Harvey Mackay's Column - Believe in yourself even when no one else does

Believe in yourself even when no one else does     

By Harvey Mackay
   
"Some people succeed because they are destined to, but most people succeed because they are determined to." 

When Henry Ford said those oh-so-true words, he wasn't just talking about himself -- even though he is the epitome of determination.  He went belly-up several times, but never lost sight of his goal.  He believed in himself and in what he was doing.  In the end, he was so right.

Don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't accomplish your goals.  Who says you're not tougher, better, harder working, smarter and more able than your competition?  It doesn't matter if they say you can't do it.  The only thing that matters is if you say it.  If you believe in yourself, there's hardly anything you can't accomplish.

Most actors fail before they succeed.  Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman were both voted by their acting classmates as the "Least Likely to Succeed."  And how many of those classmates can boast an Academy Award?  Woody Allen failed in both the motion picture production classes he attended in college.  Lucky for him, his film audiences gave him better grades.  Harrison Ford was told by movie executives that he simply didn't have what it takes to be a star.  Of course, he proved them wrong by starring in the Star Wars trilogy, the Indiana Jones series, and a string of movies that have grossed over $6 billion!

Some of the most successful singers in history have overcome bumpy starts as well. Diana Ross and the Supremes were flops on their first nine records, but the tenth took them to the top of the charts.  After only one performance, Elvis Presley was fired in 1954 by Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, who told him, "You ain't going nowhere, son.  You ought to go back to driving a truck."  One recording company executive told The Beatles, "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." 

What part of "no" didn't these people understand?  The part that said "no confidence."  They had every confidence that they could achieve and succeed.

Business legends are no different.  We all know about inspirational success stories like Bill Gates, Col. Harlan Sanders and R.H. Macy. 

But do you know about Soichiro Honda?  Many of you have driven his cars, used his lawn mowers and ridden his motorcycles.  Honda was turned down by Toyota Motor Corporation for a job as an engineer, so he started making scooters and finally started his own company.  Honda Corporation says:  "We see the world not as it is, but as it could be.  We see the world through the eyes of dreamers.  Because we are a company founded by a dreamer.  And we are a company built on dreams."

As I've said so many times, if we want to triple our success ratio ... we might have to triple our failure rate. 

Surround yourself with top-quality people and truly listen to their input.  Don't wait until it's too late to change.  Start to take the true measure of your success now.  What do you possess that you can offer to other people, to your community, to the world?

To simply ask the question, "How can I make a difference?" is to answer it, because the answer is to never let yourself stop asking the question. 

I've asked myself that question hundreds of times.  Maybe thousands.  And any time I feel like quitting I just look at a framed poster I have hanging in our office:

• He failed in business in '31.
• He ran as a state legislator and lost in '32.
• He tried business again in '33 and failed again.
• His sweetheart died in '35.
• He had a nervous breakdown in '36.
• He ran for state elector in '40 after he regained his health.
• He was defeated for Congress in '43, defeated again for Congress in '48, defeated when he ran for the Senate in '55 and defeated for vice presidency of the United States in '56.
• He ran for Senate again in '58 and lost.

This man never quit.  He kept trying till the last.  In 1860, this man -- Abraham Lincoln -- was elected president of the United States.

Mackay's Moral:  You must believe if you want to achieve.

Hidden Job Market

We frequently get questions about how to tap into the “Hidden Job Market.” This is an old term that refers to the fact that only a small percentage of jobs ever get posted officially. There is a lot of hiring that goes on in other more subtle ways, and that is why it is hidden. It’s simply not public.

Some employers such as government agencies may be required to post jobs internally or publicly for a certain period, but in some cases this may be a formality because they have already decided who they want to hire. Somebody got selected while the job was still hidden.

You have to be a combination of detective and business analyst to ferret out some indicators of hidden jobs. Some common signs that a company may be hiring soon are:

• New leadership in a company – this often signals some changes at the top that will ripple into corporate divisions that may hire some new talent.
• Reports that a company had an upturn in profits.
• A company that had a new product approved for sale.
• An organization received a major grant or contract.
• A new start-up in your industry might signal a need for talent.
• If you talk to recruiters or headhunters you may find out who is starting to look for employees.

 The main source of info may come from your Network if you have an active and robust network of people you frequently meet or talk with about your industry. This includes Association meetings that you attend.

A new avenue for uncovering openings is to follow a company on LinkedIn. You will see reports on who has recently left a company. And guess what? That means they will probably need to replace that person. The only snag in this bit of info is that it is based on self-report by LinkedIn members, and sometimes they don’t change their profile right away to say they have left a company. So there may be a bit of time lag. But you can start to glean trends based on people leaving and joining companies as reported in LinkedIn.

Before you start calling your Network to ask about possible job openings, be sure to have your “elevator speech” ready. You want to be able to briefly and clearly tell them about yourself in a way that generates interest and distinguishes yourself in some way. For more about this attend our Career Brand workshop. This will help you clarify your career brand and help with your communications.

  --Mike Powers

Innocentive

The first time I heard about the web-based organization called Innocentive was in Don Tapscott's book, Wikinomics. Innocentive is one of the first sites that allows specialists and experts in various fields to apply their expertise to solve problems posted by whatever company needs them solved. On the site these experts are known as "Solvers."

So, for example Acme Technologies has an engineering problem that they haven't been able to solve with their in-house talent. They can now expand that talent pool to include engineers worldwide, and also experts from other fields who may have an innovative solution. The company puts a price on the solution and agrees to pay out to the best solution(s) that is offered.

This means that while you are out of work you can browse the listing of problems that need solving and propose a solution, and if it is accepted, then you get paid. Cool. When I think of the talented Dislocated Workers who have recently been laid off from Boston Scientific and Medtronic I can't help but believe that some can take advantage of this creative idea. Scientific and technical problems predominate because they are the well-structured problems that lend themselves to this kind of  effort. But it is not limited to scientists. There are problems listed by educators and non-profits as well.

Browse the site and see what you think. http://www.innocentive.com/
Be a solver.