HCI Blog

The pursuit for money leads individuals to do things which they may have never imagined themselves doing. Unethical acts which can be simple labeled as stupid are done with the only objective of acquiring more money. To many, this is the only objective in their personal and professional lives.

All over the news we occasionally read about big companies whose CEO and other high-ranking executive get involved in financial scandals or fiascos all for the sake of money.

Putting all of the pieces together leaves one major question unanswered: How is it that these people who are highly capable and intelligent leaders allow their judgment to become so clouded that they are willing to risk their names and their entire career for money? How much money is enough for them?

This phenomenon was more frequently observed during the 80’s in the United States, when stock brokering was a highly lucrative business if you knew how to play the game. The final objective of every stock broker was to amass as much capital as possible in order to spend on luxury goods. But, many of them were miserable in certain aspects.

Money can’t buy happiness, especially if you were unhappy before you started running after money. If you worry about small things now, you will worry about bigger things later when you have more money. This is part of the person’s individual nature, and not their state of poverty!

Here is where people tend to confuse things a lot. Of course, it is common in today’s modern society that the concepts of money and success are confused and even at times seen as synonymous.

Instead of looking for the easy way to the top (which can be seen as a lazy man’s path) you should seek for the joy of within the struggle. Nothing is more rewarding than reaping the fruits of your own toil.

So next time you read about a scandal or see a big time CEO being arrested for embezzlement or money laundering, stop and think to yourself: What is my relationship with success and wealth? Where do I want to reach? How will I get there?

Stop and remember: That CEO could’ve been you.

A time comes in your professional life when you may feel the urge for change. Your current job position no longer appeals to you and you feel that it would be better for your career that you change jobs.

It is common for this to happen at later stages of your professional life, when you are around 40 years of age, for example.

See here six tips to transitioning jobs:

1. Don’t look for the job, let the job find you. 

Firing CV’s all over the place is not a good idea. People will not give you the attention necessary to find a job. First, you need to find out about an actual position you are seeking at another company rather than distributing CV’s to everyone you know. Having a specific position in your sights will make this transition easier.

 2. Don’t constantly modify your résumé
Besides having a Linkedin profile, you should have a printed resume with a maximum of 2 printed pages. The information should be clear and concise. Also, you should only update it when you have some major change in your professional life.

3. Time your conversation

Studies indicate that the best way to get a message through during an interview is to tell a story about yourself which last from 60 to 90 seconds. This will cause the person who is interviewing you to remember the story you told her. It is not a good idea to be extremely brief once selling yourself. Short dialogue will not be as memorable.

4. Discover how you can serve others

 
Instead of talking about yourself, find out the needs of a company or a position. Give suggestions as to how their needs can be met and their problems be solved. Recommend interesting reading materials online and books which might be relevant to them.

5. Host informal networking events

Try to create a small event where you can gather a few people and eventually let them know that you are looking for a new position.

6. Give yourself some time to rest

Don’t be constantly hunting for a job every single minute of your day. It can be quite demotivating expecting to find the perfect position for days on end. Take a break and recompose yourself.

Leaders may with time lose their touch. A constant self-awareness and occasional leadership coaching is necessary. If not, leaders may begin to display several negative characteristics which will only make his teams life more complicated within the work place.

See here five characteristics that display that you may have lost your leadership touch:

1. You need to always be in control

This is usually synonymous to centralizing everything on you alone. Every single decision needs to go by you. This will make your team lose efficiency and not necessarily make your work become perfected.

2. Delegating with strings attached

As said before, centralization results in inefficiency. Delegation is necessary! But some leaders delegate with string attached.

In other words, there is no problem in doing what you want as long as you do it the way your boss wants you to do it. Micromanaging is a wall to progress in teams.

3. Loyalty at all costs

You demand unquestionable loyalty and respect from those around you even if you have not earned these.

Eventually, you will have people speaking out against the way you conduct things and demand that they chose who they will side with.

In the end, this can be summarized as plain and simple intimidation.

4. Keeping your image at all costs

Bosses that seem distant may also not display emotions or admit that they are wrong.

At the same time, all of this distance from employees may be a reflection of problems in your personal life!

5. “I’m your boss, not your friend”.

Bosses who say this will come through as being ruthless and unfriendly.

It is common for bosses like this to typically humiliate others in public in order to assert their own position of dominance.

BASED ON: TLNT