We hope that the awards - win or lose - continue to give us exposure that grows our community of managers and professionals dedicated to development.

Thanks for all that you do to help us change management!

In light of the recent market turmoil, we want to share our Layoff Immunization and Getting Fired shownotes and slides with everyone. While this is premium content, this is one of those times where generosity is called for.

We’ve included notes and slides from two shows: The Layoff Immunization show, and Getting Laid Off - Part 1 - Finances Rule. (Lest you think we’re holding back parts 2+, they’re not published yet).

Please find the shows and files here.

If you’re not affected, great. If you know someone who is worried about their future, share these documents with them freely, with our complements and best wishes.

Being a manager means caring for others. It’s a privilege to serve you all.

Mike and Mark

Ideally, you’ll just click the link on the top left of our home page. Clicks on that banner help our efforts as well. Last year, we generated more “banner clicks” than any other site in the awards.

Nominations are 40% of the total scoring, so please don’t think “I’ll just wait to vote, versus nominating”. And, you can only submit the form one time, so if you have several podcasts you want to nominate, you have to do so all at once. If you are so inclined, you CAN nominate us in both Business and in People’s Choice.

Nominations close at the end of the day, September 30th.

Thanks for your support. It’s a privilege to serve the growing community of Manager Tools managers.

Member Sam Baskinger sent this link to a CareerBuilder article, and it puts paid to any thought that you might be able to get away with a less than professional online presence.

It seems that in the career market, where you’re the seller, it’s Caveat Venditor.

Thanks Sam!

We’ve gone way past the 90-day introductory discount period (we started in April). We’ve gotten close to 200 requests, and Wendii’s workload and quality deserves more compensation.

If you’re thinking about whether you need a review or not, or what you’ll get from it, consider these comments:

Wendii,

I have owned my own business for the last 18 years, and as a company we
strive to provide our customers value added service above the quoted
descriptions and beyond their expectations. However, I have rarely found it reciprocated. In fact, in those same years I have felt that only two
companies have served us with that same courtesy.

The first was only two years ago. There was an insurance company
representative that approached us to win over our company liability,
building, vehicles, etc. insurance (I was skeptical). However, he dove into
our company to understand what was required, needed, and desired and in the end saved us 60% and offered better products. In fact he pointed out how our current insurance company had cut corners and if we had an incident would have made us liable instead of being covered. Then just before we anticipated receiving the paperwork to sign, he contacted us again and informed us that they found another area that would save a few more dollars. It was incredible! I have never seen a sale representative work so hard to save us money, especially after the “deal was done”. Then he turned us on to a healthcare provider that sold the same health insurance we currently carried but at a lower level due to their leaner internal structure. Then he turned us on to a company that saved us 30% on our personal homeowner’s again w/slightly better coverage. What an example of exceptional service beyond our expectations.

And now I would have to list Manager Tools resume reviewing service to my list as the second company to exceed my expectations. I am very impressed with the quality, attention to detail and professionalism (which is everything in a resume), the overwhelming sense that you truly want to help us achieve our best resume possible and the willingness to take that above and beyond the reasonable expectations of the service. Thanks again for your help and comments. It’s good to know that in my future career development that my resume won’t be a liability but an asset to the process.

Thanks again,

Paul Parks

I talked about Wendii and how exceptional she was at our San Antonio conference recently. Luckily, some members shared those comments with her. She’s the best at this of anyone I know, and her recommendations are worth far more than our new price.

Our web redesign uses certain photographs that illustrate and illuminate the day to day life of managers everywhere. We’ve chosen a very real, candid, even almost gritty approach - there will be no models used, we can assure you. We’ve identified many great images, but we also think that perhaps the best images of real managerial and professional life will be of - get this - actual real life managers and real work spaces.

Like yours.

So, we’re asking you to email us pictures of your workspace and your management life. Here’s some guidance:

1. No poses. Everybody can see that when it’s done, and we don’t want it. That means no smiling group pictures, no headshots, etc. (small caveat: you’re welcome to send those, as we’d love to see and hear from you..but we won’t use them on the site.) We want REAL.

2. Usually, we want people in the shots. Ideally, people working, and actually doing real work rather than appearing to be working for a photo. Meetings are great - empty meeting rooms not. Outside is fine, if that’s where you work, and airports too, if you’re there a lot.

3. Some non-people images could work: long shots of a cubicle farm, a big pile of paper, a coffee-stained blotter, a whiteboard with actual work on it. That said, we’ll lean towards people shots.

