My Father...My Hero, and the Gift of Friends and Strangers

Growing up as a little boy in the Bronx and then later at the Jersey Shore, I always looked up to my father, as most children do. My father, Speros Zezas, was a bit of an enigma...tall, dark, introverted in some ways, very charismatic in others. He was always a pillar of strength to me. He had a temper and an ego commensurate with that of many strong Greek men of his day. On only a few occasions did we see my father cry...when he longed for his homeland and when he thought about his mother. He had his faults, but like our mother, he worked hard to make sure we had a sturdy roof over our heads, good food in our bellies, clean clothes, strong backs, a reputable name, and a sense of honor and fair-play. It was hard not to look up to my father. Like most fathers, mine was my first hero.

Eventually, as my father and I both grew older we became closer. He was one of the founders and a dedicated trustee of Kimisis Tis Theotokou Greek Orthodox Church in Holmdel, New Jersey. I was one of that church's first altar boys. In my teen years, my father and I attended church together regularly. In my early twenties, I worked my way through college in a nightclub band. My father attended most of my local shows and hung out with me and my friends. My father taught me many things about being a good person, about being a man, about being a husband and a father, and about being a gentleman. I carry most of his teachings with me to this day, and pass them on to my children. My father eventually became ill and in 1985 his life drew to a close, but not before he and I became best friends.

My father has stayed with me in many ways throughout my life. But, a series of unconnected events, or so I thought, unfolded over the last two years and brought him back to me in a very special and unexpected way.

Through a chance meeting at a business networking event at a New York City restaurant in 2007, I made a new friend. His name is Staz. Staz and I hit it off immediately, agreed to help each other in business and in life, and have stayed in touch ever since.

In October 2008, the world economy went off a cliff. Over lunch, another friend, Marty, reminded me of the career challenges that many white collar executives were experiencing, especially those in finance. Given increasing unemployment levels, many were experiencing real challenges finding work, selling themselves to potential employers, understanding and communicating their value propositions, and more. Considering my background in advising c-level executives, I felt confident that I could provide these executives with good insights and impart to them tools and skills that could enhance their careers, and hopefully their lives. Marty and I continued to discuss this issue over a couple of days, when I offered to create a presentation to help executives achieve their career goals. Marty encouraged me to complete the presentation and invited me to speak before a financial executive group that he led.

In December 2008, in front of Marty's group, I presented "Enough About Me, Let's Talk About Me!", a two hour workshop on improving executive communication, networking, relationship building, and more. The small crowd of very accomplished executives that Marty brought together was very receptive. After the presentation, a number of attendees asked if they could connect and network with me. Some even asked if I would coach them. Although I'm not an executive coach and had to decline those requests, I have stayed in-touch with a number of people who have attended my presentations.

Over the following few months, other organizations asked me to present "Enough About Me, Let's Talk About Me!", which I did as a means of giving to the universe and helping others. I started to generate a small following. My friend Staz learned that I would appear before a group of business people at Kimisis Tis Theotokou Greek Orthodox Church...my father's church...my family's church. He and another friend of ours, Dean, hurriedly drove all the way out from Long Island to central New Jersey just to hear my presentation.

As soon as Staz arrived, he began taking page after page of notes. Afterward, he told me that he was starting a think tank in New York, called Greek Synergy, which would bring people together on intellectual, emotional, and spiritual levels. Staz invited me to present "Enough About Me, Let's Talk About Me!" to his think tank. I readily accepted his invitation.

On July 22, 2009, Staz gathered together approximately thirty business people at Cafe Martinique in New York to hear my presentation. This was a sophisticated group, and many attendees actively participated in the lively discussion. Angelike (An-gel-e-key), a reporter from The National Herald newspaper attended the event. She took many notes and snapped photos the entire night. Angelike spent a few moments with me before the presentation began, asking the Who? What? and Why? questions that are typical of news reporters. The presentation at Staz's think tank was a huge success, and after more than two hours we closed the event and said goodnight. Staz and I both felt fulfilled for having helped so many people. We were exhausted.

