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Membership as an honorary soror in Delta Sigma Theta came to me a little over a year ago, and the women, the work, and the welcome have moved me in ways I could never have anticipated. To be received by women who care so deeply about humanity, going far beyond their own individual high accomplishments, is something I value with gratitude.

Every event, every experience as a member of this organization, has brought people forward who come to me and say, ‘You’ve been my mentor.’ ‘You’ve been my best friend in my head.’ ‘I’m here because I took from you this information.’ That has been a regular occurrence, walking around and living my life for some time. To hear this from sorors across geographies and industries - sorors who I can and do say the same things back to - is a gift supreme.

Let us be clear about who is saying it. To be a member of Delta Sigma Theta, or of any of the D9 sororities and fraternities, means a person has already met some significant achievement and held to some high standards of living and behavior. Having these accomplished humans come forward to shower me with fellowship continuously ‘blows me away’. It has also put me back in the classroom and helped me to remember and to appreciate the lesson.

The lesson is this: there are people whose ideas and decisions we are helping to shape without ever having shaken their hands. The experiences we go through by the influence of people we look up to, people we admire, even people whose work we study for how they did that, how they built that, reference us to something important: we are doing that same thing for others, whether or not we are mindful of it.

This sits with me in a business way, and in a personal way. One of my life mantras holds the two together: ‘Never compromise who you are personally to become who you wish to be professionally.’ Living that, with my effort at legitimacy in how I interact with people, is the foundation of how I think we best mentor people forward.

Mentoring runs in both directions. While it’s a joy for me to teach young adults in ways that shorten their struggle without lessening their learning, there are young folks new in their careers who I learn from every day. While often, they are not living the style of life I would look to for myself, they are doing some of the same things I aspire to, and still find joy in doing. (That is its own education, and it is also a lesson in not judging people).

With the advantage of technology, mentoring has become a broader opportunity for all of us. We follow people through their social media. We meet people through the organizations we join, and through the events we invest in attending. All of it is an opportunity to find a mentor––and––to be a mentor.

At the end of the day, it comes back to what Mama used to say: ‘You may not be aware of it, but the whole world is watching.’ Mama said that before social media. Mama said that when we read news in print papers and magazines. Mama said that when there were three networks on television. Is it not even MORE true now?

The people who continue to come forward to call me a mentor were watching long before I knew their names. That is the mentor who never knew they were one: any one of us, living where others can see. We are each modeling a life for someone, and the work is rich and rewarding to make it one worth following.

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The drive from San Diego to Los Angeles for an eight o’clock meeting has one safe answer: leave the night before. Leave any later, and arriving on time becomes a gamble against traffic no one controls. Lose that gamble, and the door will already be closed. There is no slipping into a back seat, no catching up during a lull. The door stays shut until a break comes, and if the meeting has no break built in, the meeting is simply missed.

The practice traces back to Berry Gordy, who founded Motown. One of his rules from day one: once a meeting started, anyone not already in the room, ready to deliver, found the door closed to them. No one got invited back in until a break came, if one came at all. People learned quickly that he meant it, literally and figuratively. The rule reached this organization through a personal connection: a sister and a brother-in-law worked inside Motown, and there was the chance to meet Mr. Gordy directly and witness the scale of what he built and who it touched. That respect is part of why the rule got carried forward rather than left behind.

Berry Gordy understood the value of time and of respect to one another. So, he locked his meeting-room doors at the exact agreed-upon time. This practice, I believe, not only helped him run a business on disciplined behavior; it taught his executives and his artists to respect their ‘customers’… the fans who bought the music and the tickets to the shows.

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As the founder of Motown Records, Mr. Gordy held himself to a discipline he expected in others, and he focused intensely on efficiency. His leadership of Motown was, in part, inspired by the assembly-line discipline he encountered inside Detroit’s automotive plants.

People who recall their time under his leadership have spoken of his legendary Friday morning Quality Control meetings. These were high-stakes, product-evaluation sessions wherein producers, songwriters, and executives voted on which new recordings would be put to market. Mr. Gordy thought tardiness went beyond disrespect, and that it smelled of waste and opportunity cost. So, if you were not in the room at the agreed-upon time, the door to your opportunity, and to meeting your requirement, was closed. In my company, people understand that too many lates can result in loss of momentum, failure to meet expectations and deadlines, and a ‘no need to come back.’ Thankfully, understanding this means we respect each other, the work, and the opportunity! We show up on time.

It has since been extended somewhere Mr. Gordy’s version never had to go: the digital meeting. Joining from a living room, a home office, or the beach does not earn a later entry than joining in person would. Arriving late gets noted the same way, whether the meeting happens across a table or across a screen, and the way back in follows the same rule, either way. Eight o’clock means eight o’clock, by whatever time zone it is set in.

A closed door earns its meaning only when it does not bend: not for the person who drove up from San Diego and hit traffic, not for the person joining virtually from three time zones away, not for anyone. Everyone meets the same door. Everyone earns the same way back through it.

A closed door is a form of respect extended, in advance, to everyone who arrived on time. Their eight o’clock does not get diluted by someone else’s ‘eight-oh-five’. A meeting that starts on time for the people who showed up on time keeps the whole promise a start time makes.

That promise is easy to state and harder to keep, because keeping it consistently costs something every time. It costs an uncomfortable conversation with someone accustomed to slipping in late. It costs the appearance of flexibility, which some people will read as coldness. What it buys back is larger: a room where the time on the invite is the actual time, where the people who organized their morning around eight o’clock are not quietly penalized for it, and where showing up ready is worth exactly what it should be.

Time carries a different value now than it did when Mr. Gordy first locked that door. Technology has taken on transactional work at a pace no one anticipated, and much of what used to cost an afternoon now costs a few seconds. That shift has raised the price of what remains ours alone to give: judgment, presence, the read of a room no model has walked into. Respecting someone’s time, in that light, is an investment in the part of the work a machine cannot make for us. It keeps the advantage on the human side of the clock, where it belongs.

The door still closes at eight. It always has, and what it protects is everyone in that room, whether they made it in or not, being told the truth about what time actually meant.

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Early in my career as a business owner, a pull existed that I could not shake. Somebody needed help with a hiring decision. ‘Say yes’. An organization with no funds wanted a keynote requiring travel and stay. ‘Say yes’. A young woman needed mentoring, a community needed a voice. ‘Yes’ to all of it. The desire to be a super-shero who could leap tall buildings was real; I would fly around helping everyone who asked.

Eventually, it was too much. At the end of the day, when the cape and stilettos came off, there was just a mere mortal standing there. Something had to be left over for the family, and for me. Yet I did not know what to say yes to and what to say no to.

My spiritual advisor is a man admired tremendously in my home. He gives wise counsel. Even more, he helps me think about things in a different way. He helped work through this desire to be a super-shero. He said, “The important thing in life is to know your ministry. Your ministry isn’t to work long hours so you can give every person whatever they ask for. Your ministry is what you are passionate about and gifted to. Once you identify your ministry, then you can passionately give to what, and where, you care about. Giving with passion to one or two things is more powerful than giving to many things out of a sense of obligation.”

That made perfect sense.

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What Ministry Actually Means

The realization came quickly after: the ministry was the business and all of its employees. That was where passion and purpose aligned. When we are in business, the first working responsibility is to that business. When we are not expanding, satisfying our customers, and serving our employees, that is the signal to work more inside the business, not less; not to scatter the effort further outside it.

His counsel also settled a question that used to feel impossible: which charities and nonprofits to support. Hundreds of requests come in each year. Every one of them is worthwhile. We cannot support them all. Knowing the ministry makes the answer clear. Passion for education runs deep. So any education-related request that comes in, we look at seriously and now vet from there. That does not mean there is no care for the others. It means the investment is intentional rather than scattered.

There is an immediate difference between someone passionately committed and someone going through obligated motions. People who are passionately committed have identified their ministry; they know what they have to offer the world. It is the thing they will do regardless.

Let Your Dreams Build Your Purpose

As a teenager, a label got attached to me that was worn without much protest: daydreamer. Sunday school, for me, had a way of sparking the imagination, and Mama heard all of it. One Sunday, a rush of big ideas came home with me, the way teenagers do, fast and certain and unfinished. It led to one of the few times my mother was disappointed to the point of frustration.

She said, “Baby, you come up with all of these great ideas and big dreams, but then you don’t follow through on them. Why don’t you write down those dreams and then figure out a plan for how you’re going to make them happen? Whatever you’re dreaming about, make it your purpose. Then you’ll stay focused on it and make it happen.”

