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Progress since last week...
1. Practice storytelling
Same, working on wins for Jun/Jul/Aug
2. Expand network
Not great, 0 for 2 on my last 2 cold emails to VPs. Gonna keep trying.
3. Increase marketability
Pushed my exam to Jun 30 to give myself more time. I've been writing so much in preparation I've given myself Carpal tunnel.
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Progress since last week...
Doing better here, pretty locked in at the moment.
1. Practice storytelling
Have my list, working through it, aiming for some big wins here Jun/Jul/Aug.
2. Expand network
Trying, man, I'm trying. Lunch scheduled today with an AVP I want to reconnect with. Emailed a VP I've been meaning to reach out to for a while now, hasn't responded. Have a list I'm working through.
3. Increase marketability
In full-fledged practice problem mode for CMA exam. Feeling OK about the material, but really need to hit some of the cumbersome math concepts hard in the coming weeks. Exam in 3.5 weeks, hope to feel better about the material soon.
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Progress since last week...
3. Increase marketability
Part one of the CMA exam looms large over all else right now, I'm one month out. I'm about to shift from getting through the material/taking notes to studying and doing practice problems. Not an excuse for shortcomings in #1 and #2 below, but it's dominating my creative energy at the moment.
1. Practice storytelling
Currently focusing on the work that will create stories to tell about. I regret not making more progress on something because I could have had a presentation spot in my boss's boss's staff meeting this week, but I really didn't have anything to talk about.
2. Expand network
Falling short here. I need to write down a list of names and start an action plan. I will do that by the end of the week.
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Progress since last week...
1. Practice storytelling
I am too much in planning mode, not doing mode at the moment at work. Dealing with turnover, interviewing new candidates, thinking through org changes, I don't know what my next big presentation will be.
That said I covered for my boss at last month end's meeting, did a great job delivering the results for my org, it was nice doing that again.
There are a couple pet projects I am working on that could turn into decent presentations, maybe that's what I ought to focus on, doing the work on those in the next few weeks so I have stories to tell in the next few months.
2. Expand network
Thursday lunches are going well. I need to get my targeted list of new people to get in front of and start getting in front of them.
3. Increase marketability
I've been banging through CMA prep, about a week away from making it through all the material, taking copious notes along the way. I need to keep at that for the next week, then I should have a good month to review practice problems.
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Progress since last week...
1. Practice storytelling
Did that presentation at my boss's staff meeting. Went fine. Probably couldn't have stood to tighten up the talk track because it went long due to lots of questions. Might get invited to present at my boss's boss's staff meeting and/or my boss's boss's boss's staff meeting, so that's good.
Working on the next one.
2. Expand network
Haven't done a good enough job of reinforcing interactions I had with leaders I met at the conference a few weeks back. Still need to get in front of more FP&A leaders too. Thursday lunch is going well, still have lunch with someone different every week. Last week I met with a former employee to try to recruit him back. Unfortunately, I don't think that worked. Today, I'm having lunch with my boss's boss's boss. So I will ask him about that presentation up in #1.
3. Increase marketability
I have really cranked it up a notch in CMA studying. The modules I'm going through now are essentially what I've done for my job to some extent in past roles, it's not rocket science. If I work through the practice problems, I should be fine. I plan on being through all the content by mid-May so I have a full month to review flashcards and practice the math before my examine in mid-June.
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Progress since last week...
1. Practice storytelling
Still think I'm doing OK here in a big picture sense though I don't have easy tangible results to share. That is, I am living and breathing storytelling in my day-to-day interactions with my team and colleagues, but I haven't had to do any formal presentations in the last few weeks.
That's changing today, at my boss's staff meeting this morning I am presenting something. I attended a 3-day Data & Analytics conference last week, and I distilled 3-days worth of content--slides, interactions, etc--into a 15-minute presentation of why it's important for us. Going to use this as an opportunity to over-deliver and do some storytelling.
2. Expand network
I think I did a good job of that at the conference last week. I asked questions, I introduced myself to senior leaders, I explained what I did and how the content applied to my area, I followed up with a few folks when I got back to the office, there's a few more folks I still need to follow up with.
3. Increase marketability
I got back to studying for the CMA exam this week. I put an aggressive timeline to get through all the Becker lecture content by mid-May (I'm on track after a few days) so I can have a full month to practice the math and memorize the definitions. I can do this.
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Progress since last week...
Falling behind in my CMA studies, got bored with it last week, told myself I'd catch up over the weekend, but we had two soccer games on Saturday and two more on Sunday, so I knew I was telling myself a lie.
And I'm traveling for work this week, so I will fall farther behind, but I am not lying to myself this time when I say I'll have some time over the weekend to study, it's just a matter of making myself do it. Besides the work trip should help me with networking goals and inspire some future storytelling.
The work trip is a 3-day conference at the hotel near our corporate HQ. I made some good impressions with a few senior leaders, I made some good connections with the people I was sitting close to, I skipped an hour session after lunch and snuck away to the office to meet some colleagues in person for the first time. The last few presentation of the day between 3:30-5p got a little boring, but all in all I was having a good day.
Cocktails were 5p, then back in the main room for dinner at 6:30p. Since my plane was delayed the night before and I chose sleep over my morning run, plus my social battery was running low and I'm not drinking alcohol at the moment, I took that 90 minutes to do 4 miles on the treadmill, relax in my room for a moment, before showering and returning for dinner.
I survived dinner, sat down at a table where I recognized a few faces from the day, did my best to make small talk. But most had been drinking and were in a slightly different mood than me. I know this isn't true, but they all seemed to know each other and work with each other, I felt like an outsider, this is just how I am.
And it started to dawn on me that many of these people are a level above me, many of them my age and younger, so my ego gets bruised a bit. But I'm down at a satellite office with fewer opportunities than corporate, and maybe I just don't work hard and network hard enough. But I'm trying to change that.
The person sitting next to me was probably 10 years younger than me, and it through our conversation, I realized he was the person that beat me out for a promotion I interviewed for back in the fall. Again, I was an outsider to that org, he wasn't, he's probably great, but it's still an ego hit. I spend the rest of the dinner talking to a few others that were nice enough, maybe I made a decent enough impression, who knows.
Need to rally to get through two more days of this.