About two weeks after the Cafe Martinique event, I began receiving congratulatory phone calls and emails pertaining to the article that appeared in The National Herald newspaper about my presentation at the Greek Synergy event. Since I hadn't yet seen the article, I asked a friend to forward it to me. The newspaper reporter had written a very complimentary story, both about my presentation and about Greek Synergy. She did a fine job in capturing the essence of the message I sought to deliver and the drive behind Staz's vision. Her article brought a smile to my face. My wife even giggled when we read the reporter's quote about how I had presented my thoughts and ideas with a "super hero-like voice!". You can't pay for lines like that!

A week or so later, I received a phone call from a broadcaster named Amalia from COSMOS FM Greek Public Radio in Long Island, New York. Amalia said she had read The National Herald article, and invited me to appear on a live radio broadcast to discuss the event and share my ideas. Amalia thought we could use the power of radio to help even more people. Thinking that a live radio program could be fun, I agreed. On the prescribed night, I called into the radio station and we went live. Between answering Amalia's questions and fielding calls from people seeking guidance about their careers, I felt great. The live interview lasted about forty-five minutes.

About an hour after the broadcast, I received an email from a man named Dinos, whose name I did not recognize. In his email, he wrote that he'd heard the COSMOS FM broadcast, thanked me for appearing, and complimented me for sharing my ideas and for working to help others. Dinos also wrote that my name sounded familiar to him. He asked if I was the son of Speros Zezas, the man who, many years ago, ran Micro Instrument Company in Brooklyn, NY. Dinos wrote that if Speros was my father, he hoped to speak with me. He went on in his email to say that he'd come to the United States in the 1970's, that my father hired him and gave him a career. Dinos wanted to thank me.

I returned Dinos's email, confirming that Speros was my father, that we loved him very much, that he was a great man, and that we had lost him in 1985. I wished Dinos well and thanked him for his kind words about me and my dear father. Dinos emailed me again that night, and we continued to email back and forth for the next hour or so. I walked out of my office that evening with tears in my eyes, having felt great for possibly helping some people find their way that evening, but also for having heard that a stranger thought so well of my father. I looked up at the night sky full of stars and said "Pop, you're still here." and drove home to kiss my wife and two children good-night.

When I arrived at my home, I was so excited, that I kept everyone awake telling them about the radio broadcast, the email I'd received about my father, and what a great experience I'd had that night. My wife, daughter, and son, all shared my joy.

The next day, Dinos called my office to introduce himself to me. He was a reserved and humble man, with a thick Greek accent. Dinos was about 8 years older than me and proceeded to tell me the story of how he'd met my father and worked for him in the 1970s. He said that he'd come to the United States with no job prospects, no education or training, and an uncertain future. Dinos first took a job in the kitchen at a New York diner. When my father met him, he noticed a spark in Dinos and hired him right away to work in his tool and die engineering and manufacturing business.

I suspect that my father may have seen a little of himself in Dinos. When my father first arrived in the United States, he too had no connections and few prospects, despite having been trained as a machinist and engineer in the Greek Merchant Navy.

Almost immediately after hiring him, my father sensed that Dinos had a knack for engineering and encouraged him to go to school to obtain a college degree. After two years as my father's apprentice, he left the company and attended a university in New York to pursue an education in engineering.

In a humble, yet confident voice, Dinos told me that he had earned that engineering degree, and for more than thirty years had enjoyed a career and a life that he never expected he would have. He told me of his family and proudly said that he was currently employed at a Long Island engineering company that designs sophisticated componentry for NASA. Dinos said that had he not met my father, he would not have achieved what he had in his career or his life. Dinos then said something that, even as I write this now, still brings tears to my eyes. This man, who I had never met, who had only heard about my brothers and me in conversations with my father, who by chance happened to hear my last name on a radio broadcast, who recognized my name and took the initiative to contact me, told me that my father, Speros Zezas, was his hero...too.

For a moment I couldn't speak. Dinos then asked me for one simple favor. He asked if I would send him a photo of my father, so he could frame it and put it on his desk. I got all choked-up and agreed to send him that photo.

