Executive Resume Keywords

Executive Resume Keywords Keywords you need on your executive resumeA single keyword communicates multiple skills and qualifications. Your resume is an essential part of your professional profile, but how much thought have you given to the specifics? The language you useor more precisely, the keywords you includecan make a significant difference in your job prospects.Not only does the right language help to demonstrate your expertise, its what recruiters expect to see from executive-level resumes. Also, if you submit your resume to an verbunden job site like Monster, computerized applicant tracking systems scan resumes for specific keywords that recruiters have indicated theyre searching for. Of course, many of these keywords will vary by industry.If youre in IT, youd want general terms like project management, phrases like cloud and rapid because those are buzz words in the industry, says Laura Handrick, an HR analyst for FitSmallBusiness.com. When you look at the job description, look at the keywords in there and just replicate them. Because thats what theyre going to search for.Speaking genuinely and candidly about your experience is also a good seller, but where it makes sense, sprinkle the following top executive keywords or terms throughoutStrategicPL, Profit Loss ResponsibilityGrowth, Revenue, ProfitROIMetricsChange Management, Change TransitionDollars RaisedLeadershipOperationsManagementBudgeting FinancePerformance ImprovementStakeholdersHit all the anglesKeywords should be added to as many areas of the resume as possible.The goal with keywords is to have as many as possible that match the requirements in the job description, says Nancy Spivey, a career coach, resume writer, and founder of Ready Set Resume.For example, an executive standort with a software company may require experience with Internet security software, so its important to have the key phrase Internet security software on the resume.Include specificsIf youre managing a te am of people, how many people are you managing?If headhunters are looking for someone to move into another CEO role, they like to move them apples to apples, says Debra Boggs, an executive resume writer and job search coach in Portland, Maine.Showing the annual revenue or the valuation of the company is a good one. Other valuable details include the products a company manages or the markets a company serves.Update your online presenceA resume is something that usually is a follow up to an inquiry somebody has made based on some research, says Mario Alosco, a partner with executive recruiting firm Radius Partners.In other words, make sure that your keywords appear in all the places in which you are searchableif youre ableincluding social media profiles like LinkedIn and your company bio.Get your resumeassessed for freeKnowing which keywords you need to use on your resume is one thing properly incorporating them is another. You dont want to end up with a tangle of keywords that dont c ommunicate your skills and value. Could you use some help putting it all together?Get a free resume evaluation today from the experts atMonsters Resume Writing Service. Youll get detailed feedback in two business days, including a review ofyour resumes appearance and content, and a prediction of a recruiters first impression. Its a quick and easy way to help ensure youre putting your most professional foot forward.

What You Do Not Know About What Is an Objective when Writing a Resume Might Shock You

What You Do Not Know About What Is an Objective when Writing a Resume Might Shock You Whenever you wish to emphasize that youre ambitious, that you understand what you want in a career, or you have the skills for the particular job, you could benefit from a resume objective. Your career objective might be the very first impression your prospective employer ever gets of you, and thats why it ought to be both impressive and on-point. The very best career objective is to make certain you know what job you can do. A best career objective isnt just about what you want to accomplish. As soon as its essential for your resume to incorporate a very clear career goal, you dont need to convey it through an Objective section. Make certain you compose a career objective which you are have applied. So, career objectives can be anything they want to make koranvers that you are the appropriate candidate. What Is an Objective when Writing a Resume and What Is an Objective when Writing a Resu me - The Perfect Combination So beware a very best objective statement can produce the path. For instance, you may require a resume summary or a resume objective, but you ought not incorporate both. The info within the goal statement may want to get customized based on your industry also. In the majority of cases, a resume objective is merely a couple of sentences long. What Is an Objective when Writing a Resume and What Is an Objective when Writing a Resume - The Perfect Combination How to receive a professional resume critique to make sure your resume is on the proper track. Writing a winning college student career objective is a fairly effortless method to bolster your application for this internship or job youve got in sight. It is a relatively easy way to bolster your application for that internship. Studying the best way to write resume could be fairly an intimidating procedure. Objectives were most useful in years past before people could submit a resume to a parti cular job. An effective objective needs to be written by keeping the job in mind that youre applying to. Entry-level objectives can be particularly hard to write as you likely dont have loads of work experience, but you do want to solidify that you know the sort of career youre searching for. Objectives are optional, but if used in the correct way, will tell the employer that you understand precisely what you desire. Resume objectives are occasionally taken lightly, but theyre an extremely important part of a resume. Resume objectives can be quite a strong tool if used properly. Resume objectives can be a little controversial.

