By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, SiliconEdge

"So, what, you think you're a minder read and can read minds, right?! Ha!"

I often find myself fielding this question although sometimes it's delivered in a tone of voice that conjures up images of an accusation such as "charlatan!" rather than a genuine question.

But that's okay, as it shows interest and engagement on the person asking it and once they allow me to explore a little more with them, they are usually hooked and have an "aha!" moment.

....

So the simple and honest answer to this question or perhaps the rejoinder to this accusation is, of course, I'm not a mind reader nor do I purport to be. And yet my results are there and they are what they are with them being more often than not extremely uncanny in their accuracy. 

The most important insight from my work and research that I try to impart to my students, clients and skeptics is that you don't need to be a mind reader to be accurate in your reading of a situation because in most cases the party in question through their actions, reactions and inactions almost to a tee loudly and graphically telegraphs exactly what they are thinking and how they are thinking as well as their intentions.

....

By James Santagata
Managing Director, Career OverDrive!

Be spicy, be like Thai food.

Understand that life is simply a sales, marketing and, most of all, perception game so
learn to stand for something and don't worry about being the "nice guy" or "nice girl".

Stand for something. Mean something.

Be like Thai food.

Spicy.

It's not cafeteria food.

And it's not for everyone.

But then again, how many people will stand in line for "cafeteria" food vs ethnic food? Thai food may have a smaller audience but it's an audience of dedicated foodies.

So Spice up! 

Fun night at Mitsubishi Estate's EGG/T21C New Year's Kickoff Party (Shin-nen-kai). in Tokyo.

Heard great presentations from the Country managers of Pinterest, Box, Splunk and Millennial Media. 

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, Career OverDrive!


On an almost daily basis I'm contacted by or, during the course of the day, I come across individuals who express frustration that they either (a) have the proper credentials to do a particular job or (b) have proven experience at doing a particular job, yet they somehow have great difficulty in finding or landing not just that particular  job but often any job.

There are a number of very granular reasons as to why this is, but for now, takes take a 20,000 foot view of what's going on here:

• Being good at "doing a job" isn't the same as being good at "finding a job". 
  
• Being good at "finding a job" isn't the same as being "good at landing a job" (i.e., receiving an offer and joining the company).
  
• Being good at "landing a job" isn't the same as  "doing the job", let alone "keeping it".
• And even if one is good at all of those, it doesn't follow that one is also automatically good at planning and managing a career.
  

Below are the 5 broad areas in which some level or core competency is necessary for an individual to establish, nurture and enjoy a long vibrant and fruitful career. 

It should also be noted that each of these 5  areas can also be analyzed on a much more granular basis. 

For instance, finding a job and landing a job would together include activities such as job discovery or job creation, resume design and development, locking down interview opportunities, closing down the interview, receiving a written job offer, negotiating a "proper" starting salary and package, onboarding and so on.

Five Broad Areas Of Career Competency:
1. Do a job
2. Find a job
3. Land a job
4. Keep a job
5. Plan and manage a career

Do you agree or disagree with this view? Which areas do you find yourself strongest in? Which areas do you find your skills to be uneven or perhaps in need of a boost if not a tear down and rebuild?

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, Career OverDrive!

So many of us, myself included, have been in situations where we either don't attempt something or spend too much time worrying about some future event that may very well never come to pass.

If you've seen the heart-wrenching clip Christopher Maloney prior to his taking the stage to sing and then singing you know what I mean (give it a look below).

Two lessons (and a bonus) From Christopher Maloney's Experience:

1. Put yourself out there. Until you put yourself out there, you can't benchmark yourself or find out if you're good at something, need improvement, love it or hate it. This takes some risk, but it's mostly psychological risk. This is often compounded as people tend to label learning experiences as "failure" and then give up or avoid future opportunities to improve themselves. Don't be like that.


2. The difference of worrying about the future and being "in the moment". When Christopher stepped onto the stage he was overtaken with stage fright, shaking and becoming teary-eyed -- and who can blame him? But once his song came on and he opened up his pipes, he immediately went into a trance as he was overtaken by the music and his passion as he was transformed into another person -- with an amazing voice!


3. Bonus Lesson: When Christopher was asked by the judges why he had kept his beautiful, rocking voice hidden for all these years he said that people told him he wasn't good enough and that he would embarrass himself or fail. 

They said, "Don't come on here, you're gonna embarrass yourself, make a show of yourself."

