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Recently, something quite interesting has been happening in the American economy. The government has decided to get involved in running various businesses. These businesses include insurance companies, banks, and automotive companies. This is something I’m almost 100% confident is going to be a disaster. In fact, it’s already turning into somewhat of a disaster, as far as I’m concerned.
History has shown time and time again, that when a government tries to operate a business, this ultimately fails. It never worked in Russia, for example, and China and India have only started expanding and growing in relation to their ability to run a “hands off” approach to businesses in their countries. The more freedom people in a country have to operate their businesses, the more innovation is likely to occur, and the more businesses are likely to start.
What’s needed to start the American economy are people willing to take risks and start and operate businesses. In order to take risks and start businesses, people need to have the prospect of large rewards. There is no reason to start various businesses unless there’s a prospect of substantial reward.
First, I don’t think the government has any business being involved in business to begin with. The idea that the government is loaning money to failing auto companies, insurance companies, and others is sheer lunacy. I grew up in Detroit. The American auto companies have been losing market share and failing since the 1970s. I love America and drive an American car, but the point is that it doesn’t make sense to put money into a failing industry. America has some of the greatest companies on earth, and many of the largest companies on earth–companies that are expanding. Putting money into something that works seems a heck of a lot more intelligent to me than putting money into something that’s contracting and broken. Putting good money after bad is something that stifles innovation and won’t lead to the sorts of changes needed in the American automobile industry. If the auto companies were allowed to fail (and they should now), then someone would be able to come along and purchase their assets very cheaply. They could start a new auto company with a lower cost or labor structure perhaps. They could innovate in other ways to keep the costs down and profits up. More money would likely end up going into the American economy over the long run. Instead, we are putting money into something which has been slowly failing for over 30 years.
Second, the government has no role legislating our paychecks. Limiting people’s ability to make a certain amount of money is something that will serve to undermine industries in an incredible way. Businesses operate with a set of incentives and rewards. People go to work in various businesses due to the salaries they receive and the potential rewards they can receive in terms of bonuses. In addition, businesses also take various risks and make various investments in the hopes of getting large windfall rewards. For example, if a company invests $1,000,000 in something that’s unproven, it hopes to get a reward that may be twice that. This is just how it works and it has always worked this way. In order to attract the sorts of executives that will take the risks and see the opportunities out there that will turn $1,000,000 into $2,000,000, a company will need to incentivize them with various potential bonuses and rewards. The best executives will almost always go where they believe they can make the biggest impact out there and create the most opportunities for themselves.
One of the strangest things the government is doing now is providing a tax on bonuses of 90% on people earning more than $250,000 a year who receive government bailout funds. This is just going to force the best people to not go to work for these companies. It’s as if the government is investing money in companies that won’t be able to have the best people working for them. Due to this, these companies are likely to do poorly.
Several years ago, I was taking a sales class from a man who had recently started a school to teach other people how to be salespeople. In the class, day after day, the man told one story or another about what an incredible salesman he was and gave multiple examples to the class about how much of this and that he had sold. The man was pretty well known and incredibly good at sales. After a career in sales in which he had made millions of dollars selling everything from real estate to jewelry, the man decided to start a sales school. He had a lot to teach, and his material was very, very good.
One of the strangest things about the school; however, was that the man who was in charge of the school never once tried to sell the product he was selling (sales training) to the public. He never answered the phones in the school, and never had anything to do with selling the product. The only people who were allowed to sell the product in the school were the salespeople in charge of selling the sales school.
The sales class I was in was pretty small. There were no more than 10 students in the class. The class cost a couple of thousand dollars, and after several sessions, started to feel this salesman was selling himself short. I remembered when I had called the school the people who answered the phone had been very poor at selling me on the sales school. It was only due to my knowledge of this particular man that I had taken the classes. It occurred to me that if the salesman’s salespeople had been more effective, he could have sold numerous people on the school when they called. It didn’t make sense to me that I was taking a class with someone who was such a great salesperson, who was not out there selling his own product.
One day after class, I decided to stay late and speak with the salesman about his operation.
“If you were in charge of selling your own product, you would likely have 100+ people in this class. You are a much better salesperson than the people you are employing to sell this for you. Why aren’t you selling the product yourself?” I asked.
The man looked at me and smiled. He seemed very happy that I was asking this particular question. He looked up at me and his answer was very simple.