Mama was right. She still is. A great deal was written about ActOne before day one of its existence. The writing made it real enough to plan for; the plan made it real enough to build.

Your Ministry Will Come to You

From a very young age, there was a knowing that doing good was the direction. That desire came from the world around me, not just from any single place of worship. Yet figuring out exactly how to do good, what form it would take, where it would land, happened over time and not on a schedule.

My minister once said, “You don’t have to search for your ministry. It will come to you when you’re ready, if you live on the path of doing good as you do well.”

What that asks of us is simpler than it sounds: be open and pay attention. When your life’s purpose comes to you, it does not always come as a whisper. You will not miss it if you are paying attention to how you live and what you are doing. One day you will discover where you will make your imprint on the world and how you will do your good thing. Then, for the rest of your life, you will know your ministry.

What We Do with All of This

Men and women eventually find themselves asking the question: “What do I do with all of this? I’ve built a career, so what? What now?” It is a common question. The answer lies in that ministry, that good thing that each of us must identify for ourselves.

When you find your ministry, focus on it with passion. Then maybe when you reach this stage of life, you too will have something worth sharing with the next generation.

God bless you.

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On my vision board, there is a picture of a person who matters to me. Around it are the things that must be achieved in alignment with what that picture represents. My vision board travels with me everywhere. On my iPad screen every time it opens. Framed on the wall of my closet at home, which is my personal space, the one I go to when I need to be me in a very defined way. It keeps my courage up where I need it to be.

Courage. That is the word worth reaching for when we think about what a goal actually requires. Strategy is the plan you build once you know what you are moving toward. Courage is what keeps the destination alive long enough to build the plan.

Wishes are not Goals. That has always been true, and it is still true. Goals carry strategies, avoiding wasted thoughts. Yet there is a second error now, quieter and more costly that can occur around this: people are forsaking their goals in favor of their strategies. Moving so fast toward what feels achievable that what was worth wanting gets left behind. You arrive at a completion point, count the check marks, and realize somewhere in the accumulation the original destination went missing. It is sad when that happens. Sad because the person did the work and still did not get what they were after, and the reason has nothing to do with their effort.

The ownership of a home is an example worth holding. Researchers at Northwestern and the University of Chicago published a study on what happens when people stop believing they will ever own a home. They titled it “Giving Up.” What they found is that once the goal feels permanently out of reach, behavior changes entirely: saving stops, consumption rises, work effort drops, and risk tolerance climbs to places it never would have gone. The aspiration dies and the conduct follows it down. This is a goal story wearing a housing story’s clothes, and it is playing out right now across some members of a generation who have decided their path is closed.

Don’t give up on the idea of having a home. A house is not a home. Yet the aspiration of home, of stability, of something built and lasting, of a place that is yours, is worth protecting even when the path has altered the course you must take. The goal you had when you were so much fresher in your adult life may express itself differently than you first imagined. Keeping it alive positions you to recognize the path when it opens. Abandoning it forecloses options you have not yet imagined. That thing you leave off because of what you are afraid of today may be the very thing that could have been the highlight of your goal.

It is not an either/or circumstance. Having a long-term goal you cannot yet reach be supported by a strategy for what is achievable right now, can coexist. What cannot coexist is forsaking the goal for the sake of the check marks.

On a vision board there is usually a picture or a quickly worded outcome. The company goal may be $1,000,000 in sales. The personal vision may be the house you have eyed and intend to buy. Underneath that house are the transactions, the values, and the timelines required to reach it, and one of those may well be the company’s number. The aspiration is not the strategy. The aspiration is what makes the strategy worth executing.

At ActOne, we celebrate this distinction every year through Founders Club. The people who reach certain results earn an all-expenses-paid trip. Jamaica one year, the Dominican Republic the next. Hawaii and Mexico before that. A gala night, the red carpet rolled out, beautiful names called from a stage, many bringing children or significant others along to share the celebration. In the offices, long before anyone has earned anything, the vision boards go up in some employee lounges with pictures of next year’s destination, the team goal written out beside a thermometer marking the progress toward it. What comes back to me time after time from the people who arrive at Founders Club is that it was the vision board that steered them there. By the time we reach that celebration, tremendous accomplishment has already been made. Most of the time, what they earned first was something important to somebody else. A gift to a community charity. A school they wanted to support or send a child to. The trip is not the destination. It is the proof that the aspiration held.

Goals must be checked regularly and moved as soon as achieved, lest stagnation occur. The revision worth resetting is not the timeline. A missed deadline does not retire a goal. Deciding the goal is no longer worth reaching for does. That decision tends to arrive dressed as realism, and sometimes the circumstances producing it are real. Yet real and permanent are not the same thing.

Forty-eight years of building a company and placing people into work has taught one lesson above all others about aspiration. The people who reach what they were after are often not the ones who had the smoothest path. They are the ones who kept the picture on the wall when the path changed. They are the ones whose courage outlasted the circumstance. They are the one who understood that ‘Together, We Win’.

Goals are not wishes. They are the reason the strategy exists at all. Keep the picture on the wall.

Back in the early years of building ActOne, some clients would call us with a specific request. They wanted to hire people who had come through Enterprise Rental Car. Enterprise, at that time, had invested in teaching their people what service meant. Understanding what each car on that lot meant to each person standing in front of you. This brand for this kind of driving. That one for a better cost proposition for short trips. They understood the elements of what they were offering, and how to put it in the hands of the right person. The whole market took notice. Companies were calling us asking for those people by name. Of course, we could not deliver to that specific; however, we could use the quality the requests implied to seek the best candidates to each position being filled. That is what teaching does.

We call it teaching at ActOne, and we were deliberate about the word from the get-go. Whenever companies said they were going to “train” someone, something always pulled at me. You train an animal. Some animals you can teach. Those animals include humans. So, we should be teaching people.

The difference between training and teaching, when my teams asked me to define it, always landed in the same place: you teach by example, applied reasoning, and agreement. You can stand in front of a room and run someone through the system, the process, the measurables. A machine can do that. Teaching is something else. The truest example came from my mother-in-law: your children more attention pay to what you do than what you say. Treat the people with ‘big ages’ around you well. Your kids will notice and learn from your example.

Developing people happens through the behaviors we live in front of them, alongside the investment of structured learning. That is the whole picture.

When the teams at ActOne understood it, a related concern arrived right behind it. Companies were recruiting our employees for the same reason others had gone off to do their own raiding from Enterprise. Our industry rallied to take anyone who had been with us for 18 months.

Those teams would bring me the costs, the hours, the curriculum, all of it. Was it worth it?

“What if we invest all this on development to teach and develop our employees and then they leave?” They would ask.

My answer has been the same since the beginning. What if we don’t develop them and they stay?

A person who grows and leaves carries something you gave them out into the world. That matters. A person who never grew and then stayed: that cost exists in everything, some of which you cannot quite name. In the pace of the work. In the ceiling you keep reaching for and cannot break through. In the culture that has quietly stopped becoming anything at all.

Development is about how much someone enjoys the input, as much as how well they output. How engaged are they in the learning? How invested in becoming more? A person being developed in their work brings something to it that a person merely processed through a training program never will. The difference shows up in how they handle the moment nobody prepared them for.

The people who invest their working lives in building something deserve the same investment before anything is asked of them in return. The large number of team members who have been with ActOne for more than a decade (in some cases, multiple decades), is the return on a mutual commitment made early and never abandoned. From the deepest part of my heart, I value them and appreciate what it means to their time with their families and cares, as much as to their teammates and our company.

Work is where most people invest the weight of their days; it is where we find out some of the stuff of which we are made. The leader who withholds development because the return feels uncertain is making a decision that reaches far beyond a budget line. That decision reaches into who the people around her will be able to become, and into what kind of leader she is going to be.

Developing people IS the work. Every person who walks through the door carries something not yet realized, and how well they grow depends in part on whether we were willing to nurture the circumstance that made it possible. That is a strong element of what it means to lead.

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Work is a blessing. That is a conviction my parents legacied to my siblings and me, and one that nearly half a century in the staffing industry has only deepened. Yet, a blessing withheld of its dignity is a diminished thing, and far too many people have invested their working lives inside that diminishment.

