Top 5 Reasons an M.A. in English is Useful in Business

People often ask me if I think my Master’s Degree in English is useful in business. I find it a curious question since the answer seems so obvious to me. However, since it’s asked so frequently, I’m offering the following top five reasons:

1. Communication Skills: My coursework improved my written and oral communication skills. When you’re pursuing your M.A. in English, you learn to write clear, concise, well-documented research. You also learn to orally communicate your arguments in classroom discussions with peers and professors. It’s one thing to have an opinion and another to be able to clearly and cogently discuss it with others. And, whether you’re writing emails, blogs, or reports for your colleagues, these skills are timeless.

2. Critical Thinking Skills: Writing, research, and critical analysis are the foundations of a master’s degree. You learn how to accept constructive criticism of your work and use that criticism to improve and grow. You learn how to conduct research, organize that research, and then use inductive and deductive skills to facilitate an outcome. Regardless of your business environment, this is a skill set that transfers beyond the classroom.

3. Consideration of Varying Viewpoints: An essential foundation in the study of English literature is literary theory and criticism. Literary theory is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for its analysis. By studying the many schools of literary theory you learn to view literary works through a variety of lenses. Learning to analyze information from many different perspectives offers the opportunity to grow your thought processes. Understanding the various schools of thought translates into the ability to do so in the business world. You learn to be open to new business models and methodologies.

4. Commitment to Long-term Goals: One of the most arduous tasks a student will undertake is the research, writing, and presentation of their master’s thesis. The process generally begins as you reach the final semester of your coursework. The length of time it takes to complete your master’s thesis will vary — but it always takes longer than you think. I was given great advice by my thesis chair to, “pick a topic/writer you feel you can live with for the next year or two.” As in business, you may not enjoy every task your job requires, but if you’re pursuing your passion, it makes it all worthwhile.

5. Conceptual Thinking Skills: Individuals who have strong conceptual skills typically have excellent cognitive abilities. These skills include thinking creatively, formulating abstractions, and analyzing complex situations as well as understanding issues and solving problems. Conceptual skills allow a manager to visualize the entire organization and work with ideas and the relationships between abstract concepts. It also enables an effective manager to weed out those variables that are inefficient and/or detrimental to a successful outcome.

Confessions of a Podcast Addict

It started as most addictions do – slowly, stealthily slithering into my day. It began with just 10-15 minutes before work – then, another 20 minutes during lunch. By the end of the day, it consumed my entire commute home from work. And, before I realized it, I was spending my weekends mainlining it like a two-bit junkie – my iPhone ear buds snuggled comfortably in my ears as I listened hours on end to multiple episodes of The Moth, This American Life, Welcome to Night Vale, and Serial. I now confess…I’m a podcast addict! Since the beginning of time, we yearn for engagement in a great story and interesting characters – It’s the reason we’ve loved to read a good book or watch a great movie. Now, we have new ways to consume these stories.

Podcasts provide modern mobility for on-demand storytelling in a format with few boundaries – They’re working their way into our mainstream digital media and opening doors to new audiences one download at a time. Businesses, non-profit organizations, and entrepreneurs are podcasting their content to new audiences around the world. They now have this new tool in their arsenal to expand the reach of their brands, deepen their customer engagement, and further their knowledge leadership. Everyone has a story to tell and everyone enjoys listening to a great story. Using podcast technology to share your story can be a powerful resource…use it wisely.

Top 4 Sales Tips for Success

While there are many great tips for increasing your effectiveness as a sales person, these consistently prove to be among the top 4 sales tips.

1. Demonstrate Respect
   When you take the time to learn a client’s business and her professional needs, you’re demonstrating respect for her as a client and a person. This might sound simple, but it is no longer the norm and therefore bears repeating. Given the easy access to information via the web, there really isn’t any excuse for not doing the homework needed before calling. A “cold call” should be “warmer” with our present day access to data.
2. Respond Promptly
   There is nothing that loses a sale faster than not returning a phone call or email in a timely manner. Understandably, you won’t always have an answer to a client’s questions or share the same sense of urgency that she has, but at least demonstrate “signs of life” when she leaves a message or sends an email. By responding to her call/email, you’re at least acknowledging receipt and providing an estimated time for delivery of the information requested. That said, be sure to meet that deadline with the necessary information and/or a status update.
3. Communicate Effectively
   Many of you who know me are aware of my personal disdain for written or electronic communication that includes multiple font types, font colors, and font sizes. The most flagrant of these occurs when someone has obviously “copy/pasted” a section of the email from another email or document. If you’re going to do this, at least take the time and demonstrate the professionalism to ensure that ALL fonts are consistent throughout your communication. Failure to do so gives the impression that you are not a person with attention to detail. For me personally, this would make me question your attention to detail in the handling of my business.
4. Create a Long Term Relationship
   Granted, not every piece of business will be the right fit, at the right time, at the right price. However, the care, respect, and attention given during the sales process will provide future success. If clients are treated as partners in business, they will be more likely to refer others and use your product or services in the future. Customer service is the most frequent differentiating factor in making a sale.

