Should I Use My CEO Title Behind My Name?. . and other Questions

Business titles are interesting things. The right title in the right situation can be extraordinarily helpful: the wrong title in the wrong setting makes uphill sledding suddenly look easy.

What is frequently complicating is that what a title means can be interpreted broadly, and how it impacts you can do the same. I have worked with a number of people who would gladly (well, maybe not gladly, but they’d do it) trade titles for a piece of compensation because the title meant more for them then cold cash.… Read the rest

[Life Back West – March 2010] Size Matters – Even at the Bus Stop

There is size that counts, and size that doesn’t: this is a post about size that counts.

And where size counts most (apart perhaps from your bank account and the quality of life/family /health measures) is the number of people in a team, group, or organization.

This tale about size starts with a story and ends with a bus stop: bear with it – it’s a story that applies to you too.… Read the rest

[Anatomy of Success] The Perfect Job (or Career) Hunt

The winners in this month’s women’s and men’s U.S. collegiate basketball “March Madness” tournaments will show us how to hit the sweet spot of three qualities that every job hunter or career considerer (try saying that word fast) should target as they think about their job hunt, or  career switch.

On the subject of careers, I’ll be one of three speakers on a panel this upcoming Thursday morning, March 25th in Oakland sponsored by the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of Financial Executives International.… Read the rest

[Coaching Tips] How To Be Paid Well

Forget drugs, embezzlement, investment banking, or racketeering. The real answer to how to get paid well can be found in last Sunday’s New York Times.

On a conceptual basis you get paid well when there is a high market price paid for your work. Part supply and demand, part value equation (cost/effectiveness = value ), pay in part is what you do, how well you do, and who you do it with.… Read the rest

[The Job Interview] The Trouble with Men

I’m a guy, my son’s a guy, and I inherently like guys (and women too): so take this post not as a bash at males, but rather one of those 80% rules (e.g. applies 80% of the time, misses and is off the remainder 20% of the time) that hopefully informs what you do with the information.

Here’s the trouble: men are overconfident.Read the rest

[Coaching Tips] How to Say Thanks (and When and Why)

The gift fruit basket from Wendy and Richard Yanowitch was over the top, but it was really the simple handwritten card expressing what I had done and their thanks for my behavior that hit the bulls eye. Their thank you letter, as my friend Cathy Madison at Cathedral School for Boys might saw, “was a keeper.”

The next day at the school bus stop Lola’s mom, Charley Zechas, totally out of blue turned to me and said “I like having you at our bus stop.… Read the rest