By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, Career OverDrive!

Time management.

Time management is often seen as the holy grail of our personal productivity since each person's time is obviously limited to exactly 24 hours per day.

However, while it's true that the time we have is finite have we considered that it is equally true and probably more impactful to note that our energy is finite.

Consider the following: If, for example, you have the option to either complete the same amount of work in an 8 hour period or a 10 hour period which would you choose?

To most, the obvious answer would be 8 hours since who in their right mind would want to drag out their work an additional 2 hours (25% longer). 

But wait. What if by rushing to finish the work in 8 hours you found that after having arrived home you were just too bone tired to even play with your kids? In that case, would rushing to finish your work actually accomplish anything other than getting you home sooner?

Conversely, what if you slowed your pace down to a much saner, and more measured pace. And what if you completed your work (the same amount of work) not in 8 hours but perhaps 10 hours. However,  what if upon finishing your work and having arrived home you found that you weren't frazzled or bone tired.

What if you actually felt refreshed and mentally together.

And as an added benefit, what if you found that by slowing down just a bit, pacing yourself, and not rushing through your work that the quality of your work and, most importantly, the results your work achieved were much better than that produced while you were working at the frantic pace?

Would you be sold?

After all, it's one thing to slam out 50 or 100 emails a day and it's quite another thing to maintain the energy and state of mind to make all 50 or 100 of those emails count.

And this is one of the major differences, which becomes readily apparent, between Career OverDrive's™  approach to your career development and career management needs and the approaches favored by other career advisory and coaching services.

At Career OverDrive™ we understand it's an energy game.

We're not about working faster or more frantically but we are all about working smarter, with more energy efficiency and with greater clarity and impact.

In today's career coaching and advisory industry this both a very powerful and rare shift in both state of mind and the approach utilized  However, we can proudly assure you that this unique mind shift and approach are thoroughly and purposefully baked into all of our training and coaching programs.

Every single one.

Energy Conservation.

Why do we do focus or key in on energy conservation?

Simple. 

We do so because we clearly understand that what you really face in your career and in your life is not a time management game but an energy game.

Therefore, all of our training and coaching programs have been developed to enable you to be as effective and impactful as possible while expending the very  least amount of energy (physical, emotional or psychological) as necessary.

This principle of energy conservation extends from the initial transfer of  knowledge to you (through our training and coaching programs) to your ability to retain and apply the same material after you have acquired it from us.

It also means that each and every program and skill set is and was specifically, consciously and purposefully designed to be deadly effective, while requiring the absolute minimal effort to apply it.

What does this mean in practice?

Well, imagine sending emails that get the exact results you want but which only contain one or two lines rather than 50 or 100 lines.

Or imagine making fewer phone calls with each phone call made immediately hooking people or moving you toward your goals or objectives. 

Image the confidence you would feel by possessing the techniques and strategies to deftly and effortlessly handle just about any communication problem or social situation, from stress interviews to cold calling the hiring manager at the company for which you'd like to work  to dealing with angry or incensed coworkers or customers at your current company.

And best of all, image doing all this with the expenditure of minimal energy and attainment of maximum results.

That's difference as well as both the premise and promise of Career OverDrive!'s™ coaching and training programs.

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, Career OverDrive!


You've just started your career or perhaps you've been rolling along smoothly or at least fairly smoothly in your career for some time.

If you've been working for some time, sure, you've perhaps been pushed out of one or two companies or felt that it didn't feel like you were growing (no promotions) or the atmosphere changed (a new co-worker or new boss arrived with a bullying attitude).

But overall life is good.

And that's the danger. Life is good now. But have you stopped to consider given your age, career to date, skill set and the industry you are in what your shelf life is?

Shelf life? What's that? Isn't that just related to things like food? Well sure, but it goes beyond that and for our purposes allow me to define it :

Shelf life: The period or length of time for which an item or good remains fit or usable for consumption, or remains salable.

Think of this not as the expiry date (the date where it's not salable or that consumption is not possible) but as the freshness date.

If I eat that day old bread, sure I won't get sick but it won't taste as good as fresh bread nor would I pay as much. In fact, I would buy almost any fresh bread of any variety (french baguette, sour dough, etc.) before I would consider a day old bread of my favorite variety.

And that, my friends, is how shelf life works in the employment and business field.

So we need to think about our shelf. In general, most of us are safe until age 40. But at age 40 (it used to be 50 to 55), boom! We are given no quarter.

Our entire career, every move, every company and so on is scrutinized. If we are looked at at all.....mostly we may just be passed over.

This is why up to the age of 40 it is critical that you carefully determine your career moves as well as the work you do at each company you are employed at -- you must work to build a visible and proven portfolio, create cumulative advantages while decreasing or destroying cumulative disadvantages.

We almost all start in "technical positions" but along our career path we must move from being a "doer" to a manager -- whether we manage people, products, projects or plans.

The "P"s" as I call it.

