Becoming Steve Jobs by Brent Schlendler and Rick Tetzeli is an outstanding book (especially if you’re an Apple Geek, Fanboy, and Investor like myself). Their book explains how Steve Jobs chose to adapt and transform his management style and behavior after Apple fired him in 1985. Fast Company’s April 2015 issue summarizes chunks of their book in the following articles:
Believe It or Not, Steve Jobs Reinvented Himself. Jobs learned from his management and behavioral failures. He successfully applied those lessons to reinvent himself in the second half of his career. Along the way, he and a crackerjack executive team transformed Apple into the world’s most valuable company. (more…)
Covering: A term used to describe the ways in which outside groups – women, minorities – try to cover up, minimize or disguise their difference. For women, this may manifest in any number of ways: never talking about domestic life, feigning an insincere interest in golf or football, steering clear of discussions on diversity.
Calculating: Research shows that women are just as willing to compete in a game if – and it’s a big if – they believe they have a good chance of winning. In the Olympics, women entered confident that they competed on a level playing field – on which they could, and did, win. At work, women are very good at gauging their chances, eschewing contests in which they’re likely to fail.
So the challenge for women isn’t that they lack competitiveness or drive. It’s that they are shrewd estimators of risk and therefore spend too much energy trying to fit in, instead of standing out. And one way not to stand out is not to look ambitious or to ask for stretch assignments that we might not get.
That Highlighted Quote Concerns Me
I’m a Dad and Uncle of Two Remarkable Daughters and Four Incredible Nieces. My daughters are still young (10 and 3 years old). Two nieces are in university (the other two are pre-high school and kindergarten). Every time I see them it’s a gift. Time vanishes as I see their personalities, self-image, and self-confidence transform.
Please Don’t Jump to Conclusions by this Article’s Title. My mission as a parent (and uncle) isn’t to develop the next Most Powerful Women in a Fortune Magazine Most Admired Company. My goal as a parent and role model (I hope a good one on both counts) is to guide and encourage my female loved ones to:
Choose To Stand Out
Define What Standing Out Means For Them
Make Smart Choices Leading to Healthy, Productive, Fulfilling, and Independent Lives and Careers
I Value Relationships with Women Who Stand Out
I Gravitate to Proactive and Strategic Thinkers. I’m grateful some of these smart, generous women provide their friendship and advice. Others, I have yet to earn the privilege of meeting face-to-face. I’m lucky they’ve granted permission to directly communicate via emails, social media, blog commenting, etc.
Building and nurturing these relationships are important to:
Benefit Each Other. I hope I help them as much as they help me.
Learn and Understand The Female Perspective. I don’t know what I don’t know. I seek first-hand experience from women I know and trust. That’s the only way I’ll be able to help my loved ones face situations when I have no frame of reference (like what Heffernan describes in her Fortune article).
6 C-Suite Traits Emerge Among Female Business Executives Who Stand Out
Forgive Me for Focusing on Business World Examples. I’m aware of success patterns in other fields such as the arts, healthcare, entertainment, and education. I’m a marketing and corporate strategy geek. My stock and trade: identifying and uncovering trends/patterns from multiple industries.
Here’s What I Observe. These are the patterns and traits I am going to advise my daughters and nieces to practice so they stand out:
They Practice the 4 R’s: Risk, Relentlessness, Resilience, and Reinvention
They Write With Purpose
They Possess the Courage to Speak Up
They Connect Others
They Deliver Generosity (with a Stick of Butter and a Smile)
They Fake It, Till They Become It
1. They Practice the Four R’s: Risk, Resilience, Relentlessness and Reinvention
I Read Those Words and Think of Julie Roehm. Julie embodiessafe is risky (and risky is safe). I’ve tracked Julie's career moves since 2005. She was THE Marketing Strategy Purple Cow of the automotive industry. She could have stayed in Detroit, but she took a risk in accepting a new challenge in the retail industry with Walmart.
It didn’t work.
I respect her for leaving an industry she knew like Coach Pat Summitt knows championships. If she stayed in Detroit, Julie could have continued making a great salary and building her sizable expertise and reputation. She took on a high-profile risk to learn if she could adapt and excel in a different corporate culture and industry (direct quote from a Fast Company 2009 article):
"I wanted to be able to show that I can adapt anywhere, I can do anything. The thing I learned about myself is that I'm not a full-on chameleon, and there's nothing wrong with that."
Julie Roehm Learned and Recovered from a HUGE Career Setback. That type of public, high-flyer mishap would have crushed most people. Not Julie.
