Everyone’s job, regardless of their professional level, can be divided into three parts. These parts are named: Must-Do’s Hired-To-Do’s Want-To-Do’s The Must-Do’s portion of your job are those things that you get no credit for doing, but if you don’t do them you will have problems.  Generally speaking, they are thought of as the lower end of your job responsibilities.  Examples of Must-Do’s if you are in a manager’s role include activities such as writing employee performance reviews, formulating and tracking your annual department budget, and writing monthly status reports.  All of these activities are extremely important and must be done well. In fact, if they are done poorly, there are major downside consequences. That said, upon their completion, it is unlikely that your boss will come running down to your office and thank you for the great job you did. The Hired-To-Do’s portion of your job are those job responsibilities that you were primarily hired to perform.  For example, if you are an Accounts Payable Manager, it’s your job to be sure that all of the company’s bills are paid on time.  As a second example, if you are a Project Manager, it’s your responsibility to assure that the projects being worked on within your team are completed on time and within budget.  It’s this Hired-To-Do’s component of your job responsibilities that will be most heavily judged from a performance perspective. The Want-To-Do’s portion of your job are those things that provide you with personal career growth by teaching you new [...]

I just got a new IT Manager job in a great IT organization. What things can I do to get off to a great start? Thanks, and I hope you publish my question :) Thanks, Justin T. Hi Justin, thanks for writing in. First and most important, congratulations on your new job. There are a number of things you can do to help ensure a quality start. As you will see, some things can be done before you start work, others can be done as early as your first day of employment, and they are all related to learning about your new work environment. Things you can do prior to your first day of work. Learn as much as you can about the company, including its products, locations, history, revenue, and number of employees. This can be done by a combination of studying the company’s website, doing web searches on the company’s name and its product names, and if the company is publicly held, analyze its stock price over the last year and any available investment research notes. Learn about the industry if your new employer is in an industry you are not familiar with (for example, healthcare, financial services, construction, etc.). This will help you gain a better understanding of the environment in which your new company operates. Use LinkedIn and other social media to find someone you know who previously worked for the organization. By talking with a friend who is an ex-employee, you can generally get an unbiased and [...]

There are times in life and at work when it makes sense to make a small sacrifice simply to benefit others. I was flying home on business from California to Massachusetts. By the luck of the draw, I was one of the first people on the plane and got a nice aisle seat near the front of the plane.  There I sat as person after person and suitcase after suitcase went by. As the plane filled almost to capacity, the only seats left were the middle seat in my row and the middle seat in the row diagonally ahead of me across the aisle. Then, on comes a man with his (about) six year old daughter.  The man motions to his daughter to sit in one middle seat across the aisle and then he begins to sit next to me.  Out of the corner of my eye I see this little girl looking longingly to sit next to her dad.  Her one look caused me to give up my aisle seat so that she could sit next to her father.  This middle seat I soon occupied was far less comfortable, but not unbearable, even given the length of the flight. I gave up my seat because I could see that she wanted to sit next to her father more than I wanted to site on the aisle.  In effect, I traded a little to give someone else a lot. My goal in telling you this story is not to show you that [...]