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Your career is too important to be tanked by a few negative phrases. Here are the seven things you should strike from your workplace vocabulary if you want to achieve the success you richly deserve:

1. “That’s not in my job description.”

When you accepted your current position, you had a good idea of what the responsibilities and workload of the role would entail. Throughout the months or years since you settled into your job, however, your role has expanded and changed shape. Some of these changes have probably been good, while others have made you wish for simpler times. When a boss or manager piles another responsibility on your already sore shoulders, it might be tempting to pull out this classic gem of work avoidance.

The better option, however, is to schedule a time to talk to your boss about your role. A specific conversation about your place in the organization is a good time to bring up the particulars of your job description, not when you’re asked to get something accomplished. No matter how stressed you are or how valid the complaint, dropping this phrase only makes you look lazy and unmotivated.

2. “It can’t be done.”

Throwing in the towel makes you look like a quitter -- and quitters don’t get promoted. Instead of giving up on a project entirely, frame your response in terms of alternative ways to get the work accomplished. Very little is truly impossible, and most managers and executives want forward-thinking problem solvers to climb the corporate ladder. If you offer solutions instead of giving up, you’ll be seen as a valuable member of the team.

3. “It’s not my fault.”

No one wants to work with a blame shifter. After all, it’s just a matter of time before this person eventually shifts the blame onto you. Take ownership of your mistakes instead of pointing out where others have fallen short. Admitting to a mistake shows character and the ability to learn and grow from problems. Pointing the finger at someone else strongly implies you’ll never truly learn from your errors.

4. “This will just take a minute.”

Unless something will literally take only 60 seconds, don’t overpromise and underdeliver. Saying something will only take “a minute” also has the side effect of undermining your efforts. Most likely the reason the particular task won’t take long is due to the benefit of your professional experience and acumen. By saying it will “just” take a minute, you're shortchanging what you bring to the table.

5. “I don’t need any help.”

The rugged lone wolf type might be the hero of most action movies, but they’re unlikely to become the hero at your company. You might think you can go it alone on a project or in your career, but teamwork is essential. Being able to work with others is the hallmark of a good leader; you’re unlikely to climb your career ladder always flying solo.

6. “It’s not fair.”

Life isn’t fair, and often your career won’t be as well. Instead of complaining, you should look for specific and actionable workarounds to the problems you encounter. Is it unfair a coworker got to run point on the project you wanted? Maybe, but instead of complaining, work harder and go the extra mile. Finding a solution will always be preferable in your professional life to whining about a problem.

7. “This is the way it’s always been done.”

Doing things the way they’ve always been done is no way to run a business. Just ask some of the companies which toed the line, accepted the status quo, and went under. Adapting to an ever-changing marketplace is really the only way to survive in an economy constantly being disrupted by the next big thing.

You don’t have to be a slave to the trends, but you also can’t stick your head in the sand and hope things go back to normal. Instead, come up with creative solutions to new problems and innovate, and you’ll soon be in the driver’s seat taking your organization into the future.

Everyone wants to be successful, so make sure your words aren’t holding you back. These seven phrases are career kryptonite -- by avoiding them, you can fly into your future and become a successful superstar.

the most important principles to build, regain, and sustain trust:

Walk Your Talk. Mean what you say and keep your word. Deliver your committed tasks and duties on time and in full. Be consistent and reliable. Arrive promptly to meetings. If you might risk missing an agreed timeline, proactively communicate and explain it, apologize and come forward with a new proposal. Try not missing it a second time to protect your reputation. Lead by example and permanently demonstrate that you deliver on your promises and that others can count on you. 

Communicate Frequently And Openly. Direct, quick, accurate, and honest communication builds trust. Share regularly with others. This underlines that you have no hidden agenda. Address possible trust issues within a team in an open and prompt manner. In this context also crucial to develop and possess good active listening skills.

Tell The Truth And Take A Stand. Be honest and don´t lie. This is not as easy as it might sound. Of course, we wouldn´t admit it, would we? Anyway, it´s key not leaving out relevant facts, figures, and opinions when discussing and arguing. Even, and especially, when it´s awkward and painful. People will appreciate it. Also be willing to say no. You can´t be everything to everyone. Taking a stand based on sound arguments - well and politely articulated - will earn you respect and trust. 

