Accept the Job Offer or Walk Away?

The hiring manager calls with great news: the job is yours. Phew, the hard part is over, right? Maybe not. Determining whether to take a job offer can — and should — be a difficult decision. In a bad economy or if you're eager to get out of your current job, it can be tempting to accept any offer. But before you take on job, you need to evaluate the situation carefully.

What the Experts Say
"Over the last 40 years we've transitioned from an economy where you work for 30 years and retire with a gold watch to something that is much more transactional," says Boris Groysberg, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School and author of Chasing Stars: The Myth of Talent and the Portability of Performance. People switch jobs on average every three to four years, says Groysberg, which means that being able to evaluate a job offer is a critical skill for today's professional. And yet, most people do it poorly. "People spend more time thinking about their investments or even where to go on holiday," says John Lees, a UK-based career strategist and author of How to Get a Job You'll Love.

Certainly, determining whether to accept a job is an individual decision. Danny Ertel, a founding partner at Vantage Partners, LLC, a negotiation consulting firm in Boston, and co-author of The Point of the Deal: How to Negotiate When Yes is Not Enough says, "How you evaluate an offer will be different if you are looking for a job in a fulfillment center in ecommerce or if you are a midcareer executive who lost her job in a merger." Regardless of where you are in your career, there are principles you can follow to ensure you make the right decision.

Shape the offer along the way
When the hiring manager or recruiter calls you with the offer, it shouldn't be the first time you discuss specifics. "I would encourage people to have a conversation about their aspirations for the job way before the point of offer," says Ertel. Be honest when responding to interview questions such as, "What are you looking for in your next role?" This increases the likelihood that the offer includes things on your wish list. Deciding whether or not to take a job usually isn't a simple yes or no choice, so prepare for the offer conversation as a negotiation. Rarely should you accept something at face value, even in a depressed economy. "If you don't ask for anything you're missing an opportunity," says Lees.

Do more in-depth research
You can find out a lot about a company before you send in your resume, but once you have the offer in hand, it's time to do more extensive research. Groysberg writes in his article, "Five Ways to Bungle a Job Change" that one of biggest mistakes that people make is not finding out enough about their potential employer. Dig around for as much information as you can about the organization, the culture, and your future co-workers. "There is a lot more information out there than there used to be," says Ertel. Find company employees on LinkedIn and see what they say about their job on Twitter, Facebook, or other media. You also want to find out what you can about the organization's future prospects. When the economy is underperforming, you have to consider whether the company will still be around in a few years. "Nowadays with industries changing and very successful companies failing, if you don't scrutinize the company, you're making a big mistake," says Groysberg."

Be realistic about your prospects
Unfortunately, most job searches do not follow an orderly process that lets you compare several offers at once. More likely, you'll receive your first offer when you are still interviewing with or have just sent your resume to other employers. "You can't compare to fantastical, theoretical possibilities. You need to be realistic about what is likely to come down the line," says Lees. Look at the applications you have under way and reasonably assess which are likely to get to offer. Groysberg suggests you compare the offer in hand against a wish list of what you really want in any job. "Sometimes good enough will have to do. Let go of the idea that there might be something perfect out there," says Lees. He finds that most people want to cross off a majority of things on their lists. However, in some cases, you may settle for fewer things if the position offers something else: a stronger resume, new skills, or access to an organization you'd like to work at in the long-term.

What if you really need the job?
In a tough job market, it's easy to overvalue an offer. Lees says you need to be wary of "rose-tinted spectacles" you might wear if you are unemployed or have been searching for a long time. Instead of talking yourself into something, explore other alternatives like accepting the job for a short-term period, say six to nine months, while you look elsewhere. If that's not possible and you really need the job, know the risks. Groysberg believes people underestimate the transaction costs of switching jobs: what it does to your family, your client relationships, and the impact it has on your network and future prospects. "You need to think about what kind of an investment an employer is making in you and how disruptive it will be if you leave," says Ertel. Lees advises that many future employers and search consultants will look down on quick job switches.

If you decide to say no
Saying no to a job offer can be complicated. You've sent in your resume, shown up for a series of interviews, and the employer likely assumes you want the job. "The last thing you want is for the company to think you played them," says Groysberg. Don't' string them along. If you realize during the interview process that there is a high chance you won't accept an offer, let the hiring manager know so she can focus on more viable candidates, and you can get on with your search. It can be tempting to prove to yourself and others that you can get the job but it's a waste of time to do it for your ego. However, it's okay to continue in a process when you are unsure. Express your concerns and desires along the way. This will not only keep an open dialogue but could possibly shape the eventual offer.

