How being different can always beat being better

How being different can always beat being betterHow being different can always beat being betterI always thought that the best wins at anything. That might be true for sports. But not for life and business.If youre trying to build a profitable business or stable career, you might be approaching it all wrong. At least, I was. And I think that the common belief about success is also totally wrong.I get it when it comes to sports. Theres only one place at the top. And to get to the top, you have to be the best. I only applaud that. In fact, Im inspired by athletes like LeBron James, Christiano Ronaldo, Serena Williams, and others.But business is different. Instead of being the best, you must strive for becoming the first. Al Ries and Jack Trout put it best in their classic marketing book, The 22 Immutable Laws Of MarketingEveryone is interested in whats new. Few people are interested in whats better.Who cares about a marginally better product or service? Thats the problem with most busi nesses and even people. We compete with each other for the same market. Thats the basic idea behind Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Rene Mauborgne.The authors argue that most companies find themselves in markets with too much competition, called red oceans. They writeBlue ocean strategy challenges companies to break out of the red ocean of bloody competition by creating uncontested market space that makes the competition irrelevant. Instead of dividing up existing- and often shrinking- demand and benchmarking competitors, blue ocean strategy is about growing demand and breaking away from the competition.But how do you break away from the competition?Be different.I look at entrepreneurship like the music industry. Every artist that is at the top of the charts is different from everyone else. Theres only one Drake, Rihanna, Lady Gaga. These artists didnt try to become better versions of Jay-Z, Madonna, Beyonce, or whoever came before them. No, they created their own genre.Drake is the first rapper that sings and who gets away with it. Rihanna broke out with a song called Pon de Replay which is a combination between pop and reggae, a new sound. Lady Gaga, well, she doesnt need an introduction. Shes Lady Gaga and you cant compare her with anything.You see, its not about being better, its about being different. And when youre different, youre often the first in a new category.Tim Ferriss was the first lifestyle entrepreneur. He popularized the idea in his book, The Four Hour Work Week. Did he invent the idea? Who cares? Hes known for it.Al Ries and Jack Trout sayWhen you launch a new product, the first question to ask yourself is not How is this new product better than the competition? but First what? In other words, what category is this new product first in?You can apply this to your career as well. Scott Adams, creator of the comic strip Dilbert, is the first cartoonist that writes about life advice and business. Hes different. And hes the first.Dont ask yourself, What am I better at?Ask, How am I different?The easiest way to be different is to combine skills that are new in a certain area. I also learned that idea from Scott Adams in his book How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big Kind of the Story of My Life. (I love that title, btw.)Adams says that every skill you acquire, doubles your odds of success. He writesNotice I didnt say anything about the level of proficiency you need to achieve for each skill. I didnt mention anything about excellence or being world-class. The idea is that you can raise your market value by being merely good- not extraordinary- at more than one skill.Adams strategy is practical, and more importantly Realistic.Anyone can become different in their field become becoming better at one or more of the following skills (check out Scott Adams book for a more comprehensive list)Writing Were all writers. And by writing well you can stand out from the crowd.Public Speaking Getting comfortable with s peaking in front of a group makes you a better leader.Selling We all have something to sell Our art, products, services, and even ourselves.Can you think of a surgeon that can also write and speak well? Atul Gawande, the author The Checklist Manifesto comes to mind.Think different.I know, its been used to death, but the old Apple commercial hits the nail on the head. Once you get the concept, you start noticing the patterns everywhere. Think different is not some marketing slogan.Its at the core of success. Every business or part that succeeds is because they did SOMETHING different.The question now is What are YOU going to do differently?This article first appeared on Dariusforoux.com.

Optimize Your Job Search Using LinkedIn

Optimize Your Job Search Using LinkedInOptimize Your Job Search Using LinkedInSo many ways exist for job seekers to improve their job search usingLinkedIn. More and more employers use LinkedIn to post job listings, as well as to reach out to possible job candidates. At the same time, many LinkedIn users credit the site with being a primary platform for connecting and networking with people in their industry. Effective networking is about building relationships. It is critical to take the time to build your LinkedIn profile, add to your connections, and effectively use them to aid in your job search. It is equally important to give back and help your connections when they need advice and referrals as well. Complete and Update Your Profile The more complete your LinkedIn profile, the greater your chances of being found and contacted by an employer. Use your LinkedIn profile as a resume and provide prospective employers with detailed information about your skills and experiences. Cr eating a catchy headline and detailed summary, including a professional photo, and listing your skills and accomplishments are all ways to enhance your profile. You can also strengthen your profile by adding links, such as a link to your professional website or online portfolio. Connect With Your Connections The more connections you have, the better your chances of finding someone to help with your job search. Employers often look for referrals from their own employees to fill positions before opening up a job to the masses, so someone who is employed at the company or has connections there will have a leg up in referring you as an applicant. While you want to have a number of connections, make sure you only connect with people you know, or to whom you plan to reach out. The goal is to maintain or establish relationships with people working in your field or with whom you are already connected. Check Out Job Search Options Search for jobs on LinkedIn by clicking the Jobs tab, and then entering a keyword, country, and zip code. Use the Advanced Search Option to refine your search and to search by date posted, experience level, specific location, job function, company, and industry. You can save job searches, and even receive emails about new job listings. You can also find job openings by searching for and clicking on specific companies. Many companies post job openings on their LinkedIn pages. Capitalize Your Connections Recommendations and Referrals If you find a job listed directly on LinkedIn in which youre interested, check out how youre connected to the hiring manager. You may also consider requesting a LinkedIn recommendation if you know someone at the company, which can help boost credibility in the eyes of employers. LinkedIn provides a template for recommendation requests thatyou can edit and personalize to your liking. Endorsements from network contacts for various skills and competencies are another way to go. An endorsement emphasizes th at you do, in fact, have a certain skill listed on your LinkedIn profile. The best way to receive endorsements is to give some to your contacts first. They will then be more likely to do the same for you in return. Use LinkedIn Company Profiles to Learn About Employers LinkedIn company profiles are a good way to glean at-a-glance information on a company in which youre interested. Company profiles provide an excellent window to your connections at the company, past, current and future projects, new hires, promotions, jobs posted, related companies, and company statistics.Whats more, LinkedIn company profiles often provide solid insight into a companys culture - events they celebrate, causes they espouse and the ways in which they support them, goals they set for themselves as a company and for their employees and the paths they take to achieve them. Consider following your dream companies on LinkedIn. This will allow you to keep up with their achievements (which will be useful to bring up in a cover letter or interview) and will help you spot any job openings.?