As a young boy, my father was my first real hero. As he battled cancer, my father demonstrated courage and heroism, despite knowing that he would eventually lose that fight. Two and a half decades later, when an excited and very kind man heard my last name, my father's name, on a New York public radio broadcast and shared with me the wonderful life that he had built for himself and his family with my father's help from thirty years earlier, I was reminded again about the hero my father was to me as I was growing up, and now knew that he was also equally important to someone else. That night my father, Speros Zezas, became my hero all over again.

They say that nothing happens by coincidence and that the universe has a way of balancing itself out. For more than thirty years, my father has been Dinos's hero, and I never knew that. Had Marty not invited me to develop "Enough About Me, Let's Talk About Me!", had Staz not asked me to present in New York, had Angelike not written such a great article, had Amalia not invited me to appear on the radio, and had Dinos not heard my father's name and called me, I would not have learned that while my father was my first and constant hero, he was also someone else's hero...I would not have been given such a touching and wonderful gift by both friends and strangers.

Thanks Pop, for being a great man, for the many gifts you gave me, for helping others, and for remaining my hero! And, thank you Staz, Marty, Angelike, Amalia, and Dinos for the special gift you all gave me.

The Cone of Silence, Chaos, and the Smartest Person in the Room

(Reprinted from November 2008)

In the 1960’s television series, “Get Smart”, a play on words in and of itself, Agent Maxwell Smart considered himself to be cunning, knowledgeable, and very….Smart. In fact, he was a bumbling, funny, idiot, who despite his obvious shortcomings, always captured the agent from the evil enemy organization, known as Kaos (Chaos). Despite his strong beliefs to the contrary, Agent Smart was rarely, if ever, the smartest person in the room. Inevitably, he was assisted, and often unknowingly led, by his partner, Agent 99…a person with a whole lot more smarts than Agent Smart.


When you attend meetings with colleagues, prospects, or clients, do you feel like you’re the smartest person in the room? Do others think you are? Do you think someone else is the smartest person in the room? If you think that you are the smartest person in the room, then you may be overlooking a real opportunity!


Some people have told me that I’m pretty bright. While such compliments feel really great, they’re also dangerous, because if I’m not careful, after a while I could start to believe that they’re true. And, that could spell the beginning of chaos and lost opportunities!


How about you? Have others told you how smart you are? Yeah, yeah, yeah, you’re no slouch but, the world is full of very intelligent people…those who know a lot more than you and me…people who have received more and better training, have achieved higher levels of learning, have more degrees and more pertinent experience, those who understand what you and I don’t, and those with deeper expertise than you or me.


That’s right, you actually may not be the smartest person in the room, and I’m pretty darned sure that, neither am I. Now we’re talking! In the realization that you are not the smartest person in the room lays opportunity! In most cases, the people who are smarter than you want to share their ideas and thoughts with you. After all, why have all those smarts if not to demonstrate that they exist, right?!


The lady standing next to you in the room probably knows something you don’t. The guy across the table knows something you haven’t considered. The woman sitting next to him knows something he hasn’t heard before. They may not all be university graduates or senior executives but, they all know something. And, that something may be just what you need, like an idea; a bit of historical data; a theory; a new approach; a twist on an old concept; a seemingly crazy, far-out, or wild idea….something that you haven’t yet considered or maybe what you’ve already forgotten. But, it’s there for you to tap into.


That knowledge, that wisdom, those smarts that are better or broader than those you possess are within your reach and available to accelerate you further than you could go without them. You see, when a person believes that they are the smartest person in the room, that belief, that one seemingly small error, in and of itself, suggests that that person isn’t…..the smartest person in the room. What’s more, such a mistake can cause you to miss a very important opportunity…the opportunity to acquire knowledge from others, to capitalize on what other people know, to build on their experiences, to learn more, to become better at whatever you do….to better serve others and to become an even greater success!


Ask yourself: “Do I know EVERYTHING?” That’s an easy one. Then, as you begin to feel a bit humbled, ask yourself “Do I know everything I need to know to accomplish all of my objectives?” If you answer “Yes”, try again, and remind yourself that someone somewhere knows something you don’t. And, that something could be the key ingredient in accomplishing your mission, for yourself and for others.