It's equally critical that we don't just run and jump ships at the first sign of bullying or poor management, because we will face more and more of that the older we get, especially after age 40, so we must learn to engage and fight -- office politics, influencing, persuasion...

Sure, at some point it's time to move but it's a lot less than you might think and only after certain goals or objectives are realized.

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, Career OverDrive!

In a previous post I've discussed some of the different categories or flavors of coaching styles and coaches.

Specifically I talked about:

1. The Peddlers of Hope and Passion (Hope Peddlers & Passion Peddlers).
2. The Peddlers of Fortune Cookie Inspiration.

Now, as I've said before all of these styles or flavors of coaching and coaches have their place and value depending on each client's needs and situation.

However, at some point, getting into a nuts and bolts discuss of (1) why you are here (current/present situation)and (2) how to get you from here to there, becomes extremely important, at least to most clients.

Beyond, hope, passion and inspiration there are the nuts and bolts of coaching and specific action for a client to take. But even here there are huge variations in the type of coach and the effectiveness of the coach's advice.

For instance, has the coach identified the correct or proper nuts and bolts? The proper tensile strength, the composition of metals, the number and the placement of the nuts and bolts?

One of the shortcomings I see in what most coaches offer today is that even when the nuts and bolts are offered and discussed, what is offered is very vague and generalized. 

Worse, sometimes what's offered is just plain wrong.

A simple example to illustrate this would be telling a client to "eat a balanced meal".

• But what exactly is a balanced meal?
  
• How is that determined? By the vitamins, minerals and nutrients it possesses?
  
• But then what is the proper balance of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients and what is the proper or optimal timing of intake?
  
• How does it change by person, ethnicity, gender, age, lifestyle and so forth?
  

Beyond these vague nuts and bolts, I've noticed very vague advise that parallel's what's known in the automotive repair space as "R&R" or Remove and Replace.

Basically, it's shorthand method to cut through a lot of detailed steps in the automotive repair process and focus only on the procedures with a few caveats or warnings pointed out. This works because the mechanics using these books already know all of the steps left out and the best practices associated with them.

If you've ever used a Chilton's repair manual, you know what I'm talking about.

Bringing this back to coaching or more specifically career coaching this type of R&R advice may take a form similar to this:

Objective: How To Get Your Next Job

1. Make sure your resume is up to date and really sells you - show your passion!
   
2. Located the hiring manager(s) at the company you would like to work.
   
3. Use LinkedIn to connect with them. Say something useful or work on building  rapport, etc.
   
4. And on and on.
   

Of course, when we really think about it, there's so much gray area involved here that such advice is completely useless.

• What does a good resume look like (and why)? 
  
• How do I make a good resume sell me?
  
• How do I get it to show my passion (and why should I)?
  
• And so on.
  

I mean specifics. Details. 

When you're  selecting a coach, be sure to find out if your coach can offer more than just broad procedures or a framework because what you'll find you need is very specific, very detailed, step by step guidance in today's rough and tumble world. 

James will speaking on the very timely and important career-related topic of "I'm 40 Now! Is It Really Game Over For Me In Japan's Job Market?" at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan on November 20th.

Arguably no group of job seekers has been more negatively affected by this brutal reality than 40+ year old job seekers.

Many job seekers are shocked to find this is the reality not only in the broader US economy but even in vaunted Silicon Valley which is the supposed Mecca of open-mindedness and where, we are told, a meritocracy has reigned for decades.

And yet, for how bad it is in the US and even Silicon Valley, 40+ year old job seekers soon come to find that it's often much, much worse in Japan. Terrible. Impossibly frustrating. Depressing. These are words that come to mind when seeking employment in Japan as a 40+ year old candidate.

But how can this be the case in Japan, when Japan still has an economy which is the 3rd largest economy in the world and which is moving to further internationalize its businesses as rapidly as possible in the face of both falling domestic demand and a severe shortage of experienced workers.

The bottom line is this: 

Older, deeply experienced job seekers quickly run into five (5) seemingly insurmountable brick walls.

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, Career OverDrive!


What's the best startup approach to take? 

Well, why not go into your (next) startup as you go into life -- completely naked and alone with nothing to lose, expecting no applause.

This will allow you to start immediately and most importantly to start with a "the buck starts and stops here" mentality.

And as a bonus, anything above that which you experience will be a very pleasant surprise.

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, Career OverDrive!


We hear a lot these days about the supposed value of being a "digital native" (defined as a person born or brought up during the age of digital technology;  familiarized with computers and the Internet from an early age) as though being a digital native will automatically bring value to a hiring company.

Well, I'm here to tell you that a "digital native" is most often  a flat out nothing.

What, why? How can you say that? 

Because being a "native" doesn't mean the individual competent at the skill to which they claim to be native.

Doubt that?

Well, consider how the communicative efficacy of the English speakers we all know or have heard who claim to be "native speakers".

The problem with the "digital native" moniker is that most of the folks this applies to only have experience sole as digital consumers.

They no experience or only very limited experience as digital producers.

