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5 Questions with Bill Jensen, Author of Hacking Work

November 9th, 2010 by lewis

Bill Jensen is President/CEO of The Jensen Group, a consultancy whose mission is to make it easier to get stuff done. He has spent more than two decades researching how work gets done. His basic conclusion, “Woah. How about some discipline around some common sensical basics?” Bill’s areas of passion include: reinventing communication skills as well as work tools and infrastructure. Bill recently co-authored a new book called Hacking Work. I had a chance to chat with Bill about his new book.
Where’d the idea for the book come from?
Frustration. Arrrrrrrgh! For two decades I’ve been researching workplace complexity. One of the two main sources (the other being information and choice overload) has consistently been corporate infrastructure — tools, support and processes. It’s all corporate-centered: focused on meeting the company’s needs, but not necessarily each individual’s needs. For over a decade I’ve been trying to get senior execs to pay attention to this. “Uh, no thanks,” is the usual reply. Why? Because they own what needs to be fixed…They caused the problem in the first place. Very frustrating because I knew how addressing this problem would truly be a win-win for companies, their workforce and their customers. Then I met Josh at a TED conference. He suggested “If the execs won’t fix this, why don’t you show the workforce how to hack around these problems?” Lightbulb! Hacking Work was born.
What are your favorite work hacks?
Josh and I have different areas of expertise. His faves center more on the use of technology. My favorites are more about changing the balance of power in the work relationship, regardless of whether the workers are high-tech or low-tech.
Fave 1: Matt (Chap 1) rewriting his performance assessment tool
Takes control away from the company and ensures that the worker is a 50/50 partner in assessing performance.
Fave 2: Elizabeth (Chap 1) who videotaped customers in order to get her project approved
Takes control away from the execs, and puts it where it belongs, in the hands of customers.
Fave 3: Gary Koelling’s advice (Chap 5) for building one’s own hacker’s toolkit
The more people walk into work w/ their own toolkits, the more the work contract is balanced. More and more, infrastructure is becoming the source of power in the relationship.
What is your best hack idea for folks who are looking for a new job?
There are several tips within the book. Rather than answer your question w/ specific How To’s, I’ll offer three guiding principles:
Your Biggest Competition is Not Another Person…
You need to compete for the interviewer’s time and attention. Both in getting in the door and then during the interview and negotiation process (see communication tips below). Maximize value to them in the least amount of time and space.
Know Thyself As a Product
How will you market yourself competitively?
Know That You CAN and MUST Rewrite the Rules of the New Hire Process
Companies wrote and work those rules to keep themselves in charge. You need to hack those rules in order to make it a 50/50 relationship.

You’re a big fan of communication as a skill. What are you top communication tips?
Tons! Several of my past books cover all this. For detailed response, suggest going to www.simplerwork.com. In the Free Store, there are lots of free downloads that provide detailed
How To’s. But if you need something without going to downloads, I’d say make all your communication user-centered: that is, design it, think about it by working backwards from the needs of the people who are going to use that information to get their work done. The guiding principle: maximize value to them in the least amount of time and space.

Are you a Google fan? Your book suggests many workarounds using Google products.
Yes. But it’s bigger than that. I’m really an open source fan, as well as Apple and a few other products and apps. The main criteria is “How much power/control is in the hands
of the user, not just the manufacturer?”
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Win Your Job Interview with Japanese Design Thinking

November 1st, 2010 by lewis

I just finished reading Garr Reynolds’ Presentation Zen Design: Simple Design Principles and Techniques to Enhance Your Presentations. There’s a section on design principles that govern Japanese art. It got me thinking: what if we applied those principles to designing our job interview responses? I gave it some thought; here are the three Japanese design principles most applicable for job interviews:
Kanso: Simplicity of elimination of clutter.
Most job seekers recite responses that are full of irrelevant minutiae. Mark Twain once said, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” It takes effort to develop a clear, brief, and impactful response. Less is sometimes more. When practicing your interview responses, think of yourself as a newspaper editor. Eliminate details that don’t matter. And refine passages for more clarity.
Shizen: Naturalness. Absence of pretense or artificiality.
I often see job seekers utter responses that one often sees in a typical job interview book. For example, for the “Why do you want to work for our company?” interview question, I commonly hear some variation of: “I want to work for a company with lots of potential, challenging projects and talented co-workers.” This is too generic. This response can be used at almost any prospective employer.
Take the time to do the homework to really understand what is being asked of each question and develop an authentic, thoughtful response for each one. Leave the canned, artificial responses at home.
Yugen: Profundity or suggestion rather than revelation.
What’s the most effective way to convince someone that you’re the right person for a job? Show it, don’t say it. Rather than proclaim “I’m the right person for the job because I am hard-working, analytical, and a team player,” convince the hiring manager by showing your work portfolio or discussing historical examples.
Here’s why it works: it allows the listener to draw their own conclusions. This is better than being fed conclusions by another person.

