Have you ever taken a step back to look where you are in your career? Do you have yourself positioned to move forward if you so choose to? Sometimes advancing is easier than you think.

Just the other day, I reconnected with an old friend. Currently working at a Help Desk she expressed an interest in both Project Management and Business Analysis, IT related.

Here is what I told her I saw based on previous experience:

The ITIL (glorified glossary but some staffers love seeing the cert) seems to be gaining more and more weight within the IT industry. When it was first introduced, it was a joke. Nothing more than a test of one’s understanding of terms… no focus on fundamental platforms, understanding of code, or overall logic. But, it now actually contains some good placement. You probably already see the ridiculous amount of certifications that are available. Most are in place to appease employers, but I’ve found experience outweighs any certification I’ve ever obtained, and I stopped counting after 20. It just got out of control past that.

While consulting, I found that both areas (project management and business analysis) of interest that you have can blend together very well. A project manager for IT based rollouts doesn’t need to be much of a techie, just the ability to have a basic understanding of what is going on and how to efficiently and effectively communicate with the buyer, the vendor(s) and his or her internal workforce. Some of my best paying jobs were when I would oversee and new rollout or system integration. If you’re easy to get along with and can communicate well with others, it’s a piece of cake.

Unfortunately, true “business analysts” are in a tough position right now. Due to the current upswing in the marketplace, companies are not looking at cutting costs (surprisingly) as they are looking at preparing for the next 10 to 15 years of growth and revenue generation. Expect to see a lot more small businesses pop up and loyalty based cultures get put in place amongst them. The ‘big box’ corporate strongarms are going to get gobbled up by larger/merging markets and will flounder as (cough) “standards” – for the masses.

What you are doing now… is it scalable? Is it helping you? Or is it hindering your opportunity for advancement in the workforce?

Take One Step Back, and Two Steps Forward is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big

“Your largest wealth-building asset is your income. When you tie up your income, you lose.” ~ Dave Ramsey

Does it take money to make money?

Income represents money you can invest to make more money. If you tie up all your future income, you will always be living in the past. As Dave Ramsey tells his listeners every week, you cannot jump at an opportunity without the necessary cash on hand.

Planning ahead for financial “curveballs”

Entrepreneurs need to plan ahead for business expenses – and planning ahead includes collecting the funds you need to start your business. Some people do this with credit cards (not a fan at all, but I’ll touch on that later), which can be useful IF you keep your debt to a manageable level. Risks arise as you go overboard buying things you don’t need.

Your Business Plan Lays Down the Groundwork

Your business plan can help you keep track of the financing amount you need and provide you with a blueprint for the necessary purchases you need to make before launching your startup. If you are starting a business that requires an inventory, your start-up capital needs to be greater thatn if you are starting a service based business where you will make money from your labor.

Stay Liquid

Successful entrepreneurs also know the value of keeping cash at hand to take advantage of unexpected opportunities. And they know the importance of saving time for the future, by not paying for the past.

Do you have any business startup stories to share about financial tips and tricks?

Business Startup Wealth Building is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big

This is part 2 of 2 blog post reviewing my initial experience with the collaborative workspace, Gangplank.

Pack your lunch and stay a while.

Based on my first visit to Gangplank, I decided to commit to spend more time there. So I returned the next Wednesday. This time I got there much earlier than during my first visit and found out I was in time for “Brownbag“. Not having a full understanding of what was going on, I was intrigued as to what it was. This day was a open panel discussion held between the “anchors.” After listening to the discussion and researching what a “brownbag” actually is, I found that it’s where Gangplank invites leaders in the local community to share the success they’ve enjoyed, and challenges they’ve faced in their careers. In this particular case, Gangplank refers to anchors as

“companies that base their operations out of Gangplank, with permanent desk space for multiple employees. Each anchor is involved in Gangplank planning meetings, as well as contributes to the community through donations, services, etc.”

Trust is built through engagement.

During and after the panel discussion, I spent a few minutes getting familiar with each of the members and their organizations. Quite a nice blend of marketing, strategy, designers, developers, and small business mentors. I got a good sense as to why these guys were up there talking – about what they love, their drive and passion clearly showed.