Fortunately for him and for us, he finally went ahead and put himself out there. It was also beautiful to see the love and support he had given to his grandma and that she returned in supporting him. The bonus lesson: dump or disassociate with those who bring you down, and double-down on those who support and love you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1T9-I3wx8I#t=23

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, Silicon Edge

Recently Andy Serwer, managing editor of Fortune, sat down with Marc Andreesen to discuss The Future of Work, Cars and the Wisdom in Saying 'No' (full, unabridged version on Forbes Magazine here: Inside the mind of Marc Andreessen).

In this interview, I was particularly struck with Marc's views on the impact of the ever-accelerating and widening technological adoption on the job market, and the elimination of entire categories of jobs as well as his comments on education and the need for re-training.

Andy Serwer: We all understand that the Internet revolution is inevitable at this point, but it’s also kind of controversial. There are scads of new jobs at Facebook and Twitter and other places, but what about the ones that are destroyed by the inroads of technology into every industry? Are you actually creating more than you’re destroying?

Marc Andreessen: Jobs are critically important, but looking at economic change through the impact on jobs has always been a difficult way to think about economic progress. Let’s take a historical example. Once upon a time, 100 percent of the United States effectively was in agriculture, right? Now it’s down to 3 percent. Productivity in agriculture has exploded. Output has never been higher. The same thing happened in manufacturing 150 years ago or so. It would have been very easy to say, “Stop economic progress because what are all the farmers going to do if they can’t farm?” And of course, we didn’t stop the progress of mechanization and manufacturing, and our answer instead was the creation of new industries.

From my vantage point, this is completely off track for one main reason -- in the earlier stages of mechanization and automation we had far, far, far fewer people on this planet so that these productivity increases could support and sustain larger and larger populations. In addition, the rate of change was far lower and more localized. It was the difference of seeing single family home burn, to the firebombing off an entire city with no where to run to the simultaneous firebombing of an entire country if not world. 

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, Career OverDrive!

"I can't believe it's already 11:00 PM on a Friday night! This meeting was supposed to wrap up hours ago!", you say to yourself as you realize that the "simple favor" your co-worker had asked you to do for him (you know the one that  was supposed to start promptly at 6:00 PM with the client arriving at your offices and then end at 7:00 PM on the nose) has once again turned into a logistical, thankless headache with you trapped in the middle.

Worse, you've given up more of your own precious time and energy, burning yourself out and potentially putting your own personal and work relationships at risk with nothing to gain.

Have you experienced something like this before? If you have, you're not alone. If you haven't you surely will.

Within your current job and along you career path as well as within your private life, you'll have the need and occasion to help others as well as call upon others to help you. Depending on how you handle this, your stock will either rise in value or you''ll be used  as a step and fetch it (in the very worst sense of the word) and become a dumping ground for the work that others can't or just don't want to do. You can also expect your income to suffer, your job satisfaction and engagement to suffer and your career to suffer.  And worst of all, you can expect your work-life balance and health to suffer.

If you're observant, you'll quickly see these patterns emerging:
1. Some people are pure takers ("Takers") and never, ever give.

2. Some people are pure takers ("Takers") and will give but only when cornered, and even then they'll try to renege or slip out of reciprocity given any opportunity.

3. Some Takers routinely underestimate the frequency and value of what they take while at the same time overestimating the frequency and value of what they give.

4. If you're like most people, you're probably not communicating the value of your giving and the legitimacy of your own needs as well as the requirement that you fully expect the "chips" you've accumulated to be redeemed by the issuing party whenever you decide to cash them in.

Now, of course, no one wants to live in a purely quid pro quo world -- one in which you need to keep a running tally of everything you've ever given to others versus everything others have ever given to you.

On the other hand, no one wants to be taken advantage of or treated poorly.

Perhaps the most frustrating and painful situation occurs when you're aware of these patterns but just don't know how to act in a way that will enable you to reach your desired outcome while also not tarnishing your reputation or standing in the group.

Below I'll share with you a few simple but powerful techniques to test, reconfirm and further solidify your relationships with others both professionally and socially.

You'll also learn how to first signal and then train others in the manner by which you expect to be treated. Don't willingly be a step and fetch it or someone's door mat.

You may also remember that earlier we talked about developing situational awareness by pinging (sonar) and painting (radar) those around you.

Now we'll talk about how to do favors for others, set a value or impute value on those favors, collect chips for the favors you've done and most importantly, how and when to cash them in.  We'll also discuss how to identify and filter out "Takers" and manipulators and we'll do all of this in an  effortless and socially acceptable manner -- that is, in a manner that doesn't disrupt the harmony of the office or the group.

