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Lessons From My Professional Career

I shared a few tweets with some of the lessons I have learned so far as an engineer and while running a community for professionals.

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LinkedIn Recommendation Story Follow Up

I shared one of the tweets in my Twitter thread (about an ex-colleague who asked another ex-colleague, whom he did not have a smooth working relationship with, for a LinkedIn recommendation) as my WhatsApp status and one of the chats I got is worth sharing as a blog post.

The tweet I shared as my WhatsApp status

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I used the caption in the picture below. The respondent gave her permission for me to share the chats and wishes to remain anonymous.

The caption in my WhatsApp status

Hmmm. This is tough ooo. That’s why people must learn that aside meeting work deliverables, having good relationships is key.

As a manager, I am big on soft skills and relationships. Everything will pass away. It’s only relationships you can take along with you.

I spent my career chasing targets and deliverables. Now, I just want to treat people like human beings and celebrate people’s uniqueness.

I just believe EVERYONE has genius and I want people to believe it, see it and express it.

As a senior team lead, my boss says I am not tough enough. Before I used to feel bad when she said it but now that I know its my calling, I own it with my full chest.

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I know my identity and accept my space But then she knows my style is effective and acknowledges it sometimes.

My first boss made me contemplate suicide and almost not marry my husband by speaking hurtful words to me. I don’t want that for anyone at all. All in the name of meeting targets and getting promotion.

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Opportunities TTM Professionals

The Bridge Over River Choluteca

Have you heard of the Choluteca Bridge? I hadn’t either, until not so long ago. It’s a 484-metre-long bridge over the river Choluteca in Honduras, in Central America. A region was notorious for storms and hurricanes. 

So when they decided to build a new bridge over river Choluteca in 1996, they wanted to ensure it would withstand the extreme weather conditions. A Japanese firm was contracted, and they built a solid bridge, designed to withstand the powerful forces of nature. The new Choluteca bridge – a modern-day marvel of design and engineering was thrown open to the public in 1998. And as people drove from one side of the Choluteca river to the other, they couldn’t help but admire the new bridge. It was Choluteca’s pride and joy.

And in October that year, Hurricane Mitch hit Honduras. There was approximately 1 900mm of rain in four days – the equivalent of what they receive in six months. There was devastation all around. The river Choluteca swelled and flooded the entire region. 7000 people lost their lives. All the bridges in Honduras were destroyed. All, except one. The new Choluteca bridge remained unaffected. 

But there was a problem. While the bridge was intact, the road leading to it and the road leaving it was swept away. Leaving no sign that there was once a road there. And that’s not all. The flooding forced the river Choluteca to change course. It created a new channel, and the river now flowed beside the bridge. Not under, but besides the bridge. So while the bridge was strong enough to survive the hurricane, it became a bridge over nothing. A bridge to nowhere.

The Bridge Over River Choluteca


It happened years ago. But the lesson from the Choluteca bridge is more relevant to us today than ever before. The world is changing in ways we may have never imagined. And the Choluteca Bridge is a terrific metaphor for what can happen to us – our careers, our businesses, our lives – as the world around us gets transformed. Adapt to change. Or else.

As you look at your career, think again before taking one more course that makes you even more of an expert in your area of specialization. That role, that expertise might soon become redundant. Before spending money on refurbishing your old office, pause. Thinking of opening more branches in every nook and corner of the country? Think again. Physical office spaces could soon be a thing of the past.

The challenge for us is that we get focused on creating the best solution to a given problem. We forget that the problem itself might change. We are all focusing on building the strongest, most sophisticated product or service. Without thinking of the possibility that the need could vanish. The market could change. We focus on the bridge. And ignore the possibility that the river underneath could change course. Think about that too. ‘Built to Last’ might have been a popular mantra. But ‘Build to Adapt’ could be the way to go. 

You might want to add a picture of the Choluteca Bridge to the paintings that adorn the walls of your classrooms. We need to build a school that can adapt to change. The Theory of Evolution: Charles Darwin, in his studies, found that “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change”.


Source:
St. Peters School

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Motivation TTM Professionals

VIDEO: FIX YOU FIRST

You are only useful to others when you are functioning at optimum capacity.

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TTM Professionals

Heroes Unaware

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Are You A Hero Unaware?

Watch And Learn How To Move From Where You Are To Where You Should Be

Heroes Unaware: The Enemy Within

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TTM Professionals

Tips For Young Job Seekers

Adesegun Damazio

I’d like to share a few tips with young job-seekers out there.

I know you’re doing your best to get a job somewhere, anywhere, and I do hope that you find a placement soon.