If you do say no, remember that a lot goes into generating an offer. People have invested time and may have even gone to bat for you. Never imply that the job or the salary was to blame. Instead focus on what's not a good fit. This will keep the door open for the future. "You'd like to walk away in such a way that if their needs change tomorrow, you can walk back in," says Ertel. Remember that everyone you met in the interview process is now a potential contact in your network. "Never be so adversarial that you can't have a relationship with the organization," says Lees.

Principles to Remember

Do:

• Find out as much as you can about the organization, its future prospects and what it's like to work there
• Shape the offer along the way by expressing your expectations and desires about the job
• Be reasonable about what other offers might come in

Don't:

• Take a job you don't want unless you absolutely have to
• Overvalue an offer just because you feel desperate
• Imply that the job offer is not good enough when declining it

Case Study #1: Be honest about your requirements
When Heather Goodman* became a mom to twins two years ago she decided not to return to her full-time job. Instead, she did freelance work for several universities and other public sector organizations, not expecting to entertain job offers any time soon. However, she came across a position she felt compelled to apply for with an organization she was freelancing with. She enjoyed the work immensely and counted Jill, the Director of the office, among her mentors. Jill explained that it was a full-time job but Heather asked if there was any flexibility. "She advised me to go through the process," Heather says. If and when they got to the point of offer, they could figure out the possibilities.

Within a week of Heather's interview, Jill called to give her an informal offer, explaining that HR would send formal paperwork soon. "I made the request at that time to take the position on at 80%," Heather says. It was a formality since Jill already knew that's what she wanted. "I thought I had a strong negotiating position," Heather says given that she was the top candidate for the job and she had already shown she could do the work. Jill agreed to talk with HR, but the department maintained that it was a 100% position and it would start in 5 weeks.

The job was exactly what Heather wanted: it was in the right field, it came with great promotional and development opportunities, and Heather already enjoyed the working environment. Still, she wasn't ready to go full time. "I had five or six days where I put a lot of thought into it," she says. She reached out to mentors and colleagues to get input. "It was the first job offer I had in a long time where everything looked so perfect," she says. But she felt she couldn't take it, that it wasn't right for her family. "Instead of thinking of it as turning down that job, I thought of it as taking the job of being mom to my girls," she says. She called Jill to share her decision. In addition, she wrote thank you notes to everyone she interviewed with explaining her reason for not taking the position and asking that they consider her for future positions. Heather doesn't regret her decision at all. In fact, Jill has shared her plans to build the office and Heather's hopeful she'll have an opportunity to entertain another offer in the future when her requirements for a position change.

Case Study #2: Turn down the offer that just isn't right
Isabel Soto*, an employment professional based in New York City, has turned down two job offers in the past year. In 2006, she had started her own consulting practice but by 2008, most of her larger clients had been forced to drop her because of the economy. In 2011, she was stringing together irregular assignments and knew she needed a steady job. The first job she considered was Director of HR for a company in Utah. After the initial interviews, she felt the job would be a great fit except for the location. Still, she flew out west to meet with the hiring manager, a senior executive at the company, who had been filling the role. "It was one of the most candid interviews I've been on," she says. The hiring manager explained that Isabel was the top candidate for the job but that before she continued with the process, she should better understand the firm's culture. She directed Isabel to several YouTube videos of the company's CEO, who regularly appeared in front of the company in costume as part of morale building exercises and expected his senior leaders to do the same. "Even though I was desperate for a job, I knew I couldn't do that," Isabel says. She called the recruiter to turn down the job and was honest about her reasons for doing so. She explained that based on what she had seen in the videos she didn't feel there was a cultural fit.

A few months later she interviewed for another job: a director of employee relations role at a local university. After several interviews, the hiring manager told her the job was hers if she wanted it. Again, she wasn't sure. The job had many positives: it was a low stress environment, it offered great benefits, and the university was an employee friendly place. But the job was relatively junior despite the title and Isabel worried it wasn't going to be challenging enough. "Again, I thought 'Am I crazy? If I don't take this job, is the right thing going to come along?'" she says. But still she turned it down. "It would be great to have a paycheck and great benefits but I would definitely have trouble sleeping at night. There were too many factors that caused me to question it," she says.

In both cases, she was upfront with the hiring manager and the recruiter about why she wasn't taking each of the jobs. "In the past it felt like dating, I was worried about hurting people's feelings," she says. However, they appreciated her candor and thanked her for the honest input. She says it was hard to turn down the jobs and a risk for her financially but she felt she had to. "When I was younger, I didn't think to ask the right questions or do the research." In the mean time, she's secured more consulting work than she'd anticipated and is continuing to search. "At the time, I thought I was being stupid for turning down any job, but now I'm glad I did," she says.

*Not their real names

Amy Gallo

Amy Gallo is a contributing editor at Harvard Business Review. Follow her on Twitter at @amyegallo.

!! Happy reading !!