Be Transparent And Unite. Share your objectives, strategy, agenda, and values. People want to know what you think and believe and to understand how they might fit into the picture. This gives them security and confidence in you and your intentions. Create a common identity and establish a sense of companionship.

Show People That You Care About Them. Be out for others and not primarily for yourself. Appreciate all people you´re dealing with. Show sensitivity to their interests, wishes, and needs. Value them and thank them. Express sincere gratitude rather two times too often than missing it just once. Do it from the heart.

Empower Others. Show people that you trust them. Grant flexibility, stimulate initiative- taking, and ask for regular feedback. Have faith in others skills and capabilities. Be willing to let go and to share power. "The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them" (E. Hemingway).

Focus On The Positives. Don´t punish mistakes. As they can happen think and speak about them in a results-oriented and forward-looking way. Jointly look with others for solutions and implement actions to avoid that they´ll happen again. 

Coach And Train Others. Guide people around you and assist them in finding their way and the right solutions for themselves. Don´t tell them what to do. Instead ask them for their opinions. Support them in becoming great and outstanding. 

Follow High Ethical Standards. Do the right things. Even, and especially, when it might be hard. People will like, respect, and trust your integrity.

Admit Mistakes And Weaknesses. Fortunately, you´re only human. So, when you don’t do the right thing, admit it. Be transparent, authentic and willing to talk about your mistakes and faults in a constructive manner. When you are vulnerable and have nothing to hide you radiate trust. That´s what people love.

Establish Long Term Relationships. Trust is usually not the result of short term actions and profits. It´s stemming from deeper values, ethics, and fundamental principles. Take your time and don´t rush. Be willing to let trust evolve and flourish. The best trust fertilizer is to "give without any strings attached.“ Don´t expect always something in return. 

What do you think? How do you build trust?

1) The traditional television industry is the same as it was five years ago.

1. TRUE – if this is your choice, stop taking this quiz. You have not been awake, alert or possibly breathing for the past five years.
2. FALSE

Okay, I gave away that answer. It’s FALSE. But just how different is it? Well, it’s pretty fair to say that the rise of technology has never been more concentrated in its effects on the viewing habits and patterns of consumers at any time since the dawn of the television age.

The previous innovations have come from technology, to be sure, but the technology has been a friend to content—all meant to enhance the viewer’s experience from the vantage point of the living room set.

Over approximately 50 years or so, we saw the advent of solid state technology, color TV, remote controls, and cable and satellite distribution. Even VHS and then DVD technology was ultimately a boon to content companies, not a threat.

The speed and impact in a fraction of that amount of time, let’s say the past 5 years or so, has been extraordinary: broad uptake of the DVR (time-shifting), C+3 ratings (commercials replace content as the metric for advertising payments, within a certain timeframe), on-demand programming, mobile technology (place-shifting through non-linear streaming technology, second screen engagement and social media), and finally YouTube, Netflix and the rise of original and acquired programming that completely bypasses the television screen and the traditional content creators themselves.

2) Cost base of acquired and original programming is the same or less than five years ago.

1. TRUE
2. FALSE

False. If you broadcast sports, news or entertainment programming, the cost of doing business is only going in one direction: up. From increased rights fees to acquire major sports franchises, to scarcity in the acquisition market for premium series content, to more outlets bidding on more original programming, you will pay more in every sector. If your revenue doesn’t rise commensurately with your cost base, your margin shrinks. And that’s not good in any business. So let's talk about revenue.

3) Television advertising budgets have shrunk in the past five upfront seasons.

1. TRUE
2. FALSE

FALSE. Total television advertising dollars have risen each year since the Great Recession. Why? Advertisers are desperate to reach large audiences, all at one time. Many believe TV is still the best place for that—and it is, for now. The cost to effectively advertise on TV is rising. This is due to a simple law of economics: supply and demand. Even though the size of premiere audiences IS shrinking (the absolute numbers that constitute the size of a “hit” is substantially smaller than it was years ago), companies can charge more in the form of CPM (cost per thousand viewers) precisely because there is less “supply” (audience) and more demand (marketers trying to reach a valuable audience, in bulk).