Julie was Relentless. She Showed Up Everyday. I’m glad she did. I’d miss her marketing talent, charisma, and chutzpah if she didn't. All successful women (insert your definition of success here) understand and practice the power of reinvention. Here’s great advice from my reinvention hero — the brilliant Dorie Clark:
I’ll Counsel My Daughters and Nieces to Seek Out and Welcome that "I’m Afraid Feeling.” If they have that feeling, they’re on track to doing or making something important. If it doesn’t work out, I want them to have the self-confidence and awareness they WILL recover. Because, they’ll be wiser and smarter for attempting "whatever it was."
“How Can I Write Like That?” I ask that question every time I read and study Ann’s work. I can’t (and I wouldn’t expect my daughters and nieces to either). There can be only one.
Here’s Ann purpose for Everybody Writes (direct quote from page eight):
What’s harder is to find a book that functions for marketers as part writing and story guide, part instructional manual on the ground rules of ethical publishing, and part straight talk on some muscle-building writing processes and habits.
What’s also hard to find is a book that distills some helpful ideas about the craft of content simply and (I hope) memorably, framed for the marketer and businessperson, as opposed to say, the novelist or essayist or journalist.
I wrote this book because I couldn’t find what I wanted—part writing guide, part handbook on the rules of good sportsmanship in content marketing, and all-around reliable desk companion for anyone creating or directing content on behalf of brands.
I drew on this advice when I was a new research analyst and published less-than-rosy recommendations, when most of Wall Street was bullish and left me feeling exposed. I drew on it when senior executives of a couple of the companies I covered tried to have my boss fire me because they didn’t like that research. I drew on it when I was named Director of Research and we decided to take ourselves out of the investment banking business because we believed the client conflicts were too meaningful. And I drew on it in the recent market downturn, when my then-company and I disagreed on how to treat individual investors who had suffered investment losses from our products.
Those were important. But its greatest impact may have been in less-public ways. Early on, this advice enabled me to “find my voice.” There is plenty of research that shows women are less likely than men to speak up in business meetings or state their opinions;many report that it is because their upbringing conditioned them to not stand out and to wait their turn. But sometimes the meeting is over before their turn comes. Having the confidence that standing out need not be a point of shame – but indeed can be a point of pride, particularly for the right reasons – can make the world of difference….perhaps especially for us southern females.
Speaking Up Means Sharing Your Experiences to Help Others. Sallie’s LinkedIn Influencer Articles are vital in career development. I love her articles not only because her insights benefit me but also because her experiences guide me as a parent. Here are some of my fave Krawcheck Classics:
Sprinkled among every walk of life, in other words, are a handful of people with a truly extraordinary knack of making friends and acquaintances. They are Connectors.
Connectors are important for more than simply the number of people they know. Their importance is also a function of the kinds of people they know.
They are people whom all of us can reach in only a few steps because, for one reason or another, they manage to occupy many different worlds and subcultures and niches.
The point about Connectors is that by having a foot in so many different worlds, they have the effect of bringing them all together.
It isn’t just the case that the closer someone is to a Connector, the more powerful or the wealthier or the more opportunities he or she gets. It’s also the case that the closer an idea or a product comes to a Connector, the more power and opportunity it has as well.
Barb and Kathy are Living Proof of Who You Know is What You Know. They’rewickedsmart, resourceful, successful, and well-connected. They can talk to anyone about anything because each “has a foot in so many different worlds.” They understand the value (and discovery) of diversity in thought. When I lived in Chicago (Barb) and St. Louis (Kathy), they introduced me to different people I’d never meet on my own (or would have access to).
I’ve Never Forgotten Their Kindness and Generosity. If you’re a current or aspiring Chicago-based or St. Louis-based female executive who's serious about your business career, invest in yourself and build a relationship with either Barb or Kathy. I’ll advise my daughters and nieces to seek out the Barbs and Kathys.
Buy them lunch / breakfast and get to know them. Just don’t talk smack about the Chicago White Sox (Barb) or St. Louis Cardinals (Kathy) when you meet them…
From Zena Weist of Kansas City, I learned about helping others, “A stick of butter and a smile, and no need to pay me back.”
I Learned That From Zena Too. These past six months, I benefited from her advice, knowledge, and connections so I could follow through on an important career change. I hope my daughters and nieces will practice how Z gives away abundance (without keeping score). There’s an important lesson (and movement) Jeremiah observes in Silicon Valley that’s relevant to delivering generosity (direct quote from his article):
The Midwestern value of helping others without expecting reciprocation is best summarized by the “stick of butter and a smile” axiom when a neighbor is in need. Silicon Valley’s traditional come-get-mine attitude rewards the disruptors and the fiercest competitors. While San Francisco boasts that nearly one of every eight residents are millionaires, a vast majority are not living at middle class standards and are struggling just to get by. The potential for a backlash is rapidly increasing.
