An interesting experience of an ordinary guy

With or without the benefit of MBA coursework, professional manager tend to follow a maxims that simply their professional lives. Sayings like “Keep your manager in the loop” and “It’s sometime better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission” are good examples. Unfortunately, some of the old reliable tents don’t work anymore. Here are six common management myths that will definitely make your life more difficult.

Myth 1

Don’t ask a question you don’t know the answer to.

This one is borrowed from trail lawyers, and it traveled into main stream business because it always seems career-enhancing to look smart. Unfortunately, growth opportunities do not yield easily to leading questions and preconceived solutions. A better maxim for growth leaders is:

Start in the unknown.

Myth 2

Think big.

There are always pressures to be sure an opportunity is big enough, but most really big solutions began small and built momentum.
How seriously would you have taken eBay or PayPal? In an early era, FedEx looked like a niche market. To seize growth opportunities, it is better you start small and find a deep underlying human need to connect with. A better maxim for growth leaders is:

Focus on meeting genuine human needs.

Myth 3

If the idea is good, then the money will follow.

Managers often look at unfunded idea with disdain, confidant that if the idea were good it would have attracted money on its own merits. The truth about ideas is that we don’t know if they are good; only customers know that. Gmail sounds absurd: free e-mail in exchange for letting a software bot read your personal messages and serving ads tailored to your apparent interests. Who would have put money behind that? The answer, of course, is Google. In that light, a better maxim for growth leaders is:

Provide seed funding to the right people and problems, and the growth will follow.

Myth 4

Measure twice, cut once

This one works fine in an operations setting, but when it comes you creating an as-yet-unseen future, there isn’t much to measure. And spending time trying to measure the immeasurable offer temporary comfort but does little to reduce risk. A better maxim for growth leaders is:

Place small bets fast.

Myth 5

Be bold and decisive.

In the past, business cultures were dominated by competition metaphors (sport and war being the most popular). During the 1980s and 1990s, mergers and acquisitions lent themselves to conquest language. Organic growth, by contrast, requires a lot of nurturing, intuition and a tolerance for uncertainty. Placing bold bets falls well short of our proposed maxim:

Explore multiple options.

Myth 6

Sell your solution. If you don’t believe in it, no one will.

When you are trying to create the future, it is difficult to know when you have it right. We think it is fine to be skeptical of your solution, but be absolutely certain you have focused on a worthy problem. You’ll iterate your way to a workable solution in due time. In this case, we propose two design based maxim:

Choose worthwhile customer problem.
Let other validate.

From a book called: Designing for Growth, by Jeanne Liedtka & Tim Ogilvie.

I guess I am not the one to talk about this one, for years and as long as I could remember I have knocked every door I know seeking some sort of advice in different issues my career and in dealing with people. Surprisingly enough, I don’t recalls how many times that an advice have helped me in a direct way in my life. But and still much to my surprise the same advice that I was told by my mentors, friends and family members could work on the same situation in a later stage of my life, I know that because two things that I am sure about I do have a strong memory I recall conversations I had with people years ago and in the same time I am good listener who really listen to what the other person has to say.

Going back to taking advises, I have recently or at least until now have formed a strong opinion against advises; if you asked me to define the advice to you I would say it is “a shortcut to deal with a situation or solving a problem that rarely work” or in few words “the opposite of experience”. And funny enough most people love it when someone come to them to ask them for their advice they have this sense of importance that someone think they are great enough and have a vast experience to share, in this moment their ego will jump straight away and start talking so if the person is sharing his advice it doesn’t mean he/she knows, it could mean they are just happy to think they know.

While discussing this I am not trying in any way to put you off asking people opinion but I just want to make sure to let you know that in my opinion in life you get two types of advises from different types of people, one from a person who is successful and want you to advance in life and another from a person who have failed before and doesn’t want you to go through the same road he did, my problem with both is

1. Life never goes in a liner manners, it goes up and down, left and right and the advice you get from each of the earlier types of people is missing on the fact that the person who succeeded might have had different circumstances than yours any small change in the environment could change things for the better or the worse, like asking your manager for a raise when he was in a bad mood and sales were down for almost 3 months.
2. Your experience and knowledge are most of the time different from the other person giving the advice, they might have more or less but it does reflect on the outcome, just think of someone who has been climbing mountains for years and you are someone who is new at it the mountain look bigger to you than to him.
3. Your psychological state on the time of accepting the advice if you are happy or in bad mood are you desperate to get something like a job when you don’t have one or a girl friend after you broke up with your ex.
4. Even if you are great in telling the situation you are in, the one you expect the advice for, no one is there no one is living it with you apart from you so you are the best person to judge the way you should react to it.