So that’s one source of revenue for a traditional media company: advertising. And there's more of it. BUT—and here’s the first important “big but” (my apologies to Sir Mix-A-Lot): it’s based on declining viewership amidst increasing fragmentation and diminished audience attention. So the paradigm is such that pricing is growing at a faster rate than program ratings are declining. An unstable and risk-laden growth trajectory, some would say.

Now let’s talk about the other main source of revenue for most television media companies, which brings us to question number 4.

4) The number of cable and satellite TV subscribers has shrunk in the past five years.

1. TRUE
2. FALSE

FALSE. At the end of 2013, a plethora of reports acknowledged that “the specter of cord-cutting has finally caught up to American pay TV providers,” as Todd Spangler of Variety put it. He cited analyst reports that tracked a loss of 80,000 subscribers over the full year 2013. My next big "but” is that yes, okay, that’s important proof that the subscriber universe is shrinking. BUT, with the increase in time spent viewing television content across multiple devices (yes, more on that, later) the “cliff” theory of cord cutting just hasn’t been born out yet. A simplistic view is that while approximately 45M consumers subscribe to Netflix, only two-tenths of one percent of those customers has chosen to cut the cord. It just isn’t close to a one-to-one, give-to-take ratio.

5) Consumers watch less TV than five years ago.

1. TRUE
2. FALSE

FALSE. Now here’s a series of VERY big "buts.” While audience ratings have “collapsed,” according to some data, including a comprehensive Business Insider report by Jim Edwards in late 2013, overall consumption of television content has never been higher. First off, there’s no clear answer even on the basic fact of whether or not television ratings, as measured by Nielsen, the industry standard, are in “collapse,” or merely stasis. As of 4Q’13, Americans watched almost exactly the same amount of Live television as they did in 4Q’11: Analyst Moffett-Nathanson reports 5 hours 4 minutes compared to 5 hours 6 minutes, for the same period two years earlier.

BUT (you know by now I like big BUTs), American consumers ALSO spend more than five hours per day in front of a screen, not including the television screen, according to a comprehensive eMarketer study from 2H 2013. While we know those screens include many types of media on web, smartphone and mobile devices, we know that a good portion of those hours not “watching a TV” is spent “watching TV content,” through on-demand, on-the-go and over-the-top avenues.

The answers to these five questions that define the backbone of profitability of the TV industry would lead us to believe that, despite the upheaval in consumer behavior, the economics are still holding. And the stock market agrees. Cable stocks and media company stocks are, for the most part, trading at one-year, and in some cases all-time, highs.

BUT-- does this square with what you, as a consumer—whether or not you’re “in the business”—experience in your daily lives? In your peers’ and friends' lives? Your children’s?

These questions represent a consumer version of the quiz:

1) I consume TV content the same way as I did five years ago.

1. TRUE – okay, stop. Once again, my hypothesis if you answered TRUE is that you have not been awake, alert or possibly even alive for the past five years. Maybe you just haven't recovered from "Alf" going off the air in '90 and you're waiting for the season premiere.
2. FALSE

2) I love TV commercials and always watch them.

1. TRUE
2. FALSE

While we do find some statistics that support low commercial-skipping behavior during DVR playback, and many people (including kids and young demos) DO watch some commercials with good product recall and intent-to-buy, the extraordinary rise in streaming, non- and reduced commercial formats (on-demand, Netflix, HuluPlus, Amazon, Dish satellite provider’s commercial “hopper” technology) belies that fantasy.

3) I have tremendous brand loyalty and a good feeling about my cable or satellite provider.

1. TRUE (please do not laugh)
2. FALSE

There are many good things about cable and satellite providers. I just can't think of one right now. I'll get back to you.

3) What I pay each month for my television content is the same or less than five years ago.

1. TRUE
2. FALSE

Um, no.

There are lots of other rhetorical questions I could ask, to which you will all have the correct answer. But the more important idea is that that we don’t know how these consumer issues will really affect the business constructs of the television industry, or the broader traditional media industry, over time.

My basic view is that great content becomes more, rather than less valuable, even while commodity content will trade at ever lower value. A reasonable debate to have, however, is what constitutes “great” content, and how strictly will the laws of supply and demand apply? To hundreds of millions of users, “great” content IS YouTube content, whether it’s Zach Galifianakis interviewing President Obama on Between Two Ferns, Jimmy Fallon’s latest viral video, or a 17-year-old girl giving instructions on nail art. To millions more, “great content” is professional sports content viewed on a big screen—LIVE. To even more, it’s marathoning, otherwise known as binge viewing, last season’s hot scripted comedy or drama in order to get ready for tonight’s season premiere.