Prakash Iyer, MD, Kimberly-Clark Lever and Executive Coach shares two important management lessons he learnt from a 500-rupee note. Read on.

1. It happened some years ago but I can recall the evening like it happened just last week. I was in an audience listening to a motivational guru. The speaker whipped out his wallet and pulled out a five hundred-rupee note. Holding it up, he asked, "Who wants this five hundred rupee note?" Lots of hands went up. Including mine. A slow chorus began to build as people began to shout "Me!" "Me!" I began to wonder who the lucky one would be who the speaker would choose. And I also secretly wondered -- and I am sure others did too -- why he would simply give away five hundred rupees. Even as the shouts of "I want it" grew louder, I noticed a young woman running down the aisle. She ran up onto the stage, went up to the speaker, and grabbed the five hundred-rupee note from his hand. "Well done, young lady," said the speaker into the microphone. "Most of us just wait for good things to happen. That's of no use. You've got to make things happen." The speaker's words have stayed with me ever since. 

'Simply thinking about doing something is of no use' 

Our lives are like that. We all see opportunities around us. We all want the good things. But the problem is we don't take action. We all want the five hundred rupee notes on offer. But we don't make the move. We look at it longingly Get up, and do something about it. Don't worry about what other people might think. Take action. 

2. Several years later, it was another day, another time. And another motivational guru. As I watched him pull out a five hundred rupee note and hold it up for all to see, I thought I knew what he was going to do next. But he just asked a simple question. "How much is this worth?" "Five Hundred rupees!" the crowd yelled in unison. "Right," said the speaker. He then took the note and crumpled it into a ball and asked "How much is it worth now?" "Five Hundred rupees!" screamed the audience. He then threw the note on the ground, stamped all over it and picked up the note and asked one more time: "And how much is it worth now?" "Five Hundred rupees!" was the response. "I want you to remember this," said the speaker. "Just because someone crumples it, or stamps on it, the value of the note does not diminish. We should all be like the five hundred rupee note. In our lives, there will be times when we feel crushed, stamped over, beaten. But never let your self-worth diminish. Just because someone chooses to crush you -- that doesn't change your worth one bit! Don't allow your self-worth to diminish because someone says something nasty -- or does something dirty -- to you."

Good lessons to remember as you embark into a New Year. 

May the New Year bring you joy, happiness -- and all the five hundred rupee notes you always wanted! 

'Never let your self-worth diminish'

How to Brand Yourself for the Job Hunt

Branding yourself during a job hunt is similar to branding a product. You are, in a sense, selling yourself as the product. Except it’s your next employer you want to market to rather than consumers. To do that, you need to be known as an expert in your field. You want people to know who you are, and you want to network with people of influence, as well as hiring managers.

It takes a little extra effort to brand yourself. This is more difficult than simply churning out job applications and sending your resume everywhere, but the extra effort is well rewarded in the end.

Go beyond the resume. 

It’s not enough to just have a resume in today’s job market. In some professions, your online visibility is also influential in building your professional credibility. Having a blog and posting social media updates goes a long way to establishing your expertise.

Even if you don’t feel like an expert in your field, you have an opinion. Share your thoughts on trends and news through your blog, and give your two cents on Twitter when people start conversations that interest you.

The benefit of all of this? When employers Google you—and they do—you want them to find tons of sites where you have contributed, written or shared content related to your field. For many employers, an active and dedicated presence online can make up for any job experience you may lack.

What makes you special?

Part of your branding is identifying what’s called a “unique selling point.” This is the special skill set that makes you stand out among all job applicants. What is it that past employers have loved about you? Your attention to detail? Ability to think on the fly? Deep industry knowledge?

Once you identify your USP, play off of it as you build your brand. Maximize your talents by learning as much as you can to improve. Write about it. If you’re a whiz at writing press releases, write a few blog posts to help other people write them. If being organized is your thing, share your organization tips on social media sites.

Be the expert.

So we’ve established that in order to brand yourself on the job hunt you need to be an expert. It’s your responsibility to do everything you possibly can to maximize your exposure through different channels to build your network.

1. Write about your industry.

Write a post on your blog. Write guest posts for other influential blogs in your niche. Comment on other blogs in your field. Respond to social media comments.

2. Start answering questions.

Quora, Focus and LinkedIn are all places where people are asking (and answering) questions related to business. Be the source who answers the most questions to get extra exposure on these sites.

3. Start speaking.

Public speaking is a great way to show off your expertise, as well as to help you meet great contacts that might come in handy during your job search.

4. Write a book.

Not everyone wants to be an author, but having a book under your name is an excellent resume booster. You could always consider working with a ghostwriter if penning a book is an interesting yet daunting endeavor.

It doesn’t end with your next job.

