Category Archives: Professional Development

On the Passing of My Role Model and Hero, Dr. Joyce Brothers

By Dr. Laura Hills, President, Blue Pencil Institute, www.bluepencilinstitute.com

I’m feeling a little glum today because my role model and hero, Dr. Joyce Brothers, died yesterday. She was 85. I actually had the chance to visit with Dr. Brothers in her home in Fort Lee, New Jersey in February of 2012. I’m so glad I got to do that and to tell her what she meant to me.

Many people have asked me why Dr. Joyce Brothers (the television psychologist, author, and columnist) was so important in my life. You have to understand that Dr. Brothers was rare if not unique among the women I encountered on television and in movies (or even in my real life) as a young girl growing up in the 1960s. She was a popular television personality at that time, known primarily for her intelligence and her knowledge. But she was also poised, charming, and attractive. And it wasn’t lost on me that she was introduced and referred to as “Dr. Joyce Brothers” always, and that she was accorded great respect by everyone. I wanted to grow up to be just like her — smart, knowledgeable, poised, respected, attractive, charming, and “doctor”.

Today, we see so many different kinds of women on television and in movies. But I grew up in the pre-Oprah generation. The women I encountered back then were for the most part depicted as pretty and evil or daring (Catwoman, Agent 99, Mrs. Peale, Bond women), pretty and stupid (take your pick — there were loads of them, with Gracie Allen leading the way), pretty and a housewife (Donna Read, Jane Wyatt, Barbara Billingsley, Mary Tyler Moore) or smart and unattractive (like Nancy Culp as Jane Hathaway on the Beverly Hillbillies). In my real life, I knew housewives, nurses, teachers, and sales clerks. I didn’t know a single woman who was referred to as “doctor”.

Dr. Brothers didn’t fit into any category I knew. She was real and she was super smart, accomplished, and pretty. Her example was powerful. I decided as a girl that someday that I would be “doctor” too, just like her, and known for my intelligence, knowledge, charm, and attractiveness.

I watched an interview with Warren Buffet last week, who said that if we told him our heroes, he could tell us who we would turn out to be. I thought immediately that I chose well in Dr. Joyce Brothers. For this little girl with big dreams growing up in suburbia, Dr. Joyce Brothers showed me what I could be, what I could do with my life, that yes, that I could be “doctor” too. I am grateful for the influence she has had in my life.

How Professional Are You at Work? A Self-Quiz

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By Dr. Laura Hills, President, Blue Pencil Institute (www.bluepencilinstitute.com)

The following characteristics relate to professionalism in the workplace. Answer these questions to see if you exhibit a high degree of professionalism. Answer yes if you demonstrate these characteristics or behaviors at least 90% of the time.

1. Do you have all the skills required to be successful at your job? If not, are you in the process of learning them?

2. Do you communicate well with others?

3. Do your managers deem your behavior to be professional? Does your manager approve of your attire, the hours you keep, the way you conduct yourself in general? Does he or she seem comfortable coming to you with special projects or to discuss problems or ideas?

4. Do you have a high level of integrity? Do you tell the truth at work? Do you see tasks through to completion and avoid cutting corners?

5. Do you practice the Golden Rule? A true professional treats others with respect and expects the same from them. Do you return borrowed items right away and in good order when you’re done using them?

6. Do you live up to your commitments? In any job, you agree to do certain tasks. Some tasks you must do routinely, without being asked and your employer may ask you to take on other responsibilities. A real test of your professionalism comes in your ability to meet all these commitments while upholding the standards of quality and timeliness set by your employer. Individuals with a high degree of professionalism make promises to themselves and to others about what they will and won’t do. They keep those promises.

7. Do you report to work at the agreed-upon time (or early), ready to work, and with a cooperative and positive attitude? Do you willingly pitch in during times of staffing or other crises?

8. Do you avoid conducting personal business while at work?

9. Do you take full responsibility for the results of your efforts and actions?

10. Do you continually seek self-improvement and self-awareness by looking for opportunities to enhance your professional growth?

