Thursday, March 29, 2007

Gear Junkie Part 1




My new favorite piece of hardware. The Linksys WRT54GS that I've amped up with a pair of 9 dBi antennas. This is the first part of my wireless network and has been great. I'll hold on to this until 802.11N becomes commonplace in notebooks.




Great range, particularly combined with my other access points. Excellent signal throughout the house!

MBA - Stay or Go?

Recently I was talking with a former co-worker who just left our company. He had left for a similar position elsewhere but for more money. He asked the usual question that people ask me all the time....

"Are you going to leave when you finish your MBA?"

This seems to be a universal question. Frequently I get people asking about my income expectations upon completion. I don't expect my company will pay me any more than I make now. The MBA isn't some magical money tree. I have proposed some significant projects for the year as a way to apply my new skills and these were accepted. If I can be successful with them but nothing comes of it - then at least I've succeeded in correctly applying my new knowledge.

Since I work in a big mega-global chemical company there should be something interesting here once I finish. After all, the new HR thing in vogue is employees driving their own career paths. I've mapped out the assignments I want to work on and the path I'm looking to follow so I've just got to secure the next step to make it happen. Since I work in a very, very flat organization ( only 6-7 layers from bottom to top for a $13Billion organization) so career growth here takes the form of project work in a matrix type layout. That is good up to a point - somewhere there has to be some visible sign of promotion. Heck, everyone needs to know there efforts mean something.

So should I stay or should I go? -

Work/Life Balance?

Is work always work?

Recently I was crashing to complete a project in a burst of activity and the hours just slipped on by. This is unusual for me as I typically have things very scheduled to fit everything in ( MBA coursework, work, travel, family stuff). It was an interesting assignment ( largely of my own making) and I was trying a creative approach to a common business problem ( a marketing plan). I know the balance was tipping the other way for a little while and I didn't seem to mind because it was such a great project to work on ( for me). My virtual team is small but dedicated and each has a special skill set that seems to compliment the others. We don't have much budget but everyone is pretty resourceful and able to use our limited resources well.

So the work just didn't feel like work. It was fun and challenging. Don't get me wrong, this is real work with real financial consequences if it fails. Personally I've really rediscovered my interests since starting my MBA.

So the work is there for the "working" but seems not to be so much drudgery like some older tasks I don't do anymore.


Is this really a work/life balance issue at all or should I just be glad to have the motivation and excitement over the project? Lately the ideas just seem to spill out - nice feeling to have.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Winning the War but Losing Some Battles?

I have had the whole balance thing shift way over this past month ( hence the very few posts). Hopefully now I'm bringing it back on track.

I feel at times that I still am winning the war but losing the most recent skirmishes!

So I've got to write a paper this week, catch up on my expense report ( battered and bruised ) as well as completely redesign a product line / market approach at work.

Hopefully I'll make some progress in the next day or two.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Making A List And Checking It Twice

No this isn't a Christmas time reference, it is an intro into my career list idea. Each year ( ideally every 6 months or more often if you wish) I take all the things I do at work and list them down. I start with the things I like at the top and the things I don't at the bottom. I just let things go and brainstorm.

Then I rearrange the list so that there is a break in the items where I determine things "change" for the negative and draw a line. Then I try to incorporate more of the things I do like and work to divest myself of the things I don't like.

An example:

LIKE
  1. Strategic planning and implementation
  2. Customer related work
  3. Career enrichment assignments
  4. MBA Coursework
  5. International teamwork projects

DON'T LIKE
  1. Day to day grind of sales travel
  2. Too broad a focus on daily activities
  3. Lack of career advancement potential at current position


So for the next period of time ( for me the next 6-9 months) I will create action plans to do more of what I like and less of what I don't. This helps me to prepare all my career and performance program items at work.

Plus as a bonus, it helps my personal development as well!

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Burned Out, Blocked and Bored??

I was reading an article from the HBR the other day on the subject of "mid-career" types and the challenges they face regarding career planning and advancement. I thought it was very interesting and certainly can relate. The double edged sword is that many boomer types are at the tops of their careers ( or near the tops) and a decade of downsizing has decimated the middle ranks of corporate America. That normally isn't a problem unless you are a younger worker looking to move up. Roadblock!

Now the other side of the sword is that as a company, you should seek to have a strong "bench" of capable people ready to do any of your top jobs. Unfortunately how do you keep a strong collection of people primed and ready before they get bored and move on to some other company?

I work in a matrix type organization and this is clearly an issue where people no longer can measure advancement by the promotional ladder ( because there isn't one anymore). So how do you do it???

I think the potential solution is in making job rotations more a necessity and actually drive employees to push their limits........