In the meantime, you might want to consider these few ideas just in case they’re new to you:

  • Open a LinkedIn account. I’ve seen people put up posts on Facebook and Twitter requesting for job opportunities but can tell you for a fact that you’re more than likely to get an offer or valuable referrals from LinkedIn than any other social media platform. There are statistics to back this up but I won’t bore you with that. Just Google it yourself and see.
  • Garnish your LinkedIn profile with professional English language construction and not shorthand or elementary English. See it as a marketing profile which anybody can be drawn to at first glance.
  • Send connection requests to people in your preferred field of work. And most importantly, target your requests at HR personnel – managers, directors and officers. These professionals have been shown to spend more time perusing LinkedIn than any other kind, though it’s advisable you send requests to other organizational top shots as well in other to boost your chances.
  • Once your request has been accepted by a good number of highly-positioned individuals, put up a post stating your job request and if possible, attach a PROFESSIONAL picture of yourself. It’s like adding salt to taste. In the post, enumerate your qualifications, skill sets and preferred field (FMCG, NGO, Retail etc.) It’s important you make a concise post, otherwise, your connections might just scroll away from the epistle. The more likes, comments and shares you get on the post, the wider the reach. It’s how LinkedIn woks.
  • At this point, people will start viewing your profile. Ensure you view the profile of people who have viewed yours. All of them. Note the highly-positioned individuals who are in your preferred field and send them punchy messages stating your willingness to work for them. No long messages, just appreciate the time they took to view your profile and tailor your short message along professional lines.
  • Watch what happens from there.
LinkedIn: Connect To Opportunity

I’m not saying this is the ice-breaker but trust me, it’s worked for a lot of people and I felt it won’t hurt to share this strategy with my friends.

Please, be mindful of what you post on LinkedIn too. It’s not a platform for subs, derogatory comments and slay mama/papa pictures. Keep it professional and build a good image for yourself.

On the side, continue to send your industry-specific CVs to the recruiters you come across on MyJobMag and HotNigerianJobs.

I hope you get lucky someway and somehow. But LinkedIn really works – in Nigeria. BIG TIME!

Cheers! 🙏🏽

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TTM Professionals

Practical Steps To Getting A Promotion

My sister shared these tweets with me. I think they are useful as 2021 gradually comes to an end. Please share your thoughts.

I’m not sure about the “ALL” bit. However, there are valuable insights in there.
Add Value
Document Your Achievements And Let Stakeholders Know About Your Achievements
Louie Bacaj’s Career Trajectory
Recruit Allies BEFORE The Next Promotion Cycle
People In Charge Care About What ELSE You Can Do For Them In Future
Managing An Acquisition/Merger As An Employee
There should be a career objective
If you are ready to launch out on your own, Tentmakers Online Reloaded is waiting to support you as you grow.

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TTM Professionals

Experience alone is not enough

Dr Strive Masiyiwa

In a few weeks, I will be 56 years (young). I have been working for more than 33 years (old). By all measures, you might say I’m experienced. But what does this mean in the age of constant change, in which I must change my career (the way I do my job) every five years? Either I change the way I do my job, or my job changes, or it might disappear altogether!

Experience is important but it is not enough.

In fact, when you get to my age or older and all you can talk about is your experience, it’s nothing more than vanity!

What’s one definition of experience? “The process of getting knowledge or skill from doing, seeing or feeling things.”

“I don’t read any books,” the veteran began proudly. “Really, I could write most of those books myself because I know it all. I have been doing this job for 30 years.”

__This guy needs to retire quickly because he will destroy the organization!

You can be old and young at the same time… You cannot afford to think old!

Experience is important, but it is not enough.

Experience Is Important But It Is Not Enough

You must complement it with a constant desire and hunger to learn new things and change your career, again and again and again.

Have you ever noticed how hard it is for a team to win back to back World Cup soccer titles?

When you have a winning team, you don’t want to make changes, but that’s when change must be uppermost in your mind.

Much of our older executive corps in Africa really battle with change, and wear their experience as a right of entitlement. This needs to change. Management and leadership roles are not immune to change.

Experience is important but it is not enough.

Probably the best engineer I ever worked with was a South African guy called Les Cullen. He was already in his 60s when I first hired him, and he worked for me well into his 70s. In every way, Les was like a 26-year old!

His curiosity was insatiable. It always seemed that every day he was trying out a new idea or reading about a new idea.

So this is not an age thing. It’s about a mindset. I have known 30-year old who, only 10 years out of college, cannot absorb a new idea! I have known 80-year olds who embrace new ideas and change their careers with extraordinary energy and gusto.

Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus (70+) wrote something interesting. (He’s a social entrepreneur that pioneered the ideas of microcredit and microfinance). He said his greatest challenge has been to change the mindset of people.

“Mindsets play strange tricks on us,” he wrote. “We see things the way our minds have instructed our eyes to see…”

Now don’t let the idea of change panic you. Get your mindset around the idea that in this rapidly changing world, we’ll ALL need to be prepared to change our career, again and again and again.

I saw a quote recently that made me smile: “A year from now you will wish you had started today!”

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