Again I am not saying in any way don’t listen to people I was asking my friends for advice yesterday and in matter of fact I am giving an advice now, I am just saying that make sure to consider that the advice is nothing but an opinion that could be right and could be wrong just make sure to take your own decision based the circumstances you are in, experience and the state of mind don’t close your eyes and do what people suggest you should do.

Don’t fear mistakes it is the only way you learn in the other hand fear the quick success you make it doesn’t offer you much insights most of the time doing it yourself is the only way you really learn this is why when you apply to a job they ask you for experience not only your knowledge or education.

Life is all about communications and connections, we all know the saying “It’s Not What You Know, It’s Who You Know”, I for long time have denied this fact of life dealing with people is time consuming and is hard work as well you have to understand that you are not the only one who is busy we all are and even if we are not we like to think so, we all hate to wait and like to get the job done the earliest possible we live under the pressure of deadlines and the pressure of our peers and bosses.

I don’t claim I have figured everything out yet and I am still trying to understand human’s behavior in and off work, below you will find few tips about things that helped me to be more popular, more visible to everyone I deal with and less pressured on day to day biases

1. Answer emails in 5 minutes or less I know you will often be busy or you don’t have the immediate answer to what you have been asked the least you could do is to acknowledge that you have received the other person’s email.
2. Face to face is the best way of communication, go to people talk to them it is the best way of enhancing your social skills and showing the other people you care. Phone calls comes second and last is emails, I know sometimes the people you are dealing with could be somewhere you don’t have access to them, you could do this at least with people in the same workspace as yours.
3. Always prioritize your inbox, have three ways to measure the weight of an email. how visible is it based on how many people have seen it, how important it is who have sent it your manager or someone even more important, and my favorite always start with emails that take the least time from you this will keep you more available for the bigger and the important ones when they come.

I know you might think what I have listed above is not easy to do could be money consuming as well but one thing I have learned in life the earlier you get your job done the better you feel and the more money you make for yourself and your company. Try it and let me know.

For years I fought to grow in my career, I hope I don’t sound old I am only 27, wondering what was it that I am missing. It’s difficult to talk about your self in general but I guarantee you I have been always good in what I do. And just two weeks ago after a year and few months working for IKEA I have got the news for the first promotion in my life, in the same company; I did advance in my career before but by changing companies.

I would like to share with you the 10 rules I have followed last year hopping they would help you the same way they did with me

1. Accept responsibility and dare to make decisions, part of your job as a manger is to decide for your team and even set strategies you need to prove you could do it from the start this is how people know they can count on you.
2. Accept failure as a part of your learning process, don’t blame any one for it just make sure to get over it as soon as you can, don’t let it hold you and talk about it with pride mentioning what you have learnt.
3. Effective communications, no one likes to wait human beings are not patient when it comes to what they want it is not only you and me it is everybody, so make sure to have the answers as quickly as possible if it will take time at least acknowledge that you have received the information and mention clear timing to when you will get back with answers.
4. Never miss a deadline, always under promise and over deliver if you are in company missing a deadline means losing money and trust me no one like to lose money.
5. No bad news, no one like to hear bad news even people who loves you remember the reaction when you were a kid and you broke your mum/dad favorite vase or came back home from a school to tell them you had a bad score.
6. Live in doubt and be open to learning: the more you live the more you release you don’t really know much, your point view changes with time so never take it to personal accept other people point of you and listen to what they say. Read books they are long maybe boring and hard to read in the start they just happened to be a great source of new learning.
7. Few steps ahead, don’t wait until someone ask you to do it, always be open and share your ideas don’t hold them your values is in what you offer not what you know.
8. Be part of the team and acknowledge help, you can never do anything alone people who succeeded are people who knew how to get the best out of people around them, make sure to praise whoever help you.
9. Look for niche and fill it, don’t just accept to know what other people know always look for knowledge that others missed.
10. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, better even never think of people as enemies think of them as valuable source to your growth, you often learn from the least expected people and a good reputation is very important.

I know nothing is certain in life but what is listed above is going to help you in building good relationship with people who you work with and help you be more successful.