Compensation for that broad spectrum of content? Either it’s here and will stay (sports, long-form entertainment) or it will come (short form, user-generated). The compensation for the latter will come as non-linear and over-the-top content organizes itself in a way that provides value for the consumer and the advertiser alike. New "broadcasters" will rise in the non-linear space. They will be mega-brands, just like the rise of the best cable brands of 20 to 30 years ago. They will function as mediators between content and audiences, and will make sense of the current programming morass through hubbing like content for affinity audiences. Despite the bashes of "too much content," "low quality," and "fragmented audiences," these new brands will harness the energy of unique, discreet audiences—similar to how cable channels and media companies themselves provided billions of dollars of value against an army of broadcast naysayers.

Cord cutting? Maybe, but not in one fell swoop. “Cord delay,” essentially young folks, students, recent grads, who may not sign up for the most expensive cable package as a young adult, at one point or another, will. It stands to reason. Cable or satellite packages are, in the scheme of rite-of-passage purchases, far less costly than a first car, house, or childrearing. Signing up for cable or satellite will come as a matter of economic maturation, especially if the broadband and cellular parts of the “triple-play” continue to be necessary, beneficial and heavily marketed parts of a consumer media proposition.

Significant ad revenue for content that is available in veritable tonnage, in an industry that values scarcity? To be determined, but my firm belief is that consumers, and therefore marketers, will continue to pay for quality, targeted content for audiences who are deeply engaged. As much content as is out there, its value is determined by the affinity value of the audience, the strength of the emotional connection, and the ability to harness that audience in predictable increments. There is an unending appetite to sell things to people who have an unending appetite to buy things they think they need. There’s never been a time that equation hasn't balanced out through a highly valuable set of transactions with great media as the consumer conduit.

My prognosis for “my” industry? It’s been outrageously, stubbornly healthy over the course of its lifetime to date. The future? Maybe we’ve gotten run down. We haven't been taking care of ourselves the way we should. We're just nursing a slight cough, and tomorrow hopefully we’ll decide to get some innovative inoculations against future viruses. We do need a shot in the arm, that's for sure. We need to test some new models of production and distribution in a host of ways. We need to listen to our consumers and learn from them how, where, and why they value our content.

But the long-term prognosis? The media company life span should only be getting longer, more robust. Healthy as can be. No ifs, ands, or “buts” about it.

So how do you lead and excel in a business world without borders?

• Be mobile: Don’t let your passport determine your destination. No matter your age or rank, raise your hand for overseas postings. In nearly every consumer industry, we can see tremendous long-term opportunities in the growth markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China, as well as those “beyond the BRICS”: Africa, the Middle East, Mexico and Latin America. If you can’t relocate now, look for assignments in charge of a new partnership or a division with global scope, based in your city.

• Be humble: When you start an assignment with a partner company from a different culture, don’t presume you know better or more than your new colleagues. Keep an open mind and “best practice” approach; be a student. When someone has a better idea than yours, show flexibility to change direction. Give credit where it’s due. That earns respect.

• Be curious: Absorb the new culture, ask questions and appreciate differences. Acknowledge what you don’t know. And above all, listen. A desire to learn, understand and connect with people is more of an asset than book smarts.

• Be flexible: Give some thought to where you want to be in 5 or 10 years, but remember that life is “predictably unpredictable.” When I was offered the job to help turn around Nissan, I had recently relocated my family to Paris from the USA. A move to Japan was the last thing I was expecting. I questioned whether I was ready. But I took on the challenge, which became a once-in-a-lifetime growth and learning opportunity. The lesson: Don’t over-plan your career; accept unexpected opportunities; move outside your comfort zone.

• Be multilingual: Study a foreign language (or two). I was born in Brazil, so my mother tongue is Portuguese. Then my family moved to Lebanon and I was educated in French schools. Today my most common language is English. Even if you grew up in a monolingual environment, making the effort to communicate in other languages helps break down personal barriers and can open doors in business and life.

