Building Successful Careers

WSP 229 Registration at Stanford University starts on Aug 22, 2011 Here is the link https://continuingstudies.stanford.edu/courses/course.php?cid=20111_WSP+229 Stanford Class WSP 229: Ten Steps to a Successful Career: Elizabeth Xu and her mentor of 20+ years Ms. Pat Zimmerman, Jefferson Award and the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Award winner, (bio at: http://www.blogger.com/profile/12719189363354248427) will co-teach this class at Stanford. We will provide you with tools and practical steps to help you build a solid successful career. We will help you go through a paradigm shift in how you see yourself and how you approach your career and life. We will help you to discover your burning desire and goals, and help you to build attitude and plans to realize these goals, build a sound professional brand and broad network and support system. WSP 229 Course Description: Your career development has become your own responsibility in this ever-changing talent mar...

Many of our students complain about not getting enough visibility. We ask, "Are you vocal enough or do you just sit in silence during meetings?" Try this simple test. 1) Do you prepare a question before a meeting? No: 0, Yes: 1 2) Do you prepare a solution or a suggestion to problems to be discussed at the meeting? No: 0, Yes: 1 3) Do you ask questions during the meeting? No: 0, Yes: 1 4) Do you offer to make presentations at the meeting? No: 0, Yes: 2 5) Do you summarize or re-phrase other's points so as to understand what they say? No: 0, Yes: 2 6) Do you offer to write meeting minutes? No: 0, Yes: 1 7) Do you publish your opinions, results and papers? No: 0, Yes: 3 If you score 0-5, you are not vocal enough. If you score 5-8 you are okay, but there is room for improvement. If you score more than 8, you are vocal enough. Action items: 1) Prepare 1-5 questions for your next meeting, ask at least 2 of them. Write the meeting minutes for yourself. 2) Comment on this blog, ...

To improve your Emotional Quotient (EQ or EI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_intelligence ), the ability to identify, assess, and manage your own emotion, other's emotion, or a group's emotion), you must first understand yourself thoroughly. The assumption is that everyone is different. Everyone is motivated differently, reasons differently and reacts differently even to the same event. You must first recognize the differences, accept the differences, work with differences, then appreciate differences and at last value these differences. Only the person who can really utilize human differences at levels above their own can truly and accurately capitalize on the value for their business. How do you internalize human differences? Construct a virtual box assessing your emotions. Then construct a virtual box for each of your peers, your boss, your partners and your clients. Try to understand why you made certain decisions and why others made different decisions. Understand ...

The first step in building a successful career starts from understanding one important person - you. It is the fundamental and hardest step, because you cannot see yourself externally, but only can get external validation from other people… people you trust, people you do not trust, people you love and even people you hate. It is very hard to get a real view of yourself when you live in an ever changing and biased world. We have to live with that person we see in the mirror everyday. It is human nature to be self-centered and love oneself. Most people are willing to live in a self-filtered fantasy world unconsciously rejecting other people's perspectives in order to protect such a fantasyland in their own minds. However, in some extreme cases, people who have low self-esteem can only see their weaknesses. They are living in a dark critical self- constructed cave in their mind and can hardly see any of their prior successes and strengths. These people must learn to love t...