After all, the image you communicate is what shapes your reputation. And there had better be plenty of substance to back up that image.
There should be no question about your
ETHICAL STANDARDS
.
If you have integrity, nothing else matters.
If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.
You may have noticed that recently business publications have been reporting on some serious problems with integrity and ethics, on people and companies not practicing truthful communication.
Unfortunately, the business community—of which I am a part—does not get stellar grades for ethics the past few years.
And a large part of the current economic crisis can be attributed to greed and ethical lapses.
The arrow has clearly been pointed in the wrong direction.
Most of you are headed for business careers. Ethics and integrity must be the cornerstone of your existence. They are not electives.
Let me tell you a true story about Professor Bonk, introductory chemistry professor at Duke University. He’s taught chemistry so long his course is known affectionately as “Bonkistry.”
One year, three guys were taking chemistry and doing well. They were each getting a solid “A” going into the final exam.
They were so confident, that the weekend before finals they decided to go up to the University of Virginia to party with some friends. Due to bad hangovers, they overslept all day Sunday and didn’t make it back to Duke until early Monday morning.
They explained to Professor Bonk that they had driven up to the University of Virginia for the weekend and had planned to come back in time to study.
However, they had a flat tire on the way back and didn’t have a spare, so they didn’t get back to campus until late Sunday night. Professor Bonk thought this over and then agreed that they could make up the final on the following day.
The three guys were elated and relieved.
They studied that night and went in the next day.
Professor Bonk placed them in separate rooms, handed each of them a test booklet, looked at his watch, and told them to begin.
They opened up the test booklet and saw the first question about oxygen was worth five points.
“Cool,” each of them thought. “This is going to be a slam dunk.”
Then they turned the page and saw the second question worth ninety-five points: Which tire?
Honesty is the best policy, and sometimes it has a high premium.
If you want to get it right on ethics in business, I have one simple tip: Always act like your mother is watching. Because your mother wants you to succeed.
All the points so far lead to what I’m hoping for all of you: continued and well-deserved
SUCCESS
.
As to success:
LISTEN
to that voice in your head that says you really can do it!
Believe in yourself—even when no one else does. Surround yourself with top-quality people and truly listen to their input.
Life is not a parabolic curve.
It doesn’t go straight up.
There are a lot of lumps and bumps.
A lot of throttling up, and throttling down.
Don’t wait until it’s too late to change. Start to take the true measure of your success now. What do you possess that you can offer to other people, to your community, to the world?
To simply ask the question, “How can I make a difference?” is to answer it, because the answer is to never let yourself stop asking the question.
Some people succeed because they are destined to, but most people succeed because they are determined to.
The final key to success may sound funny to you—and that is, eat the heart of the watermelon.
When I was a kid, my father knew a guy named Bernie who had started out his career with a vegetable stand, worked hard all his life, and eventually became wealthy as a fruit and vegetable wholesaler.
Every summer, when the first good watermelons came in, Dad would take me down to Bernie’s warehouse and we’d have a feast. Bernie would choose a couple of watermelons just in from the fields, crack them open, and hand each of us a big piece.
Then, with Bernie taking the lead, we’d eat only the heart of the watermelon—the reddest, juiciest, most perfect part—and throw the rest away.
It’s like cutting the crust off your sandwich. All that’s left is the best part.
My father never made a lot of money. We were raised to clean our plates and not waste food. Bernie was my father’s idea of a rich man.
And I always thought it was because he’d been such a success in business.
It was years before I realized my father admired Bernie’s “richness” because he knew how to stop work in the middle of a summer day, sit down with his friends, and spend time eating the heart of the watermelon.
Being rich isn’t about money.
Being rich is a state of mind.
Some of us, no matter how much money we have, will never be free enough to take the time to stop and eat the heart of the watermelon. And some of us will be rich without ever being more than a paycheck ahead of the game.
Sometimes it seems like if we want to triple our success ratio, we have to triple our failure rate.
From my standpoint, that’s what it’s all about:
• Never stop learning.
• Believe in yourself, even when no one else does.
• Eat the heart of the watermelon.
• Find a way to make a difference, and
• Odds are good you’ll change the times you live in and the world around you.
Because today may be “in the can,” but your future is a work in progress.
You’ve been a marvelous audience. It’s been an honor to be here.
Thank you very, very much . . . And good luck!
Appendix: An Open Book
I encourage readers to get in touch with me. Here’s how you can:
If you want to write to me or call my office (please, no requests for personal advice), the address and phone number are:
Harvey Mackay
MackayMitchell Envelope Company
2100 Elm Street S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55414
1-800-905-8939
The Harvey Mackay online store on the Internet can be visited at:
I’m committed to continuous learning for everyone, including myself, and want to share what I learn on a timely basis.
