SHOCEO® Reading for Success: Eight (8) Minutes (including video).

 

One can learn and gain business lessons from most everything, right?  This includes TV shows that are meant for light entertainment only, right?  Well, let’s “agree to agree” on that premise for a few minutes.

Let’s draw some business learnings from Kylie Jenner.  Yes, for a change of pace, I’m going to base this blog topic on one of the Kardashians.  Though her life and day-to-day life circumstances are vastly different from most of us (are there paparazzi lingering outside the door?), the learnings here have to do with becoming an effective businessperson and gaining professional respect.  For ladies just starting out in the business world, there are definitely some learnings here.

Just some background for this blog: I came across a recap of an episode of “Life of Kylie” while perusing The Daily Mail.  The episode is called, “Boss,” and I pulled up the full episode on the E! app.  It is only 21 minutes long (sans commercials)!  Specifically, I’m talking about Episode 103, which aired on August 13, 2017.

This episode’s premise is that Kylie, CEO of Kylie Cosmetics (whose sales are on track to hit $1B in 2017), is not getting the respect she deserves from her employees.  She ran into some issues with her talented makeup artist.  He was not performing in his support role her during a photo shoot, and appeared to be more interested in socializing and building his own brand when he should have been working.  In addition, he had a habit of bringing his boyfriend to socialize on-set, which caused distraction from the work environment.

We’re not all Kylie Jenner.  Her fame and notoriety come with stressors and issues that most people will never experience.

Regardless of fame or status, this is a topic that many women face.  It especially affects women in their 20s who are making first steps in their career.  A recent college graduate may be used to getting along with sorority sisters or taking on extra work for the group project in order to keep harmony among friends.

Fast forward past graduation.

If you’ve passed the job interview and landed your first position, you most likely care about your reputation, your professional performance, and your long-term promotability.

Results are important.  Results can be about producing a great product, managing a team, or meeting technical metrics such as inventory turnover or reducing waste in the manufacturing process.  Results can also determine whether you get promoted and how quickly you get promoted in your organization.

If you are results-oriented, listen up.  Though there is time to course-correct and make changes throughout your career, setting the right professional tone, boundaries, and expectations early on will help you avoid a certain type of stress later down the road.

What are some techniques that we as ladies can *immediately* put into play to gain respect in our business environments?

 

Three Easy Ways to Gain More Respect (Especially in Your First Job)!

 

1. Be prepared. Arrive to meetings early.  Do your homework prior to the meeting.  Bring your facts, pre-research notes, and have a writing implement and paper on the desk in front of you.  Do not show up to meetings empty-handed — either by being mentally unprepared or physically unprepared with no notes.

As you move through your career, you’ll find that you are attending five or more meetings per day!  Ideally, plan to spend 10-30 minutes preparing for each meeting.  Think about what you want to accomplish in the meeting, the questions you want to ask, and the information about the problem/situation that you can bring to the table.

Early in your career, you may be called to meetings in order to learn and/or to take assignments for follow-up.  Later on, you may be the one leading and assigning tasks.

Gain this preparedness skill early on, and the larger your career grows, the more you’ll be respected as someone who gets the job done!

 

2. Look and act the part for the position you’re in now. That means dressing professionally, speaking in complete sentences, and finishing tasks that are assigned to you to the best of your ability.  For Kylie, this means sitting up straight in the makeup chair, and letting her team know what she expects of them.  Yes, her work environment includes “glam sessions,” red carpets, and photo shoots, but they are all situations which are required for her business to be successful.

 

3. Look and act the part for the position you want ten years from now. You may not be thrilled with your early-career jobs, but treat them as learning experiences and resume-builders.  The more professionally you act, the more you will separate yourself from your peers.

Separating yourself from your peers is a decision you will want to consider and make early on.  Balancing friendship and business can be difficult in your first jobs because your less-than-ambitious friends will coax you back toward their energy and performance level.

After demonstrating responsibility and trustworthiness, you soon may be asked to lead your peer-group meetings.  This is a huge step in proving yourself worthy of higher pay-grade positions.

 

Do you LEAD, PROVIDE, and CREATE like a CEO?  Subscribe and share your thoughts below!

xo Kathryn