4. We’re going to recognize the member who sends in a photo. If we use it, it will include your name if you want, with something like, “submitted by…”

5. Quality does matter some. A photo from your cell phone probably isn’t usable on the site.

6. Your submission means that you’ve obtained the release of those people in the photo.

We can’t wait to see what we get!

Yes, we do deliver the Effective Manager Conference on-site to organizational clients. Here are the basics:

Content: We deliver the 2-day Effective Manager Conference. We teach and then lead practice in the Management Trinity: One on Ones, Feedback, Coaching, and Delegation. We also cover Performance Management and Rolling Out The Trinity.

Customization: We will discuss your company’s culture, industry, structure, and attendees’ needs with you in advance. This allows us to spend more time on some areas of the Trinity than others. We stick to the Trinity 95% of the time.

Cost: $30,000 plus reasonable travel expenses. (see more in Cost/Benefit below)

Scope: We limit the 2 days to 25 managers, to maintain the personal attention of the conferences.

Scheduling: We need 60 days notice (though there are exceptions). Our schedules are usually the limiting factor.

Cost/Benefit: We generally start recommending the on-site option when companies have 15 or more managers to send to one or more EMC’s - that’s about break-even. Consider the savings for 20 managers: At $1,600 early registration fee, that’s $32,000. If you assume $300 airfare, and $300 hotel, that’s $600 travel costs per attendee, totaling $12,000 more. Total CASH costs for 20 managers to attend a scheduled EMC is $44,000, versus the $30,000 on-site investment. And 25 managers attending a scheduled EMC would be $55,000. And of course none of this math takes into account the opportunity costs of travel.

To start the process, just send us an email.

You can find the show here.

The interview is about Building Your Network. Stan agrees with us on the value of giving and the selfless approach to building relationships with others. He’s a great guy, too, surely in part because he’s an Aussie!

Please note that the three day date ranges are the Tues-Wed-Thurs of that week. For each week, then, that gives us two options: either a Tues-Wed conference or a Wed-Thurs conference. (We don’t like the idea of folks having to travel away from their families on the weekends.) We’ve listed two weeks for each city, so that gives us 4 possible 2-day sets for each city, which is usually sufficient.

London: January 20-22 or 27-29
Dallas: March 17-19 or 24-26
Washington DC: May 12-14 or 19-21
Los Angeles: July 21-23 or 28-30
Chicago: September 15-17 or 22-24
Newark: November 10-12 or 17-19

These dates are only 90% certain. It’s possible we’ve picked a certain city at a certain time (imagine if we had picked Denver for this week). We have to wait to hear back from our travel planner about hotels that can accommodate us on those dates. We try to keep room rates down for attendees, and our costs down too - sometimes that’s a factor.

We are trying to get to new places while balancing what we know of member densities and stated demand. Yes, stated demand matters to some degree.

If we are not coming to your area, please consider asking us to come directly to you. We don’t talk about our client work a lot, but we do a lot of it nonetheless. If you have around 15 folks, it’s almost cheaper for us to come to you, and on-site client conferences are tailored to your culture and the group we’re working with. Seriously - it only takes about 15 folks (and we do limit attendance to 25).

The Chicago and Newark conferences will be in the same hotels as this year. They did well. We will not return to the Dulles Airport Marriott for the Wash DC effort.

We really blew it last year promising to come to Sydney and not following through. We’re still working on a solution for Australia.

There’s risk in this process. We know some of you might could have been enticed to come to earlier conferences if we had delayed announcing later cities. But this is just the better way. We hope you’ll agree by signing up as soon as you can.

We hope to see you at a conference in ‘09!

Moving away from the apology, we know that many will ask why. The simple answer is cost. Airline flight costs have risen enormously for long-haul flights. We’re still a small company, and we couldn’t justify the cost-benefit outcomes relative to opportunity costs.

We hope to be able to make it happen at some point in the future.

Sorry mates.

Our intent is to add more and more video this year, and this was one of our first “added value” efforts relative to a cast. We think it’s pretty helpful - we’ve already gotten plenty of questions about details of the packing, and we think this will make things even more clear.

There IS a small glitch in the video. Mark thinks that he inadvertently paused rather than recorded for about 30 seconds, when he intended to show the packing of socks and toiletries. (It goes right from undershirts and boxers to folding trousers). You should be able to tell, though, from the pictures in the premium content slides, how those steps go. (Yes, all the toiletries go in!).

Let us know what you think!

A San Francisco conference attendee agrees:

I just wanted to send you guys a note and tell you how much the SF
conference has changed me. It may not have been necessarily the information covered in the conference, but it was the spirit. It was the experience.

And most importantly it was what you guys are trying (and succeeding in)
when it comes to management. It inspired me to see people do what their
passion is, and be able to make such a difference in a world that puts
little into the profession.