• Be a “smart failure”: Obviously, you don’t want to fail consistently. But any successful executive will tell you they learned more from their failures than from their successes. Failure is an opportunity to grow. Likewise, if you have a terrible boss, consider it an opportunity to learn what not to do when you become a manager!

• Be thoughtful: Take time to think, to understand global trends, to read about people and ideas outside your own industry and area of expertise. True leadership means identifying new possibilities that create value, then executing them relentlessly.

Above all, 21st century business leaders must embrace the spirit of “continuous improvement” - what the Japanese call “kaizen.”

Leadership is personal – employees follow leaders because of how leaders make them feel.

Here are 5 simple yet powerful steps to show your employees you care about them:

1. Find out and remember what they are passionate about: How would they spend a Saturday? At a museum? A concert? Do they golf? Do they have a favorite sports team?
2. Demonstrate you know the little things that matter to them: Do they have a TV show they watch regularly? What might be on their minds as they come to work?
3. Remember their birthdays: Consider putting these dates in your calendar as a reminder
4. Interact with them as people, not just your employees: Say hi. Ask them how their weekend went – and demonstrate active listening
5. Say thank you and share specific appreciative feedback

Back in the day, and by day I’m referring to PI (pre-Internet), the social employee was someone who knew how to network, to dialogue and to get things done without the aid of online systems or tools.

Remember Sally?

She knew everyone and anyone who she met in the elevator. In the cafeteria there wasn’t a day that went by where there wasn’t a throng of peers hovering around her, deep in conversation about company-related dialogue. She truly was a people person.

How about Darryl?

If you needed some form of company intelligence, insight into current practices or simply a name to get something you needed done, Darryl seemed to know everyone at the company. He was the connector, or as I like to say, theinterlocutor. The more Darryls there were at the company, the more successful your company was.

These days, with the advent of collaboration platforms, remote work styles and the quest to define an external digital DNA at sites like LinkedIn (hey, you're here already) BranchOut (you can try it, but come back here afterward) or Quora (yes, it's still kicking) the social employee has taken on a diversified definition. And if he or she hasn’t, well, the word anachronisticcomes to mind.

The default action of “social employees” can no longer simply be to network in a physical way. Sure, this will remain important; however, no matter who you are in the corporate hierarchy, everyone needs to augment the physical with the virtual. The social employees of today and tomorrow must take into consideration their abilities to actually be “social” when physical means may be dwindling.

Let’s look at a couple of examples.

Janice is a vice president of R&D at a company that has grown from 10,000 to 20,000 employees during the past three years. The company’s headquarters, where she works, has seen a population increase of 10 percent whereas the other eight employee sites are up anywhere from 20 percent to 135 percent. Even though she is the VP of R&D and is at company headquarters, it behooves Janice to increase her social employee credibility with those who may be working outside of headquarters. What knowledge, insight, experience or ideas might these virtual employees bring to her portfolio that she might not tap into if she defaulted to her normal face-to-face way in which to network?

Janice cannot rest on the laurels of her jovial personality that people at headquarters might see on a daily basis to further her performance. She must consciously sort out how she is going to augment her social employee intelligence to not only help her own cause, but to demonstrate to the organization that as a VP, leadership styles can in fact change and that her “social employee” status is going to include all forms of digital relationship building.

Fu-Xing is a project leader. He gets rotated from project to project at the pharmaceutical company he works for. Typically, his projects have been made up of employees working at three of the local offices, but the next two projects he is slated for in Q3 and Q4 involve a much larger scope, team and geographical array of employees. In fact, one of the projects consists of two teams and a total of 30 employees whom he has never met face-to-face and who work in other time zones. Fu-Xing has always conducted his project meetings face-to-face and any follow-up has normally consisted of physical jaunts to the desk of team members.

Fu-Xing, as a social employee, now has to incorporate into his project leader role other attributes such as discussion forums, online polls, Web conferencing, micro-blogging, team wikis and even blogging to help facilitate the goals of the team. He no longer can rest on the laurels of his previous project management and collaboration style.

The new social organization has an itch and that itch ought to be scratched as soon as possible. The employees of today and tomorrow (inclusive of leaders) must be aware of both their face-to-face and digital social employee intelligence.

The social employee is rising.