Be Like Z. I hope the backlash Jeremiah writes about never comes to fruition. We can prevent it from happening one "stick of butter and a smile" at a time.
6. They Fake It Till They Become It
Susan Kare’s Advice For Young Designers Applies to Any Woman with an Opportunity for a Stretch Assignment. Kare has two (2) simple rules for designers: 1) Fake It Tlll You Make It and 2) Design Never Really Changes. When Susan Kare applied applied for Apple’s first-ever graphic designer position, she worked at a furniture store. She prepared for her interview by studying graphic design books from the Palo Alto library (direct article quotes):
Having designed many of the Mac's early system fonts such as Chicago, the (original) San Francisco, Geneva, and Monaco, Kare is one of the pioneers of early digital typography. But when she first applied to Apple, she was pulling her type design qualifications out of thin air.
"I was working at a furniture store at the time, and I didn't know the first thing about designing a typeface," she told me. "But I'd studied graphic design, so I said, 'How hard can it be?'" So Kare went to the Palo Alto Library and took out a number of books on typography. "I even brought them to my interview to prove I knew something about type, if anyone asked!" she laughs. "I went into it totally green."
Think About That. If Susan Kare listened to The Resistance, she wouldn’t have achieved designer history. So if my daughters or nieces ever experience self-doubt, I’m going to tell them to have the self-confidence and self-belief to "fake it till they make it." Or, as Dorie Clark of Reinventing YOU, teaches: “Fake It Till You Become It.”
Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. If you disagree, I would love to hear from you. I’m also here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE. Comments are open. So let’er rip!
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Hi Social Media ReInvention Community Members! Apologies for not consistently posting our Sunday Brunch Edition. External circumstances prevented me from keeping up. I promise to do better job. I hope you celebrated blessed and happy Thanksgiving Holidays with loved ones and friends.
Here are your share-worthy links. Enjoy your Sunday Brunch!
1) CNET: How-To Video: Upgrade Your RAM on Your MacBook Pro. I upgraded the RAM on my MacBook Pro 15 this week. I suck as a do-it-yourselfer (DIY). I researched required steps and tools to lessen my anxiety and increase my confidence. The Result: I successfully upgraded my MacBook Pro 15 (late 2011) from 4MB to 8 MB of RAM (and she performs like a champ)!
As I type, I’m running seven (7) applications: iTunes, Google Chrome (with 12 tabs open), Apple Preview, MarsEdit, Finder, Evernote, and Dashlane. Here’s the content I found most helpful:
You’ll need a Phillips 00 screwdriver to unscrew the bottom panel. I paid a premium price for the iFixit 54 Bit Driver Kit because the magnetized screwdriver bits are HUGE in removing and reinserting the six (6) tiny screws on the back panel. There’s a reason I went to business school instead of medical school (HINT: I lack a surgeon's dexterity).
2) Fast Company: What Every Young Designer Should Know, From Legendary Apple Designer Susan Kare. Kare has two (2) simple rules for designers: 1) Fake It Tlll You Make It and 2) Design Never Really Changes. I personally relate to Rule #1. When she applied applied for Apple’s graphic designer position, she worked at a furniture store. She prepared for her interview by studying graphic design books from the Palo Alto library (direct article quotes):
Having designed many of the Mac's early system fonts such as Chicago, the (original) San Francisco, Geneva, and Monaco, Kare is one of the pioneers of early digital typography. But when she first applied to Apple, she was pulling her type design qualifications out of thin air. "I was working at a furniture store at the time, and I didn't know the first thing about designing a typeface," she told me. "But I'd studied graphic design, so I said, 'How hard can it be?'" So Kare went to the Palo Alto Library and took out a number of books on typography. "I even brought them to my interview to prove I knew something about type, if anyone asked!" she laughs. "I went into it totally green."
The 52-year-old often describes her job as "connecting the dots"–between GE's seven segments (Power & Water, Oil & Gas, Energy Management, Aviation, Transportation, Healthcare, Home & Business Solutions), its many markets, and between the company and the outside world. It's something Comstock regularly does as head of GE's sales, marketing, and communications, and in her management of the company's multi-billion-dollar Ecomagination and Healthymagination initiatives, dedicated to environmental and health care innovation respectively. In her travels and conversations with customers, she constantly scans for patterns. "When you're in this business, you see a lot of things," Comstock notes. "Marketers are in a great position to notice if something's happening in an industry like energy or healthcare."
