Yesterday My Blog Post Went To The Southwest Airlines CEO

Yesterday My Blog Post Went To The Southwest Airlines CEO Heres a funny story.   Yesterday I was doing some research for a project Im doing for MarketingProfs.com (one of my favorite online sources of information).   I somehow went to Southwests blog, Nuts about Southwest, and was interested to see they have a bunch of participation in social networks. I was especially interested in the LinkedIn Profile, since you arent supposed to have a Profile for a company, rather an individual.   I clicked over and found it was the CEOs Profile and had an idea.   Since LinkedIn reviewed Guy Kawasakis profile, and thats been a huge hit (gets great search results, and is usually at the bottom of some pages within LinkedIn), what if I reviewed Gary Kellys Profile? So I did you can see the Southwest CEO LinkedIn Makeover here, on my LinkedIn blog (I titled it Nuts About Southwest, But Not Gary Kellys (LinkedIn) Profile).   It was fun to write ;).   And then I tweeted it, specifically bringing it to the attention of whoever the Twitter person is a Southwest: I got THIS reply back within a few minutes: Now I think thats pretty funny/cool! Blogging + Twitter got something I wrote on the desk of the Southwest CEO?   Id say thats a pretty cool story, maybe even showing some of the value of Twitter! Have YOU gotten any value out of Twitter? Yesterday My Blog Post Went To The Southwest Airlines CEO Heres a funny story.   Yesterday I was doing some research for a project Im doing for MarketingProfs.com (one of my favorite online sources of information).   I somehow went to Southwests blog, Nuts about Southwest, and was interested to see they have a bunch of participation in social networks. I was especially interested in the LinkedIn Profile, since you arent supposed to have a Profile for a company, rather an individual.   I clicked over and found it was the CEOs Profile and had an idea.   Since LinkedIn reviewed Guy Kawasakis profile, and thats been a huge hit (gets great search results, and is usually at the bottom of some pages within LinkedIn), what if I reviewed Gary Kellys Profile? So I did you can see the Southwest CEO LinkedIn Makeover here, on my LinkedIn blog (I titled it Nuts About Southwest, But Not Gary Kellys (LinkedIn) Profile).   It was fun to write ;).   And then I tweeted it, specifically bringing it to the attention of whoever the Twitter person is a Southwest: I got THIS reply back within a few minutes: Now I think thats pretty funny/cool! Blogging + Twitter got something I wrote on the desk of the Southwest CEO?   Id say thats a pretty cool story, maybe even showing some of the value of Twitter! Have YOU gotten any value out of Twitter?

Quick Tips For Creating A Professional Business Owner Resume

Quick Tips For Creating A Professional Business Owner ResumeSo you've been hired as the next business owner and your personal and professional life have only just started to take shape. It can be easy to get lost in the general chaos of the business world, so it's a good idea to begin by familiarizing yourself with the basics of a business owner resume. Here are some things to be sure to put on it, so you can easily find your way through this new phase of your life.Your work history should include an assessment of your professional experience, from your earliest job or internship up to your present position. Do not mention your education if you're self-taught or took remedial courses in college. One great thing about a business owner resume is that you can easily highlight your qualifications for any openings you may have now or in the future. For example, if you're an accomplished graphic designer with years of work experience under your belt, you can start by making a bold statemen t about that fact. 'I have worked in the graphic design field for over a decade, am a Licensed Interior Designer, and have worked as a Creative Director, Consultant, and Conceptual Artist for clients around the globe' is a great way to start.An excellent section of your business owner resume will include your passion and interests. In today's competitive environment, if you don't focus on your core interests and passions, you risk being left behind by your competition. This is especially true for employees who need to emphasize their interests outside of work, especially if they have children. Keeping your interest, knowledge, and skills as relevant as possible can ensure that you are the ideal employee for a given job opening.A second interesting section you should put on your resume is your hobbies. Consider including the things you enjoy most about your current occupation. You can make a case for each of your interests using your best statements from your business owner resume. I f you like reading books, talk about how much you enjoy your current role as a bookseller. Or if you have a talent for baking cookies, talk about what makes your specialties special.Finally, you should also include a section that explains how you got to where you are now. The most common means of achieving success in business involves hard work and constant improvement. It is also important to be able to display your ability to adapt and improve, even when things do not seem to be going your way. Showing how willing you are to learn and change your approach to each new opportunity can be just as valuable as the reasons why you were drawn to the previous company. As the saying goes, 'Anyone can make it in business, but only the greats do it consistently.'Along with the usual accomplishments of the past and specific work experience, a business owner resume should also include a little bit of humor. You don't have to be perfect to make a good impression. Humor is one of the easiest way s to get your point across and also presents an added benefit. Nobody likes to read a resume that has little humor in it.Although the following items are always included in a business owner resume, it is often the case that the majority of information presented is not necessary. For example, when you start a business, there may be no need to list your skills, talents, or experiences. Having worked in retail before is not a must. Just keep in mind that not all of your information will be in there, so make sure you list those you think are needed.These guidelines are meant to help you create a well-designed business owner resume. Remember, your resume is an important first impression, so use these tips wisely and you'll leave your potential employer with plenty of information to go on!

