Don't Sell Yourself Short!: Be All That You Can Be!

By JIM GILL and STEVE CARROLL

There is an unprecedented surge in Global Competition for a vital resource no, its not oil, its talent. For every organization [and for you] to succeed, you must expedite a People Strategy that will enable you to: Assess your plusses and minuses, Find opportunities for Growth and Betterment Learn from the Best-of-Class producers Develop a set of skills that improve your performance Construct a Can Do attitude that will create a self-starter within you What makes this book unique is its dual perspective from both corporate America and the military. It is a testimonial of the value of what we once referred to as the Military Industrial Complex.

First, we give you what corporate America is doing to enhance performance training ideas, leadership development, and specific tactics for improving your attitude. You will also be given the opportunity for a Personal Assessment of Personality Traits, complete with Personal Development Suggestions.

Second, from the military, you learn to talk the talk and how they truly walk the walk. Faced with challenges that you and I would find difficult , harrowing, or even unfathomable, soldiers never back down, perform under the most difficult of conditions, and achieve top performance, regardless of the odds they face.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Sep 17, 2009
• ISBN: 9781425183202

JIM GILL

The authors have the background, credentials, and proven track record that say: “You should listen to me, because I have ‘been there.’” They bring a wealth of experience and expertise to any organization . . . and to you. As professional speakers and trainers for many of the world’s largest organizations, they are uniquely qualified to present Best Business Practices to today’s manager and/or employee. Their worldwide exposure as meeting leaders, international marketers and consultants for Fortune 500 companies, plus their extensive consulting background, makes them an ideal fit for your Talent Management experience.

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DON’T SELL YOURSELF SHORT… BE ALL THAT YOU CAN BE.

Copyright © 2009 by STEVE CARROLL & JIM GILL. All rights reserved.

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ISBN: 978-1-4251-8319-6 (sc)

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Contents

FOREWORD

PART I

CHAPTER 1 Why New Employees Fail Don’t Let It Happen to You-Success from the Get-Go

CHAPTER 2 How New Employees Can Excel Getting your Head on Straight

CHAPTER 3 Good, Better, Best Keys to Continuous Improvement

Part II

CHAPTER 4 Who’s Got Your Back? The Organization—For you or against you?

CHAPTER 5 The Use and Abuse of Corporate Power Management Gets the Golden Parachutes … We Make the Jumps

CHAPTER 6. Constructing a Personal Brand Building Blocks for a Personal Strategic Plan

PART III

CHAPTER 7 Be > Know > Do "Army Principles for ‘The Best Professional

CHAPTER 8 Performance Work’s Bottom Line

CHAPTER 9 Motivation Setting your Hair on Fire

CHAPTER 10 People Skills for the Workplace Soldier Be All That You Can Be

DON’T SELL YOURSELF SHORT… BE ALL THAT YOU CAN BE.

Sergeant, in the real world it’s Management that produces results.

In the Army, we know better. It’s soldiers who make it happen.

Acknowledgments: James Gill

I owe a tremendous debt to all the great people I had the privilege to serve with and learn from in the U.S. Army. Any success that I have been fortunate enough to reap was nurtured years ago by leaders and friends such as Jim Guille, Jake Fryer, John Bradford, Dana Pittard, Tom White, John Abrams, Rusty Harper, Tim Quinn, James Milano, Glynn Pope, Gary Castille, Tim Cox, Joe Martz, Jackie Johnson, Major Simms, Andy Fernandez, Guillermo Ramos, Tom LiPuma, Dave Gill, Mike Rochelle, Les Fuller, James Campbell and Kelly Hermening. Thank you all!

I want to especially thank Joseph C. Barto III, who has been my mentor and friend for over 17 years. His leadership and vision saved my life years ago and continues to shape my life now. Joe, thank you so much for taking the time to listen, coach, inspire, teach and do what great leaders do-care!

To my little brother Louie Gill, MSG, United States Army; I am so proud of you! To those of you who are still serving, I want to say that I appreciate the sacrifice that you and your families make each and every day for our nation. Thank you!

I have had the opportunity to work with and learn from some of the most dynamic and visionary people in business. I would like to thank all of you for your friendship, advice, coaching and faith in me. There is not enough space here to list everyone but I would be remiss if I did not give a shout out to Steve Carroll, Kevin Oakes, Andy Eckert, Gary Millrood, Kristin Lucas, Rick Mongeau, Scott Sanders, Gary Zuder, Jane Colver, Hahn Vo, Bill Docherty, Ed Keegan, Keith Anderson, Tom Sullivan, Kelly Perdew, James Sun, Rob Sandie and Donna DeMarco. You’re the best! Chon, I am so fortunate to have had you as my best friend and my wife for the last twenty-three years. Your support, energy, commitment, and love have made this book and anything I have ever done possible. I love you with all my heart!

Acknowledgments: Steve Carroll

My thanks all go in one direction-God! Thank You for delivering me from 4 major operations and cancer since October 2005. My recovery has been nothing short of miraculous, and only you are the Maker of Miracles.

FOREWORD

Leaders are Made … by their Followers

MEMO: To All NEW Employees

FROM: A seasoned Business Executive

Ok, now it’s your time. You have stood by and watched as hundreds of books are written by and for today’s business leaders-books on sales, customer service, management, and of course, leadership.

