5 Hard Truths for Climbing the Corporate Ladder

5 Hard Truths for Climbing the Corporate Ladder5 Hard Truths for Climbing the Corporate LadderClimbing the corporate ladder to become a C-level executive is leid an overnight process. It takes time and you have to be aware of the hard truths involved along the way. We explain what entry-level employees, and those halfway up the corporate ladder, can expect to deal with to get ahead when climbing the corporate ladderWarning Some of what you read may sound polarizing. But in no way should it ever stop you from trying to be successful.1. The smartest person in the room does not always winIt is tough to discover that the people with no college degree, a 2.1 GPA, and a 3.9 GPA can all climb the corporate ladder as quickly as the other.People who get things done tend to go farther than those who think a degree is a free pass to the top. The determined leader survives longer than the person who believes, I have a Masters degree. I should be promotedYou should be proud of your degree. You wo rked hard for it. It will be helpful and you will be better off than those without a degree. However, if you cannot lead and execute strategies, you will be seen as a doer.2. You must take risks and lose your fear of being wrongTaking risks breeds both failure and confidence. Those that climb the corporate ladder are fearless, never afraid to be wrong and sometimes dive in headfirst without knowing the depth of the water.You are the very thing that Monday Morning Quarterbacks love to complain about. In the face of all danger, you know the outcome of taking a successful risk outweighs the criticism for taking the risk.Additionally, you often take the risk of speaking your mind and doing what you believe is right. You do not mind being the unpopular one in the room. In fact, you love being called crazy or outspoken in meetings and in public. To you, it means you are doing something right.3. You hold yourself accountable to all stakeholders even when it hurtsTodays world of public tria l by social media has led to an increase in corporate leaders who have to accept accountability for the mistakes of people they had no control over. When someone at the bottom of a corporate ladder messes up so badly that it hurts a companys reputation, the person at the top of the corporate ladder pays for it.However, the popularity of using social media to harm company and peoples reputations has also led to an increase in leaders assigning blame to those beneath them. Unfortunately, all employees trying to climb the corporate ladderare vulnerable to being knocked off the corporate ladder at the mere scent of trouble or PR issue.Your ability to proactively take responsibility for your actions before problems arise will be tomorrows powerful predictor of long-term success on the corporate ladder.4. Loyalty to a company matters very littleThe mutual loyalty between you and the corporation is prone to falling apart for unpredictable reasons. Your loyalty to the company matters very l ittle if it does fall apart. To give you a true example, an unnamed executive worked at a company for 17 years. He welches responsible for saving the company tens of millions of dollars through denying insurance claims. He was one of the most popular Vice Presidents in North America and his successes were used often as training materials.One day, he shows up to work and his entire office is packed up and boxed. Security stood by him waiting to escort him out of the building. He was officially fired without discussion. Why? One of the claims he had handled fell into default status. The reportedclaim was not acknowledged as filed by the company.In English, a claim was reported and the insurance policy owner never heard back. The person who filed the claimwas automatically rewarded $100,000. It was a simple, yet costly mistake.When you weigh 17 years of service and tens of millions of dollars saved, $100,000 seems like a drop in the bucket. But that did not matter. He was escorted out of the building without a moments chance to say goodbye to the people he worked with for 17 years.Note See 3. It was not completely his fault. Both he and his staff had dropped the ball.5. Big decisions affecting your status on the corporate ladder happen over dinnerThis is the hardest one to stomach. You spend all day at work trying really hard to do your best. You have meetings about company direction and strategy. Everything seems to be going wellThen suddenly something changes overnight. All the final decisions affecting the company (and your job), are made by those on top of the corporate ladder outside of work. They were either having dinner, drinks at the bar, playing golf, at a conference, or some other social event where leaders gather.Work your way to the top of a corporate ladder and you will see for yourself. It almost sounds too strange to believe. On the other hand, you can do what millions of other people in the USA have done to avoid the corporate ladder Start your o wn business

