50 ways to become more professionally excellent

50 Ways to Become

More Professionally Excellent

May 19, 2015 || @UChicagoAlumni Webinar || #ProfessionalExcellence @LeslieBradshaw is the Managing Partner @madebymany and AB ’04 PBK @UChicago

Professional Excellence newsletter: http://tinyletter.com/lesliebradshaw Radical Collaboration newsletter: http://tinyletter.com/sync

Why Professional Excellence Matters Improve Your EQ: 1 - 5 Drive Results: 6 - 10 Master Your Craft: 11 - 15 Mentor / Sponsor / Role Model: 16 - 19 Pay it Forward: 20 - 23 Self Reliance: 24 - 27 Do the Right Thing: 28 - 36 Radical Collaboration: 37 - 41 Miscellaneous: 42 - 50 Closing Thoughts

tableof

contents

why professional

excellencematters

The further along you get in your career,the more your reputation and your output matter more than your resume. So why not be known for being excellent and delivering excellence?

improve your EQ

1.

Resource: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/education/edlife/how-to-be-emotionally-intelligent.html by Daniel Coleman

Have self-awareness, which requires realistic self-confidence and emotional insight.

2.

Employ self-management, which requires resilience, emotional balance, and self-motivation.

3.

Have empathy, which requires cognitive and emotional empathy + good listening.

4.

Embody good relationship skills, which requires compelling communication and team playing.

Make people feel relaxed when working with you;

one sign is that they laugh easily around you.

5.

6.

make every [ ]results-driving

Resource: http://tinyletter.com/LeslieBradshaw/letters/professional-excellence-your-first-mission-should-you-decide-to-accept-it

meeting

email

conversationevent attendance

interruption

State the goal of the encounter; get buy-in, write it out.

Return to the goal at the end,

ensure it was reached.

7.

Don’t bring your phone. Be present.

8.

Take impeccable notes.

Consider using pen and paper.

9.

Return to your notes; reflect on and organize them.

Take and assign actions from them.

10.

11.

master your craft

Resource: https://medium.com/thelist/a-survival-guide-for-the-millennial-entrepreneur-ddd42a90119f

Be the best at something.

Cultivate the natural talents for which you are also passionate

(because not everything you’regood at doing do you want to do).

12.

Craft mastery requires a high level ofdiscipline, commitment, and focus.

And you cannot attain or sustain it

by cutting corners.

13.

Continuously seek the resourcesyou need to learn more, be better,

and advance.

14.

“First, make yourself a reputation for being a creative genius.

Second, surround yourself with partners who

are better than you are.

Third, leave them to go get on with it.” —David Ogilvy

15.

16.

have at least one good: -mentor-sponsor

-role model

Find a mentor: Someone in or around your field

with at least one decade more experience than you.Usually external to your core job.

Make your meetings actionable, with homework!

Offer up a “reverse mentor” relationship.

17.

Sponsor: - Employed at your core job

- Is at least two notches above you on the org chart- Takes an active, deliberate role in

advancing you + your career

18.

Role model: If there was a poster for professional rock stars,

you would hang this person’s on your wall.You look up to their achievements, the life they

lead, the character they have, and wantto emulate them in your own life.

(e.g., Sheryl Sandberg, Warren Buffet, etc.)

19.

create a virtuous cycle of paying it forward

20.

Bonus move: - Be someone’s mentor - Be someone’s sponsor

and if you are lucky enough… - Be someone’s role model

21.

"We make a living by what we get,but we make a life by what we give."

—Winston Churchill

22.

You master the art of the ask by leading first with the act of the give.

Before you ask for something, you have

to start by giving. A lot.

But do so in small, manageable, and genuine batches.

23.

24.

stop relying on others to remind or prod you

“The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays is coming to its close.

In its place we are entering a period of consequences.”

—Winston Churchill

25.

Plan the work, work the plan.

26.

For Pete’s sake, take notes!

27.

"The time is always right to do right."

28.

—Olivia Pope quoting MLK, Jr. Scandal

Season 4, Episode 19

Ruthlessly seek truth and relentlessly ask for honest feedback.

29.

Ruthlessly speak truth and relentlessly give honest feedback.

30.

Learn to deliver a sincere apology.And say it when it’s warranted.

31.

Treat everyone you encounter with dignity, respect, and kindness.

32.

Forgive.

33.

Take the time to thank people, guide people, help people.

34.

Remember:Your character is what you do

when no one is watching.

35.

Make and execute the hard and right decisions to drive the business forward.

36.

the future belongs to those who partner best

37.

Resource: http://tinyletter.com/sync

“Stop, collaborate, and listen.” —Vanilla Ice

38.

Put down the keyboard, pick up the phone.

Shift from digital to physical.

39.

Politic around the ‘hood like you are running for mayor.

—50 Cent (paraphrased from his line in Jimmy Crack Corn)

40.

Be dependable.

41.

9 more ways…

Your personal brand needs investment: define it, refine it, reboot it, expand it.

42.

Use your words to improve others;strengthen them, encourage them, comfort them.

1 Corinthians 14 (summarized)

43.

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”

—Robert Louis Stevenson

44.

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most

intelligent that survives.

It is the one that is most adaptable to change."

—Charles Darwin

45.

Remove the emotion, include the business case.

46.

"My challenge to you is simply this: Observe your environment. At work. At home. At

school. And if you don’t see any diversity, work to change it."—Mellody Hobson

47.

Follow through.

48.

Believe in things, entities, and ideals higher than yourself and monetary gain.

49.

Mind your manners!

"Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that

awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use."

—Emily Post

50.

closing thoughts

In sum: good manners, decisiveness, reliability, mastery.

Webinar to learn, lifetime to master.

Let’s keep the list going—get at me on Twitter (@lesliebradshaw)!

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