11. Do you keep confidential information confidential?

12. Do you take pride and satisfaction in the work you do?

13. Do you participate in one or more professional organizations?

Annette Funicello Was One of Kind

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By Dr. Laura Hills, President, Blue Pencil Institute, www.bluepencilinstitute.com

I was saddened to learn of the passing of Annette Funicello on Monday. I first encountered her in the 1960s when I’d watch reruns of “The Mickey Mouse Club”. I looked up to her then because she I was an awkward, gangly girl and she was older and so much more mature and poised. I wanted to be just like her. A few years later, one of my guilty pleasures was watching Annette Funicello in those terrible beach movies with Frankie Avalon. Later, I admired Ms. Funicello as she faced her life with Multiple Sclerosis with so much dignity. But what stands out to me upon her passing is that Annette Funicello was truly one of a kind. I can’t think of anyone else like her. She had a personal brand. And certainly, in a time when stage names were the norm, you’ve got to admire a girl who went into show business with the name Funicello. She was as memorable and unique as her name.

Blue Pencil Power Question™: What is unique about you?

We live in a world of cookie cutter celebrities, fashion knock-offs, and subdivision homes. But as much as we want to fit in by having the latest gadget or by wearing the color of the season, we also have a need to express our individuality. Self-branding occurs when we create a purposeful emotional response when others hear our name, see us online, or meet us in person. And the most successful people have a unique self-brand. They are not carbon copies of others, but rather, uniquely themselves.

Most everyone wants to fit in. That’s OK. But be careful not to lose the very thing that is different — and therefore special — about you. Use your uniqueness. Cherish and embrace it. Think about what you can do to make yourself memorable. People will have an opinion of you no matter what you do. But a unique personal brand directs how others perceive you. Don’t strive to be a generic or poor man’s version of someone else. Find what is unique about you and celebrate it.

Why Was Mike Rice His Own Worst Enemy?

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By Dr. Laura Hills, President, Blue Pencil Institute, www.bluepencilinstitute.com

My beloved Rutgers University is limping along these days, doing its best to clean up the mess caused by the outrageous behavior of recently-fired basketball coach Mike Rice. I am troubled. And I say this both as an alumnus of this fine university, and as the parent of a child who is a student there right now. I question how Mr. Rice’s behavior was permitted at an institution of higher learning. And I am saddened as I contemplate yet another person in a position of authority who has misused that power. From what I can tell, Mr. Rice had a fantastic coaching opportunity that many would envy. But he blew it, and he did so completely through his own fault. Mr. Rice’s poor self-control has cost him his job and has undoubtedly hurt the students he worked with and the people in his life who care about him. I can’t help but think: Why was Mike Rice his own worst enemy?

Blue Pencil Power Question™: What do you do to sabotage yourself and your goals?

We all aspire to accomplishing great things in our lives. But long-term goals require long-term commitment and sacrifice. We must delay gratification, stay in control, and often do the hard thing because doing so will ultimately get us where we want to be. Certainly, we can act in the moment to satisfy our anger, ambition, greed, vanity, ego, or lust. But giving in to our urges can and often does sabotage us so that we will never achieve our bigger goals.

It is a great relief to lash out when we’re upset. But we are more than our urges. We live for today but we must also live for tomorrow, because there will always be one. As we think about our behaviors and our goals, each of us needs to focus on what we need to do right now and every day – and what we must not do — so that we can live our values and our dreams and be a person others can respect.

Changing the World 140 Characters at a Time

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By Dr. Laura Hills, President, Blue Pencil Institute, www.bluepencilinstitute.com

Today marks two years for me on Twitter – my Twitter-versary, if you will. As I contemplate the relationships I’ve formed, the good ideas I’ve gleaned, and the huge amount of personal and professional development material I’ve written for my Twitter followers, I find myself sincerely grateful to the Twitterverse.