Heres How to Develop a Job Plan at Work

Heres How to Develop a Job Plan at WorkHeres How to Develop a Job Plan at WorkNeed an employee and company friendly way to keep employee job descriptions, goals, and plans up-to-date without Human Resources intervention? Consider writing a job plan as an alternative to the traditional, normally not up-to-date, lengthy job description. Owned by the employee, in conjunction with and negotiated with his or herbei manager, the job plan solves the most frequent problems organizations experience with job descriptions. Similar to a job profile but with more detail, the job plan clearly defines the employees job. Advantages of an Employee-Led Job Plan An employee-led job plan is always up-to-date, is descriptive of the job the employee is doing and is owned by and important to the employee. The job plan is an improvement over an HR written job description that is usually out-of-date, tough to maintain, and a document that employees dont own and use as a guide. The written job plan will g uide an employees use of his or her work time and inform the employee of the priorities and needed outcomes. The job plan, done well, emphasizes an employees most significant goals and expectations. You can use a job plan to assess an employees progress on goals and core responsibilities. It makes a useful starting discussion point during weekly one-to-one meetings and in any meeting to discuss setting goals, planning the future, or desired changes to an employees job. Since the job plan is negotiated with the manager, heor she feels How to Develop the Job Plan Managers work with employees to make sure that every employee has an individually developed job plan. The document is maintained and updated as necessary by the employee with the concurrence of the employees manager. The document lists the employees responsibilities and thecore job functions, goals, and expectations for performance. It is the employees responsibility to execute the job plan with management support and agr eement. Managers work with employees to ensure that employees have appropriate elements of their companys mission, goals, objectives and guiding principles in their job plans. Managers also work with employees to ensure that regular performance discussions and feedback are occurring relative to the core functions, job expectations and goals in the job plan. Managers work with employees to ensure that each employee has appropriate stretch goals that serve both the company and the employee in distribution policy in their job plan. Group Job Plan In developing the job plan, employees who have the same job with similar responsibilities will work as a team to develop the job plan for the job with the assistance and concurrence of their managers. In the instance of a group-developed job plan, each employee might also expect to have individual goals, that are specific to his or her position. In addition to these core responsibilities, activities and functions that wereagreed upon as a group, these additional expectations also define the scope and expectations of the individuals job. When an employee is performing core job plan functions and responsibilities and meeting job plan goals, the employee is making a solid contributionto his or her organization. Overall Approach to the Job Plan The employee who is doing the job takes the lead in writing the job plan using this job plan format. The goals and plans that become the final document are negotiated with the employees manager or teamberaterin. Progress should be reviewed periodically with the supervisor and success on the job plan and goals should affect compensation decisions. Unlike performance development planning, which is for employee development, the job plan measures progress toward goal accomplishment. The job plan provides clear expectations for employee performance. This guarantees that the employee and the manager are on the same page and share meaning on the employees performance expectations. Th is is a positive, powerful way to make sure that employees are focused on producing what the organizationmost needs from them.