We can automate many processes, but people still do business with people, and there’s not an app for that!

My Five Must-Reads of the Week

While attending conferences, enduring airplane flights, and attending networking events, I’m often asked what my own five must-reads are daily and weekly. So, the curtain is lifted.

These are my five go-to sources:

1. Inc.com / @SalesForce
   Geoffrey James is a contributing editor at Inc.com, where he writes an award-winning blog. Each article offers bite-size pieces of information that can better your work life.
2. Fast Company
   Fast Company focuses on progressive business media brand, with editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, and design. Fast Company inspires readers to think beyond traditional boundaries stretching traditional boundaries to create the future of business.
3. The Blog of Tim Ferriss – Experiments in Lifestyle Design
   Tim is a writer, lifestyle coach, business advisor, and lifestyle mentor. His books, blog, and podcast offer great tips and hacks for your work life and professional life.
4. Penelope Trunk
   Penelope is an entrepreneur offering online courses to help you manage your career. She has founded four startups each built with a focus on a community. She documents her experiences in this blog.
5. HuffPost Small Business
   Featured blog posts, bestseller lists, and reviews. If you’re looking for a quick snapshot of material to pick from each day, look no further.

Let me know what great blogs, articles, or podcasts you can’t do without!

Tell Me Something New!

How many articles do you read that just re-spin the same information over and over again? There are so many questions people have that are just not being answered. So, my intention with this article is different. I ask YOU, what topics you would like to read/learn/hear more about?

1. What type of business questions would you like answered?
2. What topics of advice would you like to learn about?
3. Do you prefer to read articles, listen to podcasts, webinars, or have the option to do both?
4. Are you interested in learning how to do your current job better or how to transition into a new job or industry?

I am on a quest to learn more about YOU. I want to learn more about the information that YOU and others like YOU are interested in.

Please take a moment to answer the above questions in this survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YTN7KCB. I’m NOT selling anything nor will I be soliciting you afterward. I am sincerely just trying to learn more about the professional curiosities that are important to YOU and your peers.

I will share the results in the next blog post!

 

 

Time to Learn Something New

Each year during the holiday season, we close our offices to recharge our batteries. It’s also a great time to work on side projects that require uninterrupted time; time without phones and drop-in visits from colleagues. I also like to use this time to catch up on my own continuing education. So, what’s on my list this year?

PODCASTING
I started learning how to create podcasts last month. I started slowly at first. I quickly realized it requires my undivided attention. It involves both technical skills and creative skills. Mostly, it requires my time and a quiet office. Therefore, it’s the number one skill on my list that I want to improve upon over the next couple of weeks.

READING
I read all the time. However, there have been some business books on my “to read” list that I haven’t had the time to dig into. These are on my list for the next couple of weeks.

• The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business (2014) by Charles Duhigg

• The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution (2014) by Walter Isaacson

• Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (2011) by Daniel H. Pink

I may not accomplish or master everything on my list, but I know I’ll have a great time trying!

 

Networking is Not for Dummies

Successful networking is more than just walking up to strangers at an event, introducing yourself and your business, exchanging business cards, and closing with a handshake and a promise to call. Successful networking requires planning. It’s essentially like going on a group sales call. You have to prepare a plan, lay some groundwork ahead of the event, and define measurable goals for yourself. Fortunately, the Internet has made all of these steps so much easier and less time-consuming.

Who will be attending the event? Whether it’s a holiday party, the Chamber of Commerce breakfast, or an association meeting, knowing your audience is important. Make some phone calls; ask to see the RSVP list; and review your list of business prospects to seek out those target-rich attendees that you want to meet.

What is your networking goal? Do you want to meet a potential client that has been unwilling to set an appointment? Or, do you want to meet someone you’ve only heard about in your business community? Knowing what your goal is will also help you determine if the networking event was successful. (I always love asking sales people if the event was successful and they say “yes.” Then, when I ask what made it a success, they appear stunned as though it’s a trick question.)

How are you going to prepare for success?

• Make a realistic list of people who you would like to meet and why. What can they contribute to your business and what can you contribute to their business? Successful networking is a win-win proposition.

