Excuse the Dust!! - Stay Tuned!!

I’m playing with some new formats to make the look and feel better prior to Re-kicking off the blog!!

This Blog on Hiatus

For those of you who do read this.  I have come to the conclusion that I need to streamline a few things in my life for a while.  Between the challenges of work, school, and some other personal commitments to my children, the Blog has unfortunately become more a item of stress than release.

 So regretfully, I have decided that I need to take some time away from it until I get a few other projects completed right now.  My intention at this time is to think through where I want the blog to go, and how can I put it in my work list where I can contribute to it and make it an effective tool for both myself and those who read it.

 I am not deleting it, and will still reply to comments as time allows.

 Thank you to everyone who has helped me make it better over time, but under the category of If I can’t do it right, I don’t think I should do it; I am going to let it sit idle until at least May of this year.

 Sincerely,

 G. Lane Cavalier

I couldn’t resist - A little humor

For a little humor today, since I’m off of work. My sister sent me this one and I hadn’t seen it before.

UHK (formerly) Mission Statement

Yesterday, I received a reply from Jason Alba (owner of JibberJobber.com). He was interested in a clean “mission-type” statement for the UHK initiative.

Here is what I sent him.

“The primary objective is to join people together who have been limited by their lack of a formal education; facilitate the development of methods and approaches to overcome the bias against non-degreed and non-certified professionals during their active job search; and build information and support services (including mentoring) for these individuals who want to pursue furthering their education while maintaining or improving their standing in the work force.”

Thought I would share it here. But he also replied with his “100% support” for the idea, as well as gave me permission to use his name. That makes me feel good to see someone that has been as successful as he has support the idea. Thanks Jason.

Networking is Sexually Unbiased

Lillian D Bjorseth had the following article in her newsletter today.  I chose to put it up here for two reasons.  You can find the newsletter at  http://duoforce.com/ldb/direct3-newsletter.htm. 

 1) As the father of a young daughter I want to encourage her in every way I can, so learning how other very talented women handle networking and business helps me hopefully be able to teach her skills that she can keep forever.

2) I just really like the paragraph about what is “assertive behavior” as compared to “passive behavior” and “aggressive behavior” - it draws a strong distinction between the three.

PS - I heard Lillian speak a few years ago and she is very dynamic and immensely talented.  I strongly recommend you take the opportunity to listen to her if given the opportunity.

 Here is the article:

Networking is a Sexually Unbiased Skill

Building beneficial relationships knows no gender boundaries. It is equally beneficial for men and women, and the process can be equally daunting or equally easy for members of either sex. 

There are, however, some differences that impact the networker’s bottom line.  Male chauvinists and radical feminists agree on one thing:  Women, probably by nature or because they are the bearers of children, are more nurturing and tend to be more cooperative, empathic and understanding in a non-biased manner.  After all, they share their love unselfishly as they rear boys and girls.

Most women are natural networkers. They, their mothers and their grandmothers have been recommending recipes, hairdressers and skincare products across kitchen tables for generations. Where the challenge for some women arises is in the business arena. The increased emphasis on teaching relationship building is helping women become more confident and competent about transferring their skills to the workplace.

Some “older” women were taught by their mothers (who thought them to be positive qualities) to be seen and not heard, not to exploit their personal relationships or to “brag” about themselves.  Hopefully, fathers and mothers today are teaching their daughters that it is acceptable for women to be just as assertive as men, socially and in business, and, that as their daughters enter the business world, this issue will be largely non-existent.

As a reminder, assertive behavior is what all human beings strive for:  to be concerned that the other person gets his/her needs met while you do the same.  Passive behavior is when you are concerned only that the other person’s gets his/her needs met while you don’t put any emphasis on yours.  Aggressive behavior is when you are concerned only about meeting your needs and pay little attention to the needs of the other person.

What does remain a challenge is that in business likes tend to want to work with likes, i.e. women with women and men with men. Because there are only a handful of women CEOs in the Fortune 500 companies, it’s easy to understand why women may not have the same opportunities to build high-value business relationships. This will change only as more women rise to top jobs at major corporations and become more than token members of corporate and organizational boards of directors.

That’s exactly what the ole boys’ network was and in some cases still is:  men at the top helping other men rise to the same levels. Women are not yet as privy to networking in these elite places so while their skills are top-notch, their results may be less impactive and powerful.

Women, however, are gaining in numbers what they lack in force. Because of the corporate glass ceilings (and, yes, they still exist), so many of them are starting businesses and becoming owners and presidents that they are beginning to gain clout through sheer numbers. This, in turn, adds clout to the relationships they are building. While they may not be managing the same number of people, they are learning important leadership skills.

Another positive force for women is the number of company-sponsored women’s networks that are being formed within major corporations. Some of them, though, are still perfunctory.

           

A representative of a newly formed women’s group at a Chicago professional services firm contacted me to present a program on relationship building. We agreed it would provide valuable skills for the women’s professional development. When we started talking fees, she said there was no budget.  Ironically, she continued to say how top management (all men) was so supportive of their initiative … yet they wanted to get a speaker - a woman - to donate her time.  It was even more pathetic that management wouldn’t even agree to pay my travel expenses (simply gas mileage from a Chicago suburb)!

Perhaps, I am optimistic in stating how far women have come. However, I am optimistic by nature, so I believe that by working together, men and women, we can help the process move forward positively … and soon.

U of HK (an Open Letter)

The following is a Letter I sent to individuals that had shown and interest in the U of HK concept.

Begin Letter>>>

Hello everyone,

I have blind-copied everyone on this with the exception of (name removed) because I want to respect your privacy. Each of you have been included either because you have expressed an interest in the concept or have proven to me in the past to have valuable insights that may be helpful.

First, it has been a while since I have communicated to you on the status of the U of HK. It has been quite a learning experience for me during this time.