Go With Your Gut The Science of Instinct

Go With Yur Gut The Science of Instinct Article by Shelley LevittI had a feeling about it.I just knew.It was a hunch.My intuition told me.I acted on instinct.I felt it in my gedeihlich.Weve all had these experiences countless times in ur lives. Ithappens when were interviewing a potentialhire or being interviewed ourselves. It happenswhen were sizing up a potential business lebensabschnittsgefhrte or new client. It happens when we walk into a restaurant and catch sight of our blind date at the bar, or when we cross the threshold into the two-story colonial our real estate agent has assured us is just perfect for us.Were gripped by a powerful, visceral feeling, a deep sense of certainty that tells us what to doHire the guy. Dont take the job. Move forward with the deal. This is the person youre going to marry. Make an offer on the house.And years later, when wetell the story, wellsay it was the best decision we ever made.Good thing welistened to ourtre fflich.The Power of InstinctThe phenomenon we often refer to as gut instinct has been studied by a broad range of experts, including psychologists, economists, microbiologists, and sociologists. When it comes to all this research, theres widespread agreement on a couple of points.First, our gut instinct isnt some magical, mystical force. Rather, says cognitive psychologist Gary Klein, Ph.D., author of Sources of Power How People Make Decisions and The Power of Intuition, Its the way we translate our experience into judgment and actions.When Klein studied how individuals such as firefighters and emergency medical personnel make instant life-or-death decisions, he found they were able to size up situations rapidly by picking up on subtle cues, patterns, and anomalies. Then, they wouldtake decisive action without having to stop and conduct deliberate analysis. Psychologist Daniel Kahneman, who was awarded the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for the pioneering work he did in decision-making, called this System 1 thinking. Its fast, instinctual, and emotional.The second accepted factis that we couldnt survive without our gut feelings.More than 99 percent of the decisions we make every day, we make without deliberation, says Carl Spetzler, Ph.D., cofounder and CEO of Strategic Decisions Group, a strategic management consulting firm headquartered in Palo Alto, California. Hes also lead author of the new book Decision Quality Value Creation from Better Business Decisions.Those automatic decisions what Malcolm Gladwell called thinking without thinking in his best-selling book Blinkinclude everything from choosing which foot to start with when you walk to hitting the brakes when you see a line of cars stopped in front of you on the highway or grabbing your 1-year-old when she begins tumbling off the sofa.If you think youd make better choices if emotions didnt get in your way, think again.Without our intuitions, wed be paralyzed, Klein says. There is very powerful research on people with brain damage that disconnects the emotional parts of their brains from the decision-making parts of their brains. Their IQ is not affected, but their lives are terribly impaired. They cant hold down jobs. Their relationships suffer. It can take them 45 minutes to figure out what to reservierung from a menu because they dont have any sense of what they want.On the other hand and theres always another hand in the realm of decision-making relying on your gut alone is a pretty efficient formula for wrecking a business, a marriage, or a life. In their groundbreaking work, Kahneman and his late partner Amos Tversky discoveredthat intuitive thinking without further reflection is often faulty thinking. Numerous biases are at play when we make fast decisions under conditions of uncertainty. To cite just a few- We tend to have an optimistic bias,believing well succeed in the face of long odds.- We place more faith in things weveheard about recently than in events that happened years ago and are less easy to remember thats called availability bias.