Growing up in Tarboro, North Carolina, Panola Street was a line that defined everything for me. On one side, our neighborhood. On the other, the world of work that many of our neighbors crossed into every morning. What they left behind when they crossed that street was not always visible on the way out. Coming home, it was.

The people on our side of Panola Street went to work in jobs where dignity was not guarantee once they got there. The work was menial. The hours were kept. On Sundays, the churches filled, and they filled for more than one reason. There was the word of God, yes. For those of us who believe, dignity lives at the heart of that word. Yet there was something else drawing people through those doors: the simple, nourishing experience of being seen. Good morning, Miss So-and-so. How is that new grandchild? You look well today. We are glad you are here. People were going to church, in part, because church was where someone greeted them respectfully by name, and meant it. That hunger does not come from nowhere. It is created by the places that withhold it the other six days of the week.

Nearly half a century in the staffing business has taken me to many corners of this world, and one thing holds constant in every one of them: Dignity is what every person deserves. Am I seen? Am I respected? Does the conversation we are having value me as a full human being? Humiliating people into better performance does not work. It burns through talent, burns through hearts, and burns through communities. In companies where the dignity of EVERY worker is built into the culture, high performance and predictable outcomes are common, and innovation soars. When people are individually let go, or lay-offs occur, there is not the brunt of surprise. Communication has supported expectation.

Once, early in the growth of our company, my brother came to me about the need to exit a staff member. That was a big occasion because very rarely did we have to let people go. Before he got to the details, he stopped.

“We’d better remember,” he said, “what Daddy used to say. It’s not what you’re going to tell someone. It’s how you’re going to tell them. Always create a circumstance for them to keep their dignity.” The truth is, when you deny someone their dignity, you lose yours.

Daddy was real big about that, and his words became a part of his legacy to us. In our family, in our community, on our side of Panola Street, dignity was the floor upon which everything else was built.

During forty-seven years of helping people find jobs and build careers, one thing this work has confirmed over and over is that when people choose to leave a company, especially the ones whose departure surprises you, whose absence lands harder than anyone anticipated, the reason is not always pay. It often is relationship. How were they respected? How did they perceive their value to be seen? How often were they thanked? Where do they see their growth opportunity? The energy a person invests in their work is dynamic, and it often is in response to what the environment gives.

In the early days of company, we put a small mirror in front of every phone. We would go into offices, and if we saw a phone without one, we would ask about it. We had these mirrors made with the brand logo in the corner. The reason was simple: when people see themselves as they speak, they bring a different level of energy, a heightened care for honesty, a different quality of attention to the conversation. They see themselves reflected with clarity and dignity with which we see them. Think about it: With that mirror in front of you, you see yourself for what you are saying. What we think we communicate and what we actually communicate are often two different things. And that mirror belongs in every room where the people who make everything else possible are working. When you walk in to thank the coordinator who arranged everything you did not see being arranged, she or he can see herself/himself reflected in your gratitude. Treating them with dignity is a mirror to how you see them.

We tend to, literally, pay our respect based on how well someone’s brand is known. We’ll pay for shirts to wear with an athlete’s or artist’s face placed across our chest and then, pass that celebrity’s family member who may have been instrumental to renown of that celebrity on the street without a word, because the shirt isn’t there to tell us who they are. We pass by some of the most upstanding human beings every day, people who never got a shirt with their face on it and so never received the appreciation they had long since earned. There was a janitor in one of our client companies who noticed, after eighteen years of cleaning a building, that the boilerplate had turned a shade redder than it should be. He flagged it, and saved the building––he was heroic. We learned of this, and that he received no applause. He didn’t ‘get a shirt’. He made due with a simple hand shake and ‘thank you’. My brother, Carlton, decided to quietly take him to dinner one evening after. He presented him with one of our company tee-shirts and a small financial token of appreciation, while letting him know that we valued him. He was not our employee, but he well may have saved our employees’ lives who were working there on assignments. There are heroic things done every day by heroic people, and the silence around them is a choice we are all making.

We are entering an era in which more and more of what gets done will be done by agentic workers, by technology that does not pause, does not tire, does not need a Sunday morning to feel human again. That is coming more and more rapidly and repeatedly, and some of it is welcome. People are daily adjusting their emotions - something the AI and tech does yet do - to ‘survive’, let alone thrive in this changing world. Executives and managers in companies are as uncertain of their futures as are line workers and administrative professionals. Yet, as this era continues to evolve, the obligation from human beings still in the rooms, grows larger. Faces and hearts cannot disappear from work. The people working alongside new systems, and the people receiving what these systems produce, are still full human beings asking the same question people on each side of Panola Street in my early hometown were asking.

Am I seen, with dignity, when I enter here?

Do the people in this place know my name?

The answer to that question has always resided within a leadership decision that guides the values and the cultures. It still does.

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This piece of wisdom is something I’ve been sharing for decades: Do the most important thing first. Not the easiest. Not the most urgent. The hardest. If you know you must make a difficult phone call with an unhappy client, the natural tendency is to put it off until the end of the day or end of the week. You tell yourself you’re getting ready or researching for it, when you know deep down, you’re delaying the potential unpleasantness. The truth is, delaying leads to negative mental energy and stress. It just doesn’t make it easier, nor does it remove emotional pressure by doing the lighter things first. Get the hardest tasks out of the way first. PERIOD. Then enjoy the rest of your day accomplishing the easier stuff.

One of the people I’ve enjoyed learning from over my career is Earl Nightingale, who famously told a story about Ivy Lee’s “$25,000 idea” (sometimes quoted as $50,000) in his talks. It’s a legendary story in the world of productivity and business consulting. It goes like this:

In the early 1900s, Charles M. Schwab, president of Bethlehem Steel (one of the largest steel companies in the U.S. at the time), met with Ivy Lee, a productivity consultant and pioneer of public relations. Ivy Lee told Mr. Schwab that he could dramatically increase his company’s efficiency with a simple method — and he would share it for free. But, he added:

“Try it for a few weeks, and if it works, send me a check for what you think it was worth.”

Mr. Schwab agreed. A few weeks later, he was so impressed with the results that he sent Ivy Lee a check for $25,000 — the equivalent of more than $500,000 today, depending on the estimate — and the idea has since been called the $25,000 or $50,000 idea, depending on the source. The method Mr. Lee gave to Mr. Schwab was simple. If you’ve followed my teachings at all, you know that I propose simple is not always easy.

Here’s what’s involved:

1. At the end of each workday, write down the six most important tasks to accomplish the next day.

2. Prioritize them in order of true importance.

3. The next day, start with the first task. Work on it until it is finished before moving on.

4. Approach the rest of your list the same way.

5. At the end of the day, move unfinished items to a new list of six for the next day.

6. Repeat daily.

While simple does not always mean easy, what’s simple is often powerful. What’s practiced becomes priceless. Although this thinking has been around for some time, it works. One might say, because it’s been around for so long, we know it works! Why?

• It focuses your mind on what matters most.

• It reduces decision fatigue – you already know where to begin.

• It builds momentum by creating daily wins.

• It multiplies results through sustained, focused action.

This idea earned Ivy Lee a $25,000 check in 1918 — because it helped a great company become greater. In truth, its real value is revealed not in dollars, but in what it produces: clarity, momentum, and mastery. This isn’t just about productivity—it’s about leadership. It’s about discipline. And it’s about understanding that ‘discipline is not a dirty word’ - another thing I’ve taught for years.

Today, with so many issues and difficulties colliding transparently around us, we can easily confuse what we have to do with what is happening ‘over there’ or ‘right here’. Defining the scope of our attention to the matters we are charged with, and then approaching them in order of difficulty, can both help us toward completion and help us to separate the ‘noise’ from the real deal.

Why We Avoid the Hard Things

Most people get pre-programmed to think that by disciplining themselves to do difficult work, they must necessarily be giving up something more enjoyable or something better expediently achieved. They focus on the easier, preferred thing—the fun activity they’re missing out on, rather than the positive results they’ll achieve if they do the work.

This is backward thinking. Instead of dreading that difficult conversation or challenging project, focus on the outcome. By tackling the most important - albeit hardest thing first, you’re making an investment in your life. You’re getting closer to your ultimate desired outcomes. You’ll have a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment as you work toward your goal, as well!

When we postpone difficult tasks, they don’t disappear—they compound. That difficult phone call becomes a source of anxiety every time you think about it. The challenging project proposal creates mental clutter that impacts your focus on other work. The hard conversation with an employee becomes a weight you carry into every interaction with your team. Procrastination removes the luster of anything done in place of the thing that should be done.

