Career Tips for Aspiring Management Consultants and Accountants
When looking for a coach, it helps to seek out someone who will tell you the things that are going to be hard to hear. If you’re the coach, you should strive to be that person. The struggle is how to deliver hard-to-hear information without making the person on the other side feel like trash. Even in situations where someone is making the most basic mistakes (in your opinion), you need to keep your cool. [Read more…]
I’m just going to come right out and say it. The Atlanta Falcons gave us the most epic collapses in Super Bowl history, and possibly all of sports (this and this make it a tough choice). In case you’re not an American football fan, the Atlanta Falcons boasted one of the most prolific offenses in the National Football League all year and managed to get up 28-3 in the biggest many of them will ever play. It was announced during that game that no team up by 19 or more points in a playoff game had ever lost. This scenario had happened 93 times prior to this year’s Super Bowl.
Luckily for me, meltdowns make for more compelling writing than blowouts and as sad as that game was for anyone, who calls the Falcons their team, there are 3 important lessons you can draw from their shortcoming. [Read more…]
I was in this restaurant, home of some of the best pulled pork I’ve had in some time, and a noticed a sign on the wall that resonated with me.
It said “asking dumb questions is easier than correcting dumb mistakes”.
How many times have you been in a training or workshop or speech and had a question you wanted to ask but you held back because you didn’t want to be the person asking the stupid question?
Instead, you hold your tongue and try to quiet your curiosity until the urge to clarify your understanding passes. You can do better than that. [Read more…]
This time last year I was distraught about what to do next in my career.
I had just pinged my HR contact to figure out when the business cases needed to be submitted for people wanting to get promoted to director.
When he told me the deadline was a week ago, it was like he punched me with every ounce of force had in his body.
Panic. Embarrassment. Frustration. Anger at the system. Anger at myself. I was feeling all of it at the same time, to the point of physical paralysis. [Read more…]
Last week, I received a message from someone that gave me chills. It started with a simple declaration, “tomorrow is my last day at the firm.” While you generally feel people voluntarily leaving the firm is less than ideal, it’s part of the business world’s circle of life. When I probed more, that’s when the weight fell on my shoulders. [Read more…]
It sounds kind of ridiculous, right?
What kind of idiot would show up for a job interview with no pants?
It just so happens I know a guy. It also just so happens that this guy is me.
Much like another unfortunate incident where I accidentally ordered a veggie pizza, this story begins with me landing late in a Chicago airport.
Smart people give terrible advice too.
Most people won’t want to admit it until they’re on the receiving end of the bad advice. Maybe because they don’t want to tarnish the image of the mentors in their lives. Or maybe because they don’t want to face the fact they’ve missed the mark on some advice they’ve given. [Read more…]