- Vivid occurrences are also more likely to influence us, which is why we typically overestimate the number of people killed in tuch accidents and underestimate fatalities from car crashes. Confirmation bias means we often ignore information that doesnt support our existing beliefs and give too much weight to data thats in sync with our current mindset.- In hindsight bias, or the I-knew-it-all-along effect, we imagine that we were better at predicting, say, the ups and downs in our industry than we actually were.Put all these biases together, and we end up with what Kahneman calls WYSIATI, an acronym for what you see is all there is. Thats the unconscious conviction that everything we need to make a decision is right in front of us. After all, we feel it in our gut.Paying attention to your gut, most experts would agree, is a valuable first step in reaching a decision. But unless the decision involves something like picking out a puppy from a litter, youll want to combine your gut instinct with more effortful and logical deliberation, whichKahneman calls System 2 thinking. If System 1 provides a fast-and-furious first draft, System 2 hones that draft into a professional PowerPoint presentation. Its slow, deliberate, and rational.Talking Back to Your GutYoudont want to take what your gut is telling you at face value. Instead, you need to investigate whats driving yourfirst impression. Psychologist Bruce Pfau, Ph.D., is a New York-based senior partner at KPMG, one of the Big Four auditors, where he advises C-suite executives on human resources strategies and communications.What we label a gut feeling is always based on a set of variables that we havent spent time articulating, Pfau says. Only when you bring those facts into the light of day can you analyze them objectively and dispassionately and move on to making a good decision.If youre considering forming a partnership with somebody but have a nebulous feeling of unease, Pfau suggests free-associating Let your mind start putting words to what it is about this person thats making you uncomfortable. It can start with something vague, like I just have the feeling hes not going to be a good partner.Dig deeper. Ask yourself, What about him is making me feel that way? Does he seem too complacent? Too argumentative? Is it something in his body language? Something he said or the way he said it? It might be helpful to jot down notes or enlist someone else as a sounding board to guide your reflection. Then test your feelings against available data.Decision-Making in the Real WorldLarry Gadea is the founder and CEO of Envoy, a San Francisco-based company that helps businesses replace paper sign-in books with iPad-based visitor registration.The tough part about being a CEO is the constant need to make decisions, oftentimes without the research and context that you need to take a proper, informed approach, Gad ea says.Its taken him awhile to get used to that. Gadea is a data guy. He spent four years as a systems engineer at Google, where everything was measurable, he says. If the server took another 15 milliseconds processing a request, it could mean a loss of $50 million over the year. Being an engineer, he says, was all about making the perfect decision, not the good-enough decision.A few years ago, when Envoy was raising money, the company was in the fortunate position of having several interested investors.They were all top-tier, awesome, super smart people who knew whats up, Gadea says.As always,Gadea had done his homework, but the copious research hed gathered on each investor wasnt helping him move past indecision. So helet his gut make the final call.I asked myself, If I ever had to tell somebody bad news, who would help me? Gadea explains.His intuition pointed to a clear winner Chris Dixon, a general partner in Andreessen Horowitz, a Menlo Park, California-based venture capital f irm. Dixon had, aptly enough, once launched a company called Hunch that was sold to eBay.I really like Chris we have a lot in common and we get along really well, so it turned out to be a great decision, Gadea says. If I had overanalyzed it, who knows what micro-optimization I might have gone with that would make things much less enjoyable.Your feelings arent random, Pfau says. Theyre based on something thats observable and measurable, but you cant take reliable action until you start identifying what that is.You might ultimately come