Since I have been back I have been re-energized in the business, and
implementing your techniques on calendar management have allowed me to get so much accomplished. And when you add the thought of the
Horstman Curve to what i am doing, it helps me keep pushing through
knowing that soon enough I will top over and then get to the ’sweet
spot’!

Really, thank you for everything you have given me. Keep it up, and
keep inspiring others (and me too).

Thanks

We’d love for you to join us at a conference…and we’d REALLY love for you to be a better manager.

Starting with the July 2008 shows, we’ve made an enhanced version of the podcast feed available.

The Manager Tools Enhanced podcast includes chapter marks (so you can easily skip to portions of the podcast you’re specifically interested in) and photos of the premium content slides timed to the audio content. When you play an enhanced podcast in iTunes, a “Chapters” menu option appears to assist you in navigating through the podcast.

Similarly, when listening to the podcast on your iPod, chapter marks (and slides, if you have an iPhone or Video iPod) are available.

On an iPhone or Video iPod, premium content slides are available as well!

The Enhanced Podcast feed is: http://www.manager-tools.com/premium/manager-tools-premium.rss

Add the Enhanced Podcast feed to iTunes

Premium Content Documents Feed

Although the Premium Content Documents has existed for some time, we thought it might be useful to remind you. We don’t like having to do the “right-click, Save as ..” a hundred times or so to download the Premium documents to our hard drive either! So, to resolve this, we created a couple of special RSS feeds for Premium Content. Add these feeds to iTunes and you’ll have all the Premium documents right there in iTunes waiting for you immediately after the documents are published. It doesn’t get any easier than that!

The Premium Content documents feed is: http://www.manager-tools.com/premium/premium_docs_rss.xml

Add the Premium Content documents feed to iTunes

Being 6 weeks from the conference, and only having a few slots left, we felt that we would be willing to handle a few more attendees. We always have a waiting list, and we always turn some folks away, and we don’t like doing that.

And, this is is our last scheduled Effective Manager Conference in the US this year. Our September conference is on Communications, and we’re looking at Australia in November.

So, if you’ve been thinking about it, we’ve made some slots available. We hope to see you there.

If you’d like to watch Mark describe the Feedback Model on video, you can find it here.

Enjoy!

I like quotes, but I failed to validate the provenance of this one. I won’t use it again.

I regret my error.

Date: 16 May
Time: 7:30 - 9:30 pm
Where: Pizza Express, Hounslow Link To Map
Address Details:
Closest Tube is Hounslow East (zoom out one click on the map above)
About 35 mins from the West End on the Piccadilly Line.
About 20 mins from Heathrow Terminal 3 on the Piccadilly Line.

The plan is for all of us to chat from 7:30 to 8:30, and then Mark and Mike will answer questions in the second hour.

Please RSVP to this thread in the forums so we can plan the right amount of seats.

Hope you can make it!

I am a Manager in a [European] IT company and for 6 months I slogged with my 8 member team unknown and unrecognized in a small corner of the office.

Then last month our clients started reviewing all the teams that were servicing their account and were quite disappointed with the people management systems in place. Or rather the lack of them.

Until they reviewed our team.

They saw strange terms bandies about,like O3, Coaching, employee engagement surveys,constant feedback systems.

Guess what?

My VP promoted me to ‘Process Excellence Manager’ to ensure ALL teams followed the lead of the ‘Center of Excellence’ that my team is now recognized as.

All it is all because of 2 people in a distant country. You make a difference and maybe in the end that is all that matters.

A fan

First, we got our first confessional email from a member who admitted to paying for premium content, downloading it all, and then unsubscribing.

Second, I re-read a column discussing how work is no longer fulfilling for knowledge workers because they don’t produce measurable/visible/knowable output. One guy said that because he resells energy futures, he envies electricians the fact that they can see their accomplishments, which may last a long time.

But then a management consultant said that she envied her clients celebrating a clear accomplishment, and, “‘That must be a tremendous feeling […]one I will never know.’”

While I generally don’t like to define things in terms of negatives, these two items reminded me why Manager Tools exists.

First, Mike and I do spend time talking about how to protect our work, and we do try to be careful. We have a great IP lawyer. And, we generally refuse to work on protecting our stuff when it gets technically complicated OR when we think our best users are going to stumble over the protections. I am SURE that our biases here made it easy for the confessor to do so.

We’re sticking to our plan.

Some people are going to steal Manager Tools’ stuff. We think it’s wrong and reprehensible. We think our honor system rightly mirrors the honor system of managers. If you work for us, we’ll forgive you for cheating…and we will fire you. We believe in redemption AND trustworthiness.

