfied. If I'm building walls around myself and removing myself from the people that need me the most...it's all for naught.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Crazy Week
Baxter's Buzz
It has been a really interesting week for me. I am a professional with a capital P. I come to work every day, work hard, and don't make any waves. I feel like those simple things are appreciated at some jobs, but not all. I have backed myself in a corner because I don't have a degree. I am constantly reminded of that fact. My options will start to increase as I continue to move towards my degree.
Bad Bosses - I am so thankful for all of the people that I've had the pleasure (or displeasure) to work with. Some really good people, some snakes, and some people that believed they knew more than everyone around them. I'm not a loud or boisterous person but I feel like I get my point across. My brother IS loud and boisterous and I've seen his mouth get himself in trouble a bunch.
It's not that he's been wrong 100% of the time, but he never cared about the politics of situations. I'm very, very conscious of those things. I have a good feel for how things are perceived and I am very sensitive to those things. Sometimes I want to go off on people, but that's not my personality AND you get more bees with honey than with vinegar. I have awesome intuition. I see things and understand what people's intentions are, whether good or bad. If you are trying to deceive me, it really burns me up when I cannot remove myself from you and the situation. I don't deal with people in my personal life that I can't trust. What if the person I don't trust happens to be my boss? Not so easy to "not deal" with them, right?
I genuinely care about people, and very rarely have an angle that I'm playing. When I was 20 years old, I was betrayed by my boss. I was straightforward about my plans to move away for school. He then proceeded to cut my hours in half, literally! I was disappointed and I spoke with my dad about it. I said, "I was just trying to be honest." His reply, "You can't be honest when nobody else is being honest."
10 years later and I continue to hope that my father was wrong, but as time moves on, I realize his words ring truer than ever.
I titled this blog "Crazy Week" but my professionalism will not allow me to go into detail :-)
What I've realized is that most people don't root for your failure. They are just so selfish and worried about their pursuit of tangible items that couldn't care less about how that pursuits effects anyone around them.
It has been a really interesting week for me. I am a professional with a capital P. I come to work every day, work hard, and don't make any waves. I feel like those simple things are appreciated at some jobs, but not all. I have backed myself in a corner because I don't have a degree. I am constantly reminded of that fact. My options will start to increase as I continue to move towards my degree.
Bad Bosses - I am so thankful for all of the people that I've had the pleasure (or displeasure) to work with. Some really good people, some snakes, and some people that believed they knew more than everyone around them. I'm not a loud or boisterous person but I feel like I get my point across. My brother IS loud and boisterous and I've seen his mouth get himself in trouble a bunch.
It's not that he's been wrong 100% of the time, but he never cared about the politics of situations. I'm very, very conscious of those things. I have a good feel for how things are perceived and I am very sensitive to those things. Sometimes I want to go off on people, but that's not my personality AND you get more bees with honey than with vinegar. I have awesome intuition. I see things and understand what people's intentions are, whether good or bad. If you are trying to deceive me, it really burns me up when I cannot remove myself from you and the situation. I don't deal with people in my personal life that I can't trust. What if the person I don't trust happens to be my boss? Not so easy to "not deal" with them, right?
I genuinely care about people, and very rarely have an angle that I'm playing. When I was 20 years old, I was betrayed by my boss. I was straightforward about my plans to move away for school. He then proceeded to cut my hours in half, literally! I was disappointed and I spoke with my dad about it. I said, "I was just trying to be honest." His reply, "You can't be honest when nobody else is being honest."
10 years later and I continue to hope that my father was wrong, but as time moves on, I realize his words ring truer than ever.
I titled this blog "Crazy Week" but my professionalism will not allow me to go into detail :-)
What I've realized is that most people don't root for your failure. They are just so selfish and worried about their pursuit of tangible items that couldn't care less about how that pursuits effects anyone around them.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Golden Ticket
Baxter's Buzz
Last week I watched Willy Wonka for the first time...well the first time all the way from start to finish. This concept of the "golden ticket" was eye opening to, in a way. I was at work and a coworker of mine was telling me about this "Power Ball" lottery that she was entering. "Come over here let me show you," she excitedly says to me. "If I could just win..."It doesn't matter what your job is or what department you're in, we all fantasize about hitting it rich. We want our situations to be better. We want our options to be plentiful.
My wife had an interview this past week and not only were we excited about her opportunity to work in that particular field, we thought what we could do with the additional funds she'd see each check. We think about getting that big promotion or hitting the lottery and all of our worries disappearing. Oh, if it were that simple.
The new job, whether it be with another company or a promotion with your current company, or maybe you start your own business, are all realistic possibilities. Winning the lottery: Probably not going to happen.