Beware of the tide.

The Four X Factors of High Potentials

1. Drive to excel

2. Catalytic learning capability

3. Enterprising spirit

4. Dynamic sensors

It may sound like a paradox, but to be effective, high-trust leaders must see themselves as both vital and dispensable. The 10th critical element for building a high-trust enterprise is having the humility to recognize the other 9 (discussed in the prior posts):

1) Ensuring personal integrity

2) Showing interpersonal respect

3) Empowering team members

4) Holding people accountable

5) Articulating a vision for winning

6) Developing a trust-building budget

7) Making sure no one is “kept in the dark”

8) Being willing to sacrifice

9) Making conflict constructive

10) Forget 'You'

Success is a bad teacher, because when you succeed, you’re not always sure what you did right. It could have been just dumb luck. But when you fail, you usually know exactly what you did wrong. The paradox of success is that if you’re failing in the right way, you’re probably doing exactly what you should be doing to succeed long-term. The key is to make small, calculated mistakes, and then learn from them. That is how the brain works: our minds stumble through our environment taking guesses, and then learns through repetition, avoiding negative consequences and seeking pleasure. It is that simplicity that makes the brain so effective and powerful.

Some of our greatest leaders have done the same thing, stumbled through the dark until they hit a eureka moment. Rather than list all my favorites, I figured I would start with ten that I love and learn from some of yours...

1. After World War II, many Japanese homes had electricity but no appliances. Masaru Ibukaand Akio Morita sensed an opportunity, and developed a rice cooker intended to become a staple in every home. But the cooker was awful – it either burned rice or undercooked it, and less than 100 units were sold. This didn’t dissuade Ikuba and Morita from their dream of selling household products. After several other false starts, they began selling portable transistor radios. Thanks to this product, the fledging Sony Corporation became a success.

2. Many successful writers rightfully consider their early rejections to be badges of honor. Stephen King’s first book, Carrie, accumulated at least 30 rejection slips before it was accepted by Doubleday. Legend has it that Jack London’s first story was rejected 600 times. Had he quit after the first couple hundred failures, the world would have had to live without The Call of the Wild and White Fang. More recently, J.K. Rowling had her first Harry Potter novel rejected a whopping 12 times and was told “not to quit her day job.” (My first book, Wired for Thought, was rejected 9 times. Even after proving myself as a writer, my newest book,Breakpoint, was rejected 3 times. I probably would be more successful as a writer if I got even more rejections!)

3. Bill Gates and Paul Allen started a business called Traf-O-Data, which took raw data from traffic counters and processed them into reports to sell to cities in Washington for traffic planning purposes. Then the state began giving away the reports to cities for free, making the business model completely obsolete. But the two college dropouts with a track record of failure didn’t give up. Instead, they created Microsoft.

4. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team – a heartbreaking experience for any teenager. Then he became what many consider the greatest basketball player in the history of the game. He is the author of one of my favorite quotes about failure, one proudly displayed on the Failure Wall at my company: “I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

5. As a young man, Walt Disney was fired from his newspaper job for a lack of good ideas. Then he started his first animation company in 1921 but quickly went bankrupt and ate dog food to survive. If you were subsisting on dog food because of the failure of your first animation company, would you start another animation company? Probably not. But that’s exactly what Walt Disney did. In fact, he had to restart several more times after that before finally becoming successful.

6. In 1899, Henry Ford left his long-term, comfortable job to establish the Detroit Automobile Company with $150,000 of investor money. A little over a year later it went bankrupt. Somehow, his investors still had faith in Ford and invested in the Henry Ford Company in 1901. But this company went bankrupt as well. Having lost all your investors’ money twice, would you try a third time? Ford did, establishing the Ford Motor Company in 1903. Five years later the company became a success with the release of the Model T.

7. Despite some local success playing cover songs in UK bars and clubs, The Beatles were turned down by almost every record label. In one infamous rejection, an executive at Decca Records declined to sign them because "guitar groups are on the way out" and "The Beatles have no future in show business.” Ouch. Of course, that rejection is now considered one of the biggest mistakes in music history (and hopefully that executive learned from her epic failure). Keep this in mind next time you’re rejected: it may well be that you haven’t failed at all! Or take the alternative message to heart. It turns out that two years after Decca rejected the Beatles, George Harrison returned to the label to offer a tip: sign the Rolling Stones. This time around, Decca learned from its failure and had a success of its own.