Think About that Quote for a Moment. Beth Comstock explained how a great marketer’s expertise is a game changing asset in understanding and exploiting opportunity. Digital and social media marketing continues accepting the rap, “we can’t measure return on investment (ROI)!” Follow her advice and make the case of how not only your digital marketing efforts identify relevant opportunities but also how your expertise uniquely enables you (personally) to identify new business opportunities.
Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you. I’m here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE. Comments are open. So let’er rip!
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Praise Others so They Know They're Good at What They Do.LinkedIn Recommendations help your colleagues and friends promote their personal brands. They're also an important gesture to support people who may have lost their jobs due to company reorganizations.
You can vouch for another person's expertise and skills (similar to a LinkedIn Endorsement)
Your friend / colleague may feel awkward requesting a recommendation
Your recommendation can enhance another person's LinkedIn Profile
Who Can You Support with a LinkedIn Recommendation? Show you're not "just looking out for number 1." It's a great way to thank and acknowledge others who've been integral to your individual success.
Recommendations You Give Show Up on Your LinkedIn Profile
Demonstrate your expertise in a specific field or industry
Develop credibility and a thought leader reputation
Learn from and make new connections with like-minded people
Show Your Acknowledgement and Appreciation. When you initiate discussion topics, it's great when other members submit comments and opinions. Thank them with an encouraging tone for "putting themselves out there." Acknowledge them and express your appreciation for their input (especially if their thoughts counter yours).
Submitting Comments and Participating in Discussion Forums Requires Personal Risk. That's why people may hesitate submitting a comment for fear of criticism from either you or other members. If you're the discussion moderator, establish a positive tone. Provide encouragement early and consistently.
Encouraging and validating others in your LinkedIn Discussion shows respect, flexibility, and openness:
Encouragement Fosters LinkedIn Group Participation
Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you. I’m here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE. Comments are open. So let’er rip!
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I'm Over Age 50 and I'm Trying to Reinvent Myself. What the Hell Do I Do Now?
You're Not Alone in Feeling That Way. A lot of people ask themselves that question. I'm a few years shy of THE BIG 5-0. And, I've been asking myself that question since 2009.
But, If I Can Develop Influential and Powerful Validators, YOU CAN TOO
This post describes examples from my ongoing social media reinvention journey. Since 2009, I've learned a couple things from blogging, connecting with like-minded people, and distributing content in different social media channels.
4 Gifts to Give Others to Power Your After Age 50 Reinvention
Gift #1. Write Public Fan Letters
Read Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon. Pages 108 to 109, "Write Fan Letters," and Chapter 2: "Don't Wait Until You Know Who You Are To Get Started" from Austin's book are amazing. From page 109 of Steal Like an Artist:
"Maybe your hero will see your work, maybe he or she won't. Maybe they'll respond to you, maybe not. The important thing is that you show your appreciation without expecting anything in return."
Expect Nothing in Return. That's why public fan letters are the ultimate gift. If you genuinely care for someone and want sincerely express your appreciation and respect for her art / work, that's all that matters.
Writing Public Fan Letters is the Most Rewarding Experience. Just writing them feels good. I know from personal experience. That's why it's my favorite way to say "thank you."
Bonus: Your Heroes Might Write Back. Publicly. Remember, this is a gift with no expectation of reciprocation. But, it's still pretty cool when your heroes reply back.
Ann Handley Blog Comment on Her Public Fan Letter
Ann Handley Twitter Conversation on Her Public Fan Letter
Gift #2. Comment on Thought Leader Blogs
Blogging Isn't Dead. But Everybody Likes to Say It Is. That's why blog commenting re-emerges as a new opportunity. Most prefer the "snack size" comment of a tweet or Facebook update. But, let's be honest. It's hard to find relevant insights in 140 characters or less.
Dare to Be Different. Commenting on thought leaders' blog posts in your industry or (the industry you're targeting for a career change) gives you an opportunity to:
Thoughtfully support or disagree with an influencer's line of thinking
Add to the conversation by sharing your perspective
Build the reputation of not only the blog author but also your reputation too (because Google remembers the blog post and your comments forever)
Long Term Consistency is the Key. I've participated in blog commenting with my favorite marketing strategy thought leaders' blogs since 2009. I've regularly and consistently shown up by participating in the discourse on their home turf. That consistency builds long term reputation, credibility, and relationships.
Connect Your Comment to an Online Profile. Always provide the web address for your personal blog, Google+ profile, or some other online profile so the author or other commenters can learn more about you. If you're consistent and leave thoughtful comments, the author and her respective readers will look you up.
Tony Faustino Comment on Ann Handley Blog Post
Gift #3. Promote Others Work on Twitter – The @ Mention
Twitter: Use the "@" Mention to Your Advantage. Social sharing buttons are now commonplace on the online sites for publishers like The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, LinkedIn, or Bloomberg BusinesssWeek. Take advantage of these tools to share and promote the work of influential authors, journalists, and media pundits.
