Early on in The Start-up of You, Reid Hoffman takes on the sacred cow
of career advice books, making it clear that the timeworn exhortations
of What Color is Your Parachute? won't fly in this economy.
"That's the wrong question," Hoffman, the co-founder and chairman of
LinkedIn writes (with the help of coauthor Ben Casnocha). "What you
should be asking yourself is whether your parachute can keep you aloft
in changing conditions."
Hence the central conceit of the book. Just as Detroit's dinosaurs
fell victim to hubris and an inability to adapt, so will you, dear
career seeker, if you don't mimic the nimble startups of Silicon
Valley. Though Hoffman and Casnocha see the struggle through the eyes
of one percenters (they don't seem to know anyone who didn't go to a
good college), there's lots of good advice that you can apply to your
own career. We've distilled that advice into eight solid tips that you
can apply to your job search today.
1. "A Company Hires Me Over Other Professionals Because…"
To answer this question, Hoffman uses the example of Zappos, which
focuses on mainstream shoes and clothes. While it might be tempting to
adapt the company's "over-the-top customer service" to other
categories as well, that would make Zappos's unique selling
proposition less apparent. "If you try to be the best at everything
and better than everyone (that is, if you believe success means
ascending one global, mega leaderboard), you'll be the best at nothing
and better than no one," Hoffman writes. "In other words, don't try to
be the greatest marketing executive in the world; try to be the
greatest marketing executive of small-to-midsize companies that
compete in the health care industry."
2. You Don't Need to "Find Yourself"
Hoffman makes a sharp distinction between his advice and that of
Parachute, which, like many self-help books, believes that uncovering
your deepest desires is the key to finding your passion. "Contrary to
what many bestselling authors and motivational gurus would have you
believe, there is not a 'true self' deep within that you can uncover
via introspection and that will point you in the right direction,"
Hoffman writes. "Yes, your aspirations shape what you do. But your
aspirations are themselves shaped by your actions and experiences. You
remake yourself as you grow and the world changes. Your identity
doesn't get found. It emerges."
3. Use ABZ Planning
In Hoffman's formulation, Plan A is what you're doing right now. Plan
B is "what you pivot to when you need to change your goal or your
route to getting there." Plan Z, meanwhile, is your fallback plan. "In
business and life, you always want to keep playing the game," Hoffman
writes. "If failure means you end up on the street, that's an
unacceptable failure."
Hoffman illustrates what he means by Plan Z with a personal anecdote:
"When I started my first company, my father offered up an extra room
in his house in the event it didn't work out — living there and
finding a job somewhere else to earn money was my Plan Z. This allowed
me to be aggressive in my entrepreneurial pursuits, as I knew I could
draw my assets down to zero if necessary and still have a roof over my
head." Hoffman writes that if you're in your twenties and single,
working at Starbucks and living with your parents might be a viable
Plan Z, but if you're in your thirties or forties with children, your
Plan Z might be cashing in your 401(k).
4. Look at Professional Networking as Dating
Hoffman distinguishes between old-school "networkers" who pursue
relationships based on what they think others can do for them and
"relationship builders" who think of the other person first.
Relationship builders "don't keep score. They're aware that many good
deeds get reciprocated, but they're not calculated about it. And they
think about their relationships all the time, not just when they need
something." Hoffman likens relationship building to dating. "When
you're deciding whether or not to build a professional relationship
with someone, there are many considerations: whether you like him or
her; the capacity for the person to help you build your assets, reach
your aspirations and position you well competitively and for you to
help back in all the same ways," Hoffman writes. "And, like with
dating, you should always have a long-term perspective."
5. Have Fun Building Relationships
Hoffman writes that networking gets a bad rap because most people
don't enjoy it. "It's the presumption that building relationships in a
professional context is like flossing," he writes. "You're told it's
important, but it's no fun." To motivate yourself for network
building, think of the fact that your happiest memories were probably
with someone else. "We're not suggesting that you have to be an
extrovert or life of the party," he writes. "We just think it's
possible to appreciate the mystery of another person's life
experience. Building relationships is the thrilling if delicate quest
to at once understand another person and allow that person to
understand you."
6. Build Your Weak Ties
Despite the limitations of Dunbar's Number (that your brain can only
really handle about 150 people in your network), Hoffman illustrates
that the bigger your professional network, the better. For instance,
if you have 170 connections on LinkedIn, then you will have, on
average 26,200 second-degree connections and more than 2 million that
are three degrees away. Having access to all those people can help you
in a pinch. Hoffman illustrates this by pointing out that Frank
Hannigan, a software entrepreneur in Ireland, raised more than
$200,000 in funding in eight days in 2010 by reaching out to his 700
first-degree connections. But 30% of the investors actually were
second-degree connections.