But we’re not going to make it hard for the vast majority of folks to grow and develop because of a few who don’t share our view of honor.

Thanks to all of you, we can’t imagine not feeling a sense of accomplishment. We feel accomplishments every day, all the time! We love getting notes about how you’re doing and how we played a role. (And yes, we still think YOU deserve all the credit).

As we grow, we get more notes thanking us every day. I read each one multiple times. On bad days, I re-read many of them.

We want everyone to get better as managers, so much so we know we’re going to get cheated. And we know it’s working, because we feel it every day.

We would do this for free.

For you.

That’s why we do this.

For you.

I told him I got that question a lot [for the wrong reasons, but whatever.] I told him that “feedback” started in the early 20th century, with the advent of microphones. Since inputs into the mics were “feeds”, and they were designed to only work with inputs, if there were “feeds” that came back through the system [usually from being too close to speakers], you’d get an awful noise. That awful noise was named “feedback”, because it was a “feed” that came “back” into the system.

Well, you’d have thought that he’d been handed the talking points of an opposing debating team. He attacked our model for using a term whose origins were legitimately associated with an awful noise. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that feedback was even then useful, and managers who don’t give feedback because they think it’s an awful noise just don’t realize how awful a noise their silence makes.

What I should have said, rather than taking his question literally (no, he did not use the word etymology), was that we use the word NOT because of its earliest origins, but rather because we’re engineers, and all good systems are built with feedback mechanisms built in. The word feedback is NOT inherently negative today, even though that’s how it began, and how managers who don’t want to do it define it themselves. The word usage has CHANGED, to incorporate the value of feedback into systems that touch all aspects of our lives.

Word usage DOES change. It used to be that Bethlehem hospital in London was a mental institution. It was initially derogatory slang to describe a completely chaotic situation as “bedlam”, but it got that name because that was how Bethlehem Hospital was pronounced.

Maybe you as a manager think of feedback as an awful noise, but you’re glad there’s feedback in other systems, we’re sure of that. When your automatic car window STOPS going up because the system has a new force put on it - FEEDBACK - your child’s hand doesn’t get crushed. When your automatic garage door STOPS going down because something interrupts the safety circuit, well, your child’s hand doesn’t get crushed. When someone says, “WHAT?!?!?” when you use a word they don’t understand, or they just don’t hear you, or YOU MISPRONOUNCE it, or you’re not using the language they’re most familiar…that TOO, is feedback.

When you do something, the world responds. That’s feedback, and we’re usually happy to have it.

And so are your directs.

So stop worrying about the WORD - or heaven forbid its HISTORY, and add a feedback mechanism to your directs’ performance.

Just like you want YOUR BOSS to do.

Even better than two great American conferences?

Yep, even better.

Our European members and listeners who attended our Amsterdam conference had to fight through some language barriers. There were 17 different countries represented - with almost as many languages. And yet, BECAUSE of the language challenge, this group was MORE attentive and more focused.

Yet again, every meal was FILLED with questions during Open Q&A, and we stayed until close to 7 p.m. Wednesday evening answering questions…even though the conference ended at 5:30. 40 of our 55 attendees were still in the room at 7!

We came to Europe (we are still in London recuperating) because managers are everywhere, and we are HUMBLED by the desire, professionalism, and kindness of our European members.

And if you don’t believe me, please go to the forums and read what the attendees themselves are saying: Amsterdam Feedback Forum

We’re ready NOW to come back!

What: Manager Tools Meet Up
When: Saturday, 2 Feb, 7:00 - 9:30
Where: Pizza Express, Haymarket
26 Panton House,
London, SW1Y 4EN
Telephone - 020 7930 8044
Google Map

This will be our first international meet up (if you don’t count the Amsterdam conference!) and we’re excited to meet our UK friends, listeners and members. We’re hosting everyone for dinner.

Please rsvp with your intent in a blog comment. We’d like to know how many to plan for. Wendii Lord is helping us with the venue.

Cheers!

As Mike and I prepare to host the first international Effective Manager Conference, we’re humbled that our community has grown so large. We’re honored to be among a group of professionals working on improving themselves, their teams, and their organizations.

It’s a privilege to serve ALL of you.

I apologize for the late notice, but tonight we’ll be doing a site upgrade and will be down for up to 2 hours staring at approximately 10pm Eastern.

The upgrade, assuming all goes well, will be a fairly significant upgrade in hardware — the first step in more upgrades to come. Although at first you’ll simply see a “snappier” website, we have plenty in more in store for the future … stay tune!

