What the Green Bay Debacle Can Teach Us

First off...I love football. I am not a big pro sports guy, but I enjoy all levels of football. From little kids playing Pop Warner, to High School, College and the Pro's, for me there is no better drama in sports.

Even though I am no Green Bay Packer fan (Go Cowboys!) I can't help trying seeing parallels in our own career path that we need to understand.

For those not following the story; basically Brett Favre, a future Hall-of-Fame Quarterback for Green Bay (GB), decided to retire at the end of last season. It was a shock, given that the team well over achieved expectations. It wasn't a shock though that it was coming. A 15 year veteran, he had hinted at it for two years. Brett retires, team moves on, new QB, other personnel changes...then Brett decides he made a hasty rash decision and he wants to come back...(cue record scratch sound). Team says we have moved on, Brett say fine trade me to this team. GB says nope, they are our rival and it would hurt our fan base, but you are under contract so we control that move.

It gets worse from there, now there are rough feeling etc.. It isn't resolved as of this writing, but probably will be this week.

So...how does this ties to personal finance and career advise?:

• No matter how good you are, you are replaceable - Brett's one of the best ever, but the team has moved on
• If you don't own the business, you don't hold the cards - Brett is famous, rich and well liked...But see #1. It doesn't matter if you are the star performer, the business can move on without you
• Don't make rash career decisions - If Brett had not rushed his retirement call (even if pushed) he wouldn't be in this spot with no leverage.

Its a sad story for a sports hero, team and fans to learn that even the best, eventually, are displaced. But it is a lesson we all should know too.

Finally Back! - Be Prepared!

Yeah! I am home! And I learned a bit of something about being prepared!

It was supposed to be a quick 3-day trip. You know, Carry -On Luggage only. In and out! Didn't work out that way days kept being added while I was out and I ended up being on the road all week.

It is really tough keeping up on a blog while traveling so I started to try and write ahead, but then the trip kept getting extended...vicious circle!

While I was out on a trip to our subsidiary, I was sent to corperate in order to make a presentation to our CEO on a new program I started...one on one (plus my Boss in attendance) for a 1.5 hour meeting. It is pretty rare to get 30 minutes of his time much less over an hour so it was great that he thought enough of the program to block out the time.

Here are the couple great lessons from the trip:

• Winner's Want the Ball - If you have a chance to present or show off an accomplishment, take advantage of it. I had the call where my Boss could have pitched it and I could have come home. No one would have thought the worse for it. But I wanted my face associated with the program. If the the program fails it is my fault, but if it works it is my credit. Risk=Reward
• Know your Stuff - 1.5 hour is a nice way to say grilling about each point and had I thought through this and that. He brought up great angles I hadn't considered, but I could answer 99% of his questions quickly. I studied and knew my material
• Prepare - I went over my presentation...oh...47,000 times :) And guess what, 5-minutes before the meeting my Boss changed the order of the presentation to better match how the CEO liked to review programs. This was great as he knew the audience, but since we didn't have time to discuss it, I had to flip the page to see what was next! But...I knew the material well enough that I could roll with it and it came off better!

Results:

I have lots of follow-up to do, but we got great comments from everyone, and the potential of expanding the program faster! On top of it, as a bit of a surprise we got tickets for the NCAA tournament and saw a game last night (UCLA and MSVU)!

Take the risk...you're worth it!

Career Key: Frustration vs Reality

Ever have that, "If they don't see my value I should leave!" feeling? One of the toughest times in a career or job is when expectation level doesn't remotely meet reality. These, to paraphrase, "are the the times that try men's careers!"

I am there now.

It is coming up on bonus payout time, I know what my payout could have been. We revamped many of the programs under my direction this year leading to over $1M in increases. I also laid the groundwork for new programs now launching that will generate $6-10MM per year...for a long time.

Based on all criteria I had a pretty good year...too bad it is for naught.

At a staff meeting this week we were told the bitter truth. That since the company had a poor year, (due to operational issues, not sales) bonuses would be small, or non-existent. And it would be based on the discretion of Executive management on the amount. Frankly, based on that I really don't know if I will get a bonus! But if I do it will probably 10% of what it could have been. Given that 20%+ of my pay is bonus, that hurts. Not eating moldy bread tragic, just a major bummer.

I am actually not surprised as the company, which in all other facets is pretty great BTW, puts lip-service to MBO Bonuses but the followup is poor. We had agreed upon MBOs (Manage by Objective) targets laid out and agreed to, to our Boss a year ago. They were never signed off on by the Executive team.

I am OK with saying that we had are having a poor year and bonuses will be tied first and foremost to OI (Operating Income). However this was discussed and determined that this year would be different and we would truly run the MBO program as intended; in other words hit your goals and you will be good to go.

Add to this frustration my review is 120-days late and won't be delivered until April. I will be retro-ed the amount, but given that there are already hints that; "I really already make more than the other Directors" I am not expecting much.

So what to do:

• Quit - Not with somewhere else to go. I am always networking though and have options
• Do Nothing - Passively going through a career taking only whats given will cost you thousand over the course of a career.
• Talk to the Top - Go to the CEO and complain. Uh...career suicide!

OK, Trek fans, sounds like a "Kobayashi Maru" test huh? For non-Trekers, this is a no-win test. It is to gauge your ability to get the best outcome even though you are gonna lose. Only one person to beat the test is old Captain Kirk. How...he changed the rules.