5 Things to Consider When Conducting a Video Interview

5 Things to Consider When Conducting a Video Interview Modern technology has made so many processes more flexible, and recruitment is no exception. Using a variety of mediums, it’s never been easier to make contact with a candidate face to face, even when you can’t be in the same room. A face to face interview is nearly always preferable as it’s possible to pick up more about their body language when you’re physically present, but a video interview can offer some different advantages plus some real insights into the individuals you are considering for the position. However, with video interviews it can be a little more awkward at times so it’s vital to be properly prepared. Here are five top considerations which you should always take into account when conducting a video interview. 1) Check your technology. There’s nothing worse than the agreed time arrives and your equipment letting you down when you need it the most. Before you start conducting interviews, you should thoroughly check your set up and have a back-up plan, such as a telephone number, which you can revert to if all else fails. Making sure you have the individual’s username, and carrying out a “dry run” with colleagues will satisfy you that you won’t be left with egg on your face when you’re trying to portray your company as a professional organisation. A test run will also give you a better idea of how you appear on the candidate’s screen and whether you need to make any adjustments. 2) Be aware of your recording space When you carry out a video interview, the attention of both the interviewers and the candidate is concentrated into a relatively small space. Without an entire office for your eyes to roam around, it’s easy for the smallest details to stand out more clearly. Your company is being interviewed in the same way that you are interviewing the candidate, so you should be aware of what might be presented on screen. Make sure the desks are clean, with no old coffee cups or even worse, confidential paperwork that could be viewed by the other party. Even if your space is clean and tidy, having too much in the background could be a real distraction. Minimise the clutter which can be seen and you will capture the candidate’s attention far more effectively. 3) …and take a look at theirs! Of course, by the same token, the recording space of the candidate can be very revealing! When you arrange an interview in your office, you won’t have the opportunity to see into the private world of the candidate so for this reason, a video conference provides an advantage. Use this advantage to try and learn more about the individual; are there any clues to their personality lying within eyeshot? Have they dressed professionally for the interview or have they tried to be sneaky and just smartened up their upper half, expecting the rest of their body to be hidden from sight? Are there any questionable items within the recording space? Video interviews can provide a much more intimate snapshot of an individual and a good interviewer can use this information to their advantage. 4) Ensure you won’t be interrupted. Although being interrupted during any kind of interview is less than idea, it can be catastrophic during a video interview. Someone walking into the room or even noises outside your window could be extremely disruptive to the person you are video calling. Make sure you treat a video interview with the same professionalism that you would a normal interview and make the same arrangements to ensure you will have peace and quiet so you both can concentrate. Another type of interruption but one that may be less obvious might be the lighting. Through a video camera harsh lighting from behind you could make you appear almost impossible to see which could impede communication. Close the blinds so that the candidate can see you more clearly on the screen and it should make communication much easier. 5) It’s not a mirror! If you’re not used to seeing yourself on screen while you chat, it’s surprisingly easy to get distracted and end up watching yourself on the monitor. The net effect of this is that it will look as if you are constantly looking away from the candidate rather than directly at them. It may seem strange to start with but you should look directly at the camera when you’re talking; by doing this it will appear that you are looking at the candidate and provide a better connection for communication. Conversely, do remember that it can be very disconcerting having someone stare at you without flinching or smiling, and looking straight down the camera without softening your gaze will be extremely intimidating. Remember to smile and break your gaze occasionally and you will achieve a far more natural effect that doesn’t terrify the candidate at the other end! Conclusion. Video conferencing is increasing in popularity, making recruitment more convenient and less costly. The above five top considerations will help make sure that any video interview is as successful as possible. Author: Nick Williams works for www.acuitytraining.co.uk in the UK and helps on their communication and assertiveness training courses.