Research in psychology confirms what many of us know intuitively: unfinished business creates what’s called the “Zeigarnik effect”—our brains keep interrupted or incomplete tasks more accessible in our memory than completed ones. When we avoid hard things, we’re literally keeping them at the front of our minds, creating unnecessary stress.

The Business Impact

In business, this principle creates a ripple effect. When you tackle the most challenging client issue first thing in the morning, you approach the rest of your day from a position of strength. When you have that difficult performance conversation with an employee early in the week, you both have time to process and move forward productively.

Too many leaders procrastinate on hard decisions—delaying layoffs, avoiding difficult strategic pivots, postponing uncomfortable conversations with investors. Every day they wait, the situation gets worse, not better. The hardest thing doesn’t become easier by waiting; it becomes harder.

Here’s how to implement this in your daily leadership:

• Morning Priorities: Before you check email, before you grab coffee, identify the one thing you’re dreading most about your day. Do that first.

• Weekly Planning: On Sunday evening or Monday morning, identify the most challenging task of the week. Schedule it for early in the week when your energy is highest.

• Difficult Conversations: Stop scheduling them for Friday afternoons or end-of-day slots. Have them Tuesday morning. Give everyone time to process and move forward.

• Strategic Decisions: The big, scary decisions that could change your business trajectory? Don’t wait for the “right moment.” The right moment is now.

The Freedom in Discipline

My nearly five decades of business has revealed this truth: Doing the hardest thing first is actually liberating. It’s not about sacrifice—it’s about freedom. Freedom from the mental burden of avoidance. Freedom from the anxiety of procrastination. Freedom to enjoy the rest of your day knowing you’ve already conquered your biggest challenge.

Self-discipline isn’t something to be feared or struggled with. You get to see who you really are and how much you really want something by how disciplined you’re prepared to be. As leaders, we’re being watched. Our teams see how we handle difficult situations. When we model the behavior of tackling hard things head-on, we give our people permission to do the same. We create a culture where challenges are met with action, not avoidance.

The most successful people—whether they’re running billion-dollar companies or just starting their first business—have learned this fundamental truth: The things you’re avoiding are often the very things that will move you forward the fastest. So tomorrow morning, before you do anything else, ask yourself: What’s the hardest thing you need to do today? Then do that first. Your future self will thank you for it.

Discipline has been a guiding principle in my life, and the ability to decide to do things deliberately that will assure reaching a determined outcome has been a key strength. It can be yours too. You often regret the hard work you didn’t do. You never regret the hard work you did.

Here are my top five tips for working from home:

1. Be awake. in voice and appearance! On any technology, your voice and appearance are amplified by the attention required to tele-meet. Treat your home work culture with the same respect required for office work culture.

2. Keep your energy up!!!! Eat well, not overeating nor over-snacking. They’re not the same.

3. Move yourself from distractions. Watch that movie on your own time. If your job doesn’t demand you watch the news, save it for breaks and off duty…especially if you lean to being depressed by it.

4. Take breaks. It’s healthy and legal to do so!

5. Go outside. Fresh air is not a distraction, it is vitamin giving…and we all can use a little more these days.

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Adapted from The Art of Work: How to Make Work, Work For You!

The supreme intelligence is my strength, all of my weaknesses are forgiven. I forgive everybody and I forgive myself; therefore, only good comes into my life.

Understanding that everything that has happened in your life is over, what can save you from a vicious cycle of futile regret is accepting that everything that has happened cannot be changed. The only place that your past mistakes should hold in your mind is in the learning, the growing place. Given that you can’t change the past, you must employ it in the betterment of your life by reflecting upon situations after your emotions have cooled enough to see ‘what really happened’ clearly. This may seem to be an oddly placed message right here; yet, I urge you to understand that passing judgment on yourself is almost as futile as dwelling on things that can never be changed. Understand?

Self-evaluations should be made based upon the character you exhibit once you are truly aware of the considerations at hand. When you step back, with the benefit of hindsight, you become more aware of everything that was in play at the time of an event. Therefore, you can objectively realize and understand the dynamics of an exchange or decision. While ignorance is not a defense in the case of the law (not a legal defense), not fully realizing every aspect of past events sort of is one in life. If you didn’t know, let it go.

However, WILLFUL ignorance truly is no defense. If you have followed the commitments, then you must take responsibility for the decisions that matter, the ones you make NoW! and from this point on. examining yourself shouldn’t cause you to be discouraged or ashamed. It will make you more accountable for what you do once you are armed with broader vision and greater insight into life.

The point here is, you don’t have to add self-doubt (or lack of confidence) and greater accountability to yourself with this exercise. The self-doubt is there to begin with for many of us, whether we vocalize it or not. What you will do in practicing this commitment is alleviate any useless feelings of incompetence and replace them with confidence and competence in realizing your success.

It’s not uncommon to have difficulty in forgiving yourself or others for what might be your, or their stupidity, fumbles and frailties because it is so frustrating when you believe things are no longer within your control. It’s easy to get mad about things that are no longer within your control. What you need to be mindful of is that “They’ve already happened!” Understanding that we all share space in this universe, and that our universe is in divine order, will allow you to enjoy the brief time you are here to your fullest potential.

In order to grow forward, you must forgive and put yesterday behind you. You can certainly survive and continue to harbor grudges, resentments and self-hatred. However, in order to really thrive! you must forgive the things that you have counter productive emotions about. It will not be easy to accept, let alone do, if this is your first time thinking this way. That’s okay. You are learning. It is important that you go through the practice though, so that you can, and will, grow from it.

The ability to forgive someone for an injustice (whether perceived or real) comes easily for me. In fact, this ability is a great blessing. While I may, from circumstance to circumstance, grapple with my own ego in a situation where I feel I have been treated poorly or unfairly, I am still able to completely forgive the perpetrator … and, I most often feel the winner for having done so. In honesty, though, I still struggle every now and then with forgiving myself when I believe that I am the one in error. even when I know beyond a doubt that my error may have been innocent or unpreventable, I experience difficulty forgiving myself.

While raising our children, my husband and I were fortunate enough to be able to take them on family vacations each year. Sometimes we went to North Carolina, USA, to visit with my Bryant side of our family. At other times, we went to Yorkshire, England to visit our Howroyd branch of the family. During one of our trips to Yorkshire, I was bundling the kids into rented car seats while Bernie loaded the boot (…a British word for trunk) of the car we were using. Although our daughter, Kay, was only 18 months at the time, she was quite precocious. She early on fancied herself my helper. She has always been as efficient as she is precocious, and I have enjoyed the assistance and independence she has continuously exhibited. Brett is only fourteen months younger than she, and they were, in many respects, twins as they grew up. on this particular trip, Kay had ‘assisted’ me in strapping Brett into his car seat before we went around to the other side of the car to strap her into hers. The ground was icy with snow, and just beneath the car, the snow had formed a slick and slippery patch. We finally got Kay all bundled in, and when I was closing the door to the car, I slipped. Kay reached out to ‘help’ me, and I slammed the door onto her little fingers!

Let me tell you right now that no serious or lasting damage was done. But, of course, I cried my heart out … and this is the one time that I think I truly frightened my children with my own behavior during their early years. Bernie couldn’t console me, nor could anyone else that day. For the rest of our vacation, I stayed on the verge of tears each time I looked at my precious little baby girl with her fingers all wrapped up from what ‘Mommie had done.’

Luckily, the fingers very quickly healed, and Kay forgot about the accident. She assures me that she doesn’t remember it today. Still, it remains a very strong memory for me. While some of this is due to a maternal instinct, I know that a large part of my regret is evidence that I am a work in progress… I am still a student of my own lessons on forgiveness of oneself. The fact that I am, is evidence that we must all reaffirm ourselves of this lesson with a lifelong commitment!

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When I speak at colleges and universities, students and “soon to be” graduates ask me varying questions. The one that is consistently asked regardless of whether I’m at a public or private institution is…

“How do I make the transition from student to career?”

Here are five tips that will assist you on this new phase of your journey.

1) Career: It’s important that you pay attention to, as well as research, what your future/desired company/employer is doing in their industry. At a minimum, learn how they are generally performing in the market, any news about their current market position or future potential of the industry. You can search information from a company’s website as well as conduct your own research online. If they have public annual reports, get and study the three most recent ones. Annual reports are a good investment tool for shareholders and employees, too.