8. As an aspiring actor, Fred Astaire must have been thrilled to book a screen test for MGM Studios. That is, until he received the director’s feedback, which read: "Can't act. Can't sing. Slightly bald. Not handsome. Can dance a little." After becoming immensely successful, Astaire displayed that note in his Beverly Hills mansion to remind himself not to take no for an answer.

9. In the early 1990s, rapper Jay-Z was turned down by every record label in the business, with some stating he was too old, and some concerned that he wasn’t “hard” enough, as he didn’t rap about drugs or crime. Instead of giving up, he formed his own record label to release his first album. Fast forward to 2014 and he and his wife, Beyoncé, are worth an estimated $900 million, the majority of it from Jay-Z’s empire.

10. Most people know that Babe Ruth is one of the greatest baseball players of all time, an accolade that is well-deserved given his record of home runs. What most people don’t know is that when he retired in 1935, he also held the record for the most strike outs in all of Major League Baseball. He trudged back to the dugout twice as often as he ran the bases. His explanation? “I just go up there and I swing. I just keep on swinging and I keep on swinging. Every strike brings me closer to my next home run.”

How do become more anticipatory?

• First, you have to make the future more visible. Ask yourself, “In these times of unprecedented change and uncertainty, what am I certain about?” If you look closely, you’ll see there are two types of change you routinely deal with, and both are fully predictable. The first is cyclical change. There are over three hundred known cycles that allow anyone to anticipate the future. For example, home values, the stock market, imports, and exports will continually ebb and flow. Those all represent cyclical changes that are in many ways easier to deal with, provided you know historically how long the cycle will last.

Sometimes, though, changes are linear. For example, someone gets an iPod and starts listening to music on that device rather than buying CDs. That person now has all her music with her at all times. That’s a linear change because she’s not going back to music on CDs. Other examples of linear change include globalization, the acceleration of computer processing speed, and an increase in the world’s population. Linear changes, even small ones, can have devastating effects on a business. What linear marketplace changes are onyour organization’s radar? Identify them so you can anticipate.

• Next, identify the Hard Trends—the trends that will happen—and ask yourself, “What are the disruptions on the horizon?” How we do our supply chain, purchasing, logistics, and many more functions are being transformed by technologies like the cloud and virtualization. It’s creating disruption/opportunity. You can either sit back and wait until the disruption hits—take a “wait-and-see” approach—or you can get active, what I call being preactive, and take positive action based on future known events.

For example, if you were a cable television company, you would have to look at IPTV—Internet Protocol Television—and ask yourself, “How are young people watching TV today?” You’d see they’re using tablets like iPads or using smartphones like iPhones and Androids to watch television, such as YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix to name a few. Many of them aren’t watching cable TV anymore, even though some cable channels like Time Warner have created apps recently. Most cable companies are not embracing this revolution as a new profit center even though it is already disrupting and will continue to disrupt at an ever-increasing pace.

• Finally, look outside your industry for the solutions you need. You’re probably reading a lot of information every day about the industry you’re in. You’re also likely a member of multiple industry associations, and as a leader, you probably play a leadership role in some of them. However, by being so immersed in your industry, you may be missing what’s going on outside your industry. Therefore, look outside your industry and see where others have been innovating. Find out what changes they’ve made, technologies they’ve developed or adapted, and then modify those to your situation. Learn from their mistakes so you don’t have to make them. That’s how you proactively approach the disruptions you know are coming.

So while we all know the timeless traits of leadership, there’s no competitive advantage in being just like everyone else. That’s why being anticipatory is so important. What do you see that’s about to happen, and how can you use that to your advantage? Instead of getting stopped by things you don’t know, it’s time to anticipate what’s coming so it doesn’t disrupt you.

Our humble and accomplished panelists spoke eloquently about the career choices they made, and their leadership journey in the high tech world. They were a diverse panel, representing marketing, training, HR, and management, and they had various levels of education and background, from technical training to business degree. But they had many things in common: they embraced opportunities at every turn, and succeeded at many levels through many different kinds of work. They consciously made career choices, *and* they serendipitously accepted opportunities as they arose. Collectively, they share these kernels of wisdom to those of us seeking to be more agile with our career.

