Welcome to the guest blog.
As part of the expansion to help more people tap into their unique talents to communicate, connect and come alive, I've decided to include other voices on the website. I hope the ideas here will help you in your business and in your life. Enjoy!
All my best,
Victoria
Posted by
Anni M.
Image source: Flickr.com
Following the rules is one of the infamous “soft skills,” those qualities that are difficult to quantify but that help a businessperson succeed. These skills include many of the things I’ve written about here: courtesy, honesty, dependability, a willingness to cooperate, adaptability, and integrity. These are skills that are difficult to teach. How can you make a person more honest or dependable? If you are someone who struggles with these skills, learning them can be very difficult too. Often these skills are learned at an early age, taught by parents and teachers and reinforced by friends and cultural context. Someone who follows the rules has likely always been contentious about his behavior. He is probably someone who did very well in school, never got into any kind of trouble with the law, and was a well-behaved child. Fortunately though, following the rules is one of the easiest soft skills to learn. It is quantifiable.
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Posted by
Anni M.
Uafs.edu
Last week I wrote about the importance of avoiding ageism in the workplace. Quality older workers are more experienced, they see the big picture, and they are masters of their own performance. If you are lucky enough to have an integrated workplace with employees from different generations, you are likely reaping the benefits of that experiential diversity, but you may also face some challenges. While individuals are always infinitely variable in personality and temperament, there are some general trends that correspond to the decades in which a person spent their formative years.
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Posted by
Anni M.
Image source: Politicsforum.co.uk
I was reading an article recently about age and entrepreneurship. Many of the most successful entrepreneurs have been in their 20s. There are many suggested reasons for this: they didn’t have families, they were naïve and unaware of the realistic risks (read: fearless), and they were nimble when it came to pivoting their business plan on a moment’s notice. All of this may be true, but age is just a number. There are plenty of older entrepreneurs who have found major success, like Robin Case, founder of Zipcar. It’s crazy to assume age means a loss of creativity or that older business people are slower on their feet (metaphorically speaking). This attitude travels well beyond the boundaries of entrepreneurship. In business, many of us are hesitant to hire an older employee. We think they are somehow less ambitious and less focused. This isn’t just incorrect, it’s ageist. It’s also illegal.
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Posted by
Anni M.
Image source: Adgloballaw.com
I spoke briefly about gender in the workplace yesterday and it inspired me to dig a little deeper. It’s a difficult subject. Many people are resistant to the idea that gender matters in this day and age. It’s appealing to think that we’re beyond our prejudices, but it’s not realistic. Women still get paid 77% of what men get paid. Some pundits argue that this is due to women’s occupations—they tend to gravitate towards lower paying jobs. If this were true (and there is no evidence that it is) perhaps we should ask why. Are women encouraged to pursue higher paying jobs? Are they trained in key competencies? There is an innate gender inequality built into our culture, from early childhood education to maternity leave policies to preferential hiring. This inequality is expressed everywhere: in our interpersonal interactions, and in our cultural stereotypes. We assume women are quieter, meeker, more emotional, less cutthroat. These assumptions are holding women back.
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Posted by
Anni M.
Image source: Joehiggins.ie
Politics are near and dear to our hearts. They define us: what we believe, what we value, and what we want for our future. Our politics are intimately linked to our religious beliefs (or lack thereof) and our social principles. So it is no wonder that politics can be such a volatile, divisive and pressure-laden topic: we all disagree on something, and we have a vested interest in converting people to our way of thinking. It’s also a place where many of us are unwilling to change. Unless we are dedicated critical thinkers (and it would be a better world if more of us were) we believe what we believe and no amount of arguing is going to change that. It’s ironic that political debate feels so important when so few of us are willing to change our minds. Still, when it comes to business, our personal politics should take a back seat to our work.
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