The most successful leaders I’ve met have been some incredibly quick-minded and intelligent people. Among the most common traits they all possess was the realization that their knowledge and experience created greater results when augmented by what other smarter people knew. They knew that if they actually were the smartest person in the room, their accomplishments and their ultimate success would be limited by what they did not know. And, in order to achieve more, they typically sought out others with more experience, more knowledge, more expertise….more smarts.


So, what’s your best move? Accept that, while you may be pretty intelligent, you are not likely the smartest person in the room, or at least you shouldn’t be. If you really are the smartest one there, then go to another room, or find people who truly are smarter than you and who can help you accomplish more with what they know. If that means you must find your own Agent 99 then, so be it!


Your best bet will be to ditch the Cone of Silence, get dumb, then Get Smart, and excell further than your own smarts alone can take you!

“Spin” is a Four Letter Word

Why is it, in today’s society, that one’s ability to spin stories in various directions of choice is considered an art form, and that those who have that ability are thought of as mentally athletic and are well respected? Isn’t use of the term spin merely a way to avoid the word “exaggeration”? We even have a cool name for those who do it…Spin Doctors! I’m not referring to the rock band of the same name. I always thought that doctors were supposed to do good works, to deliver babies, to help people become healthy and stay fit, that they were supposed to save lives. Instead, Spin Doctors, those so called geniuses, who wax and wane and go to great lengths to make others see things in a very narrow way are nowadays reveled as brilliant, creative, and cutting edge. Whatever happened to simply telling the plain old truth?



I once worked for a company that devolved to a point where they permitted internal and external Spin Doctoring. More importantly, they actually promoted it! Management’s time was very thin and the company was performing quite well. So, they were not inclined to dig too deeply below the surface when issues arose, no matter how serious they were. When asked to explain one's actions, all an employee needed was a good story and a friend to back her up. So long as the story sounded credible, and someone else said it was true, management was willing to brand it as truth and went no further.

The "good story" approach was encouraged in both internal conversations and those with clients and customers! After a while it became next to impossible to tell the truth from the Spin! It got so bad that my head would spin as fast as the stories that were told. That company’s management made a lot of bad choices as a result of their unofficial Spin policy, and the company eventually paid for it. Clients left the company, and they lost some of their top professionals, too, including me. Isn’t that amazing?



I recently encountered a consultant, who claimed to offer a large and varied array of consulting services. He offered management services, website design services, surveillance camera set-up and management services, human resource consulting, operating manual writing services, and more. His list became so long that it was incredibly difficult to figure out what this guy really did for a living, and how he could create value for anyone. In fact, he was involved in so many things in so many different directions that he found it difficult to explain it himself. In one conversation he had with someone else, I overhead him say that “the definition of a consultant is someone who has no understanding of the client’s needs, promises to deliver, gets the account, and then, figures out how to complete the project.” Talk about Spin! We refused to hire him for an important project as a result of his distorted philosophy. What's more, we no longer deal with him at all.



There’s an easy solution to this situation. Remember what Mom and Dad taught you…"always tell the truth!" It’s a simpler approach, and it keeps you healthy…really! Look at it this way: If you don’t spin, you’ll never have to remember what you said to Mr. A or Ms. B, because you will have told the truth. It will be very easy to remember. Your customers, clients, friends, and family will come to expect honesty from you, because they’ll be used to it. Your business will grow, as will your relationships, and your overall success. Sure, you might find yourself in situations where pulling out the old Spin would be easier, but there’s always another way. You’ll have less stress, your life will go easier, you'll feel better about yourself, and you’ll be less prone to illnesses and disease.

Now, if the lessons you learned at your parents’ knees were different than the above or if you find yourself working toward a degree in Spin Doctoring, don't try to do business with my firm! You may wish to go back to school and reconsider your path. Remember, no matter what anyone tells you, "Spin" is a four letter word!

Dear Staz:

I truly enjoyed presenting "Enough About Me, Let's Talk About Me!" an Executive Career Workshop at your Greek Synergy event in Manhattan. Many thanks for permitting me to be a part of such an important beginning.