Obviously, much of this will be dependent on the LSD Principle of social relationships and interactions (this is a core principle of Psychological Jujutsu and is used and appears throughout all of my training) so you'll need to probe and map out relationships while learning to calibrate your responses and "challenges". But not to worry -- it's a lot easier than it sounds. Let's begin!

1. Don't be so easy, don't say "yes" to every request.
If you "give it up" on the first coffee date, whatever your true value (cosmically speaking) is, you'll find that it will suddenly be very much different from the value you have now signaled to the other party. And what matters most of all, is the signal that you have transmitted and the other party  has received. 

"He's easy. He just gives it right up..."

So don't just say "yes". Find out what they want and why. Gently push back or at the very least, "resist".

Consider the scenario, where a co-worker, Joe, wants your assistance.

Joe: "Can you do me a favor?"
Or he may be more specific "Can you do me a favor this Friday?"

Now, unless you have a very close relationship with that person, your spidey-sense should immediately get all tingly while you instinctively reply (verbally or written):

You: "What do you need?"
Or "I won't know until you tell me what you need..." 

You can and should still say this with a friendly tone of voice but you need to prevent jumping in with "sure" or "sure, what do you need?" because there are legions of manipulative if not downright dodgy people out there looking to take advantage of hardworking and honest people by shifting their work to others, and they do it by setting commitment and consistency traps.

Alternatively, you may hear:
Joe: "Hey, are you going to be around this Friday at 6:00 PM?"

You: "Why, what do you need?"
Or "What do you need help with?"

A truly dodgy person will then ignore your request for more info and simply continue:

Joe: "Look, I need to know. Can you do me a favor?"

You: "Not until you tell me what it is". 

Then posture away, shuffle papers, pick up phone to make a call, check your email or move away for a coffee and make a mental note: dodgy....hmm.

2. Once you've opened a dialogue you can press further. Resistance and challenges build value, filter out the "takers" and strengthen relationships with healthy people.

Joe: "Oh, I've got Mr. Kilkins from ABC, Inc. coming by at 6:00 PM this Friday and we need to give him a quick tour of our service bay and then a product demo right after that."

You: "You don't want to do it?"

Notice that although you've phrased this as question, psychologically you've framed it so that it appears that the other person is pushing the work that they don't want to do onto you. And maybe they are. Which could still be okay as long as get a chip of appropriate value and as long as that chip holds its value and is redeemable later for your own needs.

Joe: "I have XYZ to do"
Or "I have another meeting." 

Whatever they say, listen closely to what they say, what they don't say and how they say it. Next gently probe to find out if it's a real business commitment or a social "commitment" such as having drinks with his friends, going to a ball game, etc. 

After all, you deserve your own free time, too. And if you're giving up your free time to do someone else's work, you want to be certain that you then receive a chip of a certain value for your service and that said chip holds its value in the future and is accepted by party you previously serviced when you decide to cash it in.

3.  Build value further by signaling your own loss to do this and quickly explore other possibilities.

You: "Wow, that's short notice, I've got a lot on my plate..."
Or "Hmm, I need to be at XYZ place by  XX PM".... 

And then add this phrase right after that:
"....so can this push (meeting) out for another day?"

Watch the reaction. See how the person comes back.

Joe: "I wish it could but I was told it must happen on this Friday."

If you decide this isn't for you, then end now and move away but do it in a positive, helpful manner.

You: "I feel for you. Would love to help but I've got my own appointment at that time."

By using "appointment" you've made it clear it's stronger than a "commitment" and it's also hard to break, plus it's nebulous -- what is an "appointment"? Is it business or personal? A meeting or a haircut? Who knows. And that's the point.

Now step in and assist. "Hey, have you approached Linda over in marketing?"

And then let this die out.

On the other hand, see what Joe says, you may decide to help out and by now the price of the favor he is asking of you is going up in value. By the minute!

4. If you do want to do it, continue with this dance (which is actually a form of negotiation). Also be sure to now set hard time and effort limits for any help you render.

You: "Look, I'm extremely busy / it means I'll miss out on XYZ / it means I'll have to reschedule ABC, but if no one else can do it, I'll step in because I know you'd do it for me..."

Watch his reaction....

He should say, "Yes, I would!" or at least acknowledge your gesture and that he would. 

You can then confirm and prompt this by getting his public commitment.

You: "So do you need my help then?"

If he says "yes" proceed. 