They don't possess digital competency in general and more specifically they don't possess digital competency in a business context.

They are competent at perhaps locating an app in iTunes or Google Play, installing it and then using it among friends for fun.

But can they write production quality code? No.

Can they design, run, analyze, interpret and improve an online marketing campaign? Heck no.

Can they troubleshoot or debug a software or hardware problem? Nope.

The answer is most likely no, no, no.

The bottom line is that signing up for a twitter account to tweet your college ski trip is not the same as creating a twitter campaign for a fashion brand let alone an integrated multi-phase marketing program for said fashion brand.

There is good news, so hang tight.

The good news is that for those digital natives that do go beyond the install, that take the time to look under the hood, that actually remove the valve covers and look at the source code or to work to apply these tools in a business context to satisfy real world use cases, well, those digital natives are worth their weight in gold as they are as rare as an honest politician. They can write their own tickets and would be welcome just about anywhere.

So stop thinking being a digital native is enough. It isn't. A digital native is just a fancy word for a digital consumer.

Strive to be a digital producer. Be a digital creator. Be a digital expert.

Think about it. 

You can thank me later.

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, Career OverDrive!


Who do I find to be among my most appreciative clients?

Well, I've noticed that for the individual career or executive coaching clients (as opposed to group-based skills training), the most appreciative clients (based on the feedback as well as unexpected gifts and dinners I've received) fall into broad two categories.

1. The Long-term Unemployed and the Chronically Underemployed.

These are clients who often have all but given up hope or who feel that their lives and careers are now on a depressingly difficult linear path.

I find that there's nothing like working to assess their situations, take a skills inventory, develop a gap analysis and then tear down and rebuild them from the ground up, equipping them to not just land "suitable employment" but to land a job that puts them back in the "race" or to where they were supposed to be before they hit difficult times.

2. The Victims or Targets of Office Bullying and Office Politics.

There's two aspects to this.

One aspect is helping the victim to carve out some breathing room as well as develop the ability to maintain their job/income/paycheck while considering options and an action plan.  This may be to keep their job and undone the work of the bully, transfer out to a new group or division or move on to a new company.

The second aspect, and I must say my favorite aspect, is working with a client to efficiently and effectively take out the office bully or politicker. This often entails setting snares, traps and/or pitfalls whereby the bully or politicker is hanged by their own petard.

This most often resolves itself when. using the proper techniques and methods, the bully or politicker has their actions exposed and/or reputation ruined (due to their own actions). In other cases, we'll see the bully or politicker fired or, of their own accord, they will see that there is no future and promptly leave of their own accord.

I have had great success with this across industries from high-tech, startups, pharma, medical devices, banking, insurance, commercial real estate brokeragess to fashion and luxury goods as well as across countries and cultures  from the US (north, south, east, west), Japan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Australia, England, Germany, France and beyond.

The greatest feeling of all of this  is to enable and empower the "good guys" to win, effortlessly and completely.

After all, shouldn't the good guys win once?

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, Career OverDrive


I had the privilege last night of talking with a large group of visiting high school students from The Harvey School of Katonah, New York on the subject of "How to Jumpstart Your Career In Japan".

We discussed quite a bit about not only developing your value and ROI as a candidate but how one can future proof themselves in the face of the impending tectonic societal and economic shifts that will occur and are occurring from the adoption and diffusion of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), expert systems, machine vision, robots, 3D printing, autonomous vehicles, etc.

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, Career OverDrive!


There's a very pervasive and dangerous meme in the world today that suggests that businesses create jobs or are even "in the business of creating jobs".

Nothing could be further from the truth as Peter Drucker observed many years:

"The purpose of business is to create and keep customers."

That's it. Period.

"So what? Why should I care about this?", you may ask yourself. 

Simple.  

Because when one understands that job creation is not the goal of business but rather an extremely unwanted byproduct of creating, serving and retaining customers a powerful shift of mindset results.

The fact remains that if a company were able to, they would hire no one. There's absolutely no benefit in employing people unless the employees are creating value such as increasing revenues, creating assets or decreasing costs.

New jobs (in the private sector) are created only (in the vast majority of the cases) when a company finds that it can no longer create, serve and retain its customers with the existing workforce.

When you understand this and take this to heart, you can then make the mental shift to realize that any approach during a job search that views landing a job as either a lottery or an act of charity is doomed to always underperform if not flat out fail.

Conversely, by understanding how and why jobs are created and why companies are ultimately in business (and what keeps them there) as well as what they are not in business for (e.g.g, creating jobs), you'll have a major leg up on your competition by understanding you must Never, Ever Beg but Always Bring Value.

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, Career OverDrive!


Have you ever wondered why companies so often hire or overpay for the wrong talent? You know, talent that often is just terrible. 

All while you can't seem to land a job.

This presentation is from the HR or Hiring Authority's perspective but it would greatly behoove you to be aware of what so often goes on in the sausage factory, allowing you to better understand and leverage this reality for your own career benefit.