Let Them Know You Read and Appreciate Their Work. When you promote someone's work, include her Twitter handle in the tweet. This way, the author sees it in the "mentions" of her Twitter feed. This will increase the likelihood of a earning a public response (which validates your reputation and credibility with the rest of the Twitterverse).
She might even follow you back …
Twitter Conversation with Fast Company's Lydia Dishman
Gift #4. Promote Others Skills with LinkedIn Endorsements
Endorse and Validate Others by Talking Up Their Skills. LinkedIn's Skills & Endorsements feature can help you build and promote the personal brand of any of your 1st degree connections. Go to the Skills & Endorsements of that person's LinkedIn profile and click on the skills you'd like to endorse on her behalf:
LinkedIn Endorsement Example: Select a "+" Sign
The Best Part of this Gift: Receiving the LinkedIn Notification. Your connections will learn of your endorsement. LinkedIn provides the notification whenever you log-in to the site or the email address linked to the LinkedIn account.
Surprise Someone. Receiving a LinkedIn Endorsement from someone you respect and trust is a great feeling. Make someone feel good. Endorse her on LinkedIn. You'll make her day.
The next post in this series on reinventing yourself after age 50 is scheduled fora February 9, 2014 publication. I'll describe four (4) more gifts you can give others to continue powering your reinvention.
If you enjoyed this post, here are links to other posts in the series:
IMPORTANT NOTE: This case study series is a self-initiated interpretation and analysis by me, the blog author. I want to make it clear that neither Dorie Clark nor Michael Ovitz were consulted or personally endorsed this case study and how I've applied the analysis to the valuable teachings in Reinventing You.
Are You Too Old to Professionally Reinvent Yourself After Age 50?
No! You still have time. The real question you should is: How Much Are You Going to Focus, Your Unique Assets, Time, and Energy into Your Post-50 Career Reinvention?
If these thoughts run through your mind or resemble one (or more) of the following, I encourage you to keep reading:
"I just got layed off and am looking for a job (or I'm worried about getting layed off) …" or
"I love to learn, try new things, and build different skills …" or
"What do you mean by unique assets? What the hell are you talkin' about? I don't think I have any …"
Because YOU CAN Successfully Reinvent Yourself After Age 50
In this post (and the other five), I talk about linkages I see from Michael Ovitz's career reinvention after age 50 to six (6) of Dorie Clark'sReinventing You principles from Chapter 9: Reintroduce Yourself and Chapter 10: Prove Your Worth.
The bullet point highlighted in blue is the Reinventing You principle analyzed in this post:
Dorie Clark emphasizes the importance of "having other people talk us up." Here are key quotes from Reinventing You's Chapter 9: Reintroduce Yourself — Develop Validators:
Another important way we can convey our new identities is through external validators, that is, other people talking us up. As a powerhouse group of researchers led by both Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Cialdini discovered, the secret is to have someone else bragging for you. (Jeffrey Pfeffer) "People don't like people who self-promote. But ironically, even if you self-promote through the mouths of other people, somehow that stigma doesn't get associated with you. It's much better to have someone else toot your horn."
Who Are Your Defenders?
Powerful and Influential Third-Party Validators Address Key Objectives for Michael Ovitz: (1) Promoting Him as a Trusted Silicon Valley Advisor and (2) Defending Him Against Critics. Since 1999, Mr. Ovitz developed and nurtured business relationships with Sillcon Valley's movers and shakers. These people provide and support him with significant third-party validation:
These direct quotes from the aforementioned October 2013 Kaplan-Fortune article highlight how Mr. Ovitz's third-party validators defend and talk him up:
There are similar tales of Ovitzian assistance around the Valley as he rises again, this time far removed from the lights of show business. At Andreessen Horowitz, the venture capital firm, Ovitz is an in-house mentoron how to build a full-service operation in the mold of Creative Artists Agency, the Hollywood talent monolith he built and ran from 1975 to 1995. "Michael is the classic kind of entrepreneur that we like up here — he's highly aggressive, he's highly disruptive," says Marc Andreessen, with whom Ovitz has cultivated a relationship since 1999."Michael's a very close friend of the firm. He's a great friend to have."He's also an investor in the firm, though AH won't say for how much.
2. Peter Thiel on the C-Level, cross-industry breadth and depth of Mr. Ovitz's business connections:
"Michael can get us in to see any CEO in the U.S.," Thiel says. "The Valley has this excessive insularity. But he has cross-sector relationships in New York, L.A., and other places." Thiel says Ovitz has a preternatural ability to 'learn things quickly and then communicate them to the outside world." Since the dotcom implosion of the late 1990s, he (Thiel) says, too many new companies in the Valley have 'retrenched,' de-emphasizing relationships with other businesses and institutions. Consulting Ovitz, whose network Thiel calls 'second to none,' has been a way to overcome that inclination.