Even when you get hired, you still need to work on your brand. You never know if you’ll be laid off or want to resign, so by maintaining your brand, you always stay marketable and known, and you become an asset to your company.

By LINDSAY OLSON

Lindsay Olson is a founding partner and public relations recruiter with Paradigm Staffing and Hoojobs, a niche job board for public relations, communications and social media jobs. She blogs at LindsayOlson.com, where she discusses recruiting and job search issues.

The 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

from: BRILLIANT MISTAKES | Paul J. H. Schoemaker

You're the boss, but you still spend too much time on the day-to-day. Here's how to become the strategic leader your company needs.

In the beginning, there was just you and your partners. You did every job. You coded, you met with investors, you emptied the trash and phoned in the midnight pizza. Now you have others to do all that and it's time for you to "be strategic."

Whatever that means.

If you find yourself resisting "being strategic," because it sounds like a fast track to irrelevance, or vaguely like an excuse to slack off, you're not alone. Every leader's temptation is to deal with what's directly in front, because it always seems more urgent and concrete. Unfortunately, if you do that, you put your company at risk. While you concentrate on steering around potholes, you'll miss windfall opportunities, not to mention any signals that the road you're on is leading off a cliff.

This is a tough job, make no mistake. "We need strategic leaders!” is a pretty constant refrain at every company, large and small. One reason the job is so tough: no one really understands what it entails. It's hard to be a strategic leader if you don't know what strategic leaders are supposed to do.

After two decades of advising organizations large and small, my colleagues and I have formed a clear idea of what's required of you in this role. Adaptive strategic leaders — the kind who thrive in today’s uncertain environment – do six things well:

Anticipate

Most of the focus at most companies is on what’s directly ahead. The leaders lack “peripheral vision.” This can leave your company vulnerable to rivals who detect and act on ambiguous signals. To anticipate well, you must:

• Look for game-changing information at the periphery of your industry
• Search beyond the current boundaries of your business
• Build wide external networks to help you scan the horizon better

Think Critically

“Conventional wisdom” opens you to fewer raised eyebrows and second guessing. But if you swallow every management fad, herdlike belief, and safe opinion at face value, your company loses all competitive advantage. Critical thinkers question everything. To master this skill you must force yourself to:

• Reframe problems to get to the bottom of things, in terms of root causes
• Challenge current beliefs and mindsets, including their own
• Uncover hypocrisy, manipulation, and bias in organizational decisions

Interpret

Ambiguity is unsettling. Faced with it, the temptation is to reach for a fast (and potentially wrongheaded) solution. A good strategic leader holds steady, synthesizing information from many sources before developing a viewpoint. To get good at this, you have to:

• Seek patterns in multiple sources of data
• Encourage others to do the same
• Question prevailing assumptions and test multiple hypotheses simultaneously

Decide

Many leaders fall pretty to “analysis paralysis.” You have to develop processes and enforce them, so that you arrive at a “good enough” position. To do that well, you have to:

• Carefully frame the decision to get to the crux of the matter
• Balance speed, rigor, quality and agility. Leave perfection to higher powers
• Take a stand even with incomplete information and amid diverse views

Align

Total consensus is rare. A strategic leader must foster open dialogue, build trust and engage key stakeholders, especially when views diverge. To pull that off, you need to:

• Understand what drives other people's agendas, including what remains hidden
• Bring tough issues to the surface, even when it's uncomfortable
• Assess risk tolerance and follow through to build the necessary support

Learn

As your company grows, honest feedback is harder and harder to come by. You have to do what you can to keep it coming. This is crucial because success and failure--especially failure--are valuable sources of organizational learning. Here's what you need to do:

• Encourage and exemplify honest, rigorous debriefs to extract lessons
• Shift course quickly if you realize you're off track
• Celebrate both success and (well-intentioned) failures that provide insight

Do you have what it takes?

Obviously, this is a daunting list of tasks, and frankly, no one is born a black belt in all these different skills. But they can be taught and whatever gaps exist in your skill set can be filled in. I'll cover each of the aspects of strategic leadership in more detail in future columns.

Paul J. H. Schoemaker: Founder and Chairman of Decision Strategies Intl. Author, professor, entrepreneur and speaker. Research Director of the Mack Center for Technological Innovation at Wharton, where he teaches strategy and decision-making.

12 Most Creative Interview Techniques

With high unemployment levels and a paucity of jobs, employers often have to pick among a large number of talented applicants when trying to fill a position. Increasingly, in order to differentiate between numerous qualified candidates, these employers are putting added emphasis on the interview component and using that interview time to assess a person’s personality as well as their experiences.