I have 5,000 followers. That’s astounding. And these are real, living, breathing people from all over the world. I see my messages favorited and retweeted all the time. People interact with me daily. And since I began my Twitter career, I’ve received loads of positive feedback from followers who tell me that I am making a difference. For instance, take a look at what just a few have had to say:

“Your message is always powerful and convincing. Thank you so much!! I wish I could have audio Twitter to listen to your voice. Your wealth of information and ideas are inspiring too! Our company needs someone like you to empower women.” – Mana, Japan

“Love your tweets. Thanks for the inspiration. They always seem to come at the right time for me, too.” – Michelle, Ohio

“Powerful tips, I must tell you. You’re nurturing the seed of leadership in me. When you write, I’m fed.” – Samuel, Nigeria

“You have helped me a great deal without even knowing it. I am a new supervisor and your words are like little daily gems.” – Flo, New York City

“You have no idea how much your tweets have helped me.” — Roger, Mexico

This is just the tip of the iceberg. In all, more than 100 of my followers have reached out to me in this way – unsolicited – just to tell me how much they appreciate what I’m doing. I’ve treasured each of these comments, so much so that I’ve created a Pinterest board to showcase them: http://pinterest.com/drlaurahills/high-praise-for-my-tweets/

When I began tweeting two years ago, I had selfish reasons. I wanted to promote Blue Pencil Institute. But Twitter has turned into something much more than that for me. Little did I know then that I would find a virtual, global classroom in which I could teach and make a difference in the world every day.

Being Excellent in the Age of Mediocrity

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By Dr. Laura Hills, President, Blue Pencil Institute, www.bluepencilinstitute.com

Excellence – it’s what we admire in others and what we strive for every day. But what does it mean to be excellent? Are we excellent because we achieve excellent results? Does how we achieve those results matter? Do excellent efforts and intentions make us excellent, regardless of the outcome? Must we strive for excellence in everything we do? Can we justify being excellent in some areas of our work and our lives and not in others?

If you’ve already achieved a high level of excellence, you may be further concerned about whether and how you can sustain your excellence day after day, year after year, or even, decade after decade. You may wonder how you can prevent that all too common “whatever” or “good enough” attitude that creeps into place when we fall prey to inertia, boredom, arrogance, and complacency. How do we remain excellent when it seems that no one notices or cares what we do, when we are surrounded by others who don’t share our value of excellence, when we are operating in a time that others have dubbed the “age of mediocrity”?

Excellence is a hungry mouth. It clamors for constant feeding. And it can vanish in an instant. That means that we must be vigilant about our excellence. It’s not enough to have been excellent at one time. We can’t rest on those laurels. We’re only as excellent as we are right now, in this moment, in these circumstances. Consider Colin Powell, who says, “If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception; it’s a prevailing attitude.” That sounds a lot to me like Aristotle, who is attributed as having said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.”

What I’ve learned working with career professionals for more than 30 years is that the best way to become and remain excellent is to develop excellence as a habit. Excellence, therefore, must become not only what we think or what we want to be, but who we are. That means three things: that excellence in small things does indeed matter, that we must surround ourselves with individuals who can support our excellence, and most of all, that we must repeat excellence again and again and again — until excellence becomes engrained in us.

Is Your Attire Hurting Your Career?

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By Dr. Laura Hills, President, Blue Pencil Institute (www.bluepencilinstitute.com)

Here are five signs that what you wear to work may be hurting your career:

Your boss has told you explicitly that you need to wear more professional attire.
Someone in your office feels compelled to remind you to “dress nicely” for important meetings and special events.
A coworker with equal or lesser skills but a nicer wardrobe was promoted over you.
On those odd days when you do take a little extra time with your professional attire, your coworkers want to know if you’re going on a job interview or if something else is happening to you.
You keep asking to be considered for a more visible role in your organization but you are not offered those opportunities.

Does any of this sound familiar? If so, your attire may be having a negative effect on your career. Whether you like it or not, you may have to make some wardrobe changes in order to achieve your career goals.

Tip: Notice what the most successful people in your organization wear to work and emulate them. Dress for the job or level of position you want, not the one you have now.

What to Do If You’re Bad with Names

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By Dr. Laura Hills, President, Blue Pencil Institute, www.bluepencilinstitute.com

Do you have trouble remembering people’s names? If so, I hope you don’t tell people that you’re “terrible with names”. No one likes to hear that. And some people will be offended by such a remark, assuming that you’re self-absorbed and don’t care much about others.

I also hope that you don’t tell yourself that remembering people’s names is beyond your control, that it’s your lot in life to be bad at it, or that it’s just the way you are. Unless you’re physically, psychologically, or emotionally unable to remember names, that’s a bunch of hooey.

