Impostor Syndrome – Definition and How to Use it To Your Benefit

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I had no idea what Imposter Syndrome was for many years. However I clearly remember feeling like a fraud when I graduated from college. Even though I graduated with honors in Electrical Engineering, I was convinced someone was going to find out that I didn’t know anything. What was worse was I took a strategic consulting job with McKinsey. What did I know about strategy or business? Nothing. I believed that I passed the case interviews only because I got help from a McKinsey associate on how to ace case interviews and I read the Mind of the Strategist.  ...  read more

How to Be Self-Confident – Listen to Ted Lasso & “Be a Goldfish”

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I am addicted to Apple TV’s show Ted Lasso. It’s about an American football coach, who moves to England to manage an Elite soccer team. Ted Lasso has no experience in soccer whatsoever. You don’t need to love sports to love this show. It’s funny, inspiring and entertaining. Most of all, every episode is a master class on leadership.  ...  read more

First 90 Days at Work – Focus on These 4Cs to Ramp Up Quickly

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Last week, I wrote that we should achieve these 5 goals in the first 90 days at work. Today, I want to provide you tips on how to best achieve the first of the five goal – Ramp up quickly. I came up with this 4Cs framework since I am currently 2 weeks into my new job as well. It is helping me keep in mind all the aspects I need to understand in a new organization and new job. I hope this can help you as well.  ...  read more

First 90 days of a New Job – Strive to Achieve These Five Goals

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8 years ago, I wrote this post – Starting a New Job – 6 tips for your first 90 Days. All of the tips still apply. I want to add to it with more details

  • What should be your goals for the first 90 days – focus of this post
  • How to ramp up quickly – I came up with a 4C framework to help you remember all the areas you should learn about in your first 90 days – I will write this post in a week

As long as you have a “white collar” job, I believe these goals would apply. I just started a new job at a new company a week ago, and they also apply to me. After working 4 jobs over 10 years at a major bank, I decided to move to smaller company where I have broader role in a more fast paced setting. I will tell you more about my move across a few posts in the coming month.  ...  read more

Steve Jobs Didn’t Say These Words, But You Should Read Them Anyway

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A few months ago, “Janet”, one of my best friends, sent me a shocking message. She was diagnosed with nerve deafness! “What the heck is that?”I asked. It meant she is mostly deaf in one ear and only salvages the hearing in her other ear with strong drugs and mandatory rest. 🙁 She added her doctors did not know the root cause.  ...  read more

How to Deal with Office Politics – 5 Tips

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how to handle office politics

“Office Politics” is often thought as a nasty phrase – something to avoid, but the fact of the matter is as long as you work with other people in a company, office politics exist.   See my article on “Should I leverage Office Politics to Further My Career” to understand more.

How you deal with office politics can have a great impact on your job success at a company.   Early in my career, I was burnt by office politics.  In my first job at McKinsey I was blamed for something I didn’t do, and ended up with a bad project review.  The Manager who blamed me was up for promotion and had great relationships with key partners in the office. He needed a scapegoat for a major client complaint.  I was an easy target as I was junior, and no one knew enough about my work.  I protested; but without concrete evidence, his words meant more than mine. ...  read more