Specifically, they are more and more often putting interviewees through unconventional questions or activities that seek to test how someone thinks, socializes, and acts on their feet. Here are the 12 most innovative, unconventional, and creative interview techniques:

1. Take all applicants out for a meal at a restaurant

An employer will often tell candidates to meet him at a restaurant instead of in a conference room. Sometimes this meal will quickly devolve into a standard interview; other times, however, this unconventional approach puts a considerable emphasis on courtesy and table manners.

2. Ask questions with no solutions

One of the oldest unconventional tricks in the book, employers often ask questions that have no concrete answer. Such a question may be: “If World War II had never happened, would the Vending Business be selling more or less licorice today?” The goal here is to test a candidate’s creativity and quick-thinking.

3. Ask to be entertained for 5 minutes

This approach is as simple as it sounds, at least as far as the interviewer is concerned. The candidate, on the other hands, needs to come up with an appropriate and engaging story right on the spot.

4. Use social media (ie Twitter)

to force short, quick, and concise answers out of applicants Some tech-savvy companies have turned in recent months to a Twitter-based interview: applicants are asked questions via Twitter and must then respond via the same medium. This approach forces concise responses and makes it easy for employers to compare answers from a range of candidates.

5. Give a case assignment

The case assignment approach has been used for years by finance and consulting firms, but it has now gained more widespread use across a variety of industries. This method involves giving candidates a real-world business problem — often including documents and related memos — and asking them to assess the information, resolve the issues, and arrive at a conclusion.

6. Go on an outing

Golf has long been a sport of choice in the business world, but it is usually played by people who are co-workers or peers — not by those who are looking to get hired. But since the way a person plays golf can say a good deal about his personality, some hiring managers have taken their interviews to the links in recent years.

7. Turn the interview around and have the applicant ask all the questions

A traditional interview establishes clear-cut roles for both parties involved. The employer asks the questions. The applicant answers them. But sometimes, a hiring manger will test a candidate’s flexibility by turning the interview around and asking the candidate to act as the employer. A person’s interests and confidence levels can surface quickly as a result.

8. Ask basic math questions to see how well an applicant can think under pressure

The incorporation of math can make for a stressful interview, even if you have a strong mathematical background. An employer who doesn’t want to hire easily-flustered employees may turn to numbers as a way to quickly and tellingly induce some extra stress in the interview.

9. Ask basic observational questions to see how well an applicant can notice detail

This method entails asking candidates basic observational questions that, one would think, they should be able to answer. For example, recruiters who interview at colleges often ask applicants to describe their school’s seal or logo. Many interviewers are surprised to see how difficult this question can be.

10. Take a psychiatric approach What was your childhood like? Describe your ambitions growing up?

How close is your family? While these questions may seem more appropriate for the therapist’s office than for the interview room, employers who want to get a complete perception of a candidate — and aren’t afraid to brush up against a line of acceptability — will sometimes turn to open-ended questions of such magnitude.

11. Ask for analysis

All candidates will likely enter an interview with some knowledge of the company and some talking points for why they want to work there. But some employers take this a step further by asking the candidate to analyze the company and its operations — replete with pros and cons. Such a test can reveal whether an applicant has done his research and is willing to be honest about perceived faults.

12. Concoct a test of empathy

Assessing whether a candidate is empathic can be a difficult undertaking, but some employers have found a way to make the process more clear-cut: they take an applicant out to lunch, for example, and instruct the waiter beforehand to spill water or mess up the order. The way the applicant responds can be very telling.

While a job applicant these days can still expect a heavy dose of standard interview questions, the more competitive a position the more likely an employer will look to switch things up, assess a person’s personality, and make use of an unconventional approach.

Have you experienced any of these things on interviews? What do you think about these newer approaches to finding the “right” employee?

What Managers Can Learn from Akhilesh Yadav

By Nikita Garia and Shefali Anand

The rise of Akhilesh Yadav, who was sworn in as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, offers some leadership lessons for India Inc.

Mr. Yadav, who led the Samajwadi Party’s campaign in U.P., is widely credited for the party’s resurgence after a decade.

Political analysts say his efforts to connect with voters and to embrace new ideas for his party have helped him succeed. These strategies would also benefit business leaders who aspire to reach the top, say human resources experts.

Mr. Yadav “cycled across the state and reached out to people in every nook and corner,” says Kris Lakshmikanth, founder of executive search firm The Head Hunters India Pvt. “As a manager, it’s important that your people know you are approachable,” he adds.

Without taking political sides, managers and human resources experts cull some leadership lessons from Mr. Yadav’s campaign:

Know the aspirations of your people:

Mr. Yadav travelled 10,000 km over several months to meet people in different parts of Uttar Pradesh and connect with them.

Similarly, a good business leader should be in touch with people at all levels in the organization.

When employees feel that their leader is listening to them, “it gives them a sense of ownership and they feel they belong,” says Sachit Jain, executive director of textile conglomerate Vardhman Group.