“Because if I sold my own sales school the people who worked for me would very quickly feel undermined and quit. Also, my company would never grow if I sold my own product. No matter how well I sold the product, I would always be extremely limited if I sold this myself.”
This was something I forgot about until just recently. The lesson is that an organization can only function and grow when there is freedom of movement among the people in it. In effect, when there are groups within the organization that are allowed to function independently of oversight, the business grows. When you see small local businesses, you will generally find an entrepreneur or other business operator who is intimately involved with all aspects of the operation and doing most functions. He may be assisting with accounting, filling in with various sales functions, and more. In such a situation, the business can never really grow and reach its full potential. A business will only reach its full potential when it’s allowed to operate independently of one individual or one power.
The mistakes the government is making with the economy and American business at the moment are quite relevant to your career, as well. You need to be working in organizations and with groups where there is a freedom of movement and where both you and the company can expand. The more constraints there are in your movement, and the more a company is managed by one individual, or one organization, the more problems there are likely to be, and the more likely you are to eventually be out of a job. It makes no sense to participate in organizations where the organization and your growth is constrained by outside forces. Organizations need multiple independent groups to survive.
THE LESSON
In business, innovation comes from the freedom to operate. Stagnation and failure result when a government attempts to legislate business. Limiting people’s ability to make a certain amount of money undermines business in an incredible way. Similarly, you need to associate with businesses and groups where freedom of movement will allow both you and the company to expand. When you have more constraints placed on your movement, you face greater problems and eventually the loss of your job.
About Harrison Barnes
Harrison Barnes is the Founder of BCG Attorney Search and a successful legal recruiter himself. Harrison is extremely committed to and passionate about the profession of legal placement. His firm BCG Attorney Search has placed thousands of attorneys. BCG Attorney Search works with attorneys to dramatically improve their careers by leaving no stone unturned in a search and bringing out the very best in them. Harrison has placed the leaders of the nation’s top law firms, and countless associates who have gone on to lead the nation’s top law firms. There are very few firms Harrison has not made placements with. Harrison’s writings about attorney careers and placements attract millions of reads each year. He coaches and consults with law firms about how to dramatically improve their recruiting and retention efforts. His company LawCrossing has been ranked on the Inc. 500 twice. For more information, please visit Harrison Barnes’ bio.
About BCG Attorney Search
BCG Attorney Search matches attorneys and law firms with unparalleled expertise and drive that gets results. Known globally for its success in locating and placing attorneys in law firms of all sizes, BCG Attorney Search has placed thousands of attorneys in law firms in thousands of different law firms around the country. Unlike other legal placement firms, BCG Attorney Search brings massive resources of over 150 employees to its placement efforts locating positions and opportunities that its competitors simply cannot. Every legal recruiter at BCG Attorney Search is a former successful attorney who attended a top law school, worked in top law firms and brought massive drive and commitment to their work. BCG Attorney Search legal recruiters take your legal career seriously and understand attorneys. For more information, please visit www.BCGSearch.com.
Filed Under : Advancement, Featured, Finding a Job, Keeping a Job, The Role of Jobs in Today’s World
Tagged: accounting, american economy, automotive, career advice, government bailouts, insurance companies, job search blog, job search guru | a harrison barnes, money investment, sales school, salesman, selling, your career
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In this article, Harrison advises you to live the lives you wish to have, do the jobs you want to do, and basically live your dreams to your best possible ability. Life is fleeting and no one knows what tomorrow holds. So Harrison puts forward certain questions – when are you going to start living the life you want and when are you going to take charge of your life. The time to have the career you want is right now, not tomorrow, and not later. You need to take charge of your career and life and no one else is going to do it for you. Your entire life and the quality of it is a product of your decisions. You can have, do, or be anything you want. Do not create alibis for making comprises in life. What separates the best and the happiest people is the ability to stop to making excuses and Harrison wants you to be this person.
Anyone can be up when things are going well, but the real challenge comes when things are not. Do not look at problems, which are inevitable for any person or business, in a negative light; think of them instead as challenges, lessons, or opportunities. There is a silver lining to be found in every problem, and finding that silver lining will enable you to grow.
Understanding what you do for a living is very important for your career. You should understand the generality of your specific profession. You and your career are a product. You need to know where and how to market yourself in the best way possible. You need to be relevant and understand the skills you are offering. Being a relevant product is essential for your success. It’s easy to be relevant when you understand what you are doing and what purpose you serve. Being relevant is more than just getting a job. Being relevant also relates to serving the employers with the skills they need. You need to understand your market and what your customers want. This is the way to stay employed, and it is also the means to continual improvement.