• Use LinkedIn to see if those individuals are “connected” to others in your LinkedIn network. Then, reach out to those you know and ask them to introduce you either by email prior to the event or at the event.

• Determine the objective you would like to achieve. Do you want to ask for business, to set an appointment, or to establish just the first step pending a phone follow-up?

• Learn what interests your prospects enjoy. With the Internet and social media, it’s not hard to learn something about a person’s hobbies, reading interests, favorite sports teams, or travel experiences. See if you have anything in common outside of the business. Something you might be able to use to lead into a conversation. Caution: There’s a difference between doing some research and stalking. You don’t want to come across creepy, just interesting.

• Be knowledgeable. Read the news the day before and day of a networking event. Try to hit the following sections: Sports, Money, and Weather. You’ll notice that I stay away from politics or local government. (Politics, religion, and local government are still taboo topics and far too unstable to use in your first meeting with a prospect.) This information will help you in any conversation.

• Be a good listener. This sounds so old-fashion and redundant, but you’ll find your best conversations are the ones where you listen more than you talk. Effective listening skills give a lot of insight into the other person’s business needs, problems, and how you might be able to solve them with your product or service.

• Ask educated questions. Do your homework. Learn about your client’s business, their competitors, and the environment in which they operate. As the saying goes, “people have to know that you care before they care what you know.” Demonstrating knowledge of their company and that you’re willing to put in the effort to learn about them will go a long way.

• Be authentic. Be honest. Be responsive. There’s nothing that can ruin a reputation or relationship faster than inauthenticity and dishonesty. If you don’t know, say so. If you don’t care, don’t pretend. And, if you say you’re going to do something, do it.

Networking can be a very positive and productive experience. Take the time and effort to make the most of each contact along the way.

Why Are We Meeting?

A few years ago, Psychology Today published an article by Ray B. Williams, “Wired for Success” in which Williams argues, that if you want to “improve productivity, scrap meetings.” He sites SmartBrief on Leadership that conducted a poll asking this question, “How much time do you spend in recurring meetings?” The results of the poll indicated that 30% of the respondents are spending between 30-75% of their time in recurring meetings. (Keep in mind, these meetings may be face-to-face, conference calls, or web-based.)

That said, you undoubtedly have meetings that are absolutely necessary and you may not need to “scrap” them. However, meeting leaders are responsible for preparing for the meetings ahead of time, ensuring all attendees understand what’s expected of them prior to and during the meeting, and then the leader must manage and control the meetings efficiently.

The Agenda
An agenda is essential to a successful meeting. If the meeting’s organizer can’t take the time to create an agenda then he/she may need to rethink the need for the meeting. Meetings, by definition, are established to communicate, evaluate, discuss, and produce results. That said the agenda should be disseminated to those invited to attend in advance. There’s nothing worse than attending a meeting having not received an agenda and being asked questions or for opinions that needed advance notice or analysis.

The Preparation
Creating an agenda takes time and preparation on the part of the meeting organizer. They need to determine and define the purpose of the meeting, the expectations during and following, and the objectives the meeting is intended to achieve.

In turn, the attendees should review the agenda upon receipt and ensure they too have done their homework to be prepared with the necessary information, reports, and recommendations on the topics outlined in the agenda. Quite simply, all of those seated at the meeting should be serving a purpose or a reason for their attendance and participation. As the meeting takes place, each person’s role and contribution should be demonstrated.

Useful Tips to Achieve a Productive Meeting:

1. Don’t hold a meeting unless you’re prepared, organized, and have demonstrated goals.
2. Distribute a specific agenda including intended outcomes in advance
3. Be clear about the outcome and purpose of the meeting.
4. Hold attendees accountable for the reports and information that they are expected to provide.
5. Don’t use meetings to distribute information or give updates or low-level housekeeping  – –  do that by email
6. Hold meetings just before lunch so people will value the limited time
7. Limit meetings to one hour in length
8. Always begin and end the meetings at the announced times

What tips or guidelines do you use?

Change the Company You Keep?

Each week I make time for personal and professional development. I find it invigorating. Given the magic of the Internet, we now have so many options to grow our knowledge base. For me, I enjoy listening to podcasts, reading ebooks and articles, and watching TED Speaker videos. While we’re all pressed for time, there are so many alternatives that there’s something for everyone.

Most recently, while listening to one of my favorite podcasts, “Get Busy Living” with Benny Hsu, I was reminded of something my mother used to tell me; “You become the company you keep.” Meaning, choose your friends and colleagues carefully.