2) Wardrobe: We should all present ourselves in a manner that expresses us properly within the workplace. Your attire should be consistent with the culture of the organization and always professional. Your clothes should be clean, and it goes without saying you, should always have good personal hygiene. If you find yourself looking in your student closet asking the question, “Is this appropriate for work?”, it’s probably not. There’s a well-known saying that “You should dress for the job you want, not the job you have.” With that being said, you need not break the bank in order to be stylish. Minimalist works well. Invest in classic pieces. Fashion changes, classic does not. Be wise: Invest in stocks not stockings!

3)  Saving Culture: Financial stability is very important to your future. You should intermittently determine the most consistent amount that you can pay to yourself. In The Strangest Secret, I discuss that, ideally, it is good to save 10% of your income. Your job must support you and the ability to save a little over time. If your job does not allow for this, see where you can adjust your lifestyle, or build a timeline to get there! Although the amounts you initially start to put aside may be small, it is important that you start, don’t put it off! Make the financial commitment to yourself.

4) Journal: Writing down your goals (long-term and short-term), aspirations, and dreams is important. It supports your ability to physically see and clearly articulate your desires. Journaling is a great way to track your progress, provide encouragement that reminds you of past successes, and helps to determine your next steps. Don’t wake up one morning and let where you are in life be a surprise. Journal it all! Journaling forces you look.

5). Be Candid and Honest: Communicating with clarity, purpose, candor, and honesty will enable you to communicate with others in a more profound way. It allows you to be about your message in more than just your speech. Communication is not merely talking…it’s listening, seeing, and being invested. This way, you can see things as they are, not as you wish them to be. Candor is best useful because it is data supported. When you’re honest, you’re being complete and utilizing the entire picture. Nothing falls out of context.

It’s important to remember this: Everything you do contributes to your own personal brand. #You can own your life, even when you don’t own the business!

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So often, when I’m asked for advice, it is really about how to win in life; how to settle discourse. One thing I’ve found is that most who are asking, are asking from a position of their rights or being right. Winning in life is truly not so much about being right as it is about getting it right. Here are Four Ways to Win an Argument – any argument.

1. Be Honest – Standing your ground on anything less than truth places you on a shaky foundation. If you’re in conflict with someone smart, they will see through you and chances are, whether you win or lose the argument, you risk losing your friend and your reputation. It’s still true that Honesty is the best policy.

2. Be Prepared – This long standing Boy Scouts motto is founded on wisdom. Whether your argument is fueled at home, at work or at play, if your position is worth arguing for, its worth being prepared for. This means studying to be fully informed, not just fully committed. You may be committed to a viewpoint, but if your picture is not clear, you could lose your whole focus.

3. Be Empathetic – It’s never enough to just know where you’re coming from. Know where ‘they’re’ coming from, too. The Art of War teaches this, and so do I. I’ve learned through many years that winning is not always about a single thing. It is about the opportunity to give, to be reliable and to Love.

4. Understand Compromise – Most arguments, at root, are not born from wanting different things, but from seeing different ways to get to a same result. Ask yourself, “Is this argument about what I want, or about how I win?” Too often, winning becomes more about disengaging the thoughts, rights or things of another than about achieving a result. The wins and the respect you gain in life rely on the respect you give. Compromise is elegant; and, compromise is not about Winner Take All – rather – We All May Win.

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2. Getting rich quick suggests that Money is mainly respected as a reward. Creating wealth usually requires study, time and discipline. Success and money are different things. Sustained, multigenerational wealth – Long Money – is a form of success. Quick Money is fun, but doesn’t last. Turning Quick Money into Long Money is an art.

3. The ways by which money works are not a new phenomenon. We use Bitcoin the same ways we used pebbles. Some people amass wealth and some work from greed. Money isn’t happiness; it’s a part of gaining experience. For many, this is often where life really begins. The value of anything you buy is determined by what you’re willing to pay. In the 17th Century in Holland, tulips sold at what we now consider crazy rates. The Dutch realized that the value of tulips was more about how they sold them than what they were selling! Those who want it first, pay full price; those who are willing to wait for it, pay at discount.

4. Know your own worth. Whether you’re selling talent, skills, ideas or knowledge, it’s important to know who your buyer is and where your market is. Think this way: Who, What, When, Where, How. Who – Who is my customer? Who is going see the value, as I frame it, for what I’m selling? Know that because you love it, or because you’re really good at it, is not always gonna be the buyer’s guide. What – What is my value proposition? What makes my ‘sell’ pop? When – When am I – or my ‘thing’ – ready to go to market? Have I thought it all the way through? If you’re selling a song, does it message well now? If you’re selling your ability to teach, are you fully learned and credentialed now? If you’re selling an app or a technology, is it functional all the way and will it integrate or service wide as is; or is it a great idea in beta stage and ready to be sold for that, alone? Where – Where will I launch my service or my product? Broadway shows launch off broadway for a reason. They test the ‘hit’ value on off-markets so that they work out the glitches, gain the buzz and hone the players to top performance! How – After all is ready, HOW is the secret formula to success. No matter that the product or service is ready and great, HOW it’s perceived is where the money is. This is why some terrific ideas that take years to come to fruition as products – really great products – fail; yet, some successes appear to be ‘overnight successes’. If you want proof, ask Issa Rae of Insecure.

5. Know your true motivation about money. Understand what money really means to you. How does it align with your value of yourself, to yourself and how you value life. Mother Theresa and Gandhi died broke. Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson left fortunes. Yet, some would say Mother Theresa and Gandhi lived rich lives and Elvis and Michael died broken. Whatever your true motivation, it’s your right. Just be honest about it and then dedicate to it. If you’re a manager of people, remember that you cannot achieve your monetary goals without lifting those you lead. If you seek stardom, remember that you may shine like sun or moon, or burst and fade like a meteor – depending on how you serve your customer. Always attach your true desire to service you are prepared and happy to give. From these will come your wealth.

Watch the rest of The Strangest Secret on YouTube.

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Originally I was introduced to The Strangest Secret by my hero, Bernie. In fact, it was the first gift he gave me when we were dating. After we married, I noticed just how much the little book, The Strangest Secret, served as a catalyst (along with his work ethic) to him earning his first million dollars in business. Similarly, I have learned from this book principles that have helped to guide my decisions personally and professionally.

You may be asking: “Who is Earl Nightingale?” or “What is The Strangest Secret?” or “Why is it relevant to me – today?’ While many are familiar with The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, or have heard motivational advice from the likes of Tony Robbins and others, few younger generations seem to be woke to the original source of these lessons.

Earl Nightingale was a pioneer in the self-help and motivational industry. He was also a radio program host inspired by reading Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, and in 1956 he recorded the spoken word album, The Strangest Secret. It went on to sell over a million copies and became the first spoken-word record to go Gold.

Our world has significantly changed since Earl shared his principles in the 1950’s, but his message is perhaps now more relevant than ever. Technology has supported our societies to be more informed and connected. Still, people are more lost, unhappy, and dissatisfied than ever. Young people are despondent, fearful, uncertain, and have lost a measure of hope and excitement about their futures. Sadly from what I can tell, an entire generation has never heard of Earl Nightingale nor The Strangest Secret. Now they will greatly benefit from this message. My timeless piece about motivation, mindfulness, and character development will impact the world as the gift that keeps on giving, and I want to share this gift with you.

Truly, I’m fully lit about my partnership with Nightingale-Conant, and will be re-recording and releasing several audiobooks of Nightingale’s recordings, beginning with The Strangest Secret. My re-releases contain more inclusive messaging and my updates include statistics and quotes from some of our greatest thought leaders, including Nelson Mandela and Buddha. My versions are gender-inclusive, and for the first time, contain a women’s point of view. Many of these older books focused on saying things such as: “when a man” instead of “when a person” – and I believe that words matter and do make a difference.

You can download my updated The Strangest Secret audiobook on Nightingale.com and Audible. It is my hope that all of us will now gain new wisdom from Earl Nightingale’s original recordings and apply them to our lives. What has been so instrumental in my own business and personal success can now bring you the same! In the words of Nightingale, “We become what we think about.” Remember “you have nothing to lose but you have a life to win.”

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Adapted from The Art of Work: How to Make Work, Work For You!

Every single step you take, every list you make, must be supported by your confidence in your ability to succeed.