to realize your reaction is actually rooted in something not entirely rational. Perhaps Joe is setting off alarms because something about him reminds you of Warren, the kid who bullied you in junior high school. Once youve made that connection, Pfau says, you can eliminate the discomfort from your assessment.Despite his training as an engineer, Gadea was still connected to his feeling brain. For some people who are by nature deeply analytical, that can be a challenge.Everyone has a preferred approach to decision-making based on personality type, says Spetzler. Its important not to let our preference-based habits get in the way of solving the problem that needs to be solved.Spetzler says his firm is hired to help clients make big strategy choices, such as whether they should spend $5 billion on an underwater deep-seas project amid geological, geopolitical, and economic uncertainty.If they make the wrong decision, theyll never recover, Spetzler says. So people on my staff might spend months doing research and developing a decision tree that has thousands of branches.Well trained in System 2 thinking, analytical types can get stymied when it comes to making inconsequential decisions.Its always funny to watch some of my people deciding where to go to lunch, Spetzler says. They look at too many alternatives. They want to pick the single best place. Theyre caught in the extreme opposite of intuitive processes, and it really slows them down. Our culture is a collaborative one, but at some point I have to say, Cmon guys, its just lunch. Lets go.If this sounds like you, a couple of approaches can help you speed up the less momentous decisions in your life. First, ask yourself how much time youre going to commit to making the decision 10 minutes to choose where to go for drinks with colleagues eight hours over the next week to pick a place for the holiday office party two Saturday afternoons to research and test mattresses. mucksmuschenstill cant decidebetween an innerspring and the memory foam model? The gut feeling you have at the deadline can clarify your final pick.Gut CheckJulie Benezet is a lawyer, entrepreneur, former Amazon executive, and now a leadership coach to top executives.I always tell my clients its good to have a bright analytical brain, but at the end of the day, the stomach is the smartest organ in the body. It houses life experiences, values, and inconvenient truths, Benezet says.When youre wrestl ing with a decision, the message your gut is sending can bemuffled by emotion or urgency. Ask yourself these questionsto help you make the best use of your gut wisdom- Am I really paying attention to what my gut is telling me about a decision, or am I rushing to judgment to stop feeling anxious?- Am I listening to my gut because Im feeling lazy about supporting my feelings with facts, or do I really feel I know enough to make a call?- If I sit with this gut feeling for a few minutes and allow my head to kick in, will I allow my gut feeling to change?- Is my gut telling me what I believe to be true based on what I either know or can find out, or am I paying more attention to the truths of others?- Do I know enough about the decision to be able to defend it beyond saying Trust me if challenged by others?- Is the information I am collecting to test my gut reaction causing my gut to become calm, or is it giving my gut a flat or troubled feeling?Finally, Klein offers advice that might se em counterintuitive.When we have two hours to meet a deadline on reaching a decision, most of us will take care of other pressing business first, like making essential calls or answering emails that require immediate attention. We want to clear the decks so we can focussolely on the pending decision but that doesnt allow our gut to work on the problem in the background.Youre not giving yourself any time for incubation, Klein says. Id suggest the reverse order Immerse yourself in the project, and then take a timeout to deal with something else.Klein says your subconscious will be chewing on your decision while youve shifted your priorities, which just might provide the moment of aha clarity you need.A version of this article originally appeared in the November 2016 issue ofSUCCESS magazineand onSUCCESS.com.

