How the lotto can help your career planning

The end of the year is a great time for some good old fashioned daydreaming. Clear your head and think about what you would do if you won $200 million in the lottery. Be as detailed as possible. Would you buy a fast car, quit your job in a hail of thrown paperwork a and profanities, do a Pretty Woman style shopping spree? Now what would you do the second week? The second year? At some point shopping gets old, so what are you going to do with the rest of your life, since money is no longer an issue. Would you start volunteering at the local woman's shelter? Would you start a foundation that uses a community decision-making process? Would you write a book about the intersections between community good and corporate profit making? Be as detailed here as you were in the shopping spree fantasy.

I'm willing to bet that winning $200 million in the lottery isn't what is standing between you and that dream. The things that you would do a few years into your lottery win are actually  your big, hairy, audacious goals. These are the goals that are so big that we are sometimes afraid to dream them. This year get over that fear and take the next step to getting to that goal. If helping battered women take the next step to independence is really your dream, then set up an informational interview with a director that you admire. If you want to start your own foundation, look for a job as a program officer and help other people give away their money more efficiently. If you want to write a book, then sit down and start writing a book.

A ticket isn't stopping you from reaching your goal, so take that first step.

Free Webinar Tomorrow! (Hurry it's almost sold out!)

Me and Rosetta Thurman are giving an exclusive one hour webinar tomorrow, Friday, December 17 at 3pm CST/4pm EST for all of the lovely folks who’ve purchased our new book, How to Become a Nonprofit Rockstar! Here’s all the details:

How to Build Your Professional Network (from Scratch!)

You’ve heard this many times before: the key to getting your dream nonprofit job or moving up in the sector is to network, network, and network some more. You’ve heard it so many times because it’s true.

But how do you network if you don’t have much of a “network”? Well, back in the day, before Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, nonprofit leaders actually made connections face to face most of the time. These days, technology has made communication much less time-consuming, but the old-fashioned methods of networking still hold true.

This interactive presentation will reveal nine practical ways to build your network from scratch – both on and offline. Rosetta Thurman and Trista Harris, co-authors of How to Become a Nonprofit Rockstar will facilitate.

Title: How to Build Your Professional Network (From Scratch!)

Date: Friday, December 17, 2010

Time: 3:00 PM CST/4:00 PM EST

The webinar is a totally FREE professional development opportunity for those who’ve already bought our book, How to Become a Nonprofit Rockstar! And no worries if you can’t join us in real time – the webinar will be recorded for you to listen to afterwards. But you have to register in order to receive the recording!

If you haven’t bought the book yet, go buy it here and then sign up for the webinar below. Note: You will have to have purchased the book to be able to sign up for the webinar.

If you’ve already gotten your copy of the book, go ahead and  click here to register.

Lying on your resume will get you grounded

I read an article today about an airline pilot/cardiologist that had a very successful speaking and academic career. This pilot was uncovered as a fraud when it was discovered that he had not actually graduated from medical school and was not a cardiologist. From the AP:

He seemed like Superman, able to guide jumbo jets through perilous skies and tiny tubes through blocked arteries. As a cardiologist and United Airlines captain, William Hamman taught doctors and pilots ways to keep hearts and planes from crashing.He shared millions in grants, had university and hospital posts, and bragged of work for prestigious medical groups. An Associated Press story featured him leading a teamwork training session at an American College of Cardiology convention last spring.

But it turns out Hamman isn't a cardiologist or even a doctor. The AP found he had no medical residency, fellowship, doctoral degree or the 15 years of clinical experience he claimed. He attended medical school for a few years but withdrew and didn't graduate.

When I read these type of stories I always wonder how it got to this point. It probably started with trying to impress a woman at a dinner party ("Yes, I am a pilot and a heart surgeon") and then when that went well, he tried it at his next job interview.  

I know when the job market is tight there is an little voice in your heard that may be encouraging you to embellish your qualifications. Fight that urge. Make your resume stand out more by branding yourself, building your network, and legitimately increasing your skills.

Lying is a slippery slope. One day you are fudging your GPA on a resume and the next you are pretending that you are a flying heart surgeon.