I believe I have said before that I am not great on career advice.  I think it’s well known that I am a leadership consultant and coach, and I spend most of my day observing human behavior and how actions/behaviors/ways of living impact leadership and teams.

One of the skills I bring to the coaching work I provide my clients is to be able to tap into “environments” in order to develop our leadership skills.  And…in this day and age, developing leadership skills will be critical to help you improve your career.

When I think of environments, I think of everything…from the books you read to the home/office you live in to the people you hang out with. Environments also include geographical locations, networks of people, technology and the list goes on.

I want to leave you today with 3 activities you can do, starting today, to change your environments,  improve both your leadership skills and in the long run…your career.

1) Upgrade your network to a level which challenges you to be better/stronger/greater.

In my industry, I hear a great number of coaches using the phrase “getting to the next level”.  I always want to know what the heck that means.  So, to put it in simple terms “getting to the next level” is being able to take on a tougher/bigger task OR network of people and being able to not only succeed but thrive in that environment.

My son Jack is a young (age 19) amateur golfer.  He plays for the University of North Carolina, and 2 weeks ago, he made it through the first qualifying round for the US Open.  This was “the next level” for my son.  Yesterday, he went to the sectional qualifier and guess who he was paired with?  Matt Kucher, who just finished 5th behind Tiger Woods in the Memorial Tournament this past week-end. Jack missed the cut, but he did place 13th in the sectional.  He played two rounds back to back, and both rounds were under par.  I believe 95% of his results came about, because he was playing with a top PGA tour player.  Was he nervous?  You bet he was, but he got in there and used this as an opportunity to play better golf and to learn a few things.

Challenge: Today, I challenge you to look at the people you are hanging out with.  Are they setting the bar higher for you, and are they playing a bigger game and being in demand for you to play bigger/better?

2) Learn a new trade.

Bob Lee Swagger has a great column:  Men, Work and Ward Cleaver, and a portion of the column was contributed by Matthew B. Crawford, author of Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work.  The column points out that learning a new trade requires a great deal of ingenuity and hard work (dirty jobs!)

My daughter, Katie, is working on a home renovation project for her summer job.  Each morning, she goes to the job site and works on everything from stripping wall paper to sanding walls and floors and several other odd jobs.  I went to the job site last week to watch her strip wallpaper and tried it myself…my gosh…how hard!  But, she finally figured out a method to get the wall paper off in big sheets rather than picking and pulling bits and bites.  It took a few days (she had very little instruction…just told what tools she needed), and she had to get it figured out.  She is learning the art and science of trial and error and will end up with a new skill under her belt.  And, she is learning that “stick to it” attitude which is missing from many people’s lives.

Challenge:  Today, choose a trade you would like to learn.  This can be anything from stripping wallpaper to changing the oil in your car to replacing a sink faucet.  Just do it, and get it figured out along the way!

3) Spend at least one week in a city you have never visited.

Learning to navigate a new city is a great way to develop out strategic agility.  I know…I was just with my daughter, Ann, for 3 days in Washington, D.C., as we tried to find her new housing for the summer (Catholic University) and how to find the quickest subway route from Catholic to the FCC, where she is interning for the summer.  I learned more in 3 days than I had in over two months, simply from trying to navigate a new location, so I can only imagine what Ann is learning (I also have to add in that she is going out to the public and making cold calls to people regarding the switch over to digital this Friday…not only using English but Spanish…a learning curve in and of itself).  Ann also did the same “city navigation” strategy last summer when she worked in Costa Rica and lived with a host family.  Not only did she have to navigate a new country, she had to speak Spanish the entire time she was there.  The learning she gained from these times are already starting to pay off as she considers her next steps after she graduates in May 2010 from Duke.

Challenge: Choose a city you have never visited in the past, and plan a trip for one week, simply for the sake of learning how to navigate the city.  Blog about your trip every day and look at not only the fun you are having (which you will) but the skills you are learning.

Thank-you to Greg Rollet for this great post today!

Mark Zuckerberg gets a lot of credit for making Facebook tick and he should. He took an idea from his dorm room and made arguably (I still think Twitter has more potential due to SMS but) the best online community the world has ever seen. Mark is young, talented and has a vision that most people his age are not even pretending to think about.