My nationally syndicated column for United Feature Syndicate appears weekly in fifty-two newspapers. At my Web site, you can read my current weekly column. That’s also the place to sign up for my weekly e-mail alert and never miss a column. You can also get each new column delivered right to your desktop by subscribing via RSS.
Periodic blogs are posted on the Web site.
My official Facebook page is:
Or just Google: Harvey Mackay Facebook and click on the site.
You will find recent Job Search stories discussed on my Facebook Discussion Board.
Index
ABC
ABC News
ActiFi
“Actors Moonlighting on Horror Flicks” (Kleinschrodt)
Adams, John Quincy
Aesop
Affleck, Casey
aging and employability
Ali, Muhammad
alumni affiliations
Amelia
American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
American Management Association
American Psychological Association
American Red Cross
America’s Next Top Model
“Angel of Iran,”
anger
Ant and the Grasshopper, The
(Aesop)
AOL/Time Warner
aplastic anemia
apparel.
See
clothing
appearance and impressions
asking questions at interviews
aspirational networking
attitude
aging and
anger
contrarian
discouragement
and entrepreneurship
at firing
overconfidence
personal makeovers
pitchmanship
pursuing MBA during downturn
recruiter, advice from
rejection, rebounding from
self-confidence, and interviewing
Augsburg College
Bachelor, The
“back-to-basics”-style employers, pitching to
Bailey, Greg
Bailyn, Charles
Barron-Tieger, Barbara
Beckwith, Christine Clifford
Beckwith, Harry
Bells Are Ringing
Benson
Berra, Yogi
Berry, Halle
Beverly Hills
, 90210
Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt
(Mackay)
Big Ten schools
BlackBerry
Blanchett, Cate
blogs
Bolles, Richard N.
Boston Celtics
Boylan, Jim
Boys Don’t Cry
Brin, Sergey
Buck, David
Buffett, Warren
Burbank, Luther
Burns, Karen
Burton, Richard
BusinessWeek
California Angels
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Cambridge University
Campa, Al
Campbell, David P.
candidates, passive vs. active
can-do approach
Canfield, Jack
Can I Wear My Nose Ring to the Interview?
(Reeves)
Carlson, Bob
Carlson School of Management
career choices, following your heart in making
career obsolescence
career planning resources, Department of Labor
career positioning, long-term
Caruso, David
CBS
cell phone
Cerberus
certification
Chambers, John
Chandler Hill Partners
change
Charlie’s Café Exceptionale
Chemical Bank
Chicago Bears
Chicago Bulls
Chicago Tribune
Chicken Soup for the Soul
(Canfield and Hansen)
Chng-Castor, Alexis
Cisco
Citadel
Citigroup
C-level job search
executive agility
Internet networking
language proficiency
skillset of executive
specialization and
technological literacy
women executives
C-suite
Clinton, Bill
Clinton, Hillary
Clooney, George
clothing
for interviews
at work
CNBC
CNET News
CNN Money report
Coastal Occupational Medical Group
cold call
Colgate
College of St. Benedict
College of St. Thomas
Commercial Credit
community service
competitors, getting to know
Conference Board Review
Contact Management System (CMS)
contacts
contrarian attitude
Coomber, Steve
corporate culture
correspondence cards
cosmetic surgery
Craigslist
Crash Course in Finding the Work You Love
(Greengard)
creativity
CSI: Miami
daily planner
danger signals of impending job loss
Davanni’s
Decisive Seven concessions to age
Del Negro, Lynn
Del Negro, Vinny
Deloitte
De Meyer, Arnoud
Department of Labor, career planning resources of
D. E. Shaw & Company
designing ideal job
determination
Deutschlander, Ed
Dillard, Annie
Dinner: Impossible
Disabled American Veterans
discouragement
documentation, supporting raise requests
documenting, terms of offer
Dodgers, Los Angeles
dolphin feeding style
Donkers, Rob
Doostang
Do What You Are
(Tieger and Barron-Tieger)
“Downturn Is Right Time to Take an MBA” (Coomber)
Drucker, Peter
Drudge Report
Dubin, Burt
Dun & Bradstreet
Dungy, CleoMae
Dungy, Tony
Dungy, Wilbur
Earhart, Amelia
Earle, Sylvia
Eastwood, Clint
Edmondson, David
education
free online courses
pursuing MBA during downturn
Edwards, Paul
Edwards, Sarah
Einstein, Kurt
e-mail
to contacts
employer styles, and pitchmanship
enlightened firing
entrepreneurship
attitude
corporate culture
expense control
location
marketing concept
Erickson, Lou
etiquette
for business lunches
cell phone use and
executive job searches
experience, learning from
extra hours at work
eye contact
Facebook
failure, analyzing