After the discussion, I had the opportunity to speak with Tim from Brand Adoption. We had a great conversation about social media growth, the important of trust within communities, and product value. Heck, I even recall some laughs about how we thought we know what we wanted to do before college. (Gosh…if I only knew then what I know now!)

Game on!

After Tim and I finished up our conversation, I returned to my little work area and anxiously awaited for Hacknight Street Hockey game starting at 7pm. After some help from Chuck Reynolds of Rynoweb and Andrew Ryno with some PHP related issues, I changed changed into some workout clothes and headed across the street to the parking garage to play some street hockey.

It was a great time and was an excellent reminder to me on how I need to adjust to the dry air. Moving from southwest Florida (where the average humidity is 98 bajillion percent) to the Phoenix area (where, well… let’s just say it’s very dry) – I needed to stay hydrated. I think some of the guys thought I was going to pass out and die mid-game. Great group of guys. Had the opportunity to meet Chris Conrey, who is responsible for organizing the game. So… thank you, Chris. After about an hour or so of having my butt handed to me, we wrapped the game up and headed back Gangplank HQ.

Got ink?

After the friendly game of street hockey, there was a tattoo session scheduled at 9pm. Mike Benner stepped up to the plate and had the guys from Tabu Tattoo and inked up his back with Gangplank’s tagline, “Be Dangerous.” The session was great and I’m looking forward to seeing the finished/healed work.

While all this was going on, I was asked if I minded that my “personal geek space” was to be invaded. This was when I had the pleasure meeting April Holle of Made Better Studio. After a candid introduction, we sat back and watched the tattoo session and discussed what brought us to Gangplank. By then, it was getting late and time for me to get home. I had a 45 minute drive, so I wrapped things up and took off.

General Consensus:

Gangplank is great collaborative workspace and offers one roof for technologists – from designers to developers, market strategy consultants, students and tutors, entrepreneurs and mentors, and musicians. It’s directly described as:

“a group of connected individuals and small businesses creating an economy of innovation and creativity in the Valley. We envision a new economic engine comprised of collaboration and community, where industries come together to transform our culture.”

The place has a great vibe and company of people who know that when great minds with great ideas get together at once place, great things happen. I’m looking forward to moving in the right direction with the “pirates” at Gangplank.

If you want to read Part 1 of 2 of this blog post, click here.

Walking the Plank (Part 2 of 2) is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big

The other night a friend and I were catching up. We usually go back and forth about our favorite sport teams (here is where I lose a few readers… Go Tigers!, Go Wings!, Go Blue!), exchange a few of the latest laughable videos that are floating around on the web, and then wrap up with some profession related topics, questions, comments, and/or gibberish. These usually start fairly late at night and then go onto late/early hours into the morning. I get blamed for sidetracking my friend, who apparently only works late at night.

Catching up and sharing.

So as we are going through our motions, Dave (friend) realizes that I have recently moved from the southwest Florida region to the metro Phoenix, Arizona area. The topic of work, school, and significant other get mentioned, we chat a bit about all three and then he proceeds to give me a few names of some contacts in which he knows that are of IT, SEO, and WordPress relation. One of the contacts and links he sent me pointed me in the direction of a collaborative community called “Gang Plank.” I took a quick peak and bookmarked the webpage to come back to after our chat. Upon further review, I happened to notice that the areas of focus seem to pertain to many of my passions: collaborative exchange, conceptual innovation, music, and many other areas in which harness the creative mindset. So I slated some time for their Hacknight which is every Wednesday night from 6pm to 9pm.

Let’s go check out Gang Plank!

I walked in and noticed many different things going on. Off to the right were a slew of Macs…most vacant, as for most of the attention was directed towards the Street Fighter II game in the back of the room.

There must have been 25-30 people checking out what was going on. “Hadouken!” filled my ears and took me back to a old friend’s basement, where as kids we would play the game for hours and hours.

Okay, at this point I have no idea what to do but can sense that I’m at the right place. I find myself drawn towards the bookcase at the front of the room. I notice a lot of great areas sectioned off within the bookcases, some even I know nothing about. I’m going to admit that I am ignorant when it comes to programming languages. PHP? Philadelphia Highway Patrol? C plus sharp flat, what? HTML? Hot Topic’s Mother Load, eh? – Okay, before I make myself look like even a bigger idiot when it comes to this stuff, let me move along and get back on topic.

