Read Online I Shouldn't Be Telling You This: Success Secrets Every Gutsy Girl Should Know by Kate White - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Kate White
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month. The articles staff, which included me, would pitch ideas, and she’d fill the section with twenty-five or so of what she considered the best ones—a combination of fashion, beauty, health, relationship, and lifestyle tips. She had no clue why some months readers rated the section so much higher than others.
On my own, I decided to try to figure it out. I pulled together all the ratings and analyzed the months the section had rated the highest and the months it had rated the lowest—and finally I had the answer. Though the managing editor picked decent ideas and made sure all the right categories were covered, many of the topics tended to be very specific (there was once even an item on how to deal with a diabetic pet!); it was clear that she never stepped back and considered the right overall mix of topics.
In analyzing the ratings, I discovered that if all the items in the section were very specific, the overall rating tended to be low. It wasn’t hard to figure out why. A reader might not find anything for herself in that kind of mix. If, on the other hand, the section contained at least five items of more universal appeal—such as how to beat insomnia or ask for a raise—the ratings went through the roof. I’d figured out how to fix the broken bureau leg.
Caveat: I (stupidly) ended up getting cold feet about turning in the analysis; I was afraid the managing editor might view it as my trying to show I was smarter than she was. But in hindsight I know it would have knocked the editor in chief’s socks off. All wasn’t lost, though; I went on to use that type of analysis in every job I had after that.
{ How to Pull Off a Project Perfectly }
O kay, I hope I’ve impressed on you the importance of doing far more than what you’ve been told to do, of generating ideas that will knock your boss’s socks off. But now it’s time to talk about actually executing those ideas, as well as whatever else your boss puts on your plate. You need to know how to get a project off the ground, keep the momentum of it going, and see it through to its conclusion. Law professor Lori Andrews told me recently that many of the projects she’s been asked to take on actually involve finishing what someone else has started. “You wouldn’t believe how many projects just don’t get completed,” she says.
These strategies will help guarantee your projects never derail.
Be absolutely certain of what you are supposed to accomplish. When your boss assigns you a project, take good notes and ask questions regarding anything you’re not sure about. Over the years, I’ve noticed that junior staffers are often reluctant to ask too many questions about a project—perhaps out of fear of looking stupid—but then they fail to do the project well. The key question to ask: “What are the results you’re looking for?” Sometimes a boss can forget to spell that out. It may sound as though she wants a simple PowerPoint presentation about the business, but if she’s hoping to persuade a client of something, you’ll want your slides to help do that. Be clear, too, about deadlines and who needs to be looped in on the project.
In some cases giving your project a name can help motivate you. Lili Root, the terrific executive director of events marketing for Hearst, told me that she comes up with a name for every event she does even if one hasn’t been provided. “A name just helps you focus,” she says. “As you brainstorm ideas, you can hold them up against the name and see if they fit or not.”
Make a plan. You need to figure out exactly what must be done to complete the project, and then you must break it down into what the productivity expert Julie Morgenstern calls small, “complete-able” steps. Otherwise, the project will seem overwhelming. Morgenstern (whom I’ve hired on occasion to teach me better time-management strategies!) says that one of the smartest things you can do is talk to someone who has done a similar
On my own, I decided to try to figure it out. I pulled together all the ratings and analyzed the months the section had rated the highest and the months it had rated the lowest—and finally I had the answer. Though the managing editor picked decent ideas and made sure all the right categories were covered, many of the topics tended to be very specific (there was once even an item on how to deal with a diabetic pet!); it was clear that she never stepped back and considered the right overall mix of topics.
In analyzing the ratings, I discovered that if all the items in the section were very specific, the overall rating tended to be low. It wasn’t hard to figure out why. A reader might not find anything for herself in that kind of mix. If, on the other hand, the section contained at least five items of more universal appeal—such as how to beat insomnia or ask for a raise—the ratings went through the roof. I’d figured out how to fix the broken bureau leg.
Caveat: I (stupidly) ended up getting cold feet about turning in the analysis; I was afraid the managing editor might view it as my trying to show I was smarter than she was. But in hindsight I know it would have knocked the editor in chief’s socks off. All wasn’t lost, though; I went on to use that type of analysis in every job I had after that.
{ How to Pull Off a Project Perfectly }
O kay, I hope I’ve impressed on you the importance of doing far more than what you’ve been told to do, of generating ideas that will knock your boss’s socks off. But now it’s time to talk about actually executing those ideas, as well as whatever else your boss puts on your plate. You need to know how to get a project off the ground, keep the momentum of it going, and see it through to its conclusion. Law professor Lori Andrews told me recently that many of the projects she’s been asked to take on actually involve finishing what someone else has started. “You wouldn’t believe how many projects just don’t get completed,” she says.
These strategies will help guarantee your projects never derail.
Be absolutely certain of what you are supposed to accomplish. When your boss assigns you a project, take good notes and ask questions regarding anything you’re not sure about. Over the years, I’ve noticed that junior staffers are often reluctant to ask too many questions about a project—perhaps out of fear of looking stupid—but then they fail to do the project well. The key question to ask: “What are the results you’re looking for?” Sometimes a boss can forget to spell that out. It may sound as though she wants a simple PowerPoint presentation about the business, but if she’s hoping to persuade a client of something, you’ll want your slides to help do that. Be clear, too, about deadlines and who needs to be looped in on the project.
In some cases giving your project a name can help motivate you. Lili Root, the terrific executive director of events marketing for Hearst, told me that she comes up with a name for every event she does even if one hasn’t been provided. “A name just helps you focus,” she says. “As you brainstorm ideas, you can hold them up against the name and see if they fit or not.”
Make a plan. You need to figure out exactly what must be done to complete the project, and then you must break it down into what the productivity expert Julie Morgenstern calls small, “complete-able” steps. Otherwise, the project will seem overwhelming. Morgenstern (whom I’ve hired on occasion to teach me better time-management strategies!) says that one of the smartest things you can do is talk to someone who has done a similar
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