3. Peter Thiel, Marc Andreesen, Peter Szulczewski, Joe Lonsdale, and Boris Sofman discuss Mr. Ovitz's critics and detractors:
Says Thiel (Peter): "I've learned to discount bad things said about people by rivals, and I'm not aware of a single bad thing about Ovitz that wasn't said by a rival." Although Andreessen and others in Ovitz's new circle acknowledge the skepticism, they have different takes on it. Andreessen is the most dismissive of Ovitz doubters and ascribes Ovitz's repute more to the peculiarities of Hollywood than to any of his own faults. "We're used to guys like that here — I mean, Steve Jobs, for God's sake! Or my career, right?" Andreessen says. "That's the cultural difference between Silicon Valley and L.A." Had Intel's Andy Grove or Netscape's Jim Clark made his mark in Hollywood, according to Andreessen, he'd have the same kind of bad-boy name as Ovitz. Peter Szulczewski of Wish says, "I haven't seen the type of things that people warned me about." Formation 8's Joe Lonsdale agrees. "People are naturally more cautious because of his history," he says. "But he's (Ovitz) demonstrated awesome value in so many tangible ways to different people that they overlook it. And it's hard to map out what's true and what isn't." Ovitz is a limited partner in Formation 8, with a "small" investment of "under $5 million," as the firm describes it. "There's a disconnect between a lot of the things written about him and kind of the person we've gotten to know,"says Boris Sofman, the CEO and co-founder of Anki, who talks almost daily with Ovitz. Sofman says Ovitz has alluded to his own past by counseling Sofman on what happens when you're successful. "When you lead in your industry," Ovitz told him, "it's easy to start getting vilified, and the tide can turn on you quickly and unexpectedly." Sofman says Ovitz has no stake in Anki, not even advisory fees. That may merely mean Ovitz hasn't asked yet. Or, as Sofman suggests, it could be that Ovitz really is in it for more than the money. "One of the things he shared with me is he truly loves working with young people," says Sofman, who just turned 30.
Closing Thoughts
Your Turn. Okay, you may still be thinking:
"I don't have high-profile, high-powered connections like Michael Ovitz …"
"Even if I did, how could or why would any of my connections 'talk me up' …"
"If I were to ask, wouldn't my connections be offended. It's sleazy to ask for third-party validations …"
Your Third Party Validators Are In The Palm of Your Hand
YOU HOLD Multiple Assets and Connections In The Palm of Your Hand. They're in your laptop hard drive. They're accessible via the keyboards on your laptop, smartphone, or tablet.
YOU CAN mobilize these connections on your behalf with a few keystrokes or finger swipes.
YOU HAVE Michael Ovitz-Like Third-Party Validators. It's all relative. You already know and are connected to influential third-party validators through these online assets and communities:
Your Personal Blog
Blog Comments on Other Blogs
LinkedIn
Twitter
Klout
Build Your Relationships with Your Validators by Blogging, Commenting, Connecting, Tweeting, and +K'ing. I connect with my third party validators on a weekly basis via these online assets and communities. Several of these kind and generous people are highly influential and powerful in their respective professions. These wonderful people generously support me as career mentors and allies in my personal branding and online reputation work.
Focusing on building these types of assets and participating in these communities enables you to do two important things:
1. Connect with like-minded people who share your values
2. Build what Dorie Clark refers to as an intellectual property (IP) portfolio
Let me be candid:
I'm not a rocket scientist (just ask my wife and my 9-year old daughter).
I'm not a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, or Amazon.com best-selling book author.
If I Can Do It, You Can Too. I'll describe my own experiences on developing and cultivating relationships with my third-party validators in the next post in this series on Reinventing You After Age 50.
Lesson 3B: Developing Validators with Your Personal Branding Online Assets is scheduled fora February 2, 2014 publication.
If you enjoyed this post, here are links to the series' first two posts:
IMPORTANT NOTE: This case study series is a self-initiated interpretation and analysis by me, the blog author. I want to make it clear that neither Dorie Clark nor Michael Ovitz were consulted or personally endorsed this case study and how I’ve applied the analysis to the valuable teachings in Reinventing You.
Changing Behaviors Can Augment Our Career Reinvention Process. For example, some people may mean need to become more proactive in making business connections by reaching out and inviting them to lunch or an early morning cup of coffee. For others, it may mean putting together a campaign to submit and pitch articles to industry publications so to build a thought leadership reputation in a new industry community.