The American Dream is waking up everyday and feeling like you matter. Money is important. It has its place, but feeling like you are making a difference, like you're missed when you are away, like you are making an impact. That's truly the golden ticket.
Last week I watched Willy Wonka for the first time...well the first time all the way from start to finish. This concept of the "golden ticket" was eye opening to, in a way. I was at work and a coworker of mine was telling me about this "Power Ball" lottery that she was entering. "Come over here let me show you," she excitedly says to me. "If I could just win..."It doesn't matter what your job is or what department you're in, we all fantasize about hitting it rich. We want our situations to be better. We want our options to be plentiful.
My wife had an interview this past week and not only were we excited about her opportunity to work in that particular field, we thought what we could do with the additional funds she'd see each check. We think about getting that big promotion or hitting the lottery and all of our worries disappearing. Oh, if it were that simple.
The new job, whether it be with another company or a promotion with your current company, or maybe you start your own business, are all realistic possibilities. Winning the lottery: Probably not going to happen.
The American Dream is waking up everyday and feeling like you matter. Money is important. It has its place, but feeling like you are making a difference, like you're missed when you are away, like you are making an impact. That's truly the golden ticket.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Me Too!
Baxter's Buzz
My last blog talked about my three year anniversary and how I am currently learning valuable lessons every single day. I work with people that make a lot of money. I understand the term "a lot of money" is relative, but in my book, at this time in my life, it is a lot of money.
When folks tell you to go to school and work hard to be successful, it is immediately thrown out the window when you actually get to a work setting. Some people are working their tails off and others seem to be working hard at not working. You see the politics that are involved and you realize that many lessons have to be learned through experience.
"I'll start coming in on time when everyone else starts to come in on time," was an email that my wife's coworker sent to her boss after the boss, reminded her of the expected start time for the work day. Good for her! We can all live through an email like that. One of the first things people realize when they start a job is how certain rules don't apply to certain employees. The biggest mistake we make is assuming that we, as a newbie can disregard rules. That causes enormous resentment and when you start complaining with the others (who've been there longer and have much more bitterness) who aren't allowed certain privileges, the resentment grows.
The bottom line is: Life is unfair. People who you deem undeserving will be allowed to do things and achieve more success than you. I work with some people that are not the favorites of many at my job. There are employees like that at most, if not every job. So if you change jobs, don't change because of favoritism. Change for a better opportunity not because Jim can show up late and you cannot. And let's remember whose to blame. Jim is just doing what he's been allowed to do, but Jim's boss is the one allowing it.
Continue to work hard (I'm assuming you work hard) and focus on you. You have to run your own race. Make decisions based on what makes sense, for now and in the future and don't get caught up with petty personal stuff. You're better than that. Plus, right or wrong, you just seem bitter.
My last blog talked about my three year anniversary and how I am currently learning valuable lessons every single day. I work with people that make a lot of money. I understand the term "a lot of money" is relative, but in my book, at this time in my life, it is a lot of money.
When folks tell you to go to school and work hard to be successful, it is immediately thrown out the window when you actually get to a work setting. Some people are working their tails off and others seem to be working hard at not working. You see the politics that are involved and you realize that many lessons have to be learned through experience.
"I'll start coming in on time when everyone else starts to come in on time," was an email that my wife's coworker sent to her boss after the boss, reminded her of the expected start time for the work day. Good for her! We can all live through an email like that. One of the first things people realize when they start a job is how certain rules don't apply to certain employees. The biggest mistake we make is assuming that we, as a newbie can disregard rules. That causes enormous resentment and when you start complaining with the others (who've been there longer and have much more bitterness) who aren't allowed certain privileges, the resentment grows.
The bottom line is: Life is unfair. People who you deem undeserving will be allowed to do things and achieve more success than you. I work with some people that are not the favorites of many at my job. There are employees like that at most, if not every job. So if you change jobs, don't change because of favoritism. Change for a better opportunity not because Jim can show up late and you cannot. And let's remember whose to blame. Jim is just doing what he's been allowed to do, but Jim's boss is the one allowing it.
Continue to work hard (I'm assuming you work hard) and focus on you. You have to run your own race. Make decisions based on what makes sense, for now and in the future and don't get caught up with petty personal stuff. You're better than that. Plus, right or wrong, you just seem bitter.
Monday, August 8, 2011
It's My Anniversary
Baxter's Buzz
I've struggled a TON for the past few weeks at work. Whenever you have a bad month in sales, it has an effect. I really hate the fact that a bad month can ruin my mood. And not just my mood, it happens to the best of us. When you work in most fields, you may have a bad day every once in a while. In sales, you have a bad month or a bad quarter! Sometimes I wonder why I put myself through this stress everyday. I love it and I hate it at the same time.