Know Yourself. Be confident and accepting of who you are.

1)    Know yourself and what’s important to you, and make strategic decisions based on what you know about yourself. Recalibrate as your needs and interests will change, but always measure opportunities based on what’s important to you.

2)    Double down on your strengths.

3)    Have the confidence to reach for stars, even if you don’t feel quite qualified and ready to do something.

4)    You don’t have to have a privileged background and the right education and money to make it to the top. You do have to do a great job and work well with others though, no matter what your background is.

5)    Don’t judge yourself and put restrictions on yourself.

6)    Question the restrictions and limitations others put on you too.

7)    Surround yourself with people who believe in you, and help you believe in yourself.

8)    Have the confidence to speak your mind, share your opinion, even if you think others around the table may be more qualified to opine.

Your career is a journey.

9)    Your career, like life, is a journey: Learn from your mistakes; fail forward; don’t walk in the same river twice.

10) Choose to be self-sufficient and in charge of your own future.

11) Be strategic if and when you’d like to facilitate a career change. Do the research, ask questions, make connections, communicate your interest to others.

12) Wherever you next find yourself, you will find your way if you persevere, work hard, work smart, and are good with people.

13) Be clear about your motivations and intentions, and welcome the universe to provide you with serendipitous opportunities, while telling everyone you know what you want to do and why.

14) If you accept an opportunity which isn’t quite what you’re looking for, you may open up a whole new world of opportunities which might better fit your sweet spot.

15) Career change is often a multi-step process. Many people get frustrated that they can’t make the change they want in one foul swoop. Consider making one change at a time – either role or industry for example, pay your dues in that interim step, and plan for the longer term success of your career.

Support others.

16) The more we support ourselves, the more that we support the others around us.

17) It’s always about the people. Know who helped you get to where you want to go and show your appreciation. Consciously help others also to succeed.

18) Believe in others around you, and offer the kind of unconditional love and acceptance which helps you yourself to succeed and change and grow.

19) Lean in, share your challenges, your power, your experience.

20) Give generously in ways that energize you yourself.

In the end, remember that your career is more a jungle gym than a ladder. You may go lateral and around in circles. It may not be plan-ful, but you can see the equipment as a way to maximize exposure, learning and growth, in order to benefit all that participate.

We’ve all been there – minding our own business, working a big project, all systems are go, and from out of nowhere, there’s a little shove, and you find yourself *gasp* under the bus . . . again! This time, before you pick yourself up, brush yourself off, blow off some steam, shed a tear or two, sit back and observe your surroundings…

Of course we’re not talking about a physical bus or a murder attempt. We’re talking about corporate politics, and how to proactively manage that. Consider doing the following, whether or not you’ve just been pushed under the bus, whether you were the push-er, the push-ee, the instigator or the innocent bystander.

Accept that Politics Exists

1. Accepting that politics is a way of life when you’re working with people is part of the solution. Those who resent politics and those who participate in it may be more likely to be victims of it. How do you feel about politics in the workplace in general? How will a more accepting attitude help you manage the politics around you.
2. Know the landscape. What is the political landscape like for your team, division and company? How are you currently participating in it? How do you currently respond to it when it takes place?
3. What does it look like, feel like, smell like, taste like to be under the bus?

Delineate What You Can and Can’t Change

4. How much of the current situation can be attributed to you, yourself, and what you did now or in the past?
5. How much of what happened are the result of a specific other person or people?
6. How much is related to conflict within or between teams?
7. How much is just endemic with the company you’re in?

Play the Game When You Can

8. Based on the people dynamics and the causation questions above, what can you change and what must you accept? Of the things that you can change, what’s the plan to change things and who needs to be involved?
9. Of the things that you can’t change, what can you do to manage your emotions and actions around it? Is it worth staying where you are with what you’re doing if those things can’t be changed?
10. Looking at the shorter term and longer term impact of the political games around you, who needs to get involved? Who or what needs to be managed? What can you do to be more successful?

We hope that the questions above will help you to accept the inevitability of politics and take a broader view on how to manage the navigate it. What did we miss? What shouldn’t be there? Share your stories and feedback by e-mailing us at info@whenshespeaks.com.