I've got some exciting news! COSMOS-FM, Hellenic Public Radio, has invited me to be interviewed LIVE on the air TONIGHT, August 4th, at 7:00 PM on 91.5 FM. Listeners will be able to call into the radio station to ask questions about executive job search, high level networking, how to build meaningful business relationships, how to protect their careers and secure the right executive position.

Please tune-in to FM 91.5 or listen via the internet at 7:00 PM tonight and invite those who might benefit to listen and to call-in.

Sincerely,

Andrew B. Zezas, SIOR
Relationship Manager,Strategist, President & CEO

REAL ESTATE STRATEGIES CORPORATION

908.245.5999 x11
201.906.8964 cell

http://www.thecfosguide.com/
www.LinkedIn.com/in/AndrewZezas
http://www.andrewzezas.com/
Blog: CorporateAdvisor.wordpress.com
Blog: AndrewZezas.blogspot.com


Business Driven Real Estate Solutions...and Opportunities
http://www.realstrat.com/
3 Executive Drive, Suite 400
Somerset, New Jersey 08873

Licensed Real Estate Broker

Why Doesn't Your Resume Contain a Headline?

If your local newspaper was organized like most resumes, few people would read it. Most resumes read like product manuals....very boring and matter of fact, with a few gratuitous power words thrown in. Yuck! When was the last time you got excited when reading someone else's resume?

Newspapers today use the same tried and proven successful technique today that they've employed forever. In big bold type at the top of the front page, above the fold, they tell you what the top story is. They use a short phrase that makes you stop, grab the paper, and turn to page 7 to read more about the story behind the headline. They give you a reason to want to read more. TV commercials selling products and services take the same approach. They say something at the beginning or ask a question designed to get your attention and keep you waiting for more.

So, why wouldn't you do the same with your resume? Don't you want to get someone's attention? Do you want them to read about your expertise, and decide to interview you, or even hire you?

Come on! I know you think your resume is impressive. But, everyone thinks the same about their resumes. That doesn't mean that the right people will read it! Moreover, you must know that there are people out there who are better qualified than you, who's resumes are better written than yours, and who may be more aggressively marketing themselves. In today's environment, when so many people are seeking employment, you need a hook, a reason to inspire the right people to read the details contained in your resume.

So, why take a chance on having your resume passed over? Why hope that by writing your resume the same way that thousands of other qualified professionals do, that magically yours will be read, and that the reader will fully digest what you've written, understand your background, and correctly interpret how her company will benefit by hiring you? Don't hope...make it clear! Spoon feed it to them! Tell them right up front, at the top of your resume, what benefits they'll derive. Use a headline! Don't tell them what you can do. Instead, tell them the results they'll get by hiring you!

Ok, so you want to avoid looking like a cheesy salesperson...you should! You don't need to use huge bold red type (although this approach can be effective). So, instead, use an elegant style font that's not so big, yet is big enough to catch your intended reader's eye.

Listen, Winston Churchill made it very clear that when making an important point, being subtle was not the best course of action. Read his quote at the "Quotes" section of www.AndrewZezas.com.

So, create a great headline about yourself, display it prominently atop your resume, make your point, let the readers know what they'll get by hiring you, and get that job you're seeking!

Not sure what they'll derive by hiring you? That's an entirely different discussion. But, that's something very important on which you must spend time, right now. If you don't know what benefit or value you'll create for a company, how will they know?

Figure that one out, and you'll be ahead of most of your job seeking competitors. Good luck!

Andy

Results Are Meaningless...It’s the Experience that Counts!

How many times have you done an outstanding job for a customer or client, only to watch her hire or buy from your competitor the next time around? You’ve probably scratched your head and asked yourself “What did I do wrong?” Then you might say “I worked hard for that customer, I made sure they got a great deal, and I gave them a rock bottom price. They couldn’t have gotten a better price from anyone in town. And, this is the thanks I get!” Ah! The salesperson’s lament!

Every good salesperson understands that price isn’t everything. In fact, if price were the most important component of every sale, luxury brands like BMW, Coach, Four Seasons Hotels, and Nobu would not succeed…because their value can not be found in a low price.

