Tag Archives: Quantify

How Do You Balance Career and Personal Goals? Three Guides

Situation: After two challenging two years, a CEO has observed that to keep the company afloat he has had do set aside his personal goals. As the economy has recovered business conditions have improved and he wants to devote more time to personal goals and objectives. Where should he focus, and how have others faced this challenge? How do you balance career and personal goals?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Take the time to think about and quantify a long-term solution. This should be in detail with specific and measurable objectives, and, ideally, timelines.
    • Talk to peers. Ask them about their experience and how they defined both professional and personal goals.
    • Seek a mentor. Evaluate several before selecting one
    • Use introspection and identify the real issues and factors – both those that must be tackled and those that are aspirational.
  • Document your dreams and pursue them.
    • Define your goals and objectives.
    • Define what makes you happiest and assure that the goals objectives align with this.
    • Create a reward structure. Assure that you are in charge of each reward.
  • Pursue fulfilling outside activities.
    • Look at organizations or courses that are inspirational and aspirational and which align with what was documented in the first two steps. These could be formal organizations like Toastmasters or evening academic or online courses that appeal to the documented aspirations.
    • Get a copy of Don Clifton’s “Now, Discover Your Strengths.” It includes a link to the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment that helps to identify strengths and fulfilling talents.

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How Do You Transition from Boss to CEO? Three Insights

Situation: The head of a small service company wants to become more strategic – more like a CEO. Ideally, he wants to create a small samurai team to help him expand.  He prefers working with a range of clients to develop creative, out of the box solutions. How do you transition from boss to CEO?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • The eMyth Revisited by Michael Gerber is a valuable primer on how to bring in more clients and revenue. The critical question that this book helps to answer is “what do I want to build?”
    • The book walks you through the critical questions that will help to answer whether your true ambition is to be a Picasso with helpers or a company. The answer may be either, but how you build each is different.
  • The more that skills can tied to a tangible outcome the easier it is for clients to hire a company. Quantify past successes. Make it easy to justify hiring your team.
  • To add to your pipeline:
    • Help friends help you. Make it easy for them to refer you. This can be simple: YouTube videos or improving the company website to highlight past successes.
    • The company web site can’t be just OK – it must be the all-important credibility builder that the company needs. Recreate the site to wow the visitor and tell the company’s story. Make it fun and compelling.
    • Participate in groups or forums that your targets attend. Create presentations, webinars, etc. Establish the company as an expert with the answer and as a trusted resource.
    • Also present to professional organizations to establish expertise and credibility.
    • Testimonials are powerful – particularly if backed by metrics.
    • Collaborate with people with similar depth of experience who can help develop the pipeline. Offer them a cut of total job revenue.

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