Benny’s podcast topic, “Why Choosing Who You Spend the Most Time With is So Important for Your Future.” Benny argues, we don’t pay enough attention to the people with whom we spend the most time. He cites a theory by Jim Rohn, a personal development expert, who believes that we become the combined average of the five people we hang around the most. Rohn suggests that the combined influence of our “circle of five” contributes to our attitude, health and income.

Additionally, entrepreneur Todd Smith writes, that our “associations are some of the most powerful factors in determining who you become and what you accomplish in your life. As an example, if we hang out with pessimistic people who are critical of us, their negative comments will likely impact how we view our abilities and our self-image.”

So how do we gain better control of this situation? The first logical step is to disassociate from the people who contribute negative energy in our space. If the “toxic people” are part of our work environment and thus impossible to completely avoid then we need a plan to limit our exposure and time in their presence. While we can’t control the people around us, we can control how we respond and react to them.

Second and equally important is the energy we spend in broadening our circle of influence. Quite simply, we need to better fill our time and emotional space with positive, supportive, and enthusiastic people with whom we have shared interests. Consequently, we reduce our time with negative influences. And, thanks to the Internet we are able to connect with positive, supportive people by finding local groups, organizations, and online discussion forums. We can now meet new people and connect through blogs, email, Skype, and podcasts. Positive support and influences are more accessible than ever before.

So I leave you with this challenge. If the people in your “circle of five” are not providing you with the positive, supportive, and enthusiasm you need to grow it’s not too late. Change the company you keep. Expand your circle of influence outside of its current inhabitants. A positive environment has a much more powerful influence on our lives than we realize.

What has been your experience?

The Conundrum of Paralysis by Analysis

Many years ago in a land far, far away I worked for a boss that suffered from “paralysis by analysis” in her search for “riskless risk.” As the proverbial Knights of the Roundtable, otherwise known as her Executive Team, each week we thrashed our way through the jungle of data, risk assessments, and possible alternative outcomes. Unfortunately, our quests often resulted in a dead-end. Why? Well, no decisions were ever made until the decisions made themselves. In other words, her indecision resulted in the least innovative and risk-free decisions. Additionally, no new results were generated since the “decisions” kept the business static. Her fear of making the wrong decision resulted in a stagnate company allowing others soar passed us.

How does this happen?
Every year or so, the business world identifies buzzwords/phrases that become common colloquialisms in boardrooms and executive offices around the world.

• This could be a “game changer.”
• We need to go after the “low hanging fruit.”
• He’s a real “thought leader.”
• We want to be “industry leaders.”
• We need to be “innovative.”
• We need to “get ahead of the curve.”

While these are great phrases to add into sales and marketing proposals, as well as year-end reports to corporate offices, they all have a couple of things in common. First, they need to be effectively sandwiched between a strategic plan on the front end and measurable goals/metrics on the back-end. Second, everyone around the table needs to accept that there is a certain level of risk and potential failure on the road to success. Identifying and evaluating that risk is the responsibility of managers. Being willing to shoulder an acceptable threshold for risk is the responsibility of a leader. And therein lies the rub.

Paralysis by Analysis
If this term doesn’t sound familiar, then let me explain the symptoms of the disease. The overall company or work group goals have been agreed upon. Then, each member of the team is tasked to research options, alternatives, and projected outcomes. Lastly, the team reassembles for a two-hour meeting and everyone throws his work on the table. The group goes through each scenario upon which discussion and brainstorming ensues for the greater portion of the two hours. With minutes left on the clock, the boss asks for the recommended plan of action. In other words, what decisions should be made based on the previous week’s work and this one hour and forty-five minute meeting?

Have you guessed the punch line? That’s right, no decisions were made. Instead, the topics were sent back to “committees” to explore further options and come back to the group with recommendations. So, the next question is why? Weren’t the options presented viable ones? Didn’t anyone agree with anything that was recommended? In fact, there were several options that could have been approved. Actually, there were an over-abundance of suggestions that could have yielded decisions. So what happened? Quite simply, the fear of making the wrong decision or alienating those on the opposing side of the decision now paralyzed everyone from making any decision.

Riskless Risk
If 2+2 equals 4, then you don’t run a risk of waking up one day to find that 2+2 equals 5. That’s riskless risk. In other words, riskless risk does not exist. Moreover, the best decisions are only deemed successful after they’re made. If you have the ability to look into the future and know that your risky decisions are going to all pay off, then head to Las Vegas and win big! After all, when a smart risk is taken, the joy of success is that much more rewarding. And, if you’re fearful that one wrong decision, no matter how small, will bring down your company/organization, then you’ve built your company/organization on a house of cards.

When you make educated decisions in a timely manner you move your organization along the path to success. Evaluate your threshold for risk and move forward with confidence.