Forget about asking yourself if youre likeable

Forget about asking yourself if youre likeable I write a lot about how people have to be likeable to get what they want in life. I get so frustrated, though, because everyone thinks they are likeable. Maybe to their dog, yes, but in my experience most people are not nearly as likeable as they think they are. I thought of this because I was reading a list of five tips to be likeable: 1. Be positive 2. Control your insecurities 3. Provide value 4. Eliminate all judgments 5. Become a person of conviction And I thought, this is a great list. I should put it on my blog. Then I thought, forget it. People will read the list and think they have all these qualities and then move on. But dont do that. The problem is that the most unlikeable people are the most clueless so they are the least able to become more likeable. Harvard Business Review ran a whole issue on incompetence (via Ben Casnocha) and the conclusion is, among other things, the incompetent dont know they are incompetent. So heres an idea that can apply to likeable and unlikeable people while avoiding the uphill battle of getting the unlikeable to confess: Find the item on the list that is your weak point and force yourself to get better at it. No one is equally good at all five things. Improve on one. Taziana Cascario, professor at Harvard, does research in this area, and she told me that the biggest barrier to being likeable is not caring. So just pick something on the list and improve on it and stop analyzing whether or not people like you. I am going to improve on number four by being less judgmental. After all, I just wrote a whole post about the misguided-and-unlikeable and how much they annoy me.

Using A High Schooler Resume Template

Using A High Schooler Resume TemplateAs you look at the high school student resume formats, you will notice that some of them are fairly conventional and some are very different. Some of them are even gourmet while others are not even remotely appetizing. Let's look at what are the most popular ones now.First of all, I think we can all agree that the format of a student resume is the one that matters. In fact, it is one of the biggest factors in how well the high school resume will be received by the hiring company. While there are those who may like the layout and the font and other styling of the resume, this should not be an option for a job seeker. The best way to do this is to start with a high school resume template.High school resume templates can be found in many places. First, you will need to do a Google search to find the 'school search engine' results and the website that offer the resume template. You will have to go through the online site to find the page where you can download the resume template and in many cases, they will ask for a fee.To save yourself the trouble of going through all of this, I suggest that you look for a high school resume template that is free. You will find these online. They are actually easy to find and they should come with several benefits.First, you can use the template as is or customize it for your own personal needs. One of the greatest things about using a free template is that you can change it just enough to ensure that it reads the way you want it to read. There are no fonts that need to be changed to the way you want them.Another benefit to using a high school resume template isthat they will come with professional grade software that will allow you to do the formatting on your own. This is a huge benefit and one that almost every applicant should consider. It saves time and allows you to focus on the other benefits of using a high school resume template.The next benefit of using a high school resume template is that they will work to make sure that they are perfect. Many of the online templates will come with pages of notes about how you want the resume to be formatted. You can easily make the formatting your own by finding the styles and symbols that you want to use and using them in your own unique way.The final benefit of using a high school resume template is that they are much cheaper than hiring someone to do the formatting for you. These will usually cost less than a handful of dollars, but they will certainly save you a lot of time and they will still allow you to be in control of how your resume looks.