7. Pursue Breakout Opportunities
Every once in a while, a great opportunity comes along that might help
you leapfrog up the career ladder. For example, George Clooney was a
struggling TV actor when he heard about ER in 1994. Clooney "caught
wind of an opportunity, hustled to seize it, and catapulted his career
to new heights." Clooney didn't necessarily know that ER would become
as huge as it eventually did. "How did Clooney recognize ER for the
breakout opportunity it was?" Hoffman writes. "Well, he was not
certain it would be a breakout. You can never be certain." But ER had
"high quality" people on board and the opportunity was a lead role in
a major network drama.
Such breakout opportunities may seem like blind luck, but Hoffman
writes that you can develop thinking and behaviors that help you
recognize when such "luck" appears. One habit is to remain curious
about events that happen in your everyday life. For instance, Reed
Hastings (the CEO of Netflix) was a software entrepreneur living in
Silicon Valley in 1997 when he ran into a problem: Huge fees for
returning Apollo 13 late to his video rental store. Hastings then
began researching the industry and found DVDs were light and cheap to
ship.
You should also be on the lookout for serendipitous meetings. For
instance, John D'Agostino, then in his twenties, attended an event in
the Waldorf Astoria in New York featuring Vincent Viola, the chairman
of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). D'Agosino made some
remarks that caught Viola's attention and the two set up a meeting.
D'Agostino soon got hired as a manager for special projects on NYMEX
and was eventually promoted to vice president of strategy.
8. Be Resilient
Not everyone will appreciate your great idea, but if you really
believe in it, you can put up with a lot of adversity. Hoffman offers
a great illustration of this idea in Tim Westregen, the founder of
Pandora Media. Westregen began working on the idea behind Pandora in
1999. By late 2002, the company was doing so badly that he arrived at
his office to find an eviction notice at the door. In late 2003, four
former employees sued him over deferred salaries. Over the next year
or so, he pitched his idea to investors more than 300 times. "For
almost 10 years, Pandora was beaten and battered by lawsuits,
unfavorable legislation and the constant threat of bankruptcy,"
Hoffman writes. "Remarkably, Tim and his team hung in there."
http://mashable.com/2012/02/15/reid-hoffman-linkedin-job-tips/
of career advice books, making it clear that the timeworn exhortations
of What Color is Your Parachute? won't fly in this economy.
"That's the wrong question," Hoffman, the co-founder and chairman of
LinkedIn writes (with the help of coauthor Ben Casnocha). "What you
should be asking yourself is whether your parachute can keep you aloft
in changing conditions."
Hence the central conceit of the book. Just as Detroit's dinosaurs
fell victim to hubris and an inability to adapt, so will you, dear
career seeker, if you don't mimic the nimble startups of Silicon
Valley. Though Hoffman and Casnocha see the struggle through the eyes
of one percenters (they don't seem to know anyone who didn't go to a
good college), there's lots of good advice that you can apply to your
own career. We've distilled that advice into eight solid tips that you
can apply to your job search today.
1. "A Company Hires Me Over Other Professionals Because…"
To answer this question, Hoffman uses the example of Zappos, which
focuses on mainstream shoes and clothes. While it might be tempting to
adapt the company's "over-the-top customer service" to other
categories as well, that would make Zappos's unique selling
proposition less apparent. "If you try to be the best at everything
and better than everyone (that is, if you believe success means
ascending one global, mega leaderboard), you'll be the best at nothing
and better than no one," Hoffman writes. "In other words, don't try to
be the greatest marketing executive in the world; try to be the
greatest marketing executive of small-to-midsize companies that
compete in the health care industry."
2. You Don't Need to "Find Yourself"
Hoffman makes a sharp distinction between his advice and that of
Parachute, which, like many self-help books, believes that uncovering
your deepest desires is the key to finding your passion. "Contrary to
what many bestselling authors and motivational gurus would have you
believe, there is not a 'true self' deep within that you can uncover
via introspection and that will point you in the right direction,"
Hoffman writes. "Yes, your aspirations shape what you do. But your
aspirations are themselves shaped by your actions and experiences. You
remake yourself as you grow and the world changes. Your identity
doesn't get found. It emerges."
3. Use ABZ Planning
In Hoffman's formulation, Plan A is what you're doing right now. Plan
B is "what you pivot to when you need to change your goal or your
route to getting there." Plan Z, meanwhile, is your fallback plan. "In
business and life, you always want to keep playing the game," Hoffman
writes. "If failure means you end up on the street, that's an
unacceptable failure."