Mr. Jain says he makes it a point to visit Vardhman’s factories across India at least once a year, and conducts town hall meetings and spends time with employees during the office lunch hour.

When employees feel that their leader is approachable “then people can actually share their genuine feelings, their genuine concerns, and ideas,” says Mr. Jain.

On the other hand, “if you are disconnected with your people, they will soon lose the motivation to work with you,” says Vikram Chhachhi, executive vice president of search firm DHR International in Delhi.

He says that Rahul Gandhi disappointed in Uttar Pradesh because he didn’t connect with the locals, even in his home base of Amethi where the Congress party’s candidate was defeated. “If he knew what the people were looking for, his candidates wouldn’t have lost the seats,” says Mr. Chhachhi.

Align goals with employee aspirations:

A political party’s manifesto is akin to a proposal or a promise that a company makes to an employee.

When managers prepare their vision, they need to keep their employees’ personal goals and aspirations in minds. Two key questions for employees are: “Where do I belong, and what do I get?” says Ashok Chandak, senior director of global sales and marketing at Bangalore-based NXP Semiconductors India Pvt.

In his campaign, Mr. Yadav made proposals for both the young and the old.

Similarly, a manager has to “capture the pulse of his employees,” and give them a clear idea of their future and learning opportunities within the company, says Mr. Chandak.

A leader’s task doesn’t end at making promises. “If you don’t fulfill them, you will lose your credibility,” says Mr. Lakshmikanth of Head Hunters.

In politics, that would mean that people overthrow your party, and in the corporate world employees leave the company.

Be open to new ideas:

Mr. Yadav took some radical steps to change the image of the Samajwadi Party. He revamped its manifesto and announced that they would provide laptops and computers to students — something which the party was previously against. To get rid of the “goonda raj” image of the party, he denied tickets to prominent party members who have criminal cases pending against them and instead brought on young people from places like the Indian Institute of Management, says Mr. Lakshmikanth.

Taking a cue from this, business leaders should also be open to new ideas, and keep the team up-to-date with the latest trends in the industry, says experts.

Managers should encourage employees to take new challenges, while providing the assurance that they will back the employees’ actions.

Another new idea which Mr. Yadav implemented was the use of social networking web sites like Facebook and Twitter to reach out to young voters.

“Managers need to connect with their employees in the ways their employees do,” says Mr. Chandak. Most companies today have “internal communication channels that help employees get in touch with each other, the boss, and other executives of the company,” says Mr. Chandak.

Why I am leaving Goldman Sachs

Introspection Time  . . .