Things will not always go the way that you want them to go, so you must not be discouraged by adversity in your job hunt. When you persist and consistently put forth your best effort, things are much more likely to go in your favor. Also, you must resist others’ efforts to undermine your efforts and potential; focus instead on doing everything in your power to fight on and complete the task at hand.
Having a goal or vision will propel you towards greater career success and happiness. Without a purpose, you will find yourself depressed and ultimately fail to achieve your goals. Do not subscribe to the unrealistic problem that you should never have problems, but instead regard problems as part of your overall growth strategy.
Don’t ever give up, and make the most of the tools at your disposal. Take chances and invest in your best skills, and persist in the face of unfortunate events. Have faith in your considerable work and capabilities, and use them to create value for others.
In this article Harrison discusses what a good hiring manager should look for. Many people who make hiring decisions really do not know what they are doing. In fact, they often make mistakes when hiring. They put too much emphasis on skills and experience. But the single most important aspect of hiring is evaluating the person’s unique outlook on the world. If the person does not have a positive outlook on the world, he/she will bring down the morale of the other workers. The person will harm the company through the negative outlook. The key to success is having the power to stick it out in jobs and finding happiness wherever you are. Hiring people who do good work and are always able to find happiness should be the number one objective of hiring managers.
To reach the goals to which you aspire, you must compare yourself with people superior to you for motivation. Most people prefer to look at life the way they wish it to be, rather than as it truly is. Move out of your comfort zones and face reality. Don’t seek out or compare yourself with the average people around you, as doing so will only mire you in mediocrity rather than push you forward.
You can better market yourself by taking a stand against something. Peoples’ personal beliefs, including the things with which they do not agree, define who they are as people. Standing against something differentiates you from the crowd; when done in the correct manner, without disrespecting others’ opinions, such a stance can help you land your dream job.
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A recommendation from a powerful person can make a huge difference in your job search; a reference from an influential person makes a tremendous difference to a prospective employer, and thus can be a major advantage for you. When an important person whom the company trusts recommends you, you instantly qualify for positions that may previously have been unattainable. Make the absolute most of your connections with the powerful people in your life, because doing so can instantaneously change your career and life.
You must plant seeds in the minds of others, so that they will be more likely than otherwise to think of you when a future need arises. In planting seeds, you are making people aware of what you have to offer; you must make sure that you are ever present in the minds of your potential employers. Planting seeds is the most effective way to generate top-of-mind awareness, and ensure that the right people remember you at the appropriate time.
Recent immigrants exemplify the benefits of willpower, passion, and excitement in the way that they work so much harder for their goals than the people who have been here for most or all of their lives. Like most Americans, you need to rekindle the spirit of your immigrant ancestors and become hungry for what you want. The entrepreneurial spirit that brought people to America has often faded over time; adopt the fire and work ethic of new immigrants in order to achieve your goals.
Determine whether you are a global or specific person. Most people are either too general or too specific in the way they treat information, and overly detail-oriented people risk losing sight of the bigger picture. General people are more comfortable in managerial positions, while detail-oriented people prefer everything to conform to a logical sequence. Understand which sort of person you are, and seek work that best harnesses your natural inclination.
In this article Harrison talks about releasing the lack that you feel, in order to reach your full potential. If a sense of lack dominates your thinking, it will affect your interaction with the world and how the world sees you. There are many areas of your life where you are coming from a position of lack. Your ability to release this lack and go forward with your life can create a tremendous sense of peace and more natural accomplishments in your world. The amount of lack that people see out there is profound and it has a massive impact on their lives. According to Harrison, the most successful people in the world see the world as a place of opportunity and not lack.
When faced with difficult times, you must develop the ability to transcend the trouble around you instead of giving up or assuming that nothing can be done about your situation. Keep your wits about you and take charge of the situation, and you will find yourself on track for constant improvement and career success.
It is extremely important that you enjoy your job. Most people find themselves in jobs that they resent, and eventually make this resentment known by appearing disinterested and distracted. Success comes from being engaged in and grateful for your work. You can define your job according to your own vision; you can either choose to engage with your work, or avoid and despise what you do. People recognize and appreciate those who are enthusiastic about their work.