Fly on the wall.

I sat down and ‘introverted’ myself in the corner, giving myself time to soak in everything that was going on. There were a few guys sitting on a couch talking about what they do for a living. One mentioned he was an accountant and the other expressed he was an urban developer. Then an independent architect walks in, and sits down with the two gentlemen sitting on the couch and they began skimming the surface of what interests them, proceeding to exchange business cards. It was nice to see such a unique climate of professional networking.

Game on!

Earlier in the day, I received a tweet regarding a street hockey game. I brought some workout clothes but unfortunately, I did not play. Next time… it’s on! Tighten up the laces and get ready to unleash the Hockeytown that runs in my blood!

Kick in the ‘keister’.

Earlier in the day, Dave expresses the importance to “kick Chuck in the keister” for him. This is not something I do when I first meet somebody but have been known to do during my second encounter…maybe.

It was getting close to 8:30pm and my laptop battery was ready to die. Chuck had just returned from stepping out for a few – so I packed up my laptop bag and walked over to introduce myself. I extended my hand and introduced myself. We caught up about what we do and he then proceeded to answer my question, “So, what is it that we do here… at Gangplank?”

Based on what I’ve written so far and by what you may have already researched, what do you thing Gangplank is?

Please keep your eye open for part 2 of 2…a continuation of this post, “Walking the Plank.”

Walking the Plank (Part 1 of 2) is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big

Co-author of the best seller Freakonomics, Steve Levitt, took the stage at the World Business Forum to share stories about tax fraud, passing gas, and prostitution. This was definitely not a typical economics discussion, but a great storytelling experience. He expressed how some of the best ideas in business today are also the simplest ones.

“The best ideas are the simplest ones, and after you hear them they’re totally obvious, yet they evade us for years and years and years. You don’t have to be Albert Einstein or Stephen Hawking to have great ideas. You just have to think and keep your eyes open.” ~ Steve Levitt

He said the problem most businesses have is that they don’t make time to step back and think about things like academics within the organizations.

“As an academic, I do nothing,” Steve said. “I am in the classroom 60 hours a year. Other than that I can do whatever I want and can think about ideas. In most workplaces, people have jobs to do and that gets in the way of thinking and creating innovative ideas.” One company that bucks that trend is Google, which encourages employees to spend 20 percent of their time on new ideas. This has led to Google Maps and other tools for the company.

Also, academics dedicate their time working on one question incredibly well. In business, people have hundreds of questions to answer by the end of the week. With that much volume, it’s hard to answer each question well. In some cases, just an answer is sufficient.

Levitt said he is jealous of businesses because they have their own data to work with. “Businesses create their own data,” he said. “As an academic I have to sit back and wait for it.” While businesses have a lot of data, many companies tend to make big decisions without feedback or metrics in place to learn about what they’ve done. He recommends that for every decision, companies should answer the question, “in a month, will I know if that was a good decision or bad decision?” Otherwise the data is just data, not insight.

The most striking difference between academics and business in Levitt’s view is that academics come from a perspective of “I don’t know,” he said. “Meanwhile, the phrase “I don’t know” is the least common phrase in business. It seems that everyone’s job is to pretend they know the answer.

He challenged the audience at Radio City Music Hall to repeat the phrase to themselves at least once a day, and to also encourage employees to do it. Once they say it, it allows them to step back and experiment with new ideas. “If you can never admit you don’t know the answers to questions, you can never get better.”

Something I found interesting and brave (to say the least), was that he left the audience with brief personal story. A story about his meeting with a call girl (for business purposes), and how he advised her to raise her fee with no adverse impact on business. She just needed to take a step back and think about it.

Take a moment to step back and look how you can simplify your innovative passions. How would you do it and how would you help others simplify their goals?

Simplicity to Stimulate Innovation is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big

Co-founder of Altimeter Group, Charlene Li, spoke on the first day at the World Business Forum. She passionately expressed the value of social technologies.

“Social technologies are all about the relationships you can form.”

Here are a few items of interest and advice from Charlene Li:

1. What social technologies does better than anything else is create, foster, and build relationships. They enable authentic and transparent relationships.