I grew up with a strong identity as part of a group that was my family and my local community, and I’ve been diligent to build myself as an individual. One of the ways I have accomplished my goals is by acting as though failure is never an option for me. This means that I’ve worked very hard to evaluate myself with an open mind as I’ve developed myself. I know that along with a concrete sense of self and a firm individual identity comes the power of choice. This does not require me to give up my sense of community, or the warmth and security I enjoy as a family member. What has been necessary for me to enjoy my power of choice is to abandon any thinking that allows my choices to be determined outside of myself.

Acting as though you cannot fail dynamically empowers you to make better contributions to all your efforts and relationships than you could otherwise. Being the weakest link in any group has never appealed to me, and I do not believe that working to be the strongest link in the chain is in opposition to the spirit of teaming or family. I encourage you to think carefully on where your own convictions lie about areas of your work and your life that you seek to improve.

My first rule for myself is “Never compromise who you are personally to become who you wish to be professionally.” To act as though you cannot fail, you must act from motivations and beliefs that are truly your own.

People often ask me, “How did you get so successful?” Then, they look at me befuddled when I give them my honest answer, “I dream about it! Every night! I never see failure in my dreams.” Even when it appears that the odds are stacked against me, I maintain confidence in my ability to succeed. My track record proves that I am correct to believe so. One expression that articulates how I look at situations of this nature is the commonly used phrase: ‘seeing the glass as either half-empty or half-full.’ Another, which I cannot repeat often enough is, “Jobs don’t have futures; people do!” I don’t always know the details of every situation I’m faced with, but I always act believing that I will succeed. You are not being a gambler when you take calculated, educated risks in your work, if you’ve done your best to prepare and bring your best to the situation. The odds are highly in your favor that you will succeed.

Remember this one thing, too. There is a big difference between acting earnestly and acting with bravado. You must be prepared to weed out the things that don’t work in your life, and to plant and water, in their place, the things that need to grow. From day to day, you will be better at some more than others. While you may not be aware of, or fully understand, every circumstance you encounter, you have subconsciously influenced those circumstances. The seeds in the garden that awaits you have been planted long before you see what will sprout. Still, it was you who planted them. The energy and spirit with which you approach your life from this day forward affects your state of mind both consciously and subconsciously. This is an amazingly powerful piece of knowledge for you to work with. No one ever really wakes up on the wrong side of the bed. Maybe, they just laid down to rest with the wrong kind of head.

The power of positive thought is more than just the ability to put on your good game face. You truly must re-orient the direction and focus of your thoughts. The direction you take them in will invariably guide your decisions and actions. In any garden, growth comes as the result of the concerted efforts of many factors: the land, timing, weather, seeds chosen for planting, and the planter’s toil. Just like a garden, any place you find yourself will have been affected by many things. Unlike a garden, you are in charge of most of these things. Your mind is the place from which greatness can bloom. Plant the seeds of your choosing–positive or negative. Your mind is more fertile than any soil. While there may come things beyond your control, they cannot alter what you have already firmly planted, planned and nurtured. Let that be your success. If you really commit, you will achieve a progressively enjoyable work and life experience.

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As I work to fulfill the role of chief executive for a global company and of socially responsible leadership, I invest about three weeks of each month away from home. It continues to be important to me to personally engage with my clients and teams globally. When I’m away from the comforts of home there are a few things I never travel without:

1. Black Forest Candles: Smell is key to comfort for me. When I walk into my home, I enjoy inhaling sweet, refreshing smells that bring a sense of calm to my spirit as well as a smile to my face. Candles offer my hotel rooms the personalized touch of scents from home. As I alter scents in my home, so do I alter the candles that travel with me to places often unfamiliar. Investing as much time as I do as a guest of different hotels all over the world, it’s nice to have the scent of my home present when talking from a distance with my loved ones! Right now, that’s Black Forest by Archipelago.

2. Onesies: Whether I’m at home or in a hotel, the second thing I do upon entering the bedroom is jump into my onesie. Having nothing between me and my onesie keeps me comfy and free to move in all directions…whether cooking, tasking or even – from time to time – conference calling! There isn’t one particular brand of onesies that I suggest, as I love them all!

3. Vitamins: Often, I’ve declared that ‘discipline is not a dirty word’, and following the example of many smart people, ‘I don’t live to eat…I eat to live’. In addition to smart eating, I believe in supplementing my diet with daily vitamins. Health is true wealth and I am devoted to leading a healthy lifestyle. My body is my temple and I honor it from the inside out. My daily vitamin regime ensures that I am able to perform at an optimal level for my business, clients, and family. I take a personalized blend that my acupuncturist created for me, but you can have excellent vitamins added to your daily diet by asking your doctors what vitamins would be best for you.

4. iPad: I have fully embraced and enjoy technology. If you’ve followed me on social media for any time at all, you know that My iPad is always with me! I engage apps, check my email, listen to music, and receive news updates. Based on the advantages of technology, everyone can run a business from an iPad! (….. or from a smartphone). My iPad not only keeps me connected to my businesses; it also keeps me present to my family. I can FaceTime with my husband, children, and all who I dearly love. Staying proactive with emails and texts while on the move helps me keep pace with the obligations of each day.

5. Headphones: Next to onesies, candles and flowers, one of my favorite things is my Solo Beats 3. No airline-issued headphones for me. My Beats allow me to remove ancillary noises and comfort myself with privacy, while being thoughtful to those around me. True up! Everyone would want to hear what I’m listening to during flights; however, my Beats give me the freedom to please only me! From a technical standpoint, the audio is always very crisp and clear, and beats are so comfortable that you can often find me with them around my neck between flights! One more thing……Beats are awesome to listen or watch ‘me only’ stuff when in hotels with thin walls or next to my resting Hubbie:)

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Adapted from The Art of Work: How to Make Work, Work For You!

Let me tell you now, the process of finding a job is a job, itself! The best way to be successful in your job search or career advancement is to have a well-defined Plan and team with someone on it before you go into Process. Your search Plan needs to be designed specifically for you, giving consideration to your goals and timelines, personal circumstances and requirements, and your resources.

My best and natural recommendation is for you to work with a professional who is not only adept at escorting people with your skills through their job searches, but who also has a rich number of employers who depend on and trust their guidance in their hiring needs. A really good recruiter will receive their fee from the employer who has come to trust their ability, often based on a history of success. Career coaches may charge you a fee to work with you. Either way, professionals can help you to navigate opportunities and make sure you are getting first-rate introductions to employers who are likely to hire you.

If you cannot or choose not to work with a professional agency, you still need to be thorough in planning your job search or career advancement. Some of the things you should plan ahead are:

Your Commitment

As I’ve told you, finding a job is a job, itself. You need right now to determine what your commitment to this process is going to be. Consider things like how much time you can dedicate to active searching and interviewing. If you have obligations that require your time during the regular working hours, make sure you factor them into how busy and dedicated you can be. An agency will ask you this question before they ever agree to present you to employers who are depending on them to bring ready and available candidates forward. Get a scheduling book and log your search activities, interview commitments and travel time to and from companies. It is very important that you are clear about just what effort you are making.

The emotional engagement you have to thinking about your situation can easily begin to feel like work, but it doesn’t count as work! Be specific about what you are actually doing to gain your next job.

Your Resume

The picture employers get of you before they meet you is important. One picture they depend on is the resume you present. The picture employers get of you before they meet with you is important. One picture they depend on is the resume you present. Again, Agencies are a great resource for assisting you to create a fresh, honest and detailed resume that best describes who you are and what value you will bring to an employer. There are also websites and books that can help you to create your own resume. Among them are resume.com and their text,

The Resume.Com Guide to Writing Unbeatable Resumes. Some other books that will assist you are Cover Letter Magic: Trade Secrets of Professional Resume Writers. My company AppleOne offers a highly comprehensive guide to resume writing and career search, The Core to Success.

Some good guidelines for creating your own resume are: 

• Know Who You’re Talking To: Your resume should speak clearly and persuasively to each employer you are meeting with. While the substance of your work history will remain the same, highlights of your accomplishments or organizational affiliations can be tailored to the employer you will meet with. It’s always an excellent point of etiquette and interest when I review a resume that is addressed directly to me, rather than to “To Whom it May Concern” or “Hiring Manager”. It shows me that the person I’m investing time to get to know has invested time to know me and my organization, as well.