Management gurus have gone full circle (around in circles, if you ask me), giving our managers guidelines to make them better managers. The Army calls it Leadership Training, and that is a much better term. There are so few leaders among our managers these days. Historically, there have many theories about how they should manage you. There was:

Theory

X/Y Carrot and Stick MBO Management by Objective MBWA Management by Walking Around TQM Managing Toward Quality MBD Management by Decree And now,

CRM Customer Relationship Management

Work Application

Where Style is King

Where Organization is King

Where Involvement is King

Where Quality is King

Where The Boss is King

Where The Customer is King

You have been the King’s subjects. You have gotten the stick, the carrot, MBOs, zero defects objectives, and new software applications that are poorly designed and even more poorly delivered. Inadequate training is not the exception; it is the rule. Often, it is downright nonexistent, and management consultants’ ready-made excuse for failure is that your employees aren’t getting it done; they need a new perspective.

And were YOU ever asked for your input-No-oh-oh-o-o!

To tell you the truth-most of these theories and quick-fix books missed the boat anyway. It’s the soldiers, not the generals, who win the war. It’s the Indians, not the Chiefs. It’s YOU.

Day-to-day, week-to-week, year-over-year-it is YOU who make it happen.

Make it happen-there’s another tired management platitude. In this book, we’re going to do our best to stay away from worn-out platitudes.

Instead, we hope to give you specific How To’s and To Do’s that will help you to be a great employee-A Good Soldier and when required, a Great Leader.

When I decided to write a book based on my 40 years of business experience, I began to research top companies, based on many measures. But that’s been done-and it has revealed few insights. You’ve all been to a Here’s how I do it meeting or a My Personal Success Secrets presentation. It doesn’t work!

There must be a better model-one to which we can all relate. There is. In 1992, we all watched as 500,000 employees from diverse backgrounds, education, ethnicity, and intelligence levels, massed toward a common goal. They achieved that goal-with success that is literally unparalleled in the history of man-and warfare. It was called: The Gulf War.

Yes, war. Those 500,000 employees were soldiers. General Norman Schwarzkopf was asked about our victory, the most decisive victory in military history. He said:

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His perspective mirrors our own. And we hope that your managers will read this book, too. They need to know what it takes to make you successful. They need to learn how to manage you, coach you, and sometimes just get out of the way.

There is a certain mystique that surrounds our armed forces. It does not matter whether they are winning wars, or helping people rebuild their lives after an act of God, like Hurricane Mitch in Honduras. They accomplish the mission. Soldiers are consistently rewarded with promotions, recognition, and an atmosphere of achievement-they operate in a highly motivating culture.

They don’t need incentives to liberate a country like Kuwait. They don’t need provocations like the 9-11 attack. They are inspirited by their culture. You and I can learn from that culture. You can master the spirit and the fire that will propel you to accomplish your missions-in athletics, academics, work, and life.

As employees, as Workplace Soldiers, we crave it. (We should demand it!)

It was after this BGO [a Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious] that I decided that if I were to write a really valuable book for you, I would need a real-life soldier’s prospective, too.

A Soldier’s Perspective

My co-author, Retired United States Army, Master Sergeant James Gill, understands the value of being a good soldier. Headstrong, brash, inventive, goal-obsessed were all words to describe this employee. He ruffled feathers. He challenged leadership. He created conflict and provided vision. He was never satisfied with mediocre performance-his own, or IN HIS MANAGERS.

In short, Jim had to be a great follower before evolving into an accomplished leader. He has become an extraordinary leader in both the public and private sectors, whether he worked within the traditional Command and Control-style culture of the United States Army, or in the Entrepreneurial free-style environment of Silicon Valley. The foundation for his success can be traced back to the values, skills and lessons learned from those years as a soldier (follower) that transformed and developed his leadership abilities and served him so well after he left military service.

Jim translated the values and lessons from military service into the private sector. He never considered the option of a slacker retirement; that Pass GO and Collect your $200 mentality of a make-believe Monopoly player. He leapt into corporate America with both feet, armed with the knowledge, habits, attitude, and skills sharpened during his 20 years as a soldier.

In the corporate world, he has become an accomplished manager, leader, investor, and now, a gutsy entrepreneur. I should warn you that some of his ideas may make you uncomfortable or even challenge what others have told you. That’s a good thing. They also may make you famous.

Let him give you his insights on how to Be All That You Can Be.

Steven D. Carroll

CEO, Lee DuBois Technologies

MEMO: To the Workplace Soldier

FROM: A Soldier

MESSAGE: Don’t be a Dilbert

We all aspire to be the boss, the leader… the guy/gal in charge.

It’s a funny thing. Many people read the comic Dilbert, and I suspect that many of those readers, like Dilbert, work in corporate America. I tried reading it for a while, but instead of laughing, it made me depressed. Dilbert’s lot in life is unacceptable! Dilbert is a victim. Dilbert is always in the same cubicle. Dilbert is going nowhere and has confined himself to that lot in life.

DO NOT ACCEPT THIS! MAXIMIZE YOUR TALENTS! GET OUT OF YOUR RUT! DON’T SELL YOURSELF SHORT!

Today’s Youth-

"Don’t Settle"

It’s absolutely astounding to listen to the aspirations of would-be employees as demonstrated in today’s resumés and interviews. More often than not, the newly graduated applicant expects an entry-level position in management.

What are they thinking? Maybe it’s …

This will impress my friends and family back home!

I’ve had managers before, and I was a lot smarter than they were.

Why wait? I’m ready now!

Four years of college, wet behind the ears, and they want to sit on the board of directors on the first day of work-go figure.

Don’t get me wrong. Ambition has its place and time, and an experienced leader has the ability to recognize this desirable trait, often transforming go-getters into accomplished performers.

But where do leaders come from?