The Last Moments Matter

When I play the online word games of ‘Scrambled’ and ‘Word Hero’ on my android phone, I notice that I can squeeze out up to three words in the last five seconds. What leads to these last ‘bursts of fire’? How do I manage to wring out words at whirlwind speed at the eleventh hour?

Perhaps it is the adrenaline pumping, as I compete against the timeline. Being an endurance athlete, I am familiar with working against the clock when I aim for personal best (PB) timing. The watch gives you a sense of your timing, speediness and ability to work within a self-created crisis. It is like our ability to sprint over the finishing-line despite being fatigued or cramped.

It could also be attributed it to my sense of competitiveness. Not so much against a friend, or an unknown adversary – more about beating myself against a benchmarked score. The limits determine your limitation. Either you believe you can beat the score by associating words from the random assortment of alphabets. Sometimes, it takes us almost the duration of the game to realize new words. The confusion makes way for clarity.

Leadership Lessons: How often do you challenge yourself against the clock? How much can you squeeze out of your packets of time? What was the most that you produced within a short period of time? How did it feel to accomplish a lot more than you imagined?

How Will You Add Value To This Job?

‘How do you think you can you add value to this company?’ is a valid question that experienced interviewers may ask. It may be over-asked until it is a cliché, yet it has it relevance. In marketing, we call this a differentiator. How are you positioned differently from others?

Corporate headhunters will not call upon you unless you have made a mark in the ocean of professionals. What is your specialty, and have you attained expert-status and mastery? How do you stand out? How do you demonstrate that you are out-standing, while retaining your humility and humbleness?

Do a SWOT analysis. Identify at least three factors each for your Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. When applied from product branding to personal branding, the SWOT analysis reveals useful information about your value. Define ‘experience’ beyond the fact that you are aging, or spent more years in the company than the junior staff. What have you done to convert your years of loyalty to the company into the reputation as expertise, subject-matter expert, creative problem solver, and leadership?

In competitive sport, your results indicate your place in the universe of competitors. Your competency in one area of talent and development, leads to your competitiveness. By moving up ten ranks, and improving on your relative and absolute rankings, you will move up from amateur to elite status as an athlete. The podium-winners become a preferred choice for selection for interested and eager sponsors.

If you are not a leader in your field, then you are a follower, and, there are many of them out there. Mediocrity is in abundance. Mastery is rare. Re-position yourself a resourceful professional and prove your worth. Back up your talk and promises with results and resolve. Prove to them that you are worth it.

Leadership Lessons: How educated are you about marketing? How seriously do you apply Personal Branding 2.0? How do you brand yourself as a leader in your field? Distinguish what your worth is, how you can be valuable, how you add value and value-add, show your worthiness, and make it worth their while.