Brian Tracy Psychology of Selling

Brian Tracy Psychology of SellingBrian Tracy Psychology of SellingBrian Tracy knows how to sell. He understands the psychology of sale, from both the sales professionals side and the customers. Taking himself from rags to riches through sales has earned him the respect of sales professionals around the world. But it is his ability to teach others how to sell more effectively that earned him fame, wealth and the admiration of thousands, if elend millions of sales professionals. In this series of articles, Brian Tracy discusses the 7 Steps in a Sales Cycle, beginning with Prospecting. These steps are so effective that simply learning them and implementing them can drastically improve anyones sales results. The magic of behauptung steps is that they are not only highly effective in a sales cycle but also in finding a sales job. When it comes down to it, someone who knows how to prospect but chooses not to is no better off than someone who knows how to read but never does. So if you beli eve that prospecting is an important step in every sale and interviewing process, read on. Prospecting 101 According to Tracy, prospecting is the process to distinguish between suspects and true prospects. He suggests looking for one or more of 4 customer traits to determine whether or not someone is a prospect. The first is that they have a problem that you or your product can solve. The second is that they have a present need, identified or still uncovered that your product could fulfill. Third, you should look for someone who has a goal that your product or service can help them accomplish. Lastly, prospecting is looking for someone who has a pain that your product or service can relieve. The process to find prospects and separating prospects from suspects can take many forms. Whether you choose traditional cold calling, telemarketing, direct mail, sales blitzes or any other prospecting method, the important thing is that prospecting is seen as a critical step in your sales c areer. Prospecting is also a critical first step in job hunting. A common mistake that many job seekers make is spending their time and energy looking for a job with a company that does not have one or more of the aforementioned traits. For example, if a company has a solid sales force that is consistently delivering results, that company does not have a pain-point that your sales skills could relieve. Doing some research on a list of businesses for whom you are interested in selling for allows you to employ a more targeted and professional approach to your job hunt. You will also be able to better qualify your prospects and, through research, identify some of their possible pain-points, corporate goals, and business challenges. Questions are the Key If you want to learn anything, you have to ask questions. Unless someone randomly begins telling you all about his business pains, goals, problems and needs you will need to ask targeted questions to find out whether or not the busi ness is a prospect. But knowing how to ask questions, what questions to ask and what not to ask is a skill that takes practice and time to master. Many job seekers and rookie sales professionals, who believe in the value of asking questions, often ask either too many questions or questions that are not germane to the conversation. Just because you can think of a question doesnt mean it should be asked. Your Questioning Guide To help you keep your questions on track, focus on using questions to uncover whether or not the person you are talking with has one of the 4 traits that Tracy suggests makes them a prospect. Ask questions about their goals and what challenges they are encountering as they strive to meet their goals. Ask questions about any problems they have in accomplishing whatever it is that your product or service is intended to do. Ask about how their current sales force is performing and what do they look when hiring new sales professionals. Questions about anything t hat does not help you qualify a person or business as a potential employer or customer should be tabled until further into the sales or employment cycle. While many would argue that questions should be used early and often in an attempt to build rapport, you may end up building rapport with someone with whom you will never sell to or work for. Nothing against building your professional network but using selling time for selling and networking time for networking makes more efficient use of your time. A Final Word Many sales professionals and job seekers hate prospecting. If they prospect at all, they see it as a necessary evil. While you may never learn to love prospecting, you will realize an incredible improvement in your sales efforts, rewards and job satisfaction. Brian Tracy said that it was sales that took him from rags to riches, and it all began with learning how to prospect.

MOS 12H - Constructlon Engineering Supervisor

