Office Politics – Should I leverage it to further my career?

Early in my career, I have been burnt by office politics but not in the way you think.  I didn’t feel burnt because someone else sabotaged my job.  On the contrary, I concluded, I burnt myself because I didn’t understand or appreciate office politics and the importance of using it fairly and skillfully to protect and build [...]

How to ask someone to be your mentor?

All of us need mentors to help us grow and learn.  How to ask someone to be your mentor can be daunting.  Half of the battle is actually making sure you don’t chicken out and decide not to do it because of xyz. People are usually flattered if they are asked to be a mentor. [...]

Mentoring Model – Mutual Mentorship or Paying it Forward?

Yesterday, one of my friend sent me this article written by Steve Blank about  Mentors, Teachers, and Coaches.   I wanted to shared it with you to get your perspective.  Steve makes great distinctions about the difference between mentors vs. teachers vs. coaches.   I completely agree with this.  He says Teachers, coaches and mentors are [...]

Work for Free – Who Should do it and Why?

I came across this question on Quora – Should anyone work for free for good exposure and at what stage do you stop doing free, but awesome work? 1. Should anyone work for free? Yes, everyone should at least consider to work for free as an option.  I think it’s important to realize that wasting time also [...]

Who do you model yourself after?

I model myself after many people.   This is because even the best role models will disappoint in one area or another and in fact I think it’s expecting too much when you model only after one person. Instead, I think it’s important to have a board of advisors – chosing 5 to 8 people [...]