The behavioral change will be different for everyone, but following through is important. Here’s a direct quote from Reinventing You:
Small tangible signals are only part of the battle, however. The biggest challenge is changing your behavior to reflect your new goals and reality.
From Hollywood Dealmaker and Power Broker to Trusted Advisor and Business Coach. Mr. Ovitz now leverages his wealth of Hollywood client advisory experiences to counsel growing Silicon Valley startups and their young executives. He’s not directly involved in “making the deals” for the entrepreneurs he now advises. But, he coaches, prepares, and reassures these entrepreneurs so they can successfully execute deals, negotiations, or other key (and sometimes unfamiliar) business activities required for company growth.
Here are examples from the Kaplan-Fortune article:
Managing Growth.At Anki, a consumer-robotics startup, the CEO says Ovitz has advised him during some late nights about ‘psychological transitions’ as his company grows.
Pitching Wall Street.At Formation 8, a flush new VC fund focused on Asia, Ovitz has explained to the three investment partners how to hone their image and brand for Wall Street types. “Michael knows that world too,” says Joe Lonsdale, one of the young Formation 8 partners. “He can show us how to ask them for a favor, but how not to push to hard.”
Telling Your Company’s Unique Story and Providing Reassurance.Ovitz serves as a guru to other prominent people in the tech world, including Tony Bates, the president of Skype, and Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, the home-sharing network. Ovitz coaches them on culture and storytelling. He picks them up when they have bouts of doubt.
Shun The Naysayers and Critics. Mr. Ovitz did. Tenacity and mental toughness are critical.
Professional Reinvention After 50 is More Than Possible. Michael Ovitz proves it can be done (and he’s approaching 70). And, Dorie Clark’s Reinventing You shows you how to do it.
Our Turn: What Behaviors Do We Need to Shift? Changing and executing these behaviors may make us uncomfortable. These may include trying new things that may not work. But, taking intelligent risks is an important part of career development (and reinvention).
Why not, submit some of your best blog posts to certain publications to become a contributing writer / editor?
Why not, directly connect on email, Twitter, LinkedIn, (or another social network) to a renowned business author or respected business leader (especially if you can provide her/him something of value)?
Why not, make that phone call or send that email to a potential, new business connection inviting them to breakfast, coffee, or lunch? Maybe, you have something that can help advance that person’s career (i.e., a LinkedIn connection, a blog post supporting that person’s book, thousands of engaged Twitter followers, etc.).
If It Makes Us Nervous, We’re on the Right Track. The worst that can happen is any of the above (or all of the above) say no. But, all it takes is one “yes” …
… and that “one” may lead to something life-changing and magical.
If you enjoyed this post, here’s the link to the first post in the series. Please stay tuned for the next post in this series on Reinventing You After Age 50–Lesson 3: Develop Validators isscheduled fora January 24, 2014 publication.
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IMPORTANT NOTE: This case study series is a self-initiated interpretation and analysis by me, the blog author. Dorie Clark and Michael Ovitz were neither consulted nor involved in how I developed the following analysis.
Reinventing You by Dorie Clark
Do YOU Think You’re Too Old To Reinvent Yourself After Age 50?
Dorie Clark’s book, Reinventing You is one of my favorite MUST-READ business books of 2013. Reinventing You is a GREAT investment for your professional career. Dorie’s book is a personal and professional development GIFT.
Reinventing You After Age 50 Case Study: Michael Ovitz
Instead of a traditional book review, I’m applying Dorie’s thoughtful teachings to a successful real-world, high-profile career reinvention after age 50: Michael Ovitz, Owner of Broad Beach Ventures LLC.
This post is first in a series of six (6) about successful career reinvention after age 50.
The aforementioned Kaplan-Fortune article provides examples of Michael Ovitz’s latest career. In this post (and the next five), I will talk about linkages I see from Mr. Ovitz’s reinvention after age 50 to six (6) of Dorie Clark’s Reinventing You principles from Chapter 9: Reintroduce Yourself and Chapter 10: Prove Your Worth.
The bullet point highlighted in blue is the Reinventing You principle analyzed in this post:
Status — You Can Take It With You
Shift Your Behavior
Develop Validators
Leverage Symbolic Actions
Go Where The Action Is
Building Your Portfolio
Lesson 1: Status — You Can Take It With You
The Halo Effect
Maximize the Halo Effect of Your Unique Competive Advantage. In Reinventing You’s Chapter 9, Reintroduce Yourself,Dorie writes about the “halo effect” (as described by Jeffrey Pfeffer, Stanford Graduate School of Business and author of Power: Why Some People Have It–And Others Don’t):
“It’s a psychological phenomenon known as the ‘halo effect.” “If I think you’re good in one domain, I think you’re going to be good in other domains, as well. There’s the presumption that talented people have this set of generalized abilities.”
