Reading List: Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy

Why read this book? Written by the international best-selling author and leader in professional development, Eat That Frog will help you jump- start your professional development (or any other task in your work) with twenty-one proven methods and techniques. These methods are integral to accelerating your career: #7 Focus on Key Result Areas, #10 Take It One Oil Barrel at a Time, #11 Upgrade Your Skills, #13 Identify Your Key Constraints, #21 Single Hand Every Task.g your career: #7 Focus on Key Result Areas, #10 Take It One Oil Barrel at a Time, #11 Upgrade Your Skills, #13 Identify Your Key Constraints, #21 Single Hand Every Task.

Adapted from my new book, Career-ology: The Art and Science of A Successful Career, Chapter 2: Accelerate Your Career Experience. Click here to download two chapters of the book for free!

Only 11% of business leaders strongly agreed that graduates have the necessary skills and competencies to succeed in the workplace – Gallup Poll

Gallup recently released a report, What America Needs to Know About Higher Education Redesign, which offers some insight on the level of career readiness of today’s graduates.

Business leaders were asked to indicate their level of agreement with the following statement (on a five-point scale, where 5 means strongly agree and 1 means strongly disagree): Higher education institutions in this country are graduating students with the skills and competencies that MY business needs.”

  • 17%  =  1 (strongly disagree)
  • 17%  =  2
  • 34%  =  3
  • 22%  =  4
  • 11%  =  5 (strongly agree)

The report found that only “about one in ten business leaders strongly agree that higher education institutions in this country are graduating students with the skills and competencies their business needs.”

The survey also asked business leaders “In your opinion, what talent, knowledge, or skills should higher education institutions develop in students to best prepare graduates for success in the workforce in the coming years?”  The results are summarized in the table below.

Gallup Table Feb 2014 Report

In the Olympics and your career, 2% = GOLD!

I really enjoy the Winter Olympics and will spend a lot of time watching even some of the more obscure events– curling? The television coverage is so good that we get to see these events from Sochi, Russia better than many of those who are there in person. I was watching men’s speed skating and the camera work really captured the speed at which these athletes flew across the ice. I am not a big speed skating fan, but the event was great.Screen Shot 2014-02-13 at 3.25.03 PM

These are the official results from the Olympic Men’s 1000m Speed Skating competition in Sochi. Less than 1.0 second separates the top 10 finishers.

The entire event takes just over a minute, so the differential is less than 2%. These athletes spend years training for their event.

Practice and training are not only for athletes. What skill can you practice today that will give you that 2% advantage in your career?