Thanks for your patience while we complete these upgrades!

Regards,
Mike

Jan 13, 2008 Update

9:19am EasternAlthough most functions appear to be working, we’re still working through a few issues (access to password protected RSS feeds and premium content links, for example). We think we’ve identified the issue and should have it working shortly.

1:15pm Eastern Thanks for your patience … with the exception of a few cosmetic issues, everything should be fully functional now. Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you see any issues!

The Plant Manager had been named to his role for a newly acquired facility, at which many of the employees spoke Spanish primarily. The GM rightly surmised that leadership and management require excellent communication, and the language barrier was significant. So, the GM set an objective for the Plant Manager, which met the standard of a “SMART” goal:

“You and I will have lunch - entirely in Spanish - by (date).”

I’ve owed you an update for quite a while, and here it is.

After missing the initial goal (more on this later), the GM and his Plant Manager DID have lunch, entirely in Spanish.

We at Manager Tools believe that the setting of a goal with a measurable outcome [”entirely” and “in Spanish” do that quite nicely] and a clear deadline [the lunch was on both calendars] is a significant motivator of managerial behavior.

Interestingly, the Plant Manager missed the first deadline. He did so in part because he was knee deep in pressing plant issues, issues that the GM and I and others completely AGREED were pressing and worthwhile efforts. But working on other pressing issues is ALWAYS possible, and an oft-used reason for failing to achieve a goal. Those other issues are the very reason for the clarity of the goal to begin with.

(And a postscript: we don’t subscribe to SMART goals, but this client used them, and many of you are forced to work with them. We have a future cast on SMART goals, and the Manager Tools better alternative. - H)

Now there is.

To the left, in our “Products” section, you’ll see a link: Manager Tools Gifts. Clicking on that link will take you to a page that gives anyone the option to buy one of 4 gift certificates, with amounts in parentheses:

- The Manager Tools Interviewing Series - ($150.00)
- Manager Tools Annual Premium Subscription - ($165.00)
- $25 Gift Toward Any Non-Recurring Product - ($25.00)
- $50 Gift Purchase Toward Any Non-Recurring Product - ($50)

Purchasers will get a coupon code, and sharing that coupon code with the gift recipient will allow the recipient to enter it during checkout when purchasing a non-recurring product, reducing the price by the amount of the certificate.

Please do note that you can’t yet apply these gift certificates/coupons to recurring products, such as the monthly Premium Content Subscription. That’s much harder behind the scenes; we’re working on it.

Hope this makes many of your holidays happier!

Frankly, we know we’re falling down here. We’re looking at our priorities, and we do think we have them right, but we have stuff not getting done. So, we worry that there are managers out there who might benefit from our content, and we’re not working hard enough to reach them. (Trust me, we’re working hard enough in general, but just not on marketing.)

And then it hit us: why not just give the word of mouth a megaphone?

Here, then, is our first installment of an email note from a member about their experience with the Interviewing Tool. (We also want to market free stuff, too - we’re not just trying to sell Interviewing Tools with this post). If you care to share, please write us a note (showAT…), and tell us if we can use your name or not. Please share in the spirit of letting OTHERS know why you’re a fan, a member or premium content subscriber.

************

Dear Mike / Mark

I just wanted to let you guys know that I just landed a VP job at a company that was at the very top of my short list of career companies. I landed the job as an outside candidate in an environment where they prefer to recruit from the inside. It was also a very hotly contested job.

Without question the interviewing podcasts and content you provided made the absolute difference. I followed probably 85% of what you outlined. Had I not followed this advice I would not have had the level of confidence to perform the way I did throughout the interview process. I was so well prepared I was able to be at ease and operate at another level.

So thank you. I trust you guys know that you are making a difference – all my direct reports listen to your content, and all my new reports will in the future.

Also, I am one of the people that had to cancel out of your very first conference and you refunded my money – even though you didn’t have to. You are a class act.

Many thanks and may Manager Tools continue to thrive.

*********

We do this for you all. It’s a privilege to serve.

I apologize, but I made some terrible errors on the email that went out on the Amsterdam Conference.

First, the early registration period ends on November 2, not October 2. No, time travel is not required to get the early registration discount.

Second, the US dollar did not all of a sudden make dramatic gains against the euro. The early registration price is 1500 euros (again, until November 2), and the regular price is 1750 euros.

your (very) humble servant,
Mike

We’re thrilled with how our attendees felt about their experiences this year at conferences:

“It’s really simple: If you’re a manager, you need manager-tools, you need to hear Mark and Mike, and if you have the opportunity to EXPERIENCE Mark, Mike, & company, DON’T MISS IT.

