business success

A Short Lesson in Perspective

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

A Short Lesson in Perspective.

Countless late nights and weekends, holidays, birthdays, school recitals and anniversary dinners were willingly sacrificed at the altar of some intangible but infinitely worthy higher cause. It would all be worth it in the long run…

This was the con. Convincing myself that there was nowhere I’d rather be was just a coping mechanism. I can see that now. It wasn’t really important. Or of any consequence at all really. How could it be. We were just shifting product. Our product, and the clients. Just meeting the quota. Feeding the beast as I called it on my more cynical days.

So was it worth it?

Well of course not. It turns out it was just advertising. There was no higher calling. No ultimate prize. Just a lot of faded, yellowing newsprint, and old video cassettes in an obsolete format I can’t even play any more even if I was interested. Oh yes, and a lot of framed certificates and little gold statuettes. A shit-load of empty Prozac boxes, wine bottles, a lot of grey hair and a tumor of indeterminate dimensions.

Seth’s Blog: Scarcity and Abundance in the Digital Age

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

Connection and leadership and trust are going to get ever more valuable. Sure, go ahead and shake your head in agreement, but when you get back to work, are you busy working in the scarce universe or trying to build a place for yourself in the new one?

via Seth’s Blog: Scarcity and abundance in the digital age.

5 Reasons To Pick Up The Curator Habit

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

One way to lighten your content writing load is by becoming a trusted curator. Instead of putting the burden on yourself to write the content, you can take advantage of the content others are creating (and you’re already reading) in your industry by sharing links, pointing your readers to third-party resources, and highlighting the smart things that others are saying.

via 5 Reasons To Pick Up The Curator Habit | Small Business Trends.

I’ve been doing this for years.  Now there is a name for what I’ve been doing – content curator.  Kind of sexy, is it not?

Life Underwriting Expert Witness (for now)

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

It’s up to you to carve out your place, to know when to change course, and to keep yourself engaged and productive during a work life that may span some 50 years. To do those things well, you’ll need to cultivate a deep understanding of yourself—not only what your strengths and weaknesses are but also how you learn, how you work with others, what your values are, and where you can make the greatest contribution. Because only when you operate from strengths can you achieve true excellence.  And we will have to stay mentally alert and engaged during a 50-year working life, which means knowing how and when to change the work we do.

Peter Drucker

If you had told me 10 years ago that I would be doing expert witness work 10 years in the future I would not have believed you.  Read Drucker’s quote above and read it again.  Let these words sink in, especially the wisdom about knowing how and when to change the work you do.  I’ve changed the work I do multiple times in my life.  I’ll probably change again at some point in the future.  Don’t fool yourself.  Change of this nature is not easy but it will become increasingly necessary for your career.