New York: Today is my last day at Goldman Sachs. After almost 12 years at the firm - first as a summer intern while at Stanford, then in New York for 10 years, and now in London - I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.
To put the problem in the simplest terms, the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money. Goldman Sachs is one of the world's largest and most important investment banks and it is too integral to global finance to continue to act this way. The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for.
It might sound surprising to a skeptical public, but culture was always a vital part of Goldman Sachs's success. It revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always doing right by our clients. The culture was the secret sauce that made this place great and allowed us to earn our clients' trust for 143 years. It wasn't just about making money; this alone will not sustain a firm for so long. It had something to do with pride and belief in the organization. I am sad to say that I look around today and see virtually no trace of the culture that made me love working for this firm for many years. I no longer have the pride, or the belief.
But this was not always the case. For more than a decade I recruited and mentored candidates through our grueling interview process. I was selected as one of 10 people (out of a firm of more than 30,000) to appear on our recruiting video, which is played on every college campus we visit around the world. In 2006 I managed the summer intern program in sales and trading in New York for the 80 college students who made the cut, out of the thousands who applied.
I knew it was time to leave when I realized I could no longer look students in the eye and tell them what a great place this was to work.
When the history books are written about Goldman Sachs, they may reflect that the current chief executive officer, Lloyd C. Blankfein, and the president, Gary D. Cohn, lost hold of the firm's culture on their watch. I truly believe that this decline in the firm's moral fiber represents the single most serious threat to its long-run survival.
Over the course of my career I have had the privilege of advising two of the largest hedge funds on the planet, five of the largest asset managers in the United States, and three of the most prominent sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and Asia. My clients have a total asset base of more than a trillion dollars. I have always taken a lot of pride in advising my clients to do what I believe is right for them, even if it means less money for the firm. This view is becoming increasingly unpopular at Goldman Sachs. Another sign that it was time to leave.
How did we get here? The firm changed the way it thought about leadership. Leadership used to be about ideas, setting an example and doing the right thing. Today, if you make enough money for the firm (and are not currently an ax murderer) you will be promoted into a position of influence.
What are three quick ways to become a leader? a) Execute on the firm's "axes," which is Goldman-speak for persuading your clients to invest in the stocks or other products that we are trying to get rid of because they are not seen as having a lot of potential profit. b) "Hunt Elephants." In English: get your clients - some of whom are sophisticated, and some of whom aren't - to trade whatever will bring the biggest profit to Goldman. Call me old-fashioned, but I don't like selling my clients a product that is wrong for them. c) Find yourself sitting in a seat where your job is to trade any illiquid, opaque product with a three-letter acronym.
Today, many of these leaders display a Goldman Sachs culture quotient of exactly zero percent. I attend derivatives sales meetings where not one single minute is spent asking questions about how we can help clients. It's purely about how we can make the most possible money off of them. If you were an alien from Mars and sat in on one of these meetings, you would believe that a client's success or progress was not part of the thought process at all.
It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off. Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as "muppets," sometimes over internal e-mail. Even after the S.E.C., Fabulous Fab, Abacus, God's work, Carl Levin, Vampire Squids? No humility? I mean, come on. Integrity? It is eroding. I don't know of any illegal behavior, but will people push the envelope and pitch lucrative and complicated products to clients even if they are not the simplest investments or the ones most directly aligned with the client's goals? Absolutely. Every day, in fact.
It astounds me how little senior management gets a basic truth: If clients don't trust you they will eventually stop doing business with you. It doesn't matter how smart you are.
These days, the most common question I get from junior analysts about derivatives is, "How much money did we make off the client?" It bothers me every time I hear it, because it is a clear reflection of what they are observing from their leaders about the way they should behave. Now project 10 years into the future: You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the junior analyst sitting quietly in the corner of the room hearing about "muppets," "ripping eyeballs out" and "getting paid" doesn't exactly turn into a model citizen.
When I was a first-year analyst I didn't know where the bathroom was, or how to tie my shoelaces. I was taught to be concerned with learning the ropes, finding out what a derivative was, understanding finance, getting to know our clients and what motivated them, learning how they defined success and what we could do to help them get there.
My proudest moments in life - getting a full scholarship to go from South Africa to Stanford University, being selected as a Rhodes Scholar national finalist, winning a bronze medal for table tennis at the Maccabiah Games in Israel, known as the Jewish Olympics - have all come through hard work, with no shortcuts. Goldman Sachs today has become too much about shortcuts and not enough about achievement. It just doesn't feel right to me anymore.
I hope this can be a wake-up call to the board of directors. Make the client the focal point of your business again. Without clients you will not make money. In fact, you will not exist. Weed out the morally bankrupt people, no matter how much money they make for the firm. And get the culture right again, so people want to work here for the right reasons. People who care only about making money will not sustain this firm - or the trust of its clients - for very much longer.
Greg Smith, the writer of this article, is resigning today as a Goldman Sachs executive director and head of the firm's United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-sachs-186001

How To avoid your own career self-destruction

All workers share the common fear of getting fired. Today, people are not only scared of being fired; they fear getting laid off from their jobs…..

Neither is a situation any worker wants to face. What's worse, many factors that play a huge role in making these decisions are out of your control, such as the economy, performance and longevity in the company. To best avoid being faced with a pink slip of any kind, employees should make sure they aren't doing anything to themselves that might affect this decision.

Avoiding self-destructive habits at work seems like common sense, but reasonable thinking is sometimes forgotten when employees try to stand out or learn new habits, styles and techniques in order to stay afloat in their lines of business.

To avoid your own career self-destruction, avoid these 10 habits:

1. Not keeping track of your accomplishments

Let's say the boss is deciding whether to keep you or your co-worker on board. He sits you down and asks, Why should I keep you? If you have nothing to show or tell to prove your case, chances are, you'll be the one getting the boot. Additionally, it's good to keep a running list of awards, promotions and accomplishments to showcase when it comes time for annual performance reviews or when asking for a pay increase. Plus, you never know when you'll end up looking for new work. If you don't keep track of all the good you've done, you might not remember them when it's time to update your resume.

2. Not keeping your skill set current

The business landscape is ever-changing, as exemplified by this tough economy. Right now, you're just trying to keep your job and the best way to do that is to show your employer they are getting the maximum return on their investment: you. Keeping your skill set current, along with expanding it, will show your employer you're worth their money, especially when companies are looking for ways to reduce expenses.

3. Not delivering results

Common sense will tell you that business is about accountability. If you don't contribute to the bottom line, if you cost money instead of make money or if you harbor a sense of entitlement for simply having put forth effort, you are guaranteed to fall by the wayside.

4. Efficient does not equal effective
Those who think that communicating via e-mail, because it's faster than actually talking with people, fail to recognize the importance of personally connecting with others in today's highly automated, technological and competitive environment. One thing that will keep you afloat in this economy is your relationships with people, and those relations can't be grown through e-mails, text messages or BlackBerry chats.