This was hands-down the best training I’ve ever attended.”

Fran McTernan

The basics: It’s January 29-30, at the Sheraton Amsterdam Schiphol.

For more details, our agenda, and logistics, please go to the Effective Manager Conference page.

If you’re ready now, go to our conference registration page to register now.

We have limited space to 75 attendees (NOT 100!). We have presented in Europe before, and we know that our lack of fluency means more practice and more time on key subjects.

“This Manager Tools conference was the most effective two days of training that I have ever had. I have taken away so much from this conference above what I was getting out of the pod casts. In addition to presentations and practice, which were excellent, I got a lot out of the Q&A’s during the meals and the informal discussions after dinner and between breaks. It also makes all of the difference in the world to be at a training seminar with so many other people that actually want to be there.

I can’t wait until I get back to work to put some of what I learned to action. I am absolutely convinced that this will have a major positive impact on my team.”

So, for all our European members begging us for a conference: here it is. Your turn!

We hope to see you in January.

We’re doing this because many members have asked us for an extension for various reasons, and we don’t want to exclude them arbitrarily. Also, we had said that we would remind everyone about the deadline, and we haven’t done that. We don’t want our lack of follow through to cause people to be disappointed about the offer being closed.

Our lack of follow through is due both to an explosion of corporate requests and to planning conference dates and venues for 2008. I will not spend 7 days at home in a row until after Thanksgiving, and Mike is traveling a great deal more.

We will communicate more this month regarding planning, products, and pricing. Thanks for your understanding!

“Great site.”

I smiled and said, “Yeah, I love it.”

He kept right on walking, and didn’t turn around.

So, to the guy in the Admirals Club Friday who’s a fan: that was me.

YOU MADE MY DAY.

I was having dinner recently with a group of client managers, and someone mentioned how much they liked Mr. Smith’s acting, and many of us agreed. Several said they liked him in Independence Day, and then someone piped up that they had just seen In Pursuit of Happyness, and really enjoyed it. I completely agreed - I loved it - but my take on it was different.

If you haven’t seen it, I’m not giving anything away by saying that the plot is that Mr. Smith is struggling to make ends meet as a salesman, and through a series of unfortunate events, his wife leaves him, and he is evicted, and becomes homeless - all while caring for his young son.

I assure you, it is heartwrenching. What he goes through to maintain his dignity, to keep his son fed, to be fair to others…it’s impressive. You can feel him on the edge of sanity, and on the edge of keeping his self esteem, and on the edge of society. He sleeps at least one night in a subway bathroom.

With his son.

In a turn of fate, Mr. Smith’s character creates an opportunity to join an internship program at a large stock brokerage, and is ecstatic about it…until he discovers that THIS internship comes with no pay.

And his efforts to stay out of true despair and misery continue.

It’s a wonderful uplifting story.

And during the whole time at the big brokerage house, NO ONE KNOWS WHAT HE IS GOING THROUGH.

No one asks. No one helps. No one meets with him.

No one cares. Too busy with their own stuff, with getting ahead. Too busy being selfish and self-interested.

Oh, and did I mention it’s a true story? Mr. Smith plays the part of Chris Gardner, now a VERY successful owner of his own financial firm.

And why was my take different? Frankly, while everyone else was cheering for Mr. Smith, I was screaming at his bosses.

His selfish, self-interested, ladder-climbing, profit-seeking managers.

You better be doing your one on ones, and spending time asking your folks how they’re doing.

They may be sleeping in a shelter.

How would that make you feel?

Wanna get screamed at?

it’s good to be back.

We’ve listened and here it is - The definitive list of the “must listen to” podcasts. If you’re a new listener or want to refer a colleague to Manager Tools, the Manager Tools Basics is where to start!

Check out the Manager Tools Basics now.

This video is a brief 2 minute excerpt of Mark’s Interviewing Presentation, covering Horstman’s 2nd Law of Interviewing - “You Are Not As Good As You Think You Are:You’re As Good As The Recruiter Thinks You Are.”

First, we’ve heard that RTF documents are troublesome for some. So, we converted all the RTF documents to the Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

Second, it appears that you don’t really enjoy visiting every post, and doing the “right-click, Save as ..” a hundred times or so to download the Premium documents to your hard drive. Go figure! So, to resolve this, we created RSS feeds for both the Premium Content and the Interviewing Series (for those of you who purchased the Annual Premium membership). Add these feeds to iTunes and you’ll have all the documents right there in iTunes waiting for you immediately after the documents are published. It doesn’t get any easier than that!

