Episode 8 – Marc gives case studies on how making things up, and panicking about them, is always worse than asking for the truth.

In this episode, Marc shares the chapter, “Do You Suffer from MSU Disorder? The Grave Temptation to Make Stuff Up,” from his upcoming book, Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide to the Second Half of Life.

Key Takeaways:

[1:44] Bill writes for a major financial company. He said his dream job is to write for The Economist. How did he know? What did he know about the company? All he knew was the content they produced. He was making stuff up, to fill in the blanks of his knowledge.

[3:30] Judith Glaser says, “The stories we make up have significant impact on our careers.” MSU can cause you to go after jobs that would make you miserable, or prevent you from pursuing a great job, out of fear. It can cause people to lose confidence in you, if you present as fact things you have just assumed to be true.

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[4:28] It’s perfectly human to MSU, when the information is not there, but when it comes to your career, don’t do it! We cause ourselves pain by ‘awfulizing’ situations.

[5:03] Rhoda, a former CEO, had applied for a job as a COO of a national association. She was excited about the job, and felt like the feeling was mutual. When she didn’t hear back, though, she looked at their website and saw something she misunderstood, and began to panic. Marc suggested she call the company. When she did, she got the facts.

[6:13] Marcos was in a long negotiation with a prospective employer. Every question Marcos had took a long time to get resolution. Every time, his anxiety increased. He was in a panic. Marc encouraged him to call the recruiter (who had been absent with a very ill mother). Eventually Marcos did get the job.

[7:24] Susan started a new job with a major drug company, and knocked the ball out of the park. They loved her. But when her division announced a 200 headcount reduction, she went into panic mode. One day later, she learned she was to lead a highly-prized project. She had ignored every sign that she was highly-valued. She just MSU.

[8:17] Sally works from home. She meets with her boss to show him her activities, and he criticizes the list abusively. This has been their pattern for years. Marc suggested that the next time, she go without a list. Her boss had not asked for one. Although she MSU and became fearful beforehand, he took notes on her activities, without a problem.

[10:48] Take a mental bookmark of all the times you have panicked about something, and it turned out you were wrong. Think back to all the times you have awfulized something. Someone didn’t call within a given window that you made up, and you assumed something terrible had happened, or was about to happen, that was false.

[11:41] The best thing to do is to realize that you don’t know what’s happening. Make reasonable efforts to get answers, and breathe through the moment. You don’t know, and that’s OK.

[12:08] Stop drop, and roll. Don’t panic. Mary has a boss who is rude on the phone. She let her boss’ call go to voicemail while she was in a meeting, then texted to see how she could help her. It was simply to let her know that her boss was on her way.

[14:09] Manage communications. Nancy’s boss said she was not easy to work for. Nancy dreamed up awful situations that caused her to panic. She avoided her boss. Marc suggested having a weekly planning meeting. It turned out her boss was just moody.

[16:48] Describe situations where you made stuff up. Write out the story you dreamed up. How did it compare to the facts? Have you tried to create a stop, drop, and roll process? I now find myself catching myself when I start to MSU!

Mentioned in This Episode:

CareerPivot.com

CareerPivot.com/blog

Contact Marc, and ask questions at: Careerpivot.com/contact-me

Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide to the Second Half of Life, by Marc Miller, available in early 2017

Conversational Intelligence: How Great Leaders Build Trust and Get Extraordinary Results, by Judith E. Glaser

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Episode-7 – Mike made an amazing career pivot that allows him to serve generations of families in a business.

In this episode, Marc interviews Mike O’Krent. Mike O’Krent, Founder of LifeStories Alive, LLC, specializes in making personal history videos for families that value their heritage. They create family heirlooms in video — digitally mastered records of life stories with personal accounts, photos, and mementos of family history. Marc has known Mike for about 10 years, and it has been fascinating, watching him grow his very unique business. Marc and Mike often hang out at the same coffee shop, so they see each other fairly frequently. Marc and Mike discuss several topics, including what Mike did in the first half of life, why he quit without a plan, the life-changing experience of interviewing Holocaust, or Shoah, survivors, and, the nudge from a business coach that set him on the second half of life. Listen in to get inspiration for your own career pivot.

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Key Takeaways:

[2:15] In the first half of life, Mike was in floor coverings, in his grandfather’s business. He started his own carpeting business, but sold it in ‘04, without an idea what to do next.

[3:06] In the early days, Mike and his grandfather went to markets in Chicago and Dallas, where 200 carpet mills vied for their business. By the time Mike sold his business, there were three carpet mills left. The competition, and the fun, had gone.

[4:39] In 1995, Mike was volunteering with the Jewish Federation of San Antonio, visiting schools and teaching about the Holocaust. Steven Spielberg was filming Schindler’s List, in Poland, and survivors were coming up and saying they have a story they want to tell.

[5:04] Spielberg started The Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. He set a goal of capturing 50,000 survivors’ stories, and ended up with 52,000, in 39 languages.

[5:30] The foundation asked the Jewish Federation of San Antonio if they had someone to volunteer for training to interview local survivors. Mike jumped at the chance. He interviewed survivors from ‘96 to 2000 — one of the most fascinating periods of his life.

[6:14] So, Mike had the process, and he loved the interviews, but then they were over in 2000. When he sold his carpeting business, he went to Administaff and worked, until he realized the corporate world was not for him. He still had no plan.

[8:41] Through his wife, Mike found a good business coach, who gave him an exercise: make a list of everything you’ve done, that 1) you liked and 2) you thought you did well. Exclude activities that don’t meet both tests. The next week Mike read it to the coach.

[9:51] The coach picked up on Mike’s excitement over the Holocaust interviews, and asked him to talk about it. When Mike finished raving, the coach asked, can you make a business doing something like that? The lightbulb went on, and Mike was on his way.

[11:59] Mike got his first client, Bill, through his wife. Bill was a bank officer with a corporate background. Mike did his video for free, as a test. When he saw it, Bill called his connections; said, “You need to do business with Mike,” and gave him the phone!

[14:54] Besides personal life stories, Mike has done documentaries for businesses and nonprofits. These stories pull in customers, or donations, with their emotional appeal.

[18:43] Mike does only the interview. Videography, sound, editing are hired out to professionals, so Mike can listen solely to the interviewee, with no distractions.

[20:04] Marc wants solopreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs to realize they don’t have to do it all. Let the experts make you look good. Marketing can be outsourced, too.

Mentioned in This Episode:

Careerpivot.com

Contact Marc, and ask questions at: Careerpivot.com/contact-me

Email: MOKrent@LifeStoriesAlive.com

Website: Life Stories Alive

Phone (512) 431-8166

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Marc Miller  

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