So, let’s assume that you provided your customer with more than just a great price, and that you got them good terms, too. In business-to-business services, like corporate real estate, we hear brokers exclaim all the time “I got them such a good deal on that property…I cut their price by 20%, and secured huge landlord concessions, too. And, they hired my competitor for their next project!” In the service business, results are important. After all, results are what drive decisions, how people are paid, how executive bonuses are calculated, how purchases are made…right? While that may be true, people make decisions based on many factors, including but, not only based on, results.

Here are a few questions:

- Remember the last time you got a new car? You may still be driving that same car. If you’re lucky, you drive a great car. You may enjoy getting into it, driving it, maybe even being seen in it. Perhaps your great car takes you and your loved ones safely and in style to places where you have loads of fun. You might enjoy its handling, its speed, its interiors, or something else. Or, maybe you enjoy the looks you get when cruising down main street. The results you get from that car are great.

- But, do you remember the experience of buying or leasing that car? Was it fun? Did you trust the salesperson? Was he truly interested in you, your needs, your challenges, and creating an optimal solution for you, or was he more interested in selling you a car and moving onto the next customer? Would you like to do it again? Would you go back to that same salesperson again based on your first experience?

If you answered “yes” to the last few questions, consider yourself lucky, and don’t let that salesperson go. Unfortunately, if you’re like most Americans, you will not have answered “yes”. Why? Because in many cases, sales and service people, especially those in consumer oriented businesses, focus on the end-game, the final transaction, the results. To often they don’t focus enough on the process of achieving those results from the perspective of the customer. In fact, too few companies compensate their sales and service personnel based on the customer experience. They typically compensate them based on results. So, if you were a salesperson, where would you put your efforts? You'd likely put them in achieving results!

It’s a fact that people buy based, at least in part, on emotional factors. Thta's most often true whether people are making personal purchases or acquiring somehting for their company. Trust is not a results driven basis for buying a product or engaging a service provider. Feeling that the person on the other side of the conference table is truly looking out for your company and your personal success is not results focused.

Sure, results are extremely important when it comes time to demonstrate to a customer that their objectives were accomplished. But, results are not the only factor that will ensure your customer will engage you again. It’s the experience, silly!

That’s right, it’s the experience that counts, and that keeps customers coming back. People aren’t robots. They don’t remember sales or service people who got them great deals. They remember people who looked out for them, who they could trust, who did more for them, as people, then they promised, who’s company they enjoyed. Sure, great results look good on your resume. But, a long list of repeat customers, who are so comfortable with you that they’ll engage you again and again, and will tell your prospective customers about what great experiences they had with you, is what success is really about. It’s about the experience you provide for your customers, not just the results.

Business, like life itself, is not about results. It's about the experiences you enjoy and those you create for others that define success.

Tell Me What You Can Do For Me!

Where is your headline?


Why is that when so many executives wish to stand out in a crowd, all they do is blend-in for fear of being different? I see this every day when people, most of whom are seasoned executives, search for their next career opportunity.

In our corporate real estate advisory and transaction services firm, we deal with a lot of very senior executives. I receive resumes almost everyday from people I know and from those who know people I know. So, the resumes I see are pretty thorough and contain some really cool experiences and seriously impressive accomplishments.

In one respect, almost all of the resumes I receive look exactly the same. They tell me what the candidate has done. That's history, old news, and not necessarily pertinent to what they might be capable of doing for the next company for which they work. What they accomplished in previous positions only references what they might be able to do, it only infers their capabilities. Moreover, most resumes are written like technical journals for your television....really boring and unimaginative.

Here are a couple of questions to ask yourself: Why leave interpretation of your tue abilities and value, and your career, up to chance? Why risk that the person reading your resume will actually read all of it? Why risk that the reader will understand all you've done? Why risk that the reader make the connection between your past and their company's future? Why permit your resume to blend into the hundreds or thousands of resumes that companies receive daily?



WHY NOT JUST TELL THEM WHAT YOU CAN ACHIEVE...FOR THEM???!!!