2. You can’t control personal relationships, so don’t think you can control business relationships. In fact, you have to give up control in the social space, but you have to still be in command. To do this you have to inspire and lead your customers.

3. You simply cannot put a Return On Investment on a tweet. Make sure you’re asking the right questions when thinking about what to measure regarding the value of social technologies.

The one thing that stood out about Charlene was the connection she made with the audience. Her sincerity and passion poured out effortlessly. She focused on the importance of emotional intelligence within communities, both personally and professionally.

How do you use social technologies to enhance you relationships?

Three Items About Social Technologies is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big

Six weeks ago, I received an invitation to be a featured blogger at the 2010 World Business Forum, which is being held October 5th and 6th at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Come to find out, this is an invitation-only opportunity offered to a select group of top business bloggers, and establishes a membership amongst the WBF10 Bloggers Hub.

As I read over the invite, I was uncertain if it was actually true. I expressed gratitude for kindly extending the invitation to attend the forum and asked why I was chosen to attend, as for I felt that I had yet to contribute anything of significance to the leadership community. Micheal Singer replied with: “I found your blog on someone else’s blogroll, and I took a brief look and liked what I saw. We’re looking for interesting viewpoints. And while many of our bloggers have institutional ties and recognition, etc., we also want some new voices. This is a great opportunity to stretch your voice and reach some new people if you want the opportunity. It’s that simple.”

Past speakers in the World Business Forum include political figures such as Bill Clinton, Kofi Annan, Rudy Giuliani, Tony Blair and Colin Powell, CEOs such as Jack Welch, Richard Branson, Herb Kelleher and John Chambers, financial experts Alan Greenspan and Jeremy Siegel as well as management experts Tom Peters, Peter Drucker and Jim Collins among others. This year’s World Business Forum boasts a dynamic agenda and a dizzying array of speakers, including former U.S. Vice-President/Nobel Prize Recipient Al Gore; Avatar director James Cameron; Blue Ocean Strategy co-author Renée Mauborgne and more than a dozen other exciting thought leaders spanning the spectrum of world business.

After inquiring with the management company responsible for putting together the forum, I found that as a member of the WBF10 Bloggers Hub, I will be spending two days with a bird’s eye view of these thought leaders as they explore the latest trends and challenges in global business today. The Hub will also offer me an unparalleled opportunity to share their insights with my audience via blog, twitter, etc… something very important to me, as for it’s readers just like you that keep me at this.

To see a list of the bloggers who participated last year and to read a sample of their posts, visit the World Business Forum’s Blogger Hub; you can find complete details about WBF10, including all the conference speakers and topics here.

Thank you again to each and every one of you for your support. I am humbly honored to be invited to such an event and look forward to blogging my little fingers off for you!

World Business Forum 2010 is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big

“There are times when even the best manager is like the little boy with the big dog waiting to see where the dog wants to go so he can take him there.” - Lee Iacocca.

The man who fathered the Ford Mustang and resurrected Chrysler from financial oblivion wasn’t born knowing how to pull off those magic acts, he learned them. While at Ford, he initiated careful research about how American demographics and the financial wherewithal of consumers would change during the 1960s. He listened to smart people tell him what the country needed, and delivered a classic automobile.

Repeat proven results and continue to build on them.

Years later at Chrysler, Iacocca landed at a corporation in turmoil. Careful analysis showed that the company was in such dire straits that extreme measures would have to be taken to save it. Iacocca ended up needing loans from the government to keep Chrysler afloat. But once he got the money, he revived the company.

When we really listen to others, we learn more about ourselves and our abilities to help others achieve their goals.

In each case, the “big dogs” for Iacocca were the demands of the business: the need for new thinking at Ford and absolute need for a survival plan at Chrysler. These dogs forced Iacocca to listen to them follow them, and ultimately steer him in directions that would benefit both companies.

We gather facts by listening, both with our ears and out eyes. Once the facts are in place, we can then make decisions that help everybody around us.

Managers who wag the dog make decisions without letting the facts tell them what’s right. Managers who take the opposite approach usually get the treats.

How important is it to you for other to listen while you are discussing an important topic? If you sense that you don’t have the listener’s full attention, how do you handle it?

Big Dogs That Listen, Get Treats is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big