10 Things Recruiters Won’t Tell You

October 28th, 2010 by lewis

I just read a SmartMoney magazine article called 10 Things Employment Recruiters Won’t Say. The article has many good insights on working with recruiters. Here are my top three takeaways:

  • Recruiters don’t work for the employee. Many job seekers forget that recruiters work for the hiring company.
  • The job advertised doesn’t exist. Sometimes recruiters will post phantom jobs just to build a candidate pipeline.
  • Recruiters will do exhaustive background checks even before they meet you. This can include talking to references and pulling up your credit scores.
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How to Motivate Yourself for Job Interviews

October 25th, 2010 by lewis

The key to successful job interviewing: practicing your interview stories before the actual interview. However, it’s hard to get started. Practicing interview stories is not something we do often. Here are some tips on how you can get going, inspired by Chip and Dan Heath’s recent book, Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard:

  • Take a small step. What’s something you can do now that would take you to your goal? For example, try practicing your response to the “Tell Me About Yourself” question. An ideal response is about 2 minutes. You only need 20 minutes to practice it 10 times.
  • Tweak your environment. How can you create opportunities to practice? For example, start a new habit; spend 20 minutes practicing your lines before you go to bed.
  • Find a buddy. Practice with someone. He or she will help you reinforce your practice.
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7 Questions with Alexia Vernon, Author of Awaken Your CAREERpreneur

October 18th, 2010 by lewis

Alexia Vernon is the owner of Catalyst for Action, a coaching and training company that empowers people to build successful, sustainable careers and companies that make a positive social impact. She just released a new book called Awaken Your CAREERpreneur. I had a chance to talk to Alexia about her coaching business and her new book.

How did you decide to start a coaching business?
When my husband proposed, I could answer his rather rhetorical question, but I realized that I didn’t have an answer to my increasingly pressing one: Who do I want to be by the time I get married? I had done a lot of really exciting things in my early-mid 20s ranging from starting a nonprofit to producing a burlesque show to working as a teaching artist in the NYC schools. Yet, I didn’t feel like I was fully aligning my values, strengths, resources, and enthusiasms to make the maximum possible profit and impact. My process of self and professional discovery led me to go to Coach U to get certified as a coach and launch my own training and coaching company, Catalyst for Action.

What motivated you to write Awaken Your CAREERpreneur?
My experience, firsthand and through my clients, has been that when you fuse best principles of self-empowerment with best principles of entrepreneurship, you can build a successful and sustainable career….. irrespective of the economy….. irrespective of your medium (e.g. job seeking, freelancing, entrepreneurship, etc.). Yet, I see so many folks playing by antiquated rules for building a career that makes them reactive rather than proactive. There are a lot of sensational books out there that tell you how to transition from college to the workplace, find you next j-o-b, reinvent yourself, etc., but I wanted to write the book that I wished I’d read when I was still in school. Therefore, Awaken Your CAREERpreneur offers a more holistic approach to career development AND empowers the reader to develop the mindset, relationships, behaviors, and materials that are necessary for career success throughout your lifetime. Each chapter has SUCCESSwork to ensure that you are able to immediately transfer the principles and strategies I share into action to increase your results.

What’s the toughest client you’ve ever coached?
I believe that our coaching clients are mirrors for what we’re projecting out into the world. I’d love to say that means all of my clients are highly evolved, spiritually abundant folks….. and for the most part they are! But every once and a while someone shows up who is really focused on how she is stuck or how someone, some company, or some system has wronged her. While we all are “entitled” to feel the sting from disappointment or defeat, I chose to become a coach because I think that in every challenge there is an opportunity to learn and discover something. And I want to help my clients make this way of narrating their life experience a way of being. So when a client makes a choice not to approach life from this possibility-centered mindset, we usually don’t work together very long.

What’s the most important thing one can do to achieve the career of their dreams?
I don’t want to belabor the whole mindset thing, but it’s so significant that I’m going to wax on about it a bit more. Our thoughts motivate our feelings, which motivate our actions, which lead us to our results. So anytime someone identifies the result he is seeking to reach, I always tell him to work backwards to identify the specific actions that are necessary. Then, take a step back and identify the feelings that will be necessary to perform the actions that will lead to the intended result. And then, most importantly, take yet another step back and identify the thoughts that will be necessary to catalyze the whole process.

And because CAREERpreneurs rarely follow directions, let me offer one more tip. GET OUT FROM BEHIND A COMPUTER SCREEN. I’m a relatively tech savvy gal, and in the book I share ways to maximize online media for building professional relationships. However, your strongest relationships are still going to be cultivated face-to-face. So get out there and meet the people who can help connect you to opportunities!

When you look at successful leaders, what are the three traits they share?
I love leadership questions. Yum! First and foremost, successful leaders are authentic. We may not think of authenticity as a skill or even a trait, but it most definitely is. In a culture that often rewards the newest and flashiest idea, we often make choices that we think others want us to make and we lose more and more of ourselves along the way as a result. Authenticity is attractive and it helps facilitate buy in and enduring trust. I always tell emerging leaders to strip away the people pleasing, the pretense, etc. and show up to opportunities as a slightly more gussied up version of themselves. Second, effective leaders know how to inspire. As Daniel Pink says in his new book Drive, leaders aren’t in the business of motivating. People are either motivated by something or they are not. As a leader, we can inspire people by connecting what inherently motivates our “followers” to our vision of where we are seeking to take them. Finally, great leaders keep their communication audience-centered. They speak in a way that their audience can best listen to and take action from the message.