Study Job candidates with ethnic-sounding names get fewer callbacks from employers

Study Job candidates with ethnic-sounding names get fewer callbacks from employersStudy Job candidates with ethnic-sounding names get fewer callbacks from employersWhen managers are searching for good candidates, they may be overlooking qualified people without even knowing it.Its well-established that job applicants with ethnic-sounding names working in English-speaking countries like the US, UK, and Canada, get fewer job opportunities than people with recognizably white or English-sounding names. Now a newly released study from Canada adds some detail on just how hard it is for people with recognizably ethnic names to even get their feet in the door at many companies, - despite being highly qualified and educated at the same schools as other employees.That suggests that companies arent necessarily picking the people based on the best experience or abilities, which could be hurting overall performance. Companies with diverse staff perform better financially, according to consulting firm McKinsey, which cited numerous studies.A new analysis from theUniversity of Toronto and Ryerson University shows that equally qualified applicants with Asian names - a broad category that includes names perceived as originating in India, Pakistan, or China - were 28% less likely to score an interview at Canadian companies than applicants with Anglo names, even when all the job candidates had been educated and employed in Canada.This means that for every 100 calls received by applicants with Anglo names, applicants with Asian names received only 72.2, the researchers wrote.The researchers suggested that discrimination was the only possible reason for the difference in employers choice of candidates, since all the candidates has similar qualifications, including equivalent degrees. All had also lived and worked in Canada all their lives.The data included examples of Anglo-Canadian names like Greg Johnson and Emily Brown Indian names used included Samir Sharma and Tara Singh Pa kistani names included Ali Saeed and Hina Chaudhry, and Chinese names included Lei Li and Xuiying Zhang. The researchers seem to have only examined fully ethnic names and said they did not carefully examine the outcomes for people with Anglicized first names combined with Asian-sounding last names.Fear of heavy accentsIn one startling paragraph, the University of Toronto researchers described why employers didnt even call back the applicants with Asian names open discrimination based on names.Employers indicated that an Asian name suggested the possibility of language problems and heavy accents, the University of Toronto researchers wrote.But the researchers didnt buy that excuse from the employers.The information in the resumes - including the Canadian education and experience - would contradict this concern, and in any case the employer could easily check by means of a quick telephone call. The language-difficulty rationale was also challenged by the fact that rates of discrimin ation were similar regardless of the extent to which the job required communication skills. So employers had no evidence to base their concerns about the language skills of the Asians from which they received resumes, the researchers concluded.Bigger companies discriminate lessThe new analysis also took a closer look at just how often large companies, with mora than 500 employees, called in candidates with ethnic Asian names, compared to small companies.Overall, large Canadian employers discriminated against candidates with Asian names about half as often as smaller employers did.The specific size of the organization had a lot to do with these decisions. The Asian-named applicants with all-Canadian qualifications had 20% fewer calls in the largest organizations, 39% fewer in the medium size organizations, and 37%fewer in the smallest organizations of fewer than 50 employees, the researchers said.A common occurrenceMany studies have shown that employers favor white-sounding names in Western countries including the United States, France, Sweden, Germany, and the UK. A Swedish study in 2007 found that candidates with Swedish names received 50% more call-backs than Middle Eastern names, the University of Toronto andRyerson researchers noted.English-sounding names are also favored over names that sound African-American when it comes to hiring, according to a 2003 study. The researchers did a field experiment where they sent almost 5000 resumes to more than 1300 employment ads in Chicago and Boston newspapers for jobs in sales, administrative help, clerical and customer services. They recorded how many people were contacted for an interview. Half were sent with stereotypically White sounding names like Emily Walsh or Greg Baker, and the other half with stereotypically Black names like Lakisha Washington or Jamal Jones.There was a stark difference in who made it to the next round of the hiring process, with resumes of White-sounding applicants getting 50% more callba cks. The report also claimed that despite the a company claiming to be an Equal Opportunity Employer, they were just as prejudiced as others.The evidence of discrimination hasnt gone without notice by minority job applicants, who are increasingly pushing back.Silicon Valley data mining company Palantir Technologies, whose largest shareholder is billionaire Peter Thiel, is embroiled in an ongoing lawsuit filed by the US Department of Labor. The lawsuit alleges that Palantir discriminated against Asian job-seekers - even those reportedly as qualified as whites - and relying on an unfair referral process.Discrimination in new formsThe authors of the study about Asian names concluded with questions about the modern workplace that many companies will have to confront What types of employers reject applications simply on the basis of an applicants Asian name? And what types are unwilling to pursue applications with Asian names, even with Canadian qualifications or possibly even with som e foreign qualifications? Are the Asian-name averse employers representative of older or more traditional segments of the labour market, where skills may be required but matter less than finding employees who will be part of the gang at work? .These are important questions because they may suggest whether changes toward a more advanced and knowledge-based economy is likely to break down vestiges of racial discrimination, or whether they simply maintain and practice such discrimination in new forms.