The Premium Content documents feed is: http://www.manager-tools.com/premium/premium_docs_rss.xml

Similarly, if you have purchased the Interviewing Series (a separate product), there is a document feed for you as well.
The Interviewing Series documents feed is: http://www.manager-tools.com/MTInterviewSeries/interview_series_docs_rss.xml

Add the Premium Content documents feed to iTunes

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The feeds, like the content itself are username and password protected, so if you’re not a Premium member and/or an Interviewing Series subscriber, these feeds aren’t for you .

Hopefully, you’ll find these changes useful. And, if not, I know you’ll let me know how we can improve it!

best regards,
Mike

Here’s a GoogleMap. The phone number is (847) 759-0800.

I may be a few minutes late - I am with a client in Milwaukee and have to drive down. Please start the party without me!

Mark

DUH! Sorry.

We will meet at Pizzeria Piccola - same as last time: 7606 W. State St. Milwaukee (actually, Wauwatosa).
Phone: (414) 443-0800.
Here’s their website and here’s a Google Map.

We will start at 7 pm, and pizza is on Mike and me!

We will meet at Pizzeria Piccola - same as last time: 7606 W. State St. Milwaukee (actually, Wauwatosa).
Phone: (414) 443-0800.
Here’s their website and here’s a Google Map.

We will start at 7 pm, and pizza is on Mike and me!

And, then have a look at Manager Tools’ first video content, below.

Thanks for all your support! We have a great community…and more to do!

As you know, we’ve made reference to many of Horstman’s Laws during the podcasts, but have never provided them in a single place. Today, we change that! As a way of saying thanks to all of our listeners for their support over these past 2 years, we’d like to provide you the gift of Horstman’s Laws.

We’ve provided you the Laws in a very nice, formatted PDF. These are images of the beautiful boxed set we provided to attendees of the Manager Tools Effective Manager Conference. Although perhaps not quite as nice as a boxed set on top-of-the-line card stock, they will still look beautiful printed and on your wall.

And, unlike our podcasts and the other material we’ve provided on the website, please feel free to distriute the PDF of Horstman’s Laws with as many folks as you would like.

You can download Horstman’s Laws here.

Again, thank you for your support over the past 2 years. We feel incredibly blessed … and we have you to thank for that.

As always, it’s our pleasure to serve!

Mark and Mike

Thanks to everyone for the support and patience!

Our intent is to announce GO LIVE on Premium Content with an email to all registered members (and a Blog Post) sometime tomorrow. You won’t have to keep coming back to the site - you’ll get an email when the switch has been flipped.

There’s a special gift coming to EVERYONE in the email, and it will be attached to the Blog Post as well.

Thank you all for your enthusiasm about this important day in the Manager Tools community!

Unlike during the nomination process, you can vote once a day for the entire 15 day period, and we’d appreciate it if you would. You can cast your votes here: http://www.podcastawards.com/

Even if you don’t vote for Manager Tools, please stop by and vote for your favorite shows … it’s a great (and easy) way to show your support. Voting won’t last long, so please take the time now to vote.

As always … thanks for your continued support!

Mark and Mike

We believe this is the most complete and detailed description of Interviewing Behavior ever produced. To show you the depth and detail, below is more in-depth about all 15 of the casts.

How To Prepare For Interviewing - Most candidates fail because they miss the fundamental focus of the interview. Spending time researching the company is usually time POORLY spent. The key is to research your background and know how to gather up all your accomplishments, and categorize them…and that’s in this cast. Also, how do you prepare delivering your answers? You’ve got to rehearse, and we tell you how here. It’s easy and fast, irreplaceable..and in this cast.

How To Write A Cover Letter - What’s the PURPOSE of a cover letter? How many paragraphs? What should each paragraph say? How much of your background should you put in it, and how do you know which parts to include?

How To Prepare Your Resume (Previously Released) - It’s more than an interviewing document: it’s about career management. We describe our one page format, and how to structure each job in three parts: administrative information, responsibilities, and accomplishments. You may not think it possible, but it’s the standard, and when you achieve it, you’ll appreciate it.

What To Wear During An Interview - So many candidates stumble here. There’s nothing worse than being told it’s casual, only to find yourself the MOST casual person in the room. It makes a difference, despite what everyone says. For men and women, we detail every item of clothing, from shoes (they must be able to be shined) to jewelry and neckwear. Colors, fabrics, length, and brand recommendations. It may not be cool…but it will help get you the offer. What’s cooler than that?