The best thing you can do if you think you’re bad at remembering names is to get rid of that notion and get better at it. Here’s how:

1. Focus. Pay close attention when you’re introduced to someone new or when you greet him or her for the first time. If you don’t hear the person’s name clearly, say so right away and ask to have it repeated. Repeat it yourself if the pronunciation is difficult and ask the person to let you know if you’re saying it properly, even if it takes several go-rounds.

TIp: Get the name right, no matter what. You can’t remember what you don’t know.

2. Be more observant. Concentrate during the introduction and don’t allow your mind to wander. Observe the person carefully. Get a distinct impression of him or her. Try to discover outstanding physical or other distinguishing characteristics of the person, especially of his or her face. For example, note whether the person is tall, short, overweight, thin, the length and color of his or her hair, the shape of his or her face, complexion, etc.

3. Repeat the person’s name silently to yourself several times. Also say the person’s name out loud at least once when you meet him or her. For example, “It is so nice to meet you, Mr. Gonzalez.

4. Associate. If possible, associate the person’s name with a rhyme, song, or some other mnemonic device. For example, my last name is Hills. It would be easy for you to remember that if you associate my name with Beverly Hills.

5. Write the person’s name within 24 hours of meeting him or her. The end of each day is a great time to do this. Look at the written name and recall the person’s face and distinguishing characteristics.

Tip: When meeting someone at a seminar or other program where name tags are worn, make a conscious effort to say the person’s name and read his or her name tag at the same time. That way, you’ll both visualize and verbalize the name.

Lifelong Learning — In the Bathroom?

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I’ve never been what you would call low maintenance. It takes me about a half-hour or so at the bathroom vanity every morning to turn the head that I wake up with into the head that the world sees every day. To my credit, I think that’s darned impressive when you consider the gazillion steps and products that I go through to transform myself into the person most of the world has come to know.

Recently, a friend gave me some CDs to listen to with interesting interviews on them with great people like Seth Godin, Brian Tracy, and John Maxwell. I was excited to have them but wondered at first when I would have time to listen to them. I don’t drive long distances on a typical day (a good thing, I think), so listening to them in my car wasn’t a good option. Of course, I thought about just sitting down and listening to them, but I couldn’t figure out when I would do that.

The next day, I mulled this over while washing, toning, and moisturizing my face and it hit me; what if I listened to them while I was getting ready in the morning? I’ve listened to music in the bathroom and in fact have both an iHome and a CD player in there for just that purpose. But it never occurred to me that I could listen to an educational or inspiring audio program in there before.

I popped the first CD into my old player and within five minutes I was hooked. I’ve been listening to these programs for a week now and have to admit that I actually look forward to going into the bathroom and listening to them every morning. I’ve already learned so many good ideas and gained tremendous inspiration from these programs. But what I love most of all is that I’ve turned my necessary morning routine into something that’s good not only for my outsides, but for my insides, too. What a great start to my day!

Now, I’m craving more good audio programs that I can listen to each day – ones that will help me stretch and grow as a person and in my career. Readers – do you have any good ones to suggest to me? I welcome your recommendations. – Dr. Laura Hills, Blue Pencil Institute, www.bluepencilinstitute.com

Debunking Time Management Myths: 12 Popular Misconceptions

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By Dr. Laura Hills, President, Blue Pencil Institute, www.bluepencilinstitute.com

Below are 12 popular misconceptions about time management. Do you believe any of them to be true?

There’s plenty of time. I can do that later.
There’s too much to do. It can’t be done.
He/she has more time than I have.
I’m busy right now so I can let that slide.
I’m the only one who can do it.
I can get more done in more time when I wisely use caffeine, sugar, alcohol, or nicotine.
I should have no limits
It’ll be quicker if I just do it myself.
The longer I work, the more I will get done.
Multi-tasking will save time.
Breaks? That’s a waste of time. I don’t need them.
I have no control over the way I spend my time.

Hanging onto misconceptions about our time such as these will ultimately create stress and interfere with our productivity. Talk with your colleagues, partner, or coach to see how these misconceptions are untrue and to figure out better, healthier, and more effective ways to think about managing your time.