However, Mark is part of a growing number of Millennials that are working to fight the status quo, have an entrepreneurial spirit and show the world they are ready for big business. For however smart, and the grand vision Mark has in his head, he needs a team to help him execute and become an influential leader instead of a passing fad. Mark and Facebook have done an amazing job recruiting top talent and leaders in perspective areas that compliment the brilliant young minds behind Facebook. Much like Barack Obama has strong values and beliefs, he needs a top-notch team of advisors to compliment him in areas that are not his strengths.

Complimenting your strengths is a great way to succeed and it has proved worthwhile for Facebook. Although they have not hit the business goals that they set out to achieve in 2008, with the growth in users from the Gen-Xers and its International growth it is only a matter of time before Mark and his team find the Golden Ticket.

So who are some of these people?

Mike Murphy is the VP of Sales and came from another Internet juggernaut, Yahoo. Mike brings with him experience from Yahoo’s Media Sales Division and also some entrepreneurship and leadership from his own startup TAG.

Chamath Palihapitiya is Facebook’s VP of growth and has done a great job in that role. He comes from a VC background, which means long hours evaluating business plans and looking into the hearts of companies. His leadership has been an integral part in helping Facebook get the numbers they have in different demographic sectors and overseas.

Dan Rose is the VP of Business Development and Monetization after a career at eCommerce supersite Amazon.com. The experience he learned at Amazon helped him in the creation of the Kindle, which is one of the products Amazon is hoping will grow their business even further in the future. While his efforts at Facebook have not sizzled to that of the higher than high expectations, Dan is a great leader and asset to Mark and Facebook’s vision.

Sheryl Sandberg is the COO in Mark’s army and came over from the company Mark has a chance to really compete with, Google. Sheryl also worked for a big shot political star, Bill Clinton. That may be the type of leadership any hot shot Gen-Y business leader would want on their side.

Another Googler, Elliot Schrage is now the VP of Communications over at FB. Where Mark may be the technology brains of the operation, his stories of brilliance only go so far as his PR and Communications staff brings him.

Mike Schroepfer is the VP of Engineering and came from Mozilla. The guy who was instrumental in Firefox is someone who has leadership ability and would be a great addition to a young technical mind.

And…

Gideon Yu is the VP and CFO and held the same title at a site you might have heard of, YouTube. He was the negotiator in their $1.6 billion sale to Google. Not a bad money man to round out the team.

I am sure there are others in Zuckerberg’s team that also compliment his strengths and have turned him into the Millennial Leader that he is today. By adding people that are smarter than him, that challenge him to be better everyday, Mark has built a team that is ready for the future and can deliver on its promises. Hopefully the same can be said for another guy with a great team that will have great power come the 20^th.

(Greg Rollett is a Social Media guy from Endagon Innovations, a Social Media boutique that focuses on Youth Culture and Hospitality. He can also be found blogging at http://gregrollett.blogspot.com or emailed at greg.rollett@endagon.com.)

Ah.. more than 42 Million Gen Y members can vote in the upcoming election. And why is that only one candidate is really using the web And why is it that only candidate thought to go to an expert or at least someone who lives and breathes online stuff. Why is it that only one candidate hired the founder of Facebook to help him with his campaign. Why is that even though only 48% of the Gen Yers claimto be a Democrat, they will still vote for Obama.

46% of Gen Yers expect the next President to interact with them online. Isn’t amazing that other candidates–in any election–still haven’t integrated online into their communications with these constituents

Simmons Research, an Experian company, has chronicled the predilections of consumers in its National Consumer Study since 1960, and recently added social media to its survey. That includes social-networking sites, blogs, message boards, podcasts and e-mail. Simmons agreed to slice and dice its volumes of data for Advertising Age to identify social-media consumer profiles. The first five are from its bank of 38 consumer personalities; the others are pulled from demographic data.

SOCIALLY ISOLATED

These people are generally unhappy with their lives and feel alone. Not surprisingly, they fall at average or below average for e-mailing. But that doesn’t mean they eschew social media. In fact, they’re 12% more likely than the average person to use blogs, message boards or social-networking sites. They also post comments on blogs at least twice a month; personal, music, consumer-product and video-game blogs are most visited.

APPROVAL SEEKERS

This group buys what others are buying and likes to follow styles and trends. They use social-networking sites to meet like-minded people, express their views, get music and entertainment recommendations, and keep in touch with family and friends. They rate average in e-mailing friends and co-workers but above average in using e-mail to communicate with their parents. They are 23% more likely to instant message and download music.