One more thing that is very important to mention here is that once you’ve refined your resume, go online and see if there is any contradictory information about you. Employers will look into Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and the rest to learn what they can about you. You need to be comfortable and honest in addressing any questions that may arise as a result of information existing about you on the internet. You also need to be careful and discerning about allowing pictures of yourself to be posted that may not best express how you want to be represented to any future employers. This is just as important to consider, even if you are already hired and looking for promotion, or just wanting to keep the job you’ve got.

• Keep It Concise: Employers and interviewers are going to be looking at more than just your resume as they make hiring decisions. You want your resume to get you into the door, but you can leave something to talk about once you’re there. Don’t make your resume your life story. Keep to the point of your accomplishments and start all descriptions with action verbs; i.e. developed, managed, created, etc. Be clear and just as concise in expressing the results of any highlights of your work that you mention.

• Keep It Relevant: No matter how good you have been over your career, it’s how good you are now that is important to anyone offering you a chance at new work. This point matters incredibly for new entrants to the job market, so if you are searching for your first job, be certain to include your most recent organizational or temporary work accomplishments. Degrees and honors help to support this area of consideration, and certainly high-quality references will bring pizzazz to your resume. So, while job searchers who have abundant work references and a rich work history may put “References provided upon request” on their resumes, it can be a great plus for you to put “References are available from Name-organization-etc” on yours. It puts you in a better and more legitimate light.

If you are someone who has an illustrious body of work of which you are proud, don’t make your resume the place you shout about this. Keep the employer in mind, and include only what will get them interested enough to want to talk with you and confident enough that you bring expertise and credibility to their need. Any next employer, or position you win, is not going to pay you based solely on what you think you’re worth. They are going to pay you based on what they think your worth is to their organization. So, start to paint the picture of that right up front. Make your resume highlight your best accomplishments as you think each particular employer will find beneficial to their company. Be very clear about your most recent work accomplishments.

In years past, one of the strongest areas of anyone’s resume or interview would be highlighting and identifying their experience, and much of this would lean toward the length of time on the job, or within a particular position. This was a signifier to the hiring executive that the applicant was dependable in several ways. Today, while a strong history of dependability is still desirable, employers are often giving equal weight to freshness and stellar skills when making their hiring decisions. They want people who bring new thoughts and creativity to the job, no matter what the job is! Companies today are more willing than ever, and some are insistent, to look at a new entrant to the job market who comes prepared, listens and answers well, has a great attitude and actually asks for the job!

As I’ve told you, this is a new and global market, and everyone wants to hire someone who shows a potential to assist them in their growth. If you have other value adds, like multilingual skills or killer software proficiencies, list them! Don’t write a book about them, but do make sure they are represented on each resume you create. These are the types of values that might place you above someone else whose resume is not as on point as yours. They might also help the employer to think about how, or where else, you might fit into their organization!

• Make It Professional: Once you know who you’re talking to, and what you want to say about yourself, create a resume that is easy and quick to read, and is spell-checked and in clean print. Fancy covers and pictures of yourself are not going to make you stand out to someone who is interested in getting a critical picture of your talents and accomplishments. Remember that your resume has to do these things:

1. Quickly give a clear and results-oriented picture of your abilities and work history

2. Highlight your education, as appropriate

3. List pertinent certifications, memberships, organizational accomplishments

4. Enumerate value-added skills you may bring such as multilingual abilities and software proficiencies.

Once you’re comfortable that you have demonstrated these things, make sure they are put down on a single sheet of clean paper in a good strong print, and that your contact information is prominent. Make them want to meet you, and give them the ability to do so!

The post What Makes A Great Resume appeared first on Janice Bryant Howroyd.

Adapted from The Art of Work: How to Make Work, Work For You!

Can you remember clearly what you were like as a child? What were your dreams, hopes and ‘favorites’? Are you that person you thought you would become?

Many young people struggle with figuring out what they want to be when they grow up. Truth be told, many not-so-young people struggle with this dilemma, too. When I was young, I did not know precisely what I wanted to be when I grew up. What I did know was that I wanted to impact people’s lives in a socially meaningful way. The world I knew then was redefining itself all around me, just as the world is going through big changes around us, today. 

When I became a teenager, one very different thing happened for me that broadened my options for the future. I participated in a program called Project Upward Bound, which was created by the US Congress as part of the 1965 Higher Education Act. Project Upward Bound was designed to assist with the academic and life opportunities for students from first-generation American and low-income families. This program uses both university professors and university students to teach the participants in on-campus classes, where everyone resides over the summer. Project Upward Bound really provided me with my first view of what college life was all about. It also gave me my first view of who I could become, away from home. During the summers that I participated in this program, I learned to think strategically and creatively about what I wanted my future to be. Today, I’m very happy that I’ve achieved many of the dreams that I had for myself at that time … and the process of fulfilling them is not over yet!

Education is one of the best investments you can make in yourself. It doesn’t matter how much you already know, nor how many degrees you may or may not have; continuous learning is critical to ensure you enjoy a secure and fulfilling future. Technology demands that we keep learning if we are to stay relevant, and the aging process in and of itself requires that we know what’s going on around us in order to survive and enjoy our futures.

While success can come with jobs for which the main draw isn’t the salary, financial stability is very important to your future. When many people take a new job, they care about the benefits that come with that job, but do not always get retirement packages as part of that. That is something they are forced to think about much later in life. Most people’s financial standing is personal to them, and I’m sure that yours is to you. There is no way for me to know what percentage of your income you can afford to put aside, preferably in a savings account, for your future. However, I am sure that if you are currently employed, you should try to find some amount that you can pay to yourself, for your future. If you are not working for pay right now, make this the first financial commitment you make once you are employed. You already know what it’s like to want a savings!

It is vital that you get into the habit of managing what resources you do have and bring in. It is also vital that you understand that the best investment you can make is the one you make in yourself. Financial markets may go up or continue to plunge, but the investment you make in yourself can only continue to reap you benefits and profit. 

The principle of investing in yourself applies to you, whether we are talking about money, your education or your relationships. After all, learning to its fullest the job you are paid to do today, and fully applying yourself to it, creates insurance for your employability tomorrow. Many companies, especially larger corporations, are hiring workers very differently than they did in the past. Jobs are being done from all across the world that once were contained to large corporate campuses. Smaller firms are utilizing technology and the remote service that it makes possible to maximize their potential and lessen their financial burdens. This sometimes means the loss of job opportunities in some local communities.

Being highly skilled and enthusiastic in your work puts you in a much better position to be hired, which is important regardless of how secure you may think your current employment is. And, if you are not currently employed, the energy and attention you give to your continual education and to refining your skills is even more critical to the value you will be perceived as able to bring to a hiring company.

Then, there’s also the investment you make in your relationships, as well as your educational, financial and work stability. My husband puts it very clearly with respect to relationship security when he says, “The best time to tell your wife that you love her is before someone else does!” The surest method of keeping the relationships that you value strong and growing is by understanding and appreciating the people you care about right now.

Don’t wait to say ‘I love you’ or ‘Thank you’ because you think you’ll have tomorrow to do it. Don’t take it for granted that your significant other, parent, or child will always be there, and that you can put them on hold. Life is precious, and life on earth is not eternal. Make them the most important people you have to show appreciation to, because after all, they are the most important people in your life. 

Likewise, the people you work with are the most important people you can impress with your skills and productive value so that you can move ahead in your job or career. How you provide follow up, and respect and show appreciation for them, represent your desire to continue your relationships throughout your career. When you understand this, you begin to master the art of work.

You will wake up one day to realize that your future has come. When that day comes for you, will the thing you are now promising yourself be real? Will you be doing, getting or giving it, just as you are promising yourself today that you will? What often happens is that many people get caught by trying to have the quick life. They want it ALL right now … the money, the houses, the cars, the stuff. 

We do need to enjoy every day of our lives; learning to appreciate the small things that you can afford right now, instead of trying to live a dream life that you can’t yet support is just not smart. Step back regularly and measure your happiness along the way to your future. Learn the difference between obsession and passion for yourself. Check to make sure that it is your dream you’re working toward, rather than someone else’s for you.

Be sure that as you are dreaming of, and planning for your future, you are honest about what you really want. Money and career won’t make it happen alone. You’ve got to make the full investment. That requires being clear with the people who matter to you, because they matter to your ability to enjoy life as well. No matter where you are in your work life, step back right now to think about how everything else in your life fits for you.