MOS 12H - Constructlon Engineering SupervisorMOS 12H - Constructlon Engineering SupervisorBasic Job Description Note This is not an entry-level job. The Construction Engineering Supervisor oversees the construction, repair and utilities of buildings, warehouses, fixed bridges, port facilities and petroleum pipelines, tanks and related equipment. Duties performed by Soldiers in this MOS include Reads and interprets construction drawings. Estimates material, time, equipment, and labor requirements. Supervises the construction and repair of wood frame, concrete, masonry or prefabricated structures. Supervises the installation and repair of utility systems. Inspects structures and facilities to ensure compliance with specifications. Directs operator maintenance on assigned vehicles and equipment. Directs combat engineering missions. Devises network flow diagrams such as the critical path method and coordinates work activities of supporting units. Provides supervision over all structural and utility construction projects. Inspects subordinate elements to ensure compliance with directives, construction drawings, and specifications. Plans and organizes for combat engineering missions. Training Information N/A ASVAB Score Required 95 in aptitude area GM Security Clearance None Strength Requirement very heavy. Physical Profile Requirement 111221 Other Requirements Completion of the Basic Noncommissioned Officer Course (BNCOC) Completion of the Advanced Noncommissioned Officer Course (ANCOC) 10-14 years of service on average Similar Civilian Occupations First-Line Supervisors/Managers of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers Civil Engineering Technicians Construction Managers

Busting the Resume Template Myth Once and For All

Busting the Resume Template Myth Once and For All Busting the Resume Template Myth Once and For All Busting the Resume Template Myth Once and For AllIts time for you to start your job hunt. You either need to write your first resume, or give it a much-needed update. You want it to look good, but youre tired of fighting with Microsoft Word, and youre far from a Pages expert.You think to yourself why bedrngnis use a resume schablone?But youre not sure youve seen folks on the web saying how resume templates make you look lazy, uncreative, and wont help you stand out.Are they correct?To demonstrate that these criticisms are not only incorrect, but they are actually cravenly self-serving, Im going to critique an article by TheLadders about whether you should use a resume template.TheLadders quotes experts that also sell resumes. Conflict of interest much?TheLadders argues that you should not use resume templates. To support their argument, they quote various career-management and marketi ng experts. These career gurus argue that, hiring professionals can spot a cut-and-paste resume job a mile away and that resume templates shout, I took a shortcutIt appears to be a strong argument on the surface. After all, career management and marketing experts cant be wrong, can they?Yes, they can be wrong.Worse, they can be deliberately misleading. The article quotes Barbara Safani from Career Solvers saying that resume templates reveal laziness and dont put forward, the image you want to convey to hiring managers.A brief look at Career Solvers reveals that they sell resumes starting at $1,000. Thats clearly a conflict of interest. Of course she will argue that resume templates arent good. If you use a template, she wont be able to sell you her service for thousands of dollars.Shel Horowitz is quoted later in the article saying that resume templates are bad because some are designed poorly. Not only is that an irrelevant red herring (of course people shouldnt use bad resume temp lates), he also suffers from a conflict of interest. He also sells resume writing services for hundreds of dollars on his site accuratewriting.com.To buttress their argument further, TheLadders vaguely writes that, one resume template vendor who spoke to TheLadders even agreed with their rationale that resume templates arent ideal.Did that really happen? Should we take TheLadders word for it?Resume templates are the devil Unless Susan Ireland sells them. Then its perfectly legitimate Wait a minuteThe article takes a bizarre turn when TheLadders interviews Susan Ireland about the merits of resume templates. Susan argues sensibly that it isnt cheating to use a resume template theyre more like tools. Furthermore, she bluntly states that professional resume writers use their own templates anyway.The articles entire second section is tagged on like a careless afterthought, as though Susans argument doesnt completely demolish the reasoning against using a resume template in the first hal f of the article.Heres the reason Susan Ireland takes the practical (read correct) approach to talking about the merits of resume templates shes a savvy businesswoman who is making money by both selling expensive professional resume writing services and ready-made resume templates for $24.95.After all, it wouldnt be smart of her to say that the template portion of her business is useless and going to negatively affect the job hunt of her paying customers, would it?Why be dishonest about resume templates? For the $$$, of course.Of course there are merits to hiring a professional resume writer, which Susan lays out perfectly. The resume templates indicate laziness argument is not one of them.That argument is nothing more than a lazy, self-serving sales pitch that holds no water.The idea that there are super-critical hiring managers twisting their mustaches and sniffing at resume templates is a laughable invention.Soshould you use a resume template?Go ahead, if you want to. Hiring man agers are paid money look at the content of resumes, not judge whether it looks like it was made with Microsoft Office. A hiring manager that actually did do that would get fired.A good resume template is one that displays information clearly, period. If youre going to hire a professional resume writer, do it for the right reasons not because youre afraid a hiring manager is going to toss your resume out because theyre tired of looking at Times New Roman font.Resume template resourcesIf you want to use atemplate, here are some resources we recommendResume Genius Templates Basic, Career Objective, and AdvancedTemplates by Microsoft OfficeTemplates by Google Docs

