Rhondalynn Korolak, Author of "On The Shoulders of Giants"

When I first arrived in this country several years ago, I struggled to find anyone who would hire me in a senior management capacity.  I found this puzzling since I have two degrees, two professional designations and very solid work experience with recognized international brands.  The MAIN reason I was given by organizations was that I “lacked Australian work experience”.  I found this reason to be puzzling. 

We live in a world where there are few global trading boundaries.  Every business is susceptible to the threat of losing customers to internet-based businesses (which in many cases sell the same products for less) and we need to think outside of the square to compete and maintain market share.
 
My track record in business speaks for itself – plus I was named Online Retailer of the Year for Canada in 2001 by the Retail Sales Council of Canada.  And yet, I initially struggled to get General Managment positions because I didn’t have enough “Australian experience”.  Doesn’t everyone else in these organizations already have enough Australian experience?  Why did need it in order to contribute and add value?  Shouldn’t my international and internet retailing experience have made a welcome, diverse addition to any senior managment team or Board?

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Rhondalynn Korolak, Author of "On The Shoulders of Giants"

 “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails. ”  William Arthur Ward

I was reminded of this brilliant principle last week when I spoke to one of my business coaching clients.  There can be no doubt that we are living in interesting times…. the global financial crisis has impacted overall spending and consumer sentiment – and this has hurt many small businesses around the country.  It’s no good hoping that circumstances will change – in order to survive we all need to dig deep and find creative ways to work smarter not harder.

Jim Collins, in his book, “Good to Great,” talks about this very interesting paradox that he calls “The Stockdale Principle”.  According to Collins, “you have to be realistic about your current situation and yet, stay optimistic about the future”.  

General Stockdale was the highest ranking American prisoner of war in Hanoi, Vietnam. Over the years he began to notice an interesting phenomenon – optimism could in fact be a liability.  His fellow prisoners (who were the eternal optimists) constantly set themselves up for disappointment.  They set huge milestones – “we will be rescued by Christmas” – but those milestones came and went year after year and with it… their will to live.

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Rhondalynn Korolak

The definition of “flirt”, according to the dictionary is:

• to court triflingly or act amorously without serious intentions or
• to trifle or toy, as with an idea.

While many may jump to a pre-mature conclusion (no double entendre intended ), flirting is not synonymous with short skirts, sex, massages and unwarranted promotions etc.  I would never advocate using overt sexuality to get business or a promotion.  It simply isn’t appropriate, professional or effective.  What I am speaking about is very simple – it is about two objectives (1) being memorable and (2) developing rapport with another person for the purposes of enhancing your work relationship.

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Rhondalynn Korolak

For those of you who were at the South Melbourne Business Association breakfast this weekend, as promised, here is a copy of the powerpoint presentation slides with more content and specifics…

http://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AYBH8mMoO9b6ZGY5czUydDNfMWhkMnZoNGZu&hl=en

Please feel free to contact me with any questions that you might have – I am happy to elaborate on these topics and provide whatever further guidance I can…

We live in a world with a million possible distractions, pressures, emergencies and interruptions, how can we stay possibly stay focused (on our goals) and sane?

There are always going to be several things constantly competing for my your time – marketing campaigns to design, team members to manage, customers to respond to, business opportunities to explore, issues to follow up, personal commitments etc.  However, whenever you try to work on too many things at the same time, inevitably none of them ever gets done.

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