Here’s the good news. Temporary sacrifices and discomforts do not add up to an unhappy or unfulfilled life. once those moments are over, you most often find that they have aided in your own development. Once, I saw an Army shirt with this statement printed on it: “Pain is just weakness leaving the body.” That may seem extreme to you, but I’m sure you can grasp the real meaning of “Tough times build character.” Going through tough times doesn’t mean that you can’t be happy. Most of us will. But, none of us needs to stay in them!

You may be overwhelmed by many of the day-to-day concerns that we all have at some point in our lives. Bills, education, and relationship challenges are all very real matters that require and deserve serious attention. You may delude yourself into thinking that you have too much to do right now to deal with your future. This is exactly the time that you should evaluate and assess your life. You may decide to get the help or perspective of someone who knows you and cares about you, if you don’t want to do this alone. However, willful blindness is not going to help you to own your future. Looking clearly and honestly at your work and your life are very important, if you are to begin to own your future. If enjoying and loving your work is an art, then owning your future is the signature you put to it.

The post Own Your Future appeared first on Janice Bryant Howroyd.

Adapted from The Art of Work: How to Make Work, Work For You!

Communication is a sharing process that enables all of us to work and live harmoniously and productively with one another. Speaking is one of the most powerful means you have of communicating, and how well you speak can work for you or against you. A poorly expressed message can ill serve even the best intention. So, it’s very important to your success in work, and in life, that you are artful in the process of your communication. It is very important that you understand this: What you say gives people a good idea of what you may do.

When you speak, whether you know it or not, you are doing so in one of two ways. You are either speaking in a direct way or an indirect way. Once you understand the difference between the two, and how each can be effective or ineffective to your success, you become more empowered to achieve your goals. In your work environment, this is one of the most important lessons you can learn. Direct speech happens when you are clear about what you mean and leave no hidden or contradictory messages in it.

Indirect speech happens when you are not clear, or try to manipulate by leaving ambiguity in your message.

If you are not clear about your message when you communicate, it doesn’t matter whether you have a direct or manipulative intent. You leave the message that is heard up to chance. With so many methods of communicating in today’s work environment, it’s good to be at your best wherever you can.

Think before you speak!

This is still one of the soundest pieces of advice you will ever receive. It allows you to be about your message in more than your words. Knowing where you want to go with your communication, and who you want to receive it, allows you to consider which words you use, and how you use the power of intonation. Thinking ahead ensures that you cover all your points, and that you get to evaluate your own message, before you deliver it.

Considering the culture of the person or persons you are speaking with is extremely important. Communicating in a manner that signals you have no initiative other than to complete your point is one of the fastest ways to create shutdown. Many people at all levels of business fall short here. Sometimes it may be because you are just so excited or rushed about what you want to say, and sometimes it may be because you are trying to impress someone with your knowledge or how well you’ve got a situation handled. The reason you’re bent on finishing it doesn’t matter; if you do so without engaging the other person and allowing them to interact, you will lose them. Body language will signal to you if they’re with you, and if they want to interact. Being sensitive to this can oftentimes help you more than simply doing all the talking, yourself. Another danger in talking too much is that you risk causing information overload.

You dull the recipient’s ability to take it all in, and if this is happening between two different personal or business cultures, you can create panic or cause the other person to simply give up on the conversation. Have you ever witnessed this? It’s not pretty.

Be very aware of the business culture you are working in. It’s never a bad idea to use basic and clear language, especially if you are working across cultures. It’s also a good idea to slow down your natural pace of speech. This will help to ensure that everyone you speak with has the opportunity to digest what you’re saying. This doesn’t mean that you should talk really slow, or that you should yell ... It means that you should listen for the tone with which others are communicating and pace yourself to that.

There is also, at work, the need sometimes to have your message delivered by someone other than you. Your entire message can get lost as more and more people participate in relaying it. Be very careful when you are a part of message relay, and when you are requesting someone pass a message on for you. If your message is critical, where possible and appropriate, use your own voicemail system or email.

Another good tip regarding direct messaging is to encourage the recipient of your message to reply immediately. This will help you to know how they’ve interpreted your message, or if they have selectively picked parts of it to respond to or act on.

The whole conversation around speak as though the whole world hears is complex. Obviously, the whole world is unlikely to hear anything you say. The point is that whoever in the world does hear you should hear something that is beyond reproach ... something that can stand up to any scrutiny.

Speaking as though the whole world can hear, when you truly understand it, involves how you brand yourself at work and life. It helps to decide how you get along in your job. If you are going to succeed at your work, regardless of whether or not you’ve identified your ideal career, or are doing the job that keeps you in bread and butter, you must learn to speak–communicate–as though the whole world can hear you. This means that you must pay thoughtful and professional attention not just to what you say, but how and when you say it. Part of this means understanding to whom you are saying it, because that will also impact what it is they hear.

Knowing that the whole world hears you, means working to stay on point all of the time --- being totally committed to the goal(s) you’ve set for yourself, and then living completely inside of it.

Communicating with clarity and purpose will enable you to communicate with others in a more profound way. It will also allow you to be about your message in more than just your speech. Knowing where you’re going and how you’re getting there ensures that you send the message in everything you do; your communication to your support system, family, friends, and all others.

Communication is not merely talking ... It’s listening, seeing, and being invested, too.

Total communication ensures your clarity and supports your intuition as a thoughtful listener. It’s encompassed in your follow-through to the commitments you make and it requires you to deliver results on your intention.

We should all present ourselves in a manner that facilitates expressing ourselves properly. Others receive us not solely based on the words we use, but on how we come across when and how we say those words. When you communicate fully, you are able to speak pointedly! Remember that when you do, the whole world can hear you!

Last week, my family and I celebrated three nephews who are all entering NCA&TSU as freshmen. Two are entering the School of Engineering and one will enter the School of Business. As a matter of fact, one is an honor student and so excited that he’s already on campus and taking classes! These are fine young men who, in addition to being stellar students, are outstanding athletes. One is a golfer, one a quarterback (American football), and one a marching band member. Quite a year they each will have!

My family teaches that, in a world with constantly changing politics and economies, education is freedom. We’ve been taught that for generations. Get that: Education is Freedom. Often, this translates into: Go to college. Yet, even more often these days, I’m asked if a college degree is really needed, or relevant, for success. This question is sometimes accompanied by stories of people we know who have enjoyed incredible successes or engaged in outstanding careers.

When I’m asked if college degrees are relevant today, I never generalize. Because I have not deliberately gathered the statistics/data on this, I do not offer generalizations. What I do answer is, “Relevant to what?” If your aspiration is to be a legally practicing physician, then you’d better get that degree AND internship. If you’re a tinkerer and inspired to invent, study what supports your curiosity and process. Community colleges remain strongholds for entrepreneurs and semi-professionals who become well paid trades-people. Imagine life without an electrician or a plumber! How about the many healthcare workers who support the ‘professionals’? Are they not professionals, as well…and would life be as good without them?

Growing up in the South during the 1950s, I was taught that being African American AND being female, I would have to work oftentimes harder than the professional men I would meet to get half as far as they did. Hence, I rushed to college, as did each of my siblings. While all of us did not graduate university, each of us took the road of education to ensure our freedom. Most as college degreed professionals, and others as skilled tradespeople and business owners. Each using education to assure freedom. Freedom from poverty, freedom of expression, and freedom to personal and family security.

Arriving in Los Angeles in the late 1970s I quickly realized that, depending on which industry one chooses, it is often as important who you know (contacts) as what you know (educational degrees). Mind you, everyone in La La Land is not in the ‘industry’ (entertainment). Still, no matter in what industry or which geography you explore your career options, who you know is vital. That is one reason employment agencies exist: to ensure you are represented in your best, truthful light to companies who you wish to be introduced to. The agencies, if you will, vet you, your background, education and experience…and….in the end, all of them matter!!!

Here are a couple of things to consider when deciding if a college degree is still relevant to, or for, you:

• Many important networks are established for those who do attend college, join the professional organizations associated with their chosen professions, and share each other’s contacts and experiences.

• Look at the profiles of key people who are enjoying career successes in the area or thing you wish to succeed in. Evaluate their known network, education and personal strengths and talents. Match those against your own best measure of yourself, and decide where the gaps are AND where the need for your growth exists most.

Sometimes, it’s true, that it’s the completion of a degree, to whatever level you endeavor, that is measured more for your ability to stick with a decision as much as to complete the course of study; especially if you are a generalist. Regardless, the sense of personal accomplishment is sure to accompany the path that is eased by your determination to study, learn and grow in your chosen career.