Is Your Business Philosophy Holding You Back

Is Your Business Philosophy Holding You BackIs Your Business Philosophy Holding You Back8 approaches that could be keeping you from getting ahead, and what you can do to change that.I used to make fun of the word philosophy. Thought it was too impractical, too theoretical, and too useless.Wow, was I wrong.Philosophy means the most basic beliefs, concepts, and attitudes of an individual or group.That definition is according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. To me, your philosophy is your most basic operating system for making decisions. Its the foundation of what you will achieve in the future. Its what causes you to do certain things and elendlage do other things. Everybody has a philosophy whether they realize it or not.The sum of your beliefs, concepts, and attitudes creates your approach to the marketplace and to your career. Rather than just staying with whatever approach youve always used, I encourage you to look into your business philosophy and decide whether or not it is wha t you want to continue to stick to. One question I would like for you to consider is, Will my current philosophy generate my desired business and career outcomes in a sustainable way?The Non-Sustainable ApproachesOver the years Ive witnessed, and in several cases used, approaches to achieving results that were not sustainable. Heres a brief overview of several of these approachesThe Dutiful Employee ApproachThis parteie does whatever the boss tells him or her to do. He or she does a fantastic job once the directions have been given from the boss. However, this person never makes a decision and always waits to be told as to what the next project will be. This type of employee does have an upside for the organization. The boss can count on this person to do what he or she is told to do and not waste time arguing. Also, the persons work is usually done at a very high level.However, this is not a sustainable approach for success. What if the boss is wrong? What if the boss leaves? What if this person gets promoted and has never developed the ability to think for himself or herself.People have been told for centuries, Do what your boss tells you to do and you will be fine. That is not good advice over the long term. It might work for a high school student on a summer job, but certainly not for an employee who strives to have a great career.Listening to your boss is a good attribute. Waiting to be told what to do at every moment and blindly following that advice no matter what it is does not add up to a great career.The Chameleon ApproachA chameleon is a lizard that changes its colors to fit in with its surroundings. That is effective in the forest for the sake of survival. A chameleon in the business world does and says whatever he or she thinks that other people want. When this person receives any criticism, he or she instantly changes to try to meet what the criticizer wants. Its a disaster. The chameleon never sticks with any opinion, but rather jumps around to please the person who is in that moment.To sustain success, you need to stick to your own principles and values. What do you stand for that you are going to stick to no matter who is in the room?It is important to try to meet the personality needs of other people. It is a good thing to talk about what is of interest to the other person. Changing your values and your beliefs just because someone wants to hear something else from you is a very dangerous habit.The Polite Dictator ApproachThis is a special form of the chameleon. The polite dictator is the boss who tells his or her employees whatever they want to hear and asks for their opinions and ideas, but who has already decided how things are going to be done.Its bad enough being a dictator, but leading people to believe that you are considering their ideas when you are really not has a devastating effect on your relationships with them. Eventually, they will completely disengage from you and stop supporting your direction. They ma y stay on the payroll, but they are largely gone from helping you achieve your business objectives.The Workaholic ApproachThis approach says, As long as I keep working longer and harder hours, I will eventually win. The mistake is that the person substitutes effort for competence and effectiveness in the equation for achieving success. Working insanely long hours only guarantees that you will eventually become exhausted. Many workaholics end up bitter that they are not given the title or the compensation that they feel they have earned.Hard work certainly has an important place in the story of success. However, if a person thinks that working longer and longer hours is the key to achieving greater success, he or she is going to run into a serious brick wall known as The 168-Hour Rule. There are only 168 hours in a week. You get them, I get them, and everyone else gets them. There is a firm upper limit to the number of hours any person can work in a week. You cant continually double your effectiveness by doubling the number of hours you work because pretty quickly there wont be that many hours in a week.The Student ApproachThis approach says that if you learn enough, eventually