How can the majority of us build successful careers in this environment? Smart professionals know that the key to long-term success is founded more in maintaining sharp skills than in demonstrating loyalty to the firm. People and their employers do have a shared interest in their long-term growth. But the key is skills growth, not loyalty.

Career Bests

Research into what makes for a satisfying work life indicates that the most personally satisfying times in a person's career are usually also highly productive in meeting their employer's goals. These ‘Career Bests' also provide significant development opportunities. Rising to the challenge benefits employees by building increased capability and satisfaction. And increased individual capability in turn increases the firm's ability to perform.

Career Bests happen when individuals are doing something that they enjoy, that uses and develops their talents and that falls within the domain of strategic business needs. When these three overlap great things happen. The fact that Career Bests happen when individual and corporate interests overlap has important implications for personal development;

• Only the individual knows where their interests lie. A career plan developed by someone else won't help.
• The best career plans do not centre on the next job or on suggested training courses. While new job opportunities can provide growth experiences and while training courses can augment on-the-job learning, most development happens as a result of engaging in interesting, challenging work.
• Organisations must be clear about what they need from their staff. If leaders share information about the organisations direction and can translate that direction into individual expectations, then they give their staff the framework in which to establish how they can best support the firm in achieving its goals.
• Self-directed career development requires more self-awareness and insight than corporate-driven career management. Individuals must take more of the initiative and accept responsibility for understanding and articulating their own needs, priorities and their ability to contribute. For some people this may well be a painful process, whilst others find it immensely liberating.

To increase your opportunities to experience Career Bests it is vital that you understand what drives you at work. One model that explains the range of career drivers has been developed by C. Brooklyn Derr. He identified five major definitions of career success;

1. Advancement. This is the traditional definition of career success for many Europeans. These people are looking to become directors, vice-presidents, senior partners, general managers and CEO's. What drives them is upward movement. Success means more money, more power and steady promotions.
2. Security. These people, an under-appreciated and often unacknowledged but significant segment of the workforce in most organisations have a psychological contract with the firm. In exchange for hard work and loyalty, they expect to get life-long employment, respect, steady advancement and eventually a high-level role where their talents and used and appreciated.
3. Freedom. These people value personal autonomy and ‘space' at all costs. They don't mind being held to deadlines, budgets and standards but they do want to solve the problem in their own way.
4. Challenge. These individuals
   What Should You Expect From Your Employer?
   What should you expect from your employer if you want to be a first-class player and a winner?Foremost, you should expect to be provided with an environment of opportunity in which hard work and achievement are rewarded. This means you will be encouraged to grow as fast as you can, broadening your capabilities and building your experience every step of the way. You will be allowed to assume all the responsibilities you can handle.This environment of opportunity should allow you to take common sense risks with the assurance that you will be rewarded if you are right and not punished if you turn out to be wrong.You should expect your employer to provide you with
   k life indicates that the most personally satisfying times in a person's career are usually also highly productive in meeting their employer's goals. These ‘Career Bests' also provide significant development opportunities. Rising to the challenge benefits employees by building increased capability and satisfaction. And increased individual capability in turn increases the firm's ability to perform.

   Career Bests happen when individuals are doing something that they enjoy, that uses and develops their talents and that falls within the domain of strategic business needs. When these three overlap great things happen. The fact that Career Bests happen when individual and corporate interests overlap has important implications for personal development;

   • Only the individual knows where their interests lie. A career plan developed by someone else won't help.
   • The best career plans do not centre on the next job or on suggested training courses. While new job opportunities can provide growth experiences and while training courses can augment on-the-job learning, most development happens as a result of engaging in interesting, challenging work.
   • Organisations must be clear about what they need from their staff. If leaders share information about the organisations direction and can translate that direction into individual expectations, then they give their staff the framework in which to establish how they can best support the firm in achieving its goals.
   • Self-directed career development requires more self-awareness and insight than corporate-driven career management. Individuals must take more of the initiative and accept responsibility for understanding and articulating their own needs, priorities and their ability to contribute. For some people this may well be a painful process, whilst others find it immensely liberating.
   What are my values and priorities when it comes to work?

   To increase your opportunities to experience Career Bests it is vital that you understand what drives you at work. One model that explains the range of career drivers has been developed by C. Brooklyn Derr. He identified five major definitions of career success;

   1. Advancement. This is the traditional definition of career success for many Europeans. These people are looking to become directors, vice-presidents, senior partners, general managers and CEO's. What drives them is upward movement. Success means more money, more power and steady promotions.
   2. Security. These people, an under-appreciated and often unacknowledged but significant segment of the workforce in most organisations have a psychological contract with the firm. In exchange for hard work and loyalty, they expect to get life-long employment, respect, steady advancement and eventually a high-level role where their talents and used and appreciated.
   3. Freedom. These people value personal autonomy and ‘space' at all costs. They don't mind being held to deadlines, budgets and standards but they do want to solve the problem in their own way.
   4. Challenge. These individuals
      Your Best Tool - Your Business Card
      Instant communication? Palm Pilots, laptops, cell phones, instant messaging devices - of all the communications tools out there, the single best one is still the business card. With it, you instantly communicate your name, your business, your contact information and, with a little design capability, your personal style.A well designed business card marks you as a professional, so make sure you choose a design that reflects the products you represent. Selling high tech computer equipment or software? A sleek, modern, minimalist design is perfect. Selling Victorian clothing or home d?cor accessories? A more elegant design with a floral or lacy theme may be more suitable. And while basic whit
      ie. A career plan developed by someone else won't help.
   5. The best career plans do not centre on the next job or on suggested training courses. While new job opportunities can provide growth experiences and while training courses can augment on-the-job learning, most development happens as a result of engaging in interesting, challenging work.
   6. Organisations must be clear about what they need from their staff. If leaders share information about the organisations direction and can translate that direction into individual expectations, then they give their staff the framework in which to establish how they can best support the firm in achieving its goals.
   7. Self-directed career development requires more self-awareness and insight than corporate-driven career management. Individuals must take more of the initiative and accept responsibility for understanding and articulating their own needs, priorities and their ability to contribute. For some people this may well be a painful process, whilst others find it immensely liberating.
   What are my values and priorities when it comes to work?