Nine Behaviors of Highly Promotable People - CareerEnlightenment.com

Nine Behaviors of Highly Promotable People Highly promotable people keep themselves in the right place at the right time to assure a career of continuous growth and advancement.   One of the early career lessons every employee learns is that not all people possess the same degree of talent, work ethic, intellect, and persistence.   Some seem to struggle to move ahead in their careers while others seem to get on the fast track and are successful whatever their assignment.   Here’s how the highly promotable people do it.Key Behaviors of Promotable People.People become promotable when they are characterized by the following types of behaviors.   This list is not complete because each employer is different. The nine behaviors listed below are a good start.   You need to make it your business within your first year with an employer to learn the specific set of behaviors that your employer most values.1. Promotable people are proactive.They don’t wait to be asked to do something, they are constantly looking for ways to add val ue and show initiative by taking actions within their span of control, and propose actions beyond their area of authority.   They act as entrepreneurs inside the enterprise.2. Promotable people are insatiable learners.They are curious and ask lots of questions.   They probe the answers to the questions and dig down until they really understand something.   They research best practices.   They seek to test what they have learned. They are constantly open to learning.   Every day.    Perhaps youre an IT personnel who has a potential but doesnt seem to get noticed by your employers. You can take a  master of IT Leadership  to help you up your skills and eventually get recognized.3. Promotable people are focused on customers.Customers are people who consume the work output being produced.   There are both internal customers and external customers.   If you worked in a bank as a teller, your external customers are depositors, borrowers making payments on their loans, safe-deposit box hol ders, and more.  Your internal customers are in the audit department who rely on you to be accurate, or in the security department who rely on you to report suspected fraud.   Every job has internal and external customers.   MVPs understand who they are, and strive to consistently exceed customer expectations. Want to Read More Articles Like This One?Sign up here to receive weekly updates from Career Enlightenment, and never miss another powerful job searching tip! SUBSCRIBE! You have Successfully Subscribed!We hate spam too. Unsubscribe any time. 4. Promotable people focus on business outcomes.They are always seeking to ensure their work positively impacts the organization’s KPIs and the desired outcomes the employer is seeking to achieve.   They understand how each KPI is affected by another.   For example, if revenues go up and expenses (another popular KPI) remain the same, expenses go down as a percent of revenues, which in turn raises the profit (yet another popular KPI ).5. Promotable people are focused on efficiency.Because they have taken their time to master their job duties and see how their work serves customers in other departments, they are always looking for ways to improve the work processes to be more efficient (get more done with the same costs in time and resources, or reduce costs while keeping the quality and quantity produced the same, or both).6. Promotable people are agile.They are highly flexible and try to accommodate others. They nimbly respond to challenges, not fight them.   They don’t dig in when the boss suddenly changes direction. They see the benefits of new opportunities, not the difficulty of making a change.   They even anticipate change because they have become close to the business and can see the signs.7. Promotable people help others.They leave a little margin in their day so they are available to help others, even people outside their immediate department.   So they think bigger than just themselves or their uni t.   When they see something that needs to be done, they step in and lend a hand.8. Promotable people learn from their mistakes.Successful people must make mistakes in order to become successful people.   Thomas Edison finally found the secret to inventing a light bulb after nearly 10,000 failures.   His response: “I’ve not failed, I’ve simply learned 10,000 ways that a light bulb won’t work.”   Each failure taught him what not to do and eventually, he became one of our most admired inventors.   Basketball great Michael Jordan missed more than 9,000 shots in his career, lost 300-plus games, and failed to make the final game shot 28 times.   Yet he is an MVP because he learned from his failures.9. Promotable people live out integrity and humility in everything they do.The always do what they say they would do â€" never an excuse.   They own their results, good or bad.   They are 100% trustworthy.   And they never see themselves as more than they truly are: another flawed pe rson using their God-given skills, abilities, and talents with their best efforts to produce value for their employer and customers.Bottom LineEvery one of these behaviors rests within the absolute control of the individual.   There is no talent, education, or intelligence requirement.   Just the simple desire to perform to the best of one’s ability and become highly promotable.