If he refuses to say so publicly and commit to it, then simply bow out and move onto your own things as he is ducking out of a relationship. He's a user a worst, a taker at best. 

However, if he says "yes", then continue:

You: "I can do it, but I'm pressed for time and have a hard stop. He needs to be here no later than 6:00 PM AND I have a hard stop at 7:00 PM. No matter what. So I'm letting you know this up front and you need to let him know it."

Watch his reaction.

You: "I'll need you to send me a email about this and his contact details to me in case something happens."

If he fights that or says nothing will happen and so on, then just end it with:

You: "Look, I'm doing you a favor but it feels like pulling teeth..."

If he plays nicely and then sends you that email, reply with your requirements and terms:  

You agree to do A, B and C.
The guest / individual must be there no later than 6:00 PM.
Your hard stop is 7:00 PM, no extensions, no exceptions.

This is perfect because it protects you in several ways:
1. Many times, unsavory people will use the "camel's nose under the tent" technique to sucker you in, and then the next thing you know, the guest or customer arrives two hours late, wants a longer tour or requests other info that was not agreed to. Worse, you may even find that due to logistics, you are required or requested to chauffeur the person around town after the meeting -- all while the guy who was tasked with doing this is watching the ball game or kicking back drinking tequila shooters.  Which is all fine if it were your job, you agreed to it and you somehow benefited.

2. You have memorialized the events. This protects you from what you have offered to Joe (yes, unsavory people can pin anything on a sucker -- that's you -- and make it "their" problem, so this prevents you from assuming a situation of all risk and no return). It also gives you written proof of the agreement and your commitment. Make sure he replies to it with an "I agree" or "okay". Let him know if he doesn't reply (by replying to your exact email) that the deal is off. Do it in a nice, nonchalant, no skin off your nose manner. But just make sure you do it.

Once you have successfully performed this service, send Joe a short email talking about it and how it went. And be certain never to devalue yourself by using phrases such as "No problem"  or "It was nothing".

Your next step is to be certain to , as soon as possible, cash in part of those chips by asking Joe for a favor. Never wait too long because you need to find out immediately if Joe is a guy who honors the chips others have earned for servicing his needs or if he is a self-centered skeezer or Taker. 

This will let you now. Quickly. Painlessly.

And by the way, the more you do this, the simpler it becomes until you'll find that it runs on autopilot, in the background, that you no more think about to do this than you do when tying your shoes.

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, Career OverDrive!


"I'm worried (anxious, unsettled or flat-out scared) about my future. What can I do to protect my job or career and my future? And more specifically what skills should I be focusing on?"

This is one of the most frequent questions I get from not only new graduates and mid-career executives but also from current students and for very good reason -- the labor markets are changing on a daily basis. 

Not only are the labor markets being impacted (flooded) by the continuing globalization (and easy access) of talent but they are also affected by the ever quickening development of technology-based productivity namely: software, algorithms, factory automation, expert systems, 3D Printing (although it's a very nascent industry and technology) and so on.

On top of that, many jobs and industries that were normally protected either through the presence of asymmetrical information (legal, real estate, recruiting, etc.) or regulatory capture (venture capitalists, brokers, banking, taxi drivers, hotels, etc.) are finding themselves under assault as both technology and nimble, steel-nerved startups which are highly attracted to above market returns offered in these captured markets which together in concert are working to ultimately "free" this information and break the regulatory capture and the rent-seeking corporations and incumbents that have worked to protect these markets. What startups would these be? Well, think of names like Craigslist, Uber, Airbnb,  Kickstarter, Redfin, and AngelList among many startups.

So what is the answer to the original question? Well, to start with we should heed some advice from Canadian hockey great, Wayne Gretzky.

"I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been."
-- Wayne Gretzky 

A good hockey player doesn't concern himself where the puck is. A great hockey player is concerned with where the puck is going to be and then works to position himself to be there before the puck is.

Therefore, wherever we are in our careers or in our career path, we need to look out at what we might expect our industry (automotive, information tech, food, pharma, banking, etc.) and functional area (sales, marketing, accounting, finance, customer service, engineering, etc.) to look like 5, 10 and 20 years down the road. In particular, we need to consider what social, market and technological trends are on the horizon.

One thing we should all be able to see very clearly and is that not only is automation of all industries and facets of society increasing but we seem to have reached an inflection point where given the huge world population and the ability to quickly tap into needed skill sets and/or engage in wage arbitration, technology is now eliminating more quality jobs (define quality, I know...) than it is creating for the current labor pool. This requires any candidate or person in the current labor pool to skill up in value-add skill sets (will take later what those skill sets should be).

