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If you think change is hard, try having to deal with becoming irrelevant –Tom Peters

Clients often come to me when they find their situation at work unbearable. Bad boss, stagnant career, constant firefighting, backstabbing colleagues, no growth prospects with never-ending promises for a promotion, morally challenged management, and so on. And, this is just a partial list!

My client-count meter is rapidly heading to 6,000 now. As I reflect on my working with this pool of clients I have learned much from this experience. Not all my clients succeed in their endeavors, but they often emerge more effective in what they do as a result of following what I suggest to them as a course of action, behaviors, and habits.

Studies of employee behaviors have shown that a majority of them is barely engaged or not engaged in their job. The recent Gallop poll (Q12) involved 49,928 businesses, 1.4 million employees, 192 organizations, across 49 industries, and in 34 countries makes clear that only about 30% employees are engaged in their work, 20% are disengaged (“walking zombies”).

The technology industry has a gender problem. The vast majority of its Venture Capitalists are male as are the founders of its startups and its technology heads. Even the boards of its public companies are dominated by males.discover more here

As I look at my client pool, having now worked with about 6,000 clients globally, I’m surprised by some that are ethically challenged, even today. The reason I say “even today,” is because in today’s information age it is so easy to quickly check facts and expose the truth.

You have a steady job, mortgage is being approved as we speak, have saved enough money for a down-payment and or have so much cash saved up that you just cant hold back and want to spend it on purchasing real estate as an investment. Economy is going ok so far showing strong signs of continuous growth. You are ready to buy that dream house!!

At the Annual GITPRO Global conference in Palo Alto, CA today, I am asked to speak about building your brand and influence. I plan to speak extemporaneously after exploring the needs of those in attendance. As participants gather in the auditorium I plan to catch a few of them randomly and ask them what they struggle with when building their brand and extending their influence.

During their long careers clients often come to me when their role is suddenly changed to a “lesser sounding” title and ask me to tell them how to deal with this “demotion.” In their case this change has happened involuntarily. Sometimes, too, different companies have titles that are inflated to begin with, and when changing jobs into a different industry that title is difficult to carry.

In my coaching practice I find that an apt quote or a short story with a moral can make a point much more powerfully than a discursive discourse. I often visit different sites for inspirational quotes and use those quotes that I do not need to memorize, because they are so poignant and timeless. I recently came across a few and would like to share them with my readers.