10 simple things the CEO can do to create a happy workplace - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

10 simple things the CEO can do to create a happy workplace - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Happiness at work starts from?the top.?This is one of the fundamental truths of happy workplaces. In any?organization where people consistently love?to work, you will find a CEO and executive leadership team that places?employee happiness among their top strategic priorities and act accordingly. One of our favorite examples of a?CEO who truly gets this is Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines (since retired), who?put it like this: When I started out, business school professors liked to pose a conundrum: Which do you put first, your employees, your customers, or your shareholders? As if that were an unanswerable question. My answer was very easy: You put your employees first. If you truly treat your employees that way, they will treat your customers well, your customers will come back, and that?s what makes your shareholders happy. So there is no constituency at war with any other constituency. Ultimately, it?s shareholder value that you?re producing. If, on the other hand, you have top brass?who dont give a damn about anything but the bottom line and their own bonuses and stock options, I can flat-out guarantee that you will create?an organization with very little happiness but with a lot of fear, stress and frustration. And, ironically, with poor?bottom line?results. So top executives MUST make employee happiness one of their most important goal. Both?because its the right thing to do for the sake of their people, but also because it will actually make the company more successful. Studies consistently show that happy workplaces make more money. But how does a CEO or top executive practice this on a daily basis? What can they do to make their organization happier? Here are 10 great real-life examples?that weve seen work really well in workplaces around the world. 10: Regular lunches with employees During a speech in Istanbul, I met an?executive of a huge Turkish organization who has had a monthly lunch with 10 randomly picked employees for years now.?Every month 10 employees get a chance to have a nice lunch and over the course of a couple of hours get to ask any question they want and air any concerns or complaints. They also get a chance to meet him in an informal setting and get a sense of who he is as a person. 9: Random acts of workplace kindness Some CEOs enjoy doing little random things to surprise and delight their staff. Heres an example from Medis, one of our clients in Iceland, where the CEO decided to?make fresh pancakes and waffles for?anyone passing by. He even had a great time himself: I thoroughly enjoyed it?? the biggest joy I actually got out of observing the reaction of the colleagues ! FYI we did not announce anything but simply showed up in the corridor without notice and took people pleasantly by surprise. 8: Celebrate?accomplishments The Danish Competition and Consumer?Authority is a government agency whose 200 employees work to enforce consumer?regulations and keep markets competitive. Every month they have a breakfast meeting where important information is shared with?all employees. At this meeting, the director Agnete always shares 2-3 successes that the organization has had since the last meeting. Shell highlight?how?theyve completed a big project or won a court case?and make sure that the people who worked on that are recognized and celebrated. 7:?Encourage bad news One CEO we know?had a strong desire to receive all bad news as soon as possible. He knew bad things happened (they do in all workplaces) but he also knew that some employees were to afraid of reprisals to come out and directly say that?they might miss a deadline or have to disappoint a client. So he has trained himself and his managers to always receive bad news with a smile and a phrase like Thank you for telling me that. This took some practice. That way bad news come out early and can be dealt with before it turns into a disaster. 6: Meet with new employees One fast-growing company of ours has a tradition where the CEO hosts a monthly afternoon tea at his home for all new hires that month. Its a completely informal gathering that serves two functions: He gets to meet all the new people and get a sense of who they are and he takes some time to talk about the companys history and vision?which is a powerful way to show?the new hires the values and purpose of the organization. 5: Solve problems South African social media agency Quirk has a process in place that encourages employees to bring?about any problems they see?to the attention of the executive team. The process gives all employees a voice and guarantees action from the executives in two weeks at the most. You can read about?their process here. 4:?Give employees time for family Here is a letter that US vice president Joe Biden sent to his staff in 2014: He explicitly tells them that its OK to prioritize important family events over work. ?Appreciating staff and giving them time for family makes them happier and happy staff are more productive. It also combats the ubiquitous?cult of overwork. 