It's hard to believe but if you could just think back (or Google) just a few decades ago word processors weren't ubiquitous and in many cases they weren't even around. In fact, in the early 1980's if you wanted to write  a resume you typed it, on a typewriter (remember those?) and that often meant paying a typist to do that. The same thing happened  for graduate and post-doctorate papers or theses. You paid someone to type it.

ATM's were not ubiquitous either. Some people didn't like using them. They were optional. Email in the corporate world was quite new, if it was used at all. In fact, many of the large companies was allergic to email even up to the late 1980's/early 1990's and would distribute paper-based (hard copy) memos and documents and then send a separate email - which no one would read. And the list goes on. Telex, faxes, voicemails and so on.

There are two main groups of skills needed:
A) The skills to do the job and keep the job 
B) The skills to find a job opportunity (or create one) and package, present and close on that job.

A) Jobs Search Skills:
1. You need the skills to do the job.
2. You need the skills to find the job.
3. You need the skills to land and close the job.
4. You need the skills to maintain and keep the job.
5. You need the skills to plan and manage your career.

B) The Skills To Do The Job: (broad level skills, but we can get more granular)
1. Communication skills
2. Negotiating skills
3. Influencing skills
4. Persuasion skills
5. Assertiveness skills
6. Leadership skills

As an added bonus, I would suggest:
7. Critical Thinking and Analysis skills
8. No Box Thinking skills

A heartwarming homeless veteran transformation in just 2 minutes and 50 seconds. 
If you don't get misty-eyed, I'll be very surprised...

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, Career OverDrive!


Why do some many good, smart and experienced people seem to have such a rough time in their careers, personal relationships and lives?

Is it because they didn't study hard enough or learn their lessons well enough?

Or is it because the lessons they did learn were the wrong ones?

It's my contention that if you run with the herd you can expect no more than average results and more often than not you'll find that you are trampled underfoot in the stampede of life as the herd rumbles from one shiny thing to the next - the new cool gadget, the next career move, the next life stage and so on.

Far better, in my opinion, is to be unconventional and contrarian, although we must be extremely careful NOT to be different simply for the sake of being different. Rather we must focus on results-driven and tally our actual results. Our wins versus losses.

And that is one of the most powerful aspects about the Career OverDrive! systems. All of the systems are results-driven, battle-tested and battle-proven but to the outside eye these systems often seem "bizarre" or "quacky". 

Yet, when the results consistently prove the systems work, naysayers are then quick to suggest there must be a easier way, a less risky way, a more comfortable way. 

But they miss the point - these systems ARE EASY too learn. Once you understand the universal framework and principles you'll see the essence replicated again and again not only in all of these programs but in the behaviors of the most successful people in your life.

The point is, the Career OverDrive! systems work which is exactly why they are so easy to learn and apply. They are NATURAL and there is no contrived complexity injected into the systems.

In fact, the only reason they may APPEAR difficult is when an individual has been taught and has subsequently internalized and integrated defective scripts and systems.

For this reason, some will find that this journey isn'te easy although it’s probably not for the reasons you may think. That is, the conceptual framework, techniques, strategies and their application are not difficult to understand or master if you take the time to practice and apply them. 

Therefore, the vast majority of difficulties people encounter will occur whenever they are asked to step outside their comfort zone and reframe the world around them or when they are asked to re-interpret their understanding of the world.

Further in some cases, we’ll ultimately be questioning reality itself. 

Many readers will quickly discover that what I’m sharing with you is not only unconventional and inherently different in nature but often the flat-out opposite of what other “experts” and “authority figures” in your life have been teaching and preaching to you as being “necessary for success”.

What I'm teaching you may also be far different and most likely will be far different than what you have so far come to accept as “life’s reality”, “your lot in life” or what you have come to rationalize as “just the way things are”.

For example, in certain circumstances we’ve all been programmed (by our well-meaning parents, schools, peers, media, religious institutions, government institutions or society at large) to zig.

However, given those same circumstances you'll soon find that I will often direct you to zag. And I'll explain why.

Other times, you’ll feel the overwhelming urge to run, while I will suggest that the most appropriate response is to shelter in place. Again I'll explain why.

At still other times, you may find yourself frozen with fear and want to stay put while you’ll find me screaming at the top of my lungs for you to make like Pink Floyd and run like hell!

These behaviors and responses are all valid and have their properly application at certain times. The trick is, we will explore at what times which behavior and response is not only the most appropriate but the most advantageous.