Your résumé is an extremely important document. There are entire books written about how to craft them. I have written at least one myself. There are scores of résumé consultants, companies, and others that will work on your résumé for a fee. Hiring one of these services can be useful and can improve your résumé. Nevertheless, most résumés can improve dramatically by following the below advice.
In this article Harrison explains how you can do better in your career by selling. The most successful people are absolute masters at sales. Selling is among the most important career skills you can have. When you know how to sell something you can do exceptionally well wherever you go. Knowing how to sell something is a key to survival, advancement, fame, and fortune. Everything we do is about making a sale. Selling yourself is about showing others the value you can bring them. So package yourself to the best of your ability, always be at your best and sell yourself. Develop your sales skills and do not be afraid to sell anything. Whatever your goal in life, becoming an effective salesman will help you achieve it.
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In this article Harrison suggests that you actually may be safer getting a job without the help of family or friends. It is exceedingly rare that a friend or family member will ever be able to get you a position. They may not even want to help you get a job for various reasons. Their involvement in your job search may actually hurt you. The organization may actually look upon you negatively if you try to use a friend or family member to get a job. So going through a close contact is often counterproductive to your job search. Even if you get a position through a friend or family member, you could harm your relationship with that person in the process. Your friend or family member’s act of kindness may ultimately unbalance your relationship. The risks involved in this kind of job far outweigh the potential rewards.
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In this article, Harrison explains the importance of making an effort in your job which is way above what is expected of you. When you have been given certain responsibilities, it means that someone is dependent on you for certain things. When you fulfill these duties far more efficiently, put in a lot more time and effort, and even stay back on weekends and holidays to complete or do extra work, your employers get the message that you are sharing their burden of pressures with them and begin to place tremendous trust in you. This is what paves the path to your promotion and growth in the company. Harrison believes that you need to develop the correct attitude and possess an extraordinary work ethic to thrive in the job you do.
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Adopting a positive attitude will always bring you closer to success, as nobody wants to be associated with a losing side. Everyone wants to associate with and hire winners, and avoids losers. Nothing is more important than maintaining a positive attitude, as many employers hire people based primarily on attitude; with the right attitude, everything else will fall into place. You must look like you are on the winning team, even if times are tough; nobody wants to hire a loser.
The past does not dictate the future, so you should not use inductive reasoning to make conclusions about your life or career. Recognize when you are making incorrect conclusions based on past events, and switch to deductive reasoning in which you are not limited by the past. You will find your conclusions to be much more accurate, and you will succeed as a result.
When I was an attorney, I stopped going out to lunch with other attorneys during the day. The reason was not that I was not hungry. Instead, I stopped going out to lunch because just about everyone I worked with would want to dedicate the lunch to a critique—whether it was critiquing our bosses, coworkers, or others. When these people were not being critiqued, the job itself was being critiqued. When the job was not being critiqued, the attorney’s home life was being critiqued.
In this article Harrison discusses the significance of conditioning yourself to develop behaviors that will elevate you in your life. One of the most difficult things for anyone to do is to get leverage over themselves and condition themselves to go in a new direction. Very few people are ever able to make very fundamental transformations in their lives and become someone completely new and completely improved—and stick with it. Major improvements in our lives come only when we condition ourselves over and over again in one direction. You need to get leverage over yourself and condition new habits and behaviors within yourself to make any sort of fundamental and lasting change. The conditioning needs to be part of your lifestyle. You need to condition yourself to adopt new patterns in your life.
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Thanks the article is very excellent. It is prefect for American economic development.
I love these types of little updates they change the pace of things… much needed. Good job and thanks
The article is long on political argument and short on career opportunities. I subscribed to get information and support for my job hunt, not more politics — we get enough right now with attack ads, and other unpleasant stories.
Thank you for this type of coaching this is not news to me but it
confirms what is heard; which is a conselation to the reality. There
is very little truth out in the business world that when you get some
truth you feel that there is still some good out in the world. I found
that large hotels and confirmed by Hotel Human Resource that there is
drug laundering at the front desk’s night shifts so I have steered
away. I am scared to sell my art work to some hotels cause I have
heard they are connected with cartel, if you can advise of the best
hotels, I would be grateful.
Thanks, Job Hunting in San Francisco
I don’t want to say a lot about your article but I know that it allows me to be aware about the life of businesses. I’m not a very good salesman but I want to follow you. I’m sure you will always be my teacher! Thanks!
Tine
You have typical Republican talking points here. Not very useful for job seekers, your political views only.