HEALTH AND IMAGE LEADERS

This is eager to try health and wellness products, experiment with diets, and spend to look younger. The majority are under 50. They prefer reading blogs over posting comments or creating their own blogs and prefer to read about TV shows, video games, music and art/literature. They also like social-networking sites: More than one-fifth visit them more than twice a month.

SMART GREEN

Clearly they prefer to buy products in recycled packages and eschew products that pollute. They are average users of social networking, blogging and podcasting but slightly above average in message boards. They are older (50-plus) and are most likely to go online for health or financial information. And in the spirit of their eco-friendly attitude toward trees, they’re 23% more likely to send electronic greeting cards.

BRAND-LOYAL

This group shies away from buying unknown brands just for a bargain and prefers to buy brand-name goods. They’re very average social-media users, but some subjects of interest drive them to social media more than the average person: They’re 21% more likely to read environmental blogs and 22% more likely to use professional-networking sites to make new contacts.

STAY-AT-HOME MOMS

They’re 25 to 49 and have at least one child living at home. They use social media for a variety of reasons, including staying in touch and parental guidance. They visit parenting blogs five times more often than average. They’re also active on social networks, blogs and chat forums but tend to stay away from podcasting. They visit blogs once or more a week and create their own blogs at a higher than average rate.

UPSCALE GRAYS

These 50-plus consumers with college degrees and household incomes of more than $100,000 are low-level social-media users. They are almost 40% less likely than the average person to have read blogs, visited chat forums or instant messaged and 70% less likely to have visited a social network in the past month. One of the only places they skewed higher than average were professional networking sites.

FIRST-TIME HOME BUYERS

It makes sense that people in the market for a home would look online for information about not only real estate but other products involved in home ownership. But Experian found that this under-35 set also includes very active social networkers, bloggers and message-board users. They also rank high in texting, podcasting and business networking. They use social networks to keep in touch but also to find information.

DIVORCED

Unsurprisingly, both sexes index high for dating sites, but women are more likely to visit social networks than men. Divorced women are also 20% more likely to buy something online, while men are 52% more likely to visit sports sites. Neither is into blogs or chat forums, but women communicate more than average via text message, while men use e-mail 45% more than average to communicate with their children.

I had a very nice e-mail today from Briel Zagarow. He is the Communications Manager for Mr. Youth, and he passed along a link to a great white paper that every marketer needs to know about.

The white paper, titled Consumer 2.0, discusses the effects technology and other marketing advances have had on consumer behavior, the youth market in particular. The white paper outlines Five Rules to Engage a New Breed of Consumer. So check it out!
Thank-you Briel…this is great stuff!

Interested in learning more about how to market to Generation Y?  Check out Bea Fields’ articles or contact her today to speak to your company or upcoming event:

Marketing to Generation Y: What You Can’t Afford Not to Know

10 Surefire Strategies for Marketing to Generation Y

Listen to Bea Fields interviewed on the topic of Marketing to Gen Y 

Everyone keeps talking about how Obama has leveraged Web 2.0 Technologies better than his opponents. But there’s something else going on. And that is how do people find these videos, podcasts, and blogs. It is not just by going to YouTube.com. Instead, it is based on online word of mouth. Younger folks are forwarding Web addresses in their emails, or leveraging ‘beacons’ on sites like FaceBook. Beacons basically let your friends know what you are doing, such as ‘listening to Podcast of Obama’s speeches. According to Gen Yers, I speak with, they are subscribing less and less to paper based newspapers and reading more online. And it is there friends and coworkers who are using the Web to let them know what to read online. This also impacts the type of info consumed by Gen Yers. Instead of reading what experts think about an event, users just go to a recording the event (after they receive an email from a friend).

Anya Kamenetz has a great post today on Yahoo Finance about the issues facing young voters. A big concern? The economy.

Several more senior leaders have been telling me that Gen Y does not seem concerned about the economy, but this is not what I am hearing, and Kamenetz’s opinion is more in line with what I am hearing.

Why us old folks sometimes hate Gen Yers?

Disclaimer: I don’t really hate Gen Y. I love working and learning from them.

BUT, there are folks who come straight out and say, ‘Gen Y is spoiled.