you will become a major success. behauptung types of people are obsessed with learning. They go to college and get three majors and then go to graduate school and get two masters degrees and a PhD. They get into the workplace and read every conceivable book on the topic they want to learn. They sign up for every seminar that they can take, and agree to have multiple mentors. The problem is they think the key to success is the accumulation of knowledge, not the application of it.Education is a good thing, but only if it is applied toward achieving an important goal. You dont deserve good results just because you read and read and read. You only deserve good results when you apply yourself toward improving those results and constantly work to improve your performance. Its not enough to sea rch for ways to be more effective at work. You have to take the risk of applying those ideas even though you might fail. Then you can make adjustments and improve.The Shortcut ApproachPeople use this approach when they want to get the same results with far less effort than anyone else. A lot of times this can be very effective. Many processes should be simplified. There is a lot of wasted time and energy and money in almost every organization and the person who finds shortcuts to the desired solution is really a very valuable employee or business owner.However, when it is taken too far, the shortcut approach can become a substitute for integrity. The person becomes consumed with getting better and better results with less and less effort. Consequently, the fastest shortcut is lying about the numbers. Another quickie is to cheapen your product while keeping the price the same. This approach can generate good short-term results, but can also destroy a persons career and organization.T he Image ApproachThis philosophy says that you have to look the part in order to earn success. Up to a point, it makes absolute sense to do this. It does no good to show up at a meeting with a customer wearing a sweat suit if he or she is wearing business casual. It doesnt help if you sell a $20,000 product that has mud all over it. Images do matter.However, when people feel they need to constantly upgrade their image in order to achieve greater success, they move away from the source of the value they have to offer, which is their ability to do their job.Say, for example, you are a salesperson. Youve just sold a steady flow of high-end products. You were successful because of your competence as a salesperson. However, you want more customers and you feel the need to impress them not through your strong customer relationship skills or your knowledge of the product, but rather by constantly improving your image. You become obsessed with continually buying new cars, new homes, new clo thes, new gadgets, and anything else you can think of that might impress a potential customer. Eventually customers will realize you are all image and no substance.The Ill ride on your coattails ApproachThis one happens when a person has a wealthy relative or a friend in a high-level position who is willing to deckblatt for the persons lack of performance. Perhaps they make sure the person always has a steady flow of cash coming in no matter what they do. They either send the person checks or they keep the person on the payroll no matter how poor the persons performance becomes.While the person may feel successful in the short term, the only way to sustain success is to always have the sugar daddy or mommy around. If the financial source dies or quits or decides to stop carrying the person, then its game over.The Practical Approach for Sustaining SuccessIf you want to improve your performance at anything, whats the most practical thing you can do?Stop reading this article for a few minutes and write down your answers to that question.Heres what I wrote.First, I will ask myself, In terms of this performance, what am I doing that is going well and why is it going well? What am I doing that is not going well and why is it not going well? What else can I do that I have not done yet?Second, I will reach out to other people who I feel have valuable insights to offer on this type of activity and ask them for their advice on my performance.Third, I will study people who have done the same type of activity at a very, very high performance level and see if I can learn anything from watching their performances.Fourth, after I identify the adjustments I want to make I will go back and try the performance again.I will then repeat the steps over and over again.While Im doing this process I will stick to a few values that guide my behaviors honesty (telling the truth), integrity (doing what I think is the right thing to do even though it might cost me money), curiosity (alwa ys searching to learn from every other person), and contribution (attempting to add value to other people).This simple, practical approach is what I have learned from years of trial-and-error with different philosophies and from studying people whom I consider to be long-term successes at the highest level. Its not sexy and the payoffs are not immediate. However, it is a business philosophy that I believe will help to generate sustainable success for any individual, and consequently any organization. One of the greatest researchers of sustained great performances of all time is Anders Ericcson. He explains this process over and over in his books and articles.What is your business philosophy? Is it what you want to stick with over the long term?