Saturday, August 6, marked my 3 year anniversary at my job. This has been a great experience. All the good and bad have been valuable learning experiences. I am very appreciative of the opportunity that I was given 3 years ago because I didn't have the ideal "education" for this sales position. Since then, however, I believe that I've proven myself to be more than qualified for this role. As a matter of fact, there have been many salespeople who have come to the company, fitting the "education" profile, but couldn't sell their way through a wet paper bag. It really annoyed and angered me at one time because I felt like management didn't have a good idea of what made a successful account executive in our industry. But it's not management's fault, per se. Education is suppose to separate the winners from the losers (for lack of a better phrase). That should make interview process easy, right?
Education is very important, however, it has to be a mix of worldly education and experience. It cannot be what someone has learned strictly in a book at school. It is much tougher to recognize if someone "has it" if you do not have "it" yourself. Also, there are many intangibles that are associated with successful people, but education and work experience is more tangible, and therefore, easily recognized because it's sitting on a piece of paper.
How do you separate yourself from all of the other people with same experience/education as you? As an employer, what will I see in your resume that will make an impression on me? The answer is nothing. You need to meet people and shake their hand. Ask them real questions to get to know them. Not some crap you've been asking people from some corporate script. Interact with candidates and go into these meetings/interviews with clear mind, omitting any preconceived notions. As employees, we need to network. We need to introduce our uniqueness so that people will recognize it in the next person. We need to share our stories so that we become real people and not some piece of paper with a cheesy cover letter attached.
I wrote sometime back about me applying for a management position at my company. I applied, but wasn't given the opportunity. Will that stop me from applying again? Only if I feel like the leadership cannot see past those pieces of paper. If their mind is already made up before I sit down, what's the use?
I'm actually silly enough to believe that I should be offered the opportunity to become a manager because I am the opposite of what we typically see. I have graduated from the School of Hard Knocks. I will continue to study there, and I am hopeful that in my leadership positions, I'll be able to pass along much needed advice to my employees as well as my peers. We shall see.
I just want to take time out to pass along prayers and well wishes to a friend of mine who lost her daughter recently. Please do your best to have a positive impact on people. Leave them with something they can learn from or at least, smile about as they reflect.
I've struggled a TON for the past few weeks at work. Whenever you have a bad month in sales, it has an effect. I really hate the fact that a bad month can ruin my mood. And not just my mood, it happens to the best of us. When you work in most fields, you may have a bad day every once in a while. In sales, you have a bad month or a bad quarter! Sometimes I wonder why I put myself through this stress everyday. I love it and I hate it at the same time.
Saturday, August 6, marked my 3 year anniversary at my job. This has been a great experience. All the good and bad have been valuable learning experiences. I am very appreciative of the opportunity that I was given 3 years ago because I didn't have the ideal "education" for this sales position. Since then, however, I believe that I've proven myself to be more than qualified for this role. As a matter of fact, there have been many salespeople who have come to the company, fitting the "education" profile, but couldn't sell their way through a wet paper bag. It really annoyed and angered me at one time because I felt like management didn't have a good idea of what made a successful account executive in our industry. But it's not management's fault, per se. Education is suppose to separate the winners from the losers (for lack of a better phrase). That should make interview process easy, right?
Education is very important, however, it has to be a mix of worldly education and experience. It cannot be what someone has learned strictly in a book at school. It is much tougher to recognize if someone "has it" if you do not have "it" yourself. Also, there are many intangibles that are associated with successful people, but education and work experience is more tangible, and therefore, easily recognized because it's sitting on a piece of paper.
How do you separate yourself from all of the other people with same experience/education as you? As an employer, what will I see in your resume that will make an impression on me? The answer is nothing. You need to meet people and shake their hand. Ask them real questions to get to know them. Not some crap you've been asking people from some corporate script. Interact with candidates and go into these meetings/interviews with clear mind, omitting any preconceived notions. As employees, we need to network. We need to introduce our uniqueness so that people will recognize it in the next person. We need to share our stories so that we become real people and not some piece of paper with a cheesy cover letter attached.
I wrote sometime back about me applying for a management position at my company. I applied, but wasn't given the opportunity. Will that stop me from applying again? Only if I feel like the leadership cannot see past those pieces of paper. If their mind is already made up before I sit down, what's the use?
I'm actually silly enough to believe that I should be offered the opportunity to become a manager because I am the opposite of what we typically see. I have graduated from the School of Hard Knocks. I will continue to study there, and I am hopeful that in my leadership positions, I'll be able to pass along much needed advice to my employees as well as my peers. We shall see.
I just want to take time out to pass along prayers and well wishes to a friend of mine who lost her daughter recently. Please do your best to have a positive impact on people. Leave them with something they can learn from or at least, smile about as they reflect.
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