What can candidates do to get an edge at the job interview?
There are two core things. First, do your best to connect with the hiring manager or your future supervisor at companies you are interested in before a job ever gets listed. Most companies already know the 3-4 candidates they are going to bring in before they post a position. Make sure you get on that shortlist. Second, practice your answers to interview questions out loud. I sat on a recent interviewing panel and 70% of the candidates stumbled on Tell me about yourself. There’s no excuse for this. Learn the major categories of interview questions (which I detail in the book), customize them for your prospective position/company, plan out your answers, and rehearse them orally.

Any other tips for candidates who are currently interviewing for new job opportunities?
I’ve got several hundred of them, so pick up a copy of the book! I kid…. somewhat. One of these tips is to build yourself an All-Star Team (which I outline in the book) with 12 people who have a keen understanding of where you are looking to grow in your career and who are willing and able to do what they can to help you get there. I’ve seen dozens of CAREERpreneurs who have been searching for jobs for 6 months+ have job opportunities show up to them from this subtle shift in how they approach the job search.

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How to Find Happiness at Work, a review of Srikumar Rao’s new book

October 5th, 2010 by lewis

I finally had a chance to read Srikumar Rao’s newest book, Happiness at Work: Be Resilient, Motivated, and Successful – No Matter What. Mc-Graw Hill’s PR team sent me the book a while ago.
Here are my top takeaways from Rao’s book:
  • Be resilient.
  • Don’t rail on the obstacles. It’s just a constraint you need to overcome.
  • Just observe. Don’t get emotionally swayed. Don’t label anything good or bad.
  • Let go of the baggage. If you meet at troublesome person in your life, expect that interaction to be delightful. If not, then let it go. Don’t carry it over.
  • Acceptance is key. Notice how a lot of resistance comes from what is in front of you.
  • Everyone, including the troublesome people in your life, have the same goal: avoid suffering and be happy.
  • Have a default emotional attitude of appreciation and gratitude.
  • By all means, work toward a goal, but stop fretting about outcomes.
  • Help others for the sake of doing so, not to plant an obligation or bask in thanks.
  • Don’t ever, ever, ever hand over the keys of your well-being and happiness to anyone.
I like the book. It reminds us that happiness is firmly within our control and encourages the reader to take the high points in life in stride and to ride through the low points.

Google Interview Questions for the Technical Interview

September 27th, 2010 by lewis

For those of you who are preparing for Google software engineering interviews, I came across this list of 13 Google interview questions with answers for a couple of them. They might be helpful as part of your interview prep.

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Demonstrate Confidence at the Job Interview by Projecting Your Voice

September 21st, 2010 by lewis

Projecting your voice is an easy way to demonstrate confidence at the job interview. When a job candidate has a soft, quivering, or breathless voice, any interviewer will conclude that the candidate is nervous. Some interviewers will go even further and decide that the candidate lacks energy and self-confidence. Don’t let a weak voice ruin your chances at getting a job offer. Project a strong, resonant voice.
Here’s a helpful tip: imagine a vocal range from 1 to 7, with 1 being a low voice and 7 being a loud voice. Your goal: project a voice in the 5 range. What does a 5 range sound like?
  • For those who consider themselves a loud speaker, you are probably speaking in the 4 range. You can easily go an extra notch — from a 4 to 5 — without being perceived as too harsh on someone’s ears.
  • For those who have been told that they have a soft voice, it’s likely that you have a voice in the 2 or 3 range, and you can easily increase your voice strength by 2 to 3 ranges.
Many of clients tell me: “It sounds like I’m yelling.” While it may feel that way, listeners are attracted to strong, resonant voices. If you’re concerned, find a friend and get their opinion. More often than not, they’ll tell you that you’re not yelling. And they likely tell you how much they love your new strong voice.
In addition to projecting confidence, a strong voice is particularly important during phone interviews. Conversations over cell phones or Skype may be incomprehensible due to poor connections.
Before an interview, practice your strong, resonant voice. Your interviewer will give you credit as someone who is confident, articulate, and memorable.
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How to Interview over Skype

September 6th, 2010 by lewis

CBS Marketwatch posted an excellent video on how to do an interview over Skype.

Ace the Interview by Understanding Why Hiring Managers Ask Certain Questions

August 30th, 2010 by lewis

Understand why an interviewer is asking a particular question, and you’re more likely to provide a winning response.
The Business Insider recently featured an article called, The 8 Interview Questions You Need To Ask When Hiring. I’ve featured the 8 questions below. Read the article to understand the interviewer’s motivation behind each question.
  • How about those Yankees?
  • If I called three people who have worked with you, how would they describe you?
  • What makes you stand out from others?
  • Tell me about a time when you initiated a project that resulted in increased productivity.
  • What’s the toughest feedback you’ve ever received and how did you learn from it?
  • When have you been most satisfied in your career?
  • If you were in this job tomorrow, what are the first things you would do and in what priority?
  • Do you have any questions?
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