5 rules that will make you successful in life

5 rules that will make you successful in life5 rules that will make you successful in lifeIts 737 am, the first day of the month. Ive already earned 80% of my monthly salary.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreI got payments from four different sources. Admittedly, next payments will leid be as hefty as the ones I got, but my side hustle will exceed my day job salary yet again.Today is my wifes last day in her day job. She finally trusted that my business will provide enough income so she doesnt have to go to the work she passionately hates.Those arent the grandest successes in the world, but big enough for my small corner of it.Five yearsagoI had no business and no clue what to do with my life. I welches aimless. I had another day job at that time, and it paid 30% less than the current one. I was killing the existential void with computer games and excess fiction reading.I cskipist eed and achieved success in all aspects of my life, not only in the financial aspect, because I followed the five principles I enumerate below.Success leaves clues. Tony RobbinsI didnt have to figure them out on my own. There were others before me who did the heavy lifting. The only thing I had to come up with was mypersonal implementationof those principles.1. Your Habits MakeYouSuccess is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day. Jim RohnSuccess is not a grand thing. Its not winning a gold medal at the Olympics. Its not saving a billion people from starvation like Norman Borlaug did. Its not coming up with a new theory that explains better how the universe works.Success is small disciplines that lead to those things. Its training, studying and pondering on a daily basis. Only if you have such preparatory habits can you achieve those huge things.When it comes to financial success, my most important discipline is writing every day. I have been doing that since 23rd of September, 2013. For the last few years, I aimed to write 1,000 words a day.I am not an especially brilliant writer, but this discipline helped me to achieve my moderate successes publishing 15 booksand selling over 30,000 copies of them.2. Your Habits Can Break You asWellFailure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day. Jim RohnEntropy is real. If you dont cultivate good habits, badeanstalt habits creep in. And they will break you.Your habits make you no matter if they are good or bad. Your life as it is right now, is mostly the result of your actions. Your actions are in huge part the result of your habits.If you are overweight, its most probably because of your crappy eating habits. If you have a handsome emergency fund secured, its most probably the effect of your money-managing habits. If you are well educated, its most probably because you had good enough study habits. Your colleagues who preferred hooky over school are not educated to your level.However , you have the power over your habits. You can watch them, break the bad ones and build the good ones.You simply need to be aware of the Principle 2 otherwise, you will ignore this important subject.Five years ago, I paid no attention whatsoever to my habits. They just were what they were for me. And I was who I was.I had been losing an enormous amount of time on computer games, excess fiction reading, TV and commenting on news sites. And I was average in every aspect.My good habits didnt materialize on their own in my life. I put a lot of effort and dedication to developing my writing habit to the current level.3. Change Is a TeamPlayYou cannot succeed by yourself. Its hard to find a rich hermit. Jim RohnI love the precision of Jim Rohn. Its not impossible to find a rich hermit. Its only fricking hard. There are some vocations where a lonely hero journey is still possible. I can recall exactly one guy who is a rich hermit Cormac McCarthy, the author of The Road and No Country for O ld Men.By the way, what does change have to do with success? Well, if you are not successful right now, you need to change, dont you? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.The only sure thing in pursuit of success is constant change.Isolation is the enemy of excellence. Aaron WalkerYet, we have this picture of a lonely hero firmly hammered into us. Every self-help book saysDo this, do that, and you will be a success.In fact, they should sayGo, find people who have been there and done that and hang out with them.Thats the best success formula you will ever get. If you cannot find mentors or coaches, find folks who are as clueless as you and want to achieve similar things as much as you. Thats your second best option. If you want to lose weight, find a friend who wants to shed some pounds and do it together.If you want to fail, try to change yourself in a social void.Life and business are team plays as well. When I start ed self-publishing, I read one very good book, and I thought I knew it all. I worked hard on implementing what I learned for a few months. My results werent encouraging. I hustled half a year for an equivalent of two hours of my overtime.Then I started to get involved into self-publishing communities, interact with my peers and follow mentors. Suddenly, other people appeared by my side, and I started to succeed. Hynek Palatin made new covers for my books, and my third book sold over 100 copies in its first month. Chris Bell helped me to edit and market my fifth book. Steve Scott promoted it to his email list. The book became my first bestseller.I got a publisher, found editors, proofreaders and narrators. I organized and participated in online book events and giveaways. I promoted books of other authors. I wrote guest posts and accepted them on my blog.And my business grew each month. However, it all starts with Principle 1, and mastery of your habits comes before any business succe ss. You desperately need at least one other person to help you with your personal change.4. KnowThyselfSuccess in the knowledge economy comes to those who know themselves their strengths, their values, and how they best perform. Peter F. DruckerThe true success that means fulfillment and serving others to the best of your abilities always came to those who knew themselves. In the past, you could be misplaced and prosper. Nowadays, its impossible. Statistics confirm that70% of employees are not engaged at their work. They feel miserable, and they export this vocational frustration to their family life and also make their families miserable. It spills over like a plague.But if you know yourself, and you do exactly what you were called to do, you are destined for success. You are simply the best in the world at what you are doing, thus you are appropriately rewarded.I studied for 18 years before I graduated from the university. I was 25 years old, young, adaptable and bright when I sta rted my IT career. Ive been working in that field for 13 years. I participated in international projects, I worked on multiple positions, and with several companies. I gained a lot of experience.But I was misplaced.Five years ago, I discovered I want to be a writer. In five short years, I published 15 books, starteda life coaching practiceoff the ground, and along the way learned a ton about online absatzwirtschaft because self-publishers have to be self-promoters as well. I did that NEXT TO my day job and while living my normal life, taking care about my wife, three kids and our household.In five years, my side hustle income exceeded my day job income because I was meant to do this kind of work. Helping people drives me. Its my reward and addiction. I can write, coach, speak and help others all day long.And I still didnt narrow my core genius to be the best in the world. Im still in the process of self-discovery. But those five years of doing my thing beat 18 years of studies and 1 3 years of IT practice.5. Be Grateful, Be PositiveWhen the brain is positive, every possible outcome we know how to test for rises dramatically. Shawn AchorYouve heard it correctly. Every single measurable outcome is better when you are positive. Health. Wealth. Relationships. Savings. Fitness performance. Chances for promotion. Sleep. Net worth. You can continue the list ad infinitum. Scientists have not found a single exception.EverythingBut how to make your brain positive? It seems to be a tough riddle. Truly positive people are very rare. Of course, if you have money, friends, security, health and fame its easier to be positive, right?You have it backwards. People who live abundantly usually started from a positive mindset and ended up rich, healthy and famous.Rewiring your brain into positivity is very simple every morning, write down three new things you are grateful for. Three bullet points. Thats all.Research concludesthat its enough to practice this tiny discipline for 30 d ays to rewire your brain, even if you were a pessimist for decades and have a pessimists gene.I say, if it does work and works so well, and its so simple and easy, why not do it for the rest of your life?Five years ago, my life motto wasExpect the worst, thus you will have only positive surprises.Does that sound like a shiny optimist?Five years ago, on 26th of September, 2012, I started my first gratitude journal, about my wife. Ive kept this discipline and started a couple more gratitude journals within the next few months.Strangely enough, every possible outcome in my life rose dramatically. Health. Wealth. Relationships. Savings. Fitness performance. Friendships. Sleep. Net worth.Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day. Jim RohnFailure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day. Jim RohnYou cannot succeed by yourself. Its hard to find a rich hermit. Jim RohnSuccess in the knowledge economy comes to those who know themselves their str engths, their values, and how they best perform. Peter F. DruckerWhen the brain is positive, every possible outcome we know how to test for rises dramatically. Shawn AchorFollow those 5 rules, and you will become more successful. Ignore them or neglect them, and you will not. It is as simple as that.This article first appeared on Medium.