5. Thinking you're irreplaceable
There is no room for divas in the workplace. There are millions of people looking for work right now and, chances are, more than a few of them could do your job. As soon as you convince yourself that you and only you can do the job right, your star will surely start to fall.

6. Knowing all the answers
Knowledge is power. Professing to know it all, however, will stall your career as it shows that you're uninterested in learning about new ideas and approaches. To stay afloat in today's job market, workers need to ask questions, stay current and listen to new ideas.

7. Surrounding yourself with brownnosers
The old adage remains true: You are the company you keep. If you associate with brownnosers, it's most likely because you like having others boost your confidence. This fact will not be lost on those around you. Managers and other professionals will have no problem replacing you with someone who accepts and encourages intelligence and creativity in others.

8. Taking all the credit
Give credit where credit is due. Most managers are smart enough to realize when you inappropriately take full credit for positive outcomes despite the help or input received by others. If you credit other people where they deserve it, you'll be seen as team player, a key element to any successful group. Plus, you'll probably find that you start seeing the same acknowledgement from your co-workers.

9. Not tooting your own horn
Chances are your boss doesn't have time to keep a running tab on each of his employees, so how else will your boss know how valuable you are to the company unless you tell him? Bragging is one thing, but letting colleagues in your industry know of your success through case studies, promotion bulletins or other such tools is another. It's important to recognize the value of letting others know about your accomplishments as long as you go about it in the right way.

10. Losing perspective
Those who fail to recognize their shortcomings are destined for the unemployment line.

Intuitive business people recognize that, despite their best attempts to do everything right, they may sometimes approach roadblocks and need to seek the advice and perspective of a respected friend, colleague or even a business coach. Acknowledging that you aren't perfect will earn you respect in the office.

Management Tips

Overcome the Awkward Silence
Discussions during meetings can be feast or famine. Either you can't get a word in edgewise or no one speaks up. Next time your meeting falls silent, try these tactics:

• Let it be. Wait a moment before breaking the silence and offering a suggestion. The group may need time to reflect on an idea.
• Name it. Call out what's happening, and ask the group about it, "It seems we've gone quiet. Does anyone want to talk about what's going on?"
• Take a break. Sometimes a short break gives people the chance to refocus.

Command Attention like an Executive
Executive presence is not an innate quality; it is a set of behaviors that you can learn over time. Whether you are a natural wallflower or a social butterfly, you can enhance your presence by doing the following:

• Focus and relax. Calm is the foundation of presence. Use your breathing as an anchor that you return to when you get stressed or start to lose focus.
• Gain awareness. To change your behavior, you need to know how you are perceived. Pay attention to how people react to you and ask for candid feedback from those you trust.
• Practice with support. Telling a colleague or mentor you're working on presence can boost your skills and confidence. The feedback you receive can also reinforce momentum.

Maintain Your Mentoring Relationship
Securing the right mentor is a major hurdle, but maintaining the relationship can be just as challenging. To keep the mentoring relationship going, try these three things:

• Provide structure. Set up regular meetings with agendas so your conversations don't degenerate into aimless chitchat. Make sure each meeting moves you toward your goals.
• Expect rigor. If your mentor doesn't provide regular assignments, ask for them, and work them into your agendas.
• Know when to move on. Once you've achieved your goals, move on before the law of diminishing returns kicks in. But stay in touch. Your mentor may become a sponsor who advocates for you even once your formal relationship ends.

Get Comfortable with Collaboration
We praise collaboration for improving problem solving, increasing creativity, and spurring innovation. Done correctly, it does yield all these benefits. But it can also be scary. Here are three facts you have to accept, and embrace, about collaboration before it can work:

• You won't know the answer. There's no point in collaborating on a complex problem if you know how to solve it. Be comfortable with ambiguity and accept that you aren't necessarily the expert.
• Roles will be unclear. Responsibilities are often fluid. Be ready for the role you play to change with each phase of the work.
• You will fight. If you avoid conflict, nothing will happen. Knowing how to debate tradeoffs between options means knowing how to productively argue.

Get Your Colleagues' Attention
To capture any audience's attention, you must frame your message properly. Whether you're making a presentation, composing an email, or talking with your boss, here's how to convey your idea:

• Start with what you want. Busy colleagues don't want to wait for the punch line. Provide the most important information up front.
• Explain the complication. Give the specific reason for your message. What prompted you to deliver it?
• Connect to the big picture. Explain why your audience should care. Point out what is relevant to them and how it links to their goals.
• End with a call to action. Once you've set the context, reiterate what you need.

Note: these are not my original articles, I have received in newsletter from the HBR. thanks for giving your time.

A Perfect Cover Letter