Think of a contractor who is brought to a house where the roof has blown off. Does he spend his time talking about all of his other jobs, his technical expertise, and what he accomplished for his previous customers? Hell, no! If he's good, he is intelligent enough to recognize the problem, assess the damage, and then focus on the solutions he'll provide to achieve the prospective customer's objectives.

Apply this to a doctor: If you were her patient, would you first want to know about all she's done in the past, what she thinks was exciting, or how she'll save your life right now?

How about an attorney? Do you care about how he won his cases, or simply that he won more than he lost, and how he'll win yours?

The same is true about every aspect of the job search. Before your interviewers and those who read your resume pass by your resume, tell them exactly what you can do for their company. Don't make your sign black and white, and don't forget to even use a sign! Don't leave it up to them to figure you out. They may not fail or not even try. And, you simply have too many competitors today to permit yourself to blend into the crowd, when you're trying to stand out. How can you do this? By creating a sign that will entice them to learn more about you.



WRITE A BRIEF HEADLINE!



The answer is simple. Add a headline to the top of your resume in a font that is a bit larger than the rest of the document (not too large) that says what you can do. Put it right at the top, above everything else. Make it a very specific statement. And, when you meet for an interview, write a headline that precisely address the needs of the company or department with which you're meeting! For example, the headline for a candidate seeking a CFO position with XYZ Company might say "I can reduce XYZ Company's operating costs by 20%, reduce its risk by 10%, and increase its profits by 25% in approximately 1 year!" That will get their attention! That's how you will stand out from the crowd that follows the same tired resume and communications styles as everyone else.

Of course, you must be able to back-up your headline. And, that's when you tell your interviewer how you will achieve those objectives. Afterward, back up the "how" with your experiences and accomplishments. This approach requires research, a keen understanding of the target company's objectives and your abilities...and guts! Now, that's the mark of a true executive...a leader! Or, instead of taking control of your career, you can simply send your resume to hundreds of companies, blend into the crowd, miss your chance to stand out and win that coveted career position, and keep your fingers crossed in the hopes that someone will sift through hundreds of other resumes and because of the color of your letterhead, decide to hire you...yeah, right!

But what if you would consider anyone of multiple positions? Simple...write multiple headlines.

But, what if you don't want to be specific and prefer to leave your options open in case a different position comes around. Well, if you've got all the time in the world and aren't concerned that being vague may casue you to miss an real opportunity, then you can certainly take that approach.

Think about it like this: What if a restaurant owner took that approach and was vague about what he offered, so that he could capture every possible customer that drove by his store? Would you go to a restaurant if the sign out front contained nothing more than a white background with large black letters that only said "Food"? Would that sign entice you to enter and learn more? Would you be entrigued by the spices, old working cooking styles, or fresh produce they use? Would you be excited that you will have a great meal, meet interesting people, and be fully satsified after? Of course not! You'd likely pass right by it on your way to a restaurant where you could easily figure out what you'd get, and one that you expect would satisfy the criteria you've determined would be important to you....likely, the kind of place where, from the first second you stood out front, the sign, the building, the entrance, the aromas, the people, the sounds, the atmosphere, and everything else about the place appealed to what you were seeking....and, made you hungry!

Should your resume say "Food" or "I can save your company $10 million"? On your resume, don't try to come up with a catchy slogan, tag line, or phrase. Tell it like it is. Tell the reader or interviewer exactly what they will receive after they hire you.

So, stand out, don't follow the crowd and do what everyone else does. Executives are not supposed to be followers. They are leaders, who are very well aware of what they can achieve for their employers. And, that must come out in everything you do and say, from your resume to your interview, and everything in between.

What? You don't know what the interviewing company needs? Then, you don't belong in the interview. Do your research, make an assessment, make some phone calls, ask some questions, and confirm the company's objectives before you present yourself. Never in the history of the world has so much information been available to so many people about so many companies and industries. With the information that is available to you today, you have no excuse for not being fully prepared and not connecting how your past experiences and your current expertise can all be brought together to accomplish great things for your next employer...and, for you.

Now, go write your headline...and, Good Luck!