   To increase your opportunities to experience Career Bests it is vital that you understand what drives you at work. One model that explains the range of career drivers has been developed by C. Brooklyn Derr. He identified five major definitions of career success;

   1. Advancement. This is the traditional definition of career success for many Europeans. These people are looking to become directors, vice-presidents, senior partners, general managers and CEO's. What drives them is upward movement. Success means more money, more power and steady promotions.
   2. Security. These people, an under-appreciated and often unacknowledged but significant segment of the workforce in most organisations have a psychological contract with the firm. In exchange for hard work and loyalty, they expect to get life-long employment, respect, steady advancement and eventually a high-level role where their talents and used and appreciated.
   3. Freedom. These people value personal autonomy and ‘space' at all costs. They don't mind being held to deadlines, budgets and standards but they do want to solve the problem in their own way.
   4. Challenge. These individuals
      Future Prospects for Kodak
      Nowadays film photo cameras swiftly replace by digital ones. Despite of all advantages of digital over film cameras, professional photographers claim that photos from film cameras are better. But professionals of photography present the minority on the market of photo cameras and most customers on this market are unsophisticated amateurs, which most often do not see the difference between film and digital cameras photos. Moreover, amateurs consider digital photos better and of course they appreciate all other advantages of digital cameras such as: LCD, memory cards, additional functions, digital zoom, sound and video record etc.Customers’ preferences drive the supply and thus camera manufa
      of the initiative and accept responsibility for understanding and articulating their own needs, priorities and their ability to contribute. For some people this may well be a painful process, whilst others find it immensely liberating.
   What are my values and priorities when it comes to work?

   To increase your opportunities to experience Career Bests it is vital that you understand what drives you at work. One model that explains the range of career drivers has been developed by C. Brooklyn Derr. He identified five major definitions of career success;

   1. Advancement. This is the traditional definition of career success for many Europeans. These people are looking to become directors, vice-presidents, senior partners, general managers and CEO's. What drives them is upward movement. Success means more money, more power and steady promotions.
   2. Security. These people, an under-appreciated and often unacknowledged but significant segment of the workforce in most organisations have a psychological contract with the firm. In exchange for hard work and loyalty, they expect to get life-long employment, respect, steady advancement and eventually a high-level role where their talents and used and appreciated.
   3. Freedom. These people value personal autonomy and ‘space' at all costs. They don't mind being held to deadlines, budgets and standards but they do want to solve the problem in their own way.
   4. Challenge. These individuals
      Automating Your Customer Support
      My regular readers will know that one of the things I highly recommend doing with any online business is automating as many of your day to day tasks as possible.From a personal point of view, one of the tasks that takes up a lot of my time is answering emails. It isn't just answering email that eats up the hours - sorting through and deleting spam and junk mail absorbs a lot of time too. In the good old days, I used to get a couple of spam emails a day. Now it is closer to 1000 a day!In fact, when you look at it, email isn't always the best form of online communication. Not only is there the junk mail issue to contend with but also the fact that email is not 100% reliable. Email
      CEO's. What drives them is upward movement. Success means more money, more power and steady promotions.
   5. Security. These people, an under-appreciated and often unacknowledged but significant segment of the workforce in most organisations have a psychological contract with the firm. In exchange for hard work and loyalty, they expect to get life-long employment, respect, steady advancement and eventually a high-level role where their talents and used and appreciated.
   6. Freedom. These people value personal autonomy and ‘space' at all costs. They don't mind being held to deadlines, budgets and standards but they do want to solve the problem in their own way.
   7. Challenge. These individuals thrive on excitement, challenge and the technical nature and content of their work. They'll work for anybody who offers exciting opportunities.
   8. Balance. These people give equal time and attention to careers, relationships and self-development. They will work around the clock in emergencies but they don't live their lives emergency style. They will usually pull back from getting overly absorbed in their work but are competent enough to do well. They become unhappy if their work isn't meaningful enough to balance their personal lives.
   Effective career development allows people to live by their personal values whilst at the same time making an effective contribution at work. Since different people define their goals differently it stands to reason that if they cannot match them to the organisations needs, then frustration and low performance will result.

   This is yet another argument in favour of self-directed career development. No one will be more aware of their own career drivers and values than the individual concerned. When they use that insight to make decisions about their future, they take personal responsibility and are likely to be far more committed to achieving the outcome, than they would be if the decision was imposed on them.

   So far we've focused on personal drivers and values. In Part Two we'll consider the other key requirement to effective career development - your organisation's needs.