3: Say good morning Carsten and Karsten, two sales managers at Danish company Solar, wanted to do something nice for their employees. Early one Monday morning, they stood at the entrance and greeted every employee with a cheerful good morning and a breakfast they could take to their desks. 2: Celebrate mistakes In one company, the CEO was told by a trembling employee, that the company website was down. This was a big deal ? this company made most of its sales online, and downtime cost them thousands of dollars an hour. The CEO asked what had happened, and was told that John in IT had bungled a system backup, and caused the problem. ?Well, then,? says the CEO ?Let?s go see John!? When the CEO walked into the IT department everyone went quiet. They had a pretty good idea what wass coming, and were sure it wouldn?t be pretty. The CEO walks up to John?s desk and asks ?You John?? ?Yes? he says meekly. ?John, ? says the CEO, ?I want to thank you for finding this weakness in our system. Thanks to your actions, we can now learn from this, and fix the system, so something like this can?t happen in the future. Good work!? Then he left a visibly baffled John and an astounded IT department. That particular mistake never happened again. In?many workplaces, ?employees who do good work are rarely recognized but anyone who makes a mistake is immediately and harshly punished. This is dumb. When we can openly admit to screwing up without fear of reprisals, we?re more likely to fess up and learn from our mistakes. And thats why top executives should help employees celebrate mistakes. As an example, IT company Menlo Innovations in Michigan has this banner hanging in their office: 1: Walk the halls and meet people One?day, the IKEA store in Gentofte, Denmark was a hive of activity. Not only was there a European executive meeting taking place, but the company founder, Ingvar Kamprad himself, was in the house. That?ll make most employees straighten up and put in a little extra effort. The execs wrapped up at 6 in the evening and Ingvar then took?a stroll through the entire store as if this was the most natural thing in the world, kindly greeting each and every employee. He encountered two female employees talking to each other and approached them with a smile and the words: ?And what are you two lovely ladies talking about?? ? following up with big?hugs for both of them. I love this because it shows a genuine interest in the employees and because Kamprad is clearly happy himself and not afraid to show it. We know from?psychological studies that emotions are contagious and top leaders can spread a lot of happiness simply by being happy themselves. The?point This list is by no means exhaustive and?its definitely not meant to be prescriptive. Were not saying?all executives should do these things. What we are saying is that top executives play a huge role in creating happy workplaces. They do this in?the big stuff by making sure that the strategies, plans, goals and values they set for the organization are defined with the employees well-being in mind. But they also do it in small, daily, interpersonal ways where they can show that they genuinely care about their people, can build relationships with employees and can let?employees see them as real human beings. However, this can only work under a few conditions: It must flow from a genuine care?for the employees. If the CEO doesnt honestly care about?her employees, she shouldnt try to fake it. But Ive always said that if you dont care about people, you have no business leading them. Executives must WANT to do things to make employees happier.?Its OK to go a little outside of your comfort zone but?if you do things you actively hate, that fact will shine through and it probably wont work. Actions must match words. You cant on the one hand make pancakes or hug employees and on the other hand introduce large-scale organizational changes with no regard for how employees feel. They will see right through that. Consistency over the long term is mandatory. If you do this for a short while?or only do it some of the time, it will be recognized as fake. Understanding this and acting on it gives?the executives in a workplace huge leverage to make their employees feel valued professionally and personally thus increasing happiness, engagement and motivation as well as productivity. Not doing this and lets face facts, most executives dont means failing your employees, your customers and your investors. Your take Do you think executives should care about the happiness of their employees? Do the executives in your workplace honestly care about their people? How do they show it / not show it? Related posts ?Why are managers so afraid to display happiness? How to lead with happiness. Managers: Have time for your people. Should leaders focus on results or people? The answer is yes. Why every company should have a CHO (Chief Happiness Officer). Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related