The Five Parts of An Interview, Horstman’s Laws of Interviewing, and The 5 Biggest Mistakes Made - There are 5 parts to an interview, starting with your First Impression, and ending with Follow Up (because if you don’t have the offer the interview’s not over, right?) We describe what you need to do in each part and why. Horstman’s Laws of Interviewing encapsulate years of interviewing: what works, and why. And the 5 Biggest Mistakes will surprise you.

How to Make a Good First Impression - What do you do immediately before the interview starts? Once you enter the room, did you know that the speed at which you walk makes a difference? How do you greet your interviewer? And what do you need to study BEFOREHAND to be ready for the inevitable chit-chat…which IS evaluated?

How To Answer “Tell Me About Yourself” - This is the second most important question you’ll get in an interview. There is a right structure, a right length, and a most effective way to describe your background. And, a good answer is 3-5 minutes long. Don’t believe those who tell you 1 minute!

How To Answer Behavioral Interviewing Questions - This is the crux of all effective modern interviews, and very few know how to do it well. But it’s not hard after listening to this cast and the next one. We’ll lay out what your first sentence should be, exactly what words to follow it with, how to transition into your detailed description, and how to end your answer. If you’re delivering a chronology of events, you’re doing it wrong. This cast alone will improve your success rate by 50%.

Two Examples of Behavioral Interviewing Questions - Mark actually delivers two different behavioral interviewing answers, word for word, and the shownotes give you the transcript. You can actually hear and see how the structure comes to life, and how effective our recommended approach is.

How To Ask Questions In An Interview - A lost art for most candidates, asking poor questions can sink a borderline interview. Most questions we hear ARE poor. What are the areas you CAN’T ask about, what questions are effective, and what is the actual structure of each question? Yes, we’ll tell you what to ask and how to ask it. Nothing about salary or benefits, if you’re wondering!

How To Close - Mark’s favorite interviewing tool. At the end of the interview, what do you say? What 7 words constitute a nearly foolproof technique for increasing your chances and leaving no doubt about your interest? We’ll tell you what those words are, and how to follow them with details that are persuasive.

How To Handle An Offer - How much time will you have? What do you say when you receive one? How should you accept? What do you do with multiple offers? How do you time your acceptance and decline? How much time can you reasonably expect? And how do you get more time if you need it?

How To Handle Salary Discussions - This is one of the least understood and most dangerous areas of interviewing. The old rule that “he who says a number first loses” is just plain WRONG. We’ll tell you why you can’t negotiate (it’s true), and how to discuss compensation effectively. And, when you can and when it’s too early.

How To Follow Up - Most candidates walk out of interviews and just want to be done with everything. Smart candidates write thank you notes. They know how many paragraphs it should have, and what to put in each paragraph, and how to restate their interest, and how to personalize the note. They know it gets MAILED. And, they know how to follow up by phone, with what to say, and how often to call.

How To Handle Phone Interviews - (Previously Published) We walk through how much HARDER phone interviews are, unless you are prepared. We tell you how to use being on the phone to your ADVANTAGE. Where should you be when the call comes in? What should you have in front of you? We also recommend what kind of phone to use, how to talk, and what to do beforehand. Did you know you should be standing up? If you didn’t, you need this cast.

That’s it (ha!) 15 casts of deeply detailed guidance and recommendations. This is our compendium of 20 years of recruiting and interviewing advice all in one place. It’s a great value proposition at $150, and beyond belief as a free incentive for those of you who subscribe to Premium Content for a year.

For all those who subscribe to Premium Content for one year, we will GIVE you the set of 15 Interview Casts for FREE.

Let’s talk about what that means. First, of course you can sign up for monthly Premium Content for $15, and you’ll get Premium Content for all shows in our archive and future shows. We think that’s a great value.

But if you agree to subscribe to Premium Content for one year in advance ($180), the Interview Casts and associated Shownotes and Slides are yours for free. We will be charging $150 for the Interview Casts product if purchased separately.

That’s $150 of additional value free, for subscribing for one year.

We’ll keep the offer open until the end of September - 2 full months.

What ARE the Interview Casts? For now, we’ll list the titles, and in a subsequent post, we”ll provide more details.

How To Prepare For Interviewing
How To Write a Cover Letter
How To Prepare Your Resume
What To Wear During An Interview
The Five Parts Of An Interview, Horstman’s Laws of Interviewing and The 5 Biggest Mistakes Made
How To Make a Good First Impression
How To Answer “Tell Me About Yourself”
How To Answer Behavioral Interview Questions
Two Examples of Behavioral Interview Answers - Word For Word
How To Ask Questions In An Interview
How To Close
How To Handle An Offer
How To Handle Salary
How To Follow Up
How To Handle Phone Interviews

As one of our friends said, “That’s generous even for YOU guys!”

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