Latest EntryJan 1, 2013 Uncategorized Leave a comment
Please, feel free to review my book Corporate Mission Possible – The Manager’s Guide To A Successful Corporate Career on askDavid.com.
Dec 28, 2012 Uncategorized Leave a comment
Grab your bargain copy here:
Dec 14, 2012 Uncategorized Leave a comment
Today at 12 p.m. the book is featured on www.freebookdude.com, an independent server supporting Kindle books.
See it at FreeBookDude.com.
Dec 14, 2012 Inspiration Leave a comment
I have recently joined an exciting community for authors:
Not only have I received interesting tips and marketing ideas, including several links to promotion possibilities, I also met an author’s group on their forum. I have exchanged interesting views with them and got invaluable support in opinions, marketing ideas and reviews, too.
I recommend this place to everyone who writes or would like to publish.
Dec 14, 2012 News on the ebook progress Leave a comment
Please, do not hesitate to download your free copy:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009QOG37K/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009QOG37K/
http://www.amazon.de/dp/B009QOG37K/
http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B009QOG37K/
http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B009QOG37K/
http://www.amazon.it/dp/B009QOG37K/
http://www.amazon.es/dp/B009QOG37K/
Nov 24, 2012 News on the ebook progress Leave a comment
http://askdavid.com is an independent site promoting books and publishing reviews submitted by the community. Free book promotion is available for interested authors. Corporate Mission Possible was submitted early November and after the 5 weeks lead time (long waiting queue) I expect their promotion to be published early December. Check it here:
http://askdavid.com/free-book-promotion
Oct 15, 2012 News on the ebook progress Leave a comment
Good news, the book is now published on Amazon for Kindle, available from today at:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009QOG37K
Looking forward to your comments!
Regards,
Rob
Jun 5, 2012 Inspiration Leave a comment
Putting your thumb up at the road and jumping for the vehicle going your direction is a cheap way of travel. Maybe only some miles then you jump for another. Most of us tried and enjoyed it during our teen and 20 something ages when we had more time than money. As we grow older, we look for safety and efficiency, having less time and maybe even more money so that we can pay for the fare or buy our own car that we can drive.
There are also typical hitchhikers in the corporate world. These employees, mostly young, join large corporations as they seem to be fast, comfortable and straightforward vehicles to take them closer to reaching their own objectives. As soon as the journey gets difficult, they just drop off and jump on another attractive vehicle. It looks like fun and easy but there are several disadvantages:
- getting ahead on the salary ladder is difficult as you have to start almost always again from scratch
- you do not have enough time to learn the specifics of the new environment and you can not build on it
- if you do not build your career till you are young, later it will be increasingly difficult
- in crisis times the waiting time for the next vehicle may be longer than your wallet can handle
There are unwilling corporate hitchhikers, too. They simply can not stay in the same vehicle long, do not know how to behave, and sooner or later the driver asks them to get off. They may not be young and they definitely do not enjoy the enforced hitchhiking.
What are the alternatives? Obviously, you can always establish your own business. Well, for most people this is not obvious and not all of us are made to be an entrepreneur. The well known brand name, belonging to a company you can be proud of among your friends, believing in great products or services, having a great team around you, and last but not least, the corporate benefits are among the strongest arguments to stay with the large corporation. If you can, that is.
Is there a way to learn the way to not only keep your job in the corporate world but also succeed and reach whatever your capabilities otherwise would allow you to accomplish? What are the secrets of learning the “corporate way”? How can you handle the stress, the ever changing environment, and the frustrating opposing tasks sometimes? How can you be successful in the corporate world on the long term?
I have been a corporate manager and executive for more than 20 years. I have been “hitchhiking” for some time until I understood how things work and how you can use the environment for maximum benefit. I am willing to share with you my experience and would be happy to hear yours. Looking forward to your comments!
Jun 2, 2012 News on the ebook progress 2 Comments
I have made some progress in writing during May. I finished the first draft in about 2/3, talking about different corporate cultures, matrix organisation and how to succeed in it, corporate slang, corporate strategy, the power of information and finance. Still have some important chapters to conclude, like communication, corporate ethics, harassment, life and work balance and an important chapter about moral threshold.
What would you be most interested about? It is still time to make new chapters, inserting a topic in the outline to answer questions that you, the potential reader is most suffering by. Do not hesitate to suggest any idea that could make this book better. I am also curious about your stories that could enhance the benefits of the book.
Looking forward to your contributions, enjoy the start of the summer,
Rob
May 1, 2012 book excerpt 4 Comments
The most important paradox of communication: “It is not important what message you wanted to convey to somebody. It is important what he/she understood.”
We often believe that we explained our message to the receiving party and it understood our words properly. In most cases, however, we do not check the result. There are numerous books written about communication, and it is not the scope of this book to substitute for those. Nevertheless, as communication plays an important role in the life and processes of corporations, it also has a deciding power in your ability to succeed.
There are some basic rules you will have to keep. You will have to decide on the communication method based on who the addressee is and what is the level of the information you want to transmit. Sometimes a phone call can be not only more effective but also more desirable than an e-mail. You certainly will not want to convene sensitive or highly confidential information electronically: this needs a meeting face to face. You will have to talk using different language to the people on the shop floor of the factory than to the CEO of the company or with a customer, for that matter. Mastering at least the basic rules of effective communication will be a key for your success in the corporation.
Suboptimal communication is a daily mistake of even high-level managers in corporations and can lead to fatal consequences. Once I hired a project manager to do a job in an environment where he had to communicate daily with customers, colleagues from other departments and suppliers. He was very successful with customers; they loved him. He was hard on suppliers, but managed to get deliveries on time, succeeded to reach some discounts. He completely failed with colleagues. He looked down his nose at them, was arrogant and talked always about his large experience. At the same time, he was not able to master the technical details of the products even after several months. He had to rely on the experience of the colleagues from the technical department in order to do his job of building offers. They, of course, were less than helpful. After half year, he resigned, just before I got to the point of firing him. Keeping a balance of communication not only to your boss, to customers but also to your colleagues and subordinates is mandatory for being successful.
