My original plan was to write about my companies recent name change from Indiana Business College to Harrison College. I was and am very excited about the change and all that it represents, but I think I will hold off on that topic for a couple of weeks.
Instead, in a 48 hour period recently I received three stories of incredibly unfortunate news. First, a long time friend of mine and my brother’s learned over the weekend that his Dad has been diagnosed with lung cancer and his prognosis is not very good. Next a friend and former colleague of mine informed me that his mother has been diagnosed with leukemia. She learned of this news on the weekend of her three year anniversary from her recovery from brain cancer. Furthermore, the medicine she used to treat the brain cancer had a 1 in 1000 chance of causing leukemia. Lastly, a friend and former colleague of mine who has a son similar in age to my daughter’s, lost her husband suddenly over the weekend. I am not trying to bring everyone’s mood down with what is obviously depressing and tragic news. Instead, I am trying to encourage everyone to be aware that life is indeed far too short. It isn’t worth staying angry or frustrated over minor issues. Make time to reach out to your friends and family and value all of their nuances, even the annoying ones. Take an inventory of your life and look to revise or fix “opportunities for improvement.” We spend so much time rushing on to our next task, or working on the next project that we sometimes take things for granted. I personally am going to use my experience this past week as a wake-up call to appreciate those around me more and spend time enjoying life. I invite all of you to do the same and appreciate what you have and focus less on life’s negatives.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Friendworking
Last week, Seth Godin spoke about not being satisfied with just being good (exceeding-expectations-or-don’t-bother). So I am going to say that I had the foresight of Seth’s blog, and that all of my thoughts over the past two weeks were just good…so I didn’t write anything. Hopefully, my thoughts today will appear to be better than good and I will have a justifiable reason for not having communicated anything for the last two+ weeks.
Friends are really important. This may seem like an obvious statement and to some extent it probably is. But in today’s economy it is vital to keep up relationships with your friends and essentially add them to your networking mix. I have had a number of friends recently that were either let go or left positions due to the changing of their corporate environment. It is a scary time for all of us, but particularly in the Midwest where unemployment numbers are as high as 11-12%, and in individual cities can reach as high as 20% (Detroit for example). With all of the technology that is available, reaching out and communicating with friends is incredibly convenient. Making the effort to catch up with friends should be a part of your daily routine. Sharing knowledge about job status, industry trends and companies that are hiring can be an easy staring point for conversation.
I was fortunate enough to be able to help refer a former colleague and friend for a position with my current company. My colleague simply reached out to me after he was let go from his last position due to significant downsizing, and asked me if I knew of any open positions that he might be a fit for. We started having regular conversations via email, and when I learned of some openings within my company, I let him know and informed the hiring manager of his interest. He will now be starting with our company in a week. And all that I really did was connect him with a decision maker that I already know and respect via email. The end result is that a friend of mine is now employed and the company where I work is better off because they added an excellent individual.
Friendship is not just about networking. But it certainly is a viable benefit in today’s economy. For those of us that are fortunate enough to work for companies or industries that are growing, make sure that you take time to reach out to your friends. After all, who wouldn’t want to work with someone that is already a friend?
Friends are really important. This may seem like an obvious statement and to some extent it probably is. But in today’s economy it is vital to keep up relationships with your friends and essentially add them to your networking mix. I have had a number of friends recently that were either let go or left positions due to the changing of their corporate environment. It is a scary time for all of us, but particularly in the Midwest where unemployment numbers are as high as 11-12%, and in individual cities can reach as high as 20% (Detroit for example). With all of the technology that is available, reaching out and communicating with friends is incredibly convenient. Making the effort to catch up with friends should be a part of your daily routine. Sharing knowledge about job status, industry trends and companies that are hiring can be an easy staring point for conversation.
I was fortunate enough to be able to help refer a former colleague and friend for a position with my current company. My colleague simply reached out to me after he was let go from his last position due to significant downsizing, and asked me if I knew of any open positions that he might be a fit for. We started having regular conversations via email, and when I learned of some openings within my company, I let him know and informed the hiring manager of his interest. He will now be starting with our company in a week. And all that I really did was connect him with a decision maker that I already know and respect via email. The end result is that a friend of mine is now employed and the company where I work is better off because they added an excellent individual.
Friendship is not just about networking. But it certainly is a viable benefit in today’s economy. For those of us that are fortunate enough to work for companies or industries that are growing, make sure that you take time to reach out to your friends. After all, who wouldn’t want to work with someone that is already a friend?
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