That ‘durability of reputation’–across both time and situations–makes it essential for you to be strategic about how you’re perceived from day one. “You need to do something to build a very good reputation, a personal brand, and that will help you not only in your current place but in other places, as well.”
The secret, then is to leverage both your past experiences and the confidence that you’ve derived from your accomplishments. After all, other people take their cues from you, so when you’re introducing your new brand, assume that others will welcome your contribution.
Key to the C-Suite
Michael Ovitz’s Unique, “Halo Effect” Competitive Advantage: CEO and Executive Chairman Level Access Across Multiple Industries. The Kaplan-Fortune Article describes two examples of how Mr. Ovitz leverages his lifelong business connections and maximizes his former Hollywood mogul / dealmaker / powerbroker status to open C-Suite doors previously closed to young, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.
Peter Szulczewski, CEO of Wish.com: The October 2013 Fortune article describes how Mr. Ovitz assisted Szulczewski when he ran into problems with initially securing the company’s domain name.
The company had an uninspired name, ContextLogic, and its beta website was the forgetable wishwall.me. Wish.com wasn’t available.
Ovitz saw immediately that the domain name was critical. “I can help with that!” he (Ovitz) told Szulczewski, and, with his big swinging Rolodex, within weeks tracked down the owner of wish.com. It was a French subsidiary of Barry Diller’s IAC. Szulczewski handled the actual negotiation — he won’t disclose the price — but Ovitz war-gamed tactics beforehand.
Peter Thiel, Venture Capitalist, PayPal co-founder, and Chairman of Palantir Techologies on the breadth and power of the the Michael Ovitz business network (also from the Kaplan-Fortune article):
“Michael can get us in to see any CEO in the U.S.,” Thiel says. “The Valley has this excessive insularity. But he has cross-sector relationships in New York, L.A., and other places.” Thiel says Ovitz has a preternatural ability to ‘learn things quickly and then communicate them to the outside world.”
Since the dotcom implosion of the late 1990s, he (Thiel) says, too many new companies in the Valley have ‘retrenched,’ de-emphasizing relationships with other businesses and institutions. Consulting Ovitz, whose network Thiel calls ‘second to none,’ has been a way to overcome that inclination.
Closing Thoughts
More Than a Decade Before Reinventing You’s Publication, Mr. Ovitz Successfully Applied the Book’s Valuable Principles. His focus, street smart savvy, and resilience are why Michael Ovitz successfully continues “working his magic” after age 50.
During this reinvention period and today, Mr. Ovitz shuns his critics and naysayers. Tenacity and mental toughness are critical to a successful career reinvention (at any age).
Professional Reinvention After 50 is ABSOLUTELY Possible. Michael Ovitz proves it. Dorie Clark’s Reinventing You shows us how to do it.
What makes us different from others in our current field (and the new domain we want to break into)?
How can we help others, what doors can we open, and who are the unique connections in our business networks so we can maximize our individual halo effects?
Those unique competitive advantages can help us “work our magic.”
Just like Michael Ovitz …
Please stay tuned for the next post in this series on Reinventing You After Age 50. Lesson 2: Shift Your Behavior is scheduled for a Friday, January 17, 2014 publication.
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I think Carr's great article signals something bigger. I think Apple's hiring of Angela Ahrendts signals Apple's return to the values of what made it an iconic company.
Hire and Train Brand Ambassdors "Who Know How to Feel" (Versus Salespeople Who Know How to Sell)
"My dad used to always to say that he could teach anything but he couldn't teach how to feel. That's the hardest part when you have 11,000 people: How do you teach them how we feel?"
"The thing is, I don't want to be sold when I walk into a store to be welcomed. The job is to be a brilliant brand ambasador. Everyone is welcome. Don't be judgmental whatsoever."
Exercising the other muscles. That's a different story. But, I think that's a little more manageable now that my 2-year old daughter finally sleeps throught the night …
It Comes Back to Shared Values. It Comes Back to How Did Someone or Something Make You Feel.
Who are the people, the organizations, the heroes, and the experiences that you cherish most in your life? For me, it's the ones who share my values. Those are the people, the organizations, and the experiences that have made the most lasting and positive impression on me.
I'm Excited About Apple Again. After watching these videos, I'm excited about Apple's future. I now believe they're focusing on making us feel the way we all individually felt when we first fell in love with Apple.
You Know Who Angela Ahrendts Reminds Me Of in Those Interviews? This Guy.
Your Turn
Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you. I’m here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE. Comments are open. So let’er rip!
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