There are a number of issues and questions that have been raised by the enormous amount of feedback and research that we have done. (Name removed) has done as much of the research and heavy lifting as I have so I feel obligated and honored to recognize his contributions.

To keep it simple, we basically discussed that the group is going to have to meet several criteria (or MISSION) for it to be feasible.

• It needs to be helpful and provide value immediately (provide common good)
• It needs to be self-supporting financially ( over the long term, if not immediately)
• It needs to be structured from the very beginning so as to not become disorganized or chaotic to the leaders and members of the group.

Here are some of the issues that are still being researched:

1) We CANNOT use the U of HK name as it is currently in use in the Public Domain and could cause us trademark or other issues. (Name removed) and I are currently researching an alternate name, but I don’t want to share it yet. (Suggestions are welcome)
2) The scope of what we are trying to accomplish needs to be reviewed. I have received literally dozens of request to “modify” the target audience to include degreed individuals at numerous levels as well at tradesmen, etc.
3) The legal liability issue is also one that is being researched as creating an organization like this in the public domain can have consequences as well as benefits. We are currently reviewing options to include forming it under an LLC.
4) The concepts of advertising and things like sponsored websites and preferred recruiters have been broached and we need to evaluate impacts as well as benefits for each of these.
5) We need to differentiate the offering from all the other “social networking” type of offerings out there. I never wanted to be Jibberjobber, Execunet, LinkedIn, or Facebook(et al); I want to provide a service that may be able to help people learn how to use these tools and specifically caters to the needs of a target audience which they cannot (and probably do not want to do).

So what does that mean to each of you?

We are soliciting everyone with ideas as to where we go from here, thoughts as to the issues faced above, and offers to help develop an offering and scope of services that would be useful to this target.

As always you may also forward this to anyone who may have a desire to participate.

Sincerely,

G. Lane Cavalier

<<<<<< End of Letter

Do You have a Unique way to Measure Success?

This thought came from watching a show about inventors. Can’t remember which show or the company it was talking about, but it was a micro-brew beer from New York state.

During the show, one of the co-creators mentioned that they had always joked that the way to know if they had made it wasn’t going to be the checking or saving accounts or found anywhere in their company, but simply by when they were able to get out in a parking lot and find a bottle cap from their beer laying on the ground.

According to this gentleman, he found one when stopping at a small grocery store about 18 months into the new venture. He has the bottle cap in his office.

So being the thinker I am, it makes me wonder, how do I measure my success as a networker. Is it the size of my contact list or Linked In network? Nope not creative enough, and size doesn’t matter.

So what I think I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s based on Participation Request (ie: Mary McFarlin recruited me to co-moderate linkedinchicago), referrals from other sources as someone to go to for help, and the request for opinions on topics, resumes, etc.

My logic (hopefully not incorrect) is that people don’t waste time asking for your help if they don’t think you are capable and willing. That’s all I ever wanted out of my network, people to perceive and receive value from me and have the capability and willingness to return that value at some point in the future.

Now I need a way to track it so I can measure what is working and what isn’t.

What about you? How do you measure success in your networking activities?

Interviewing Tips

Andy Drish had a post that I just came across with some good points on interviewing and a link to a list of the top 100 interview questions.

http://www.andydrish.com/andys_blog/2007/11/resources-for-i.html

I not only strongly recommend you give this a read to start of your year, but ask that you remember Interview skills also translate to networking skills. What is a face-to-face networking meeting but a series of small interviews.

Technical: Slingbox - WOW!!

For Christmas I got a slingbox. For those not familiar, it lets you watch your TV from anywhere on the internet.

Total setup time for the Slingbox A/V - low end 1 receiver (non-HD) version - was 7 minutes from start to finish. Actually it took me 7 minutes to set it up, then 1 minute to change the remote because I set it up with the wrong one.

Overall, picture quality exceeds expectations. I used it on from cell modem (verizon), using the LGA airport concourse wireless, at a Marriott, and from a friend’s house (wireless DSL). Picture quality was serviceable at all locations though the LGA one was weak wireless signal and the picture quality showed some degradation as expected.

There is an optimized viewing option that treats it like an eye test putting two screens side by side and letting you pick “which one looks better?” about 3 to 4 iterations fine tunes your picture for you.

Only compaints I have are:

• the remote can be a little sluggish
• the delay in transmission makes the “replay” button virtually worthless because by the time you hit replay, you are more than 4 seconds behind the real box.

Biggest benefits:

• Never have to be irritated that you can’t set something to record when not home. Login and handle it online.
• Can watch your TIVO’d shows from anywhere
• If you’re like me and move around your house a lot (kitchen, basement, etc.) you can use your laptop to keep up with the game. I did this a lot on New Years, being as I have no TV in the kitchen, I moved my laptop in the kitchen and watched the games on it while preparing dinner.
• Side benefit, my children sometimes create “box troubles” that I have to troubleshoot by phone. IE: filters on the guide, I can now get online and fix it myself remotely.

Personally I went cheap with the A/V version (~$120) because I didn’t want to spend the $250 for multiple inputs and then not like it. I also figure I will eventually want a SOLO (supports HD) and will buy a new box then.

U of HK: What’s in a name

Ok, A long overdue post.

My sage advisor and I spent some time prior to the Holidays working on getting the U of HK started up.

One small problem. Apparently the U of HK is currently in use. So, I still love the idea, but we’re working on a name. I don’t want to start it up until we can lay a foundation for it so that it is useful from day one.

So with that said the previous ‘membership drive’ was probably a little premature. I appreciate all who have shown interest and we definitely are still planning on doing it, but we need to put a little more planning into it.

I will post and communicate more details as they become available.

Thanks for all the insights and ideas that we have gotten so far.

LaneC