Hoffman illustrates what he means by Plan Z with a personal anecdote:
"When I started my first company, my father offered up an extra room
in his house in the event it didn't work out — living there and
finding a job somewhere else to earn money was my Plan Z. This allowed
me to be aggressive in my entrepreneurial pursuits, as I knew I could
draw my assets down to zero if necessary and still have a roof over my
head." Hoffman writes that if you're in your twenties and single,
working at Starbucks and living with your parents might be a viable
Plan Z, but if you're in your thirties or forties with children, your
Plan Z might be cashing in your 401(k).
4. Look at Professional Networking as Dating
Hoffman distinguishes between old-school "networkers" who pursue
relationships based on what they think others can do for them and
"relationship builders" who think of the other person first.
Relationship builders "don't keep score. They're aware that many good
deeds get reciprocated, but they're not calculated about it. And they
think about their relationships all the time, not just when they need
something." Hoffman likens relationship building to dating. "When
you're deciding whether or not to build a professional relationship
with someone, there are many considerations: whether you like him or
her; the capacity for the person to help you build your assets, reach
your aspirations and position you well competitively and for you to
help back in all the same ways," Hoffman writes. "And, like with
dating, you should always have a long-term perspective."
5. Have Fun Building Relationships
Hoffman writes that networking gets a bad rap because most people
don't enjoy it. "It's the presumption that building relationships in a
professional context is like flossing," he writes. "You're told it's
important, but it's no fun." To motivate yourself for network
building, think of the fact that your happiest memories were probably
with someone else. "We're not suggesting that you have to be an
extrovert or life of the party," he writes. "We just think it's
possible to appreciate the mystery of another person's life
experience. Building relationships is the thrilling if delicate quest
to at once understand another person and allow that person to
understand you."
6. Build Your Weak Ties
Despite the limitations of Dunbar's Number (that your brain can only
really handle about 150 people in your network), Hoffman illustrates
that the bigger your professional network, the better. For instance,
if you have 170 connections on LinkedIn, then you will have, on
average 26,200 second-degree connections and more than 2 million that
are three degrees away. Having access to all those people can help you
in a pinch. Hoffman illustrates this by pointing out that Frank
Hannigan, a software entrepreneur in Ireland, raised more than
$200,000 in funding in eight days in 2010 by reaching out to his 700
first-degree connections. But 30% of the investors actually were
second-degree connections.
7. Pursue Breakout Opportunities
Every once in a while, a great opportunity comes along that might help
you leapfrog up the career ladder. For example, George Clooney was a
struggling TV actor when he heard about ER in 1994. Clooney "caught
wind of an opportunity, hustled to seize it, and catapulted his career
to new heights." Clooney didn't necessarily know that ER would become
as huge as it eventually did. "How did Clooney recognize ER for the
breakout opportunity it was?" Hoffman writes. "Well, he was not
certain it would be a breakout. You can never be certain." But ER had
"high quality" people on board and the opportunity was a lead role in
a major network drama.
Such breakout opportunities may seem like blind luck, but Hoffman
writes that you can develop thinking and behaviors that help you
recognize when such "luck" appears. One habit is to remain curious
about events that happen in your everyday life. For instance, Reed
Hastings (the CEO of Netflix) was a software entrepreneur living in
Silicon Valley in 1997 when he ran into a problem: Huge fees for
returning Apollo 13 late to his video rental store. Hastings then
began researching the industry and found DVDs were light and cheap to
ship.
You should also be on the lookout for serendipitous meetings. For
instance, John D'Agostino, then in his twenties, attended an event in
the Waldorf Astoria in New York featuring Vincent Viola, the chairman
of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). D'Agosino made some
remarks that caught Viola's attention and the two set up a meeting.
D'Agostino soon got hired as a manager for special projects on NYMEX
and was eventually promoted to vice president of strategy.
8. Be Resilient
Not everyone will appreciate your great idea, but if you really
believe in it, you can put up with a lot of adversity. Hoffman offers
a great illustration of this idea in Tim Westregen, the founder of
Pandora Media. Westregen began working on the idea behind Pandora in
1999. By late 2002, the company was doing so badly that he arrived at
his office to find an eviction notice at the door. In late 2003, four
former employees sued him over deferred salaries. Over the next year
or so, he pitched his idea to investors more than 300 times. "For
almost 10 years, Pandora was beaten and battered by lawsuits,
unfavorable legislation and the constant threat of bankruptcy,"
Hoffman writes. "Remarkably, Tim and his team hung in there."
http://mashable.com/2012/02/15/reid-hoffman-linkedin-job-tips/
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