#GreatWomen #inspiration #hope
“You may never fail on the scale that I did, but some failure in life is inevitable.”
So said J.K. Rowling, who was once on the verge of poverty, but who went on to write the Harry Potter series of books.
Peggy Anderson has compiled great messages from great women in a book titled, “Great Quotes from Great Women: From Marie Curie to Michelle Obama – inspiring words from women who have shaped our world.”
“The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude,” the book quotes mega TV star Oprah Winfrey.
“If I had to embrace a definition of success, it would be that success is making the best choices we can … and accepting them,” the book quotes Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook, and author of the bestselling book, “Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead.”
These disparate quotes have one thing in common: success involves choices.
That’s a hard concept for some to grasp. Many think they are governed by circumstances. They see very few real choices to make their lives better.
Rowling and Winfrey were each poor at one time. They made the choice to break away from that to do something great.
Sandberg, too, had to fight hard battles to succeed as a woman in a largely men’s world of technology.
The point they make is that circumstances happen, but they don’t have to define or defeat you.
Many folks have had a rough time of it over the last decade or so. Some may have had good jobs that disappeared. If they were lucky, during that time they found other work which more than likely doesn’t pay as well as the job they lost.
With a job loss often comes a loss of lifestyle and, to some, a loss of identity.
Yet, as one looks around, there is so much good to be thankful for.
Once way to get your head right is to focus on what’s good in your life – family, friends etc. Be thankful for what’s good, and the bad in your life will be much easier to overcome.
Also, there may be much good out there that you don’t yet know about. Be on the lookout for that person either in your life or who will come into your life that may show you a way you can better your circumstances. There are many such ways to better one’s financial circumstance and, at the same time, help one grow as a person.
If you are someone looking for something good to come into your life, and are willing to check out something you may know nothing about, message me.
Rowling, Winfrey and Sandberg all found something good to come into their lives. Some might say they were lucky. Most who find great success acknowledge their good fortune, but also believe they put themselves in position for good fortune to come to them. They looked for it, made themselves ready for when it would come and embraced it when it did.
Certainly, they had some talent. But there are ways out there to succeed without any special talent, education or expertise – just a willingness to learn and desire to make one’s life better.
So if you’re tired of your current situation, take on the attitude that if it is to be, it’s up to me. Then, just go for it.
Peter
Tag Archives: Facebook
DIGITAL EVIDENCE AND HIRING PRACTICES
#PredictiveAnalytics #SocialMedia #jobs
We all know the job-search routine: find a job you might want, send a resume, fill out an application, sit for an interview and, assuming you decide the job is for you, get hired.
But with the advent of social media, employers not only have ways to find out things about you, they can do social media profiles, so-called predictive analytics, on you to determine whether you have the characteristics they want.
Rodd Wagner, best-selling author and confidential adviser to senior business and government leaders, discussed this in a Jan. 21, 2016, column in USA Today. Wagner’s most recent book is titled, “Widgets: The 12 New Rules for Managing Your Employees As If They’re Real People.”
Wagner’s book title is ominous, though most of us have probably had jobs in which the boss may not have looked at us as “people.” We were more like “assets,” or “human resources.”
Few people realize how much digital evidence they leave in their wake, Wagner writes. A person’s profile of the “Big Five” personality traits – openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism – can be discovered through a person’s Facebook posts and likes, and machine coding of what the person has written online, Wagner writes.
We’ve all heard creepy stories of prospective employers demanding to know one’s Facebook password, so he can delve more deeply into one’s personality. We’ve also heard stories of schoolteachers and other public figures being fired for posting a picture of himself or herself enjoying a harmless glass of wine.
Many of us don’t think that what we do online is in the public domain. We may think that only our “friends” see it. Now, Wagner asserts, an online profile of you can be created through patterns of activities on social media and elsewhere in the digital world.
Is this fair? Fairness doesn’t matter. Employers will do whatever is legal and possible to find out everything they can about you, especially if they are hiring you for a big-time or sensitive job.
Wagner writes that this process is messy. Poor decisions will be made because of that evidence. There will be abuses. There will be lawsuits, either because the computer picked someone else for a promotion, or, if predictive analysis proves far superior than human judgment, because a company relied solely on people rather than machines to make its decision.
Messiness also produces backlash, Wagner writes. There will be legislation and court rulings to redefine worker privacy and managerial discretion in the predictive analytics world. The goal is to ensure that science serves employees with a better job fit and opportunities, as much as it serves the business, Wagner writes.
The moral here is to be careful on social media. Watch out for political discussions, controversial posts etc. Read them if you must, but react to them publicly at your peril, if you ever intend to look for a job. “Like” a cute picture, but be wary of “liking” a controversial drawing or cartoon.
Most of all, take care in what you write. You can be yourself, and still be somewhat unassuming. Be careful in complaining about someone, or something. Make sure your posts are as positive as they can be.
Of course, if you’d like not to have to worry about predictive analytics, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. You’ll find a way to save money, make money and avoid confrontation with a prospective employer.
Your online activity can say lots about you, whether it’s correct or not. You may have a hard time correcting incorrect perceptions should you have to confront predictive analytics.
Peter