I did a bit of that too. here is what I have done to "win the situation" or at least get the best possible result:

• Before I came, back to the company I investigated how the "MBO Structure" had been working. Most expressed indifference at best. Basically I knew I couldn't rely on it, so I didn't and tried to get my salary as high as possible.
• I have NO plans for my raise. IF it comes in it will go right to my debt Snowball. I'll never see and spend it.
• I am logging all of these wins too! If someone asks for a resume I have a freshly pressed one ready to go.
• I don't let it get me down...at least to my Boss. I am Captain positive. I am sure he did everything he could (which he did) and I won't d anything to make him look bad.
• I try to get mine other ways. I talked to him about promotion, project bonuses or anything else to get those funds back.

End of the day, you can't control how you are dealt with, just with how you prepare for it and react to it!

Carnivals and The Wall Street Journal

There are some really great Carnivals going on out there today, It is making me forget it is Cold outside today!

KCLau.com is running a fantastic Money Tips Carnival. It also features our Top Personal Finance Necessities post. Check it our tons of great articles to help you save money and increase wealth!

Mabel and Harry are running a super Carnival of Leadership Development and were kind enough to include our Performance Review Time post in the mix. I truly believe that working towards growing your career is one of the most important drivers of wealth. Just a 1% difference per year can mean an additional $40K per year during a 30 year career...and that is only that year!

A really exciting thing happened last night...Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Money's post about Microsoft Buying Yahoo was listed in the Wall Street Journal Blog! It was just a line listing in the "Blog Post about this Topic" section...But Hey! it still counts in my book!

A Most Important Key to Your Financial Future...

Quick...what is one of the most important keys to your financial future that is rarely talked about? It is Your Career or Ability to Earn Money(AEM).

Yes, you have to manage your finances once you have the money, but how about having something to manage in the first place? My parents really believed if you worked hard, didn't raise a stink if things were bad, that you could work at a job for life and the company would take care of you. I hate to break it to you, but the only one that is going to take care of you...is you!

Let me give you a example; let's say you are making $50,000 per year. You work hard, get your 3% raise per year and in ten years you will be making $67,195. However, If you can just average 5%, you would be at $81,444, or $14,249 more per year! After a 20 year career you would be at $132,665 vs. $90,305 or $42,360 more!

I know what you are saying, "I am lucky at my job if they give x%." And you are right they are only giving "x". Generally to people to who don't fight for what is theirs.

This is the Power of Compounding, just like with Investing or Savings. I am constantly surprised to hear people chase .25% in a savings account, or clip a 20 cent coupon, but not fight for an extra 1-2% on a raise. 1% more over 10 years with a $50K base is $6816 more in the tenth year...for just that year alone!

How to do it:

1. Be Good at What You Do - Demanding something you haven't earned can backfire at you by labeling you a malcontent. "Your Bonus is you get to keep your job Jim." Work on this step until it is as shiny as a new penny :) otherwise you will not Pass go, You will Not collect $200.
2. Document Everything - This is called having back-up. Track your accomplishments, no one will do it for you! Caution: it has to be real numbers that shows value in spades. For my review this year I submitted a 10-page document showing in depth our accomplishments this year. Many other submitted an email or a Word Doc with 1-2 pages. Guess who's raise won't be questioned?
3. Network - Meet people in your profession or industry, get known. Join LinkedIn. Work Trade Shows and meet your peers at your competitors.
4. Knowledge -Find out what the going wage is for a similar position to yours in your area or company. Use HotJobs or Monster and see if your job is in demand. Always check Salary.com for pay levels. Note: More and more HR departments will have seen this data and have stock answers against the data like, "oh this area is different", "your job is different then this one." Ask them for Their latest salary survey, to show you their side. Maybe your info is wrong, but if they don't have it, they don't know.
5. If Something looks Interesting Apply/Interview - Ever notice that when you have a job everybody talks to you about coming to work for them, but when you are looking it is a ghost- town? Know why...because you don't reek of desperation! Who cares if you don't get it if you don't care? You will at least meet great people and who knows, it may be a great opportunity!
6. Show your Boss a Plan that gives them more ROI - Don't just take. If you want a 10% raise, ask yourself, "what is in it for them?" Make up your own job/title if there is no career path. I have done that multiple times and came away with a title that didn't exist before because it made economic sense for the company. This allows your boss to show his boss that this is a win/win for the company and not just someone asking for more money.
7. Be Prepared to Walk - You know your companies culture. Do they match outside offers? Do they then kill those people and eat their brains? (Otherwise known as holding until THEY find a replacement) If the company is known to be tough on those that fight for more (some companies don't care what their turn-over is like) Will you move (maybe even across the street) if they can't do this?
8. What if?...If they still won't move, frankly you have to. We are now in a workforce that will have 3-4 major jobs in their worklife. That mean one way or another you will probably need to move every 5-7 years to get to the next level.

I was lucky enough to have a great mentor in a EVP of Sales and Marketing that taught me this. He was never my boss, but he was one heck of an advocate for me. From this roadmap I was able to triple my pay in less than six years and became a Vice President.

If you don't really want to make more, then DO NOT follow these steps. They require a lot of hard work, hours and sacrifice, but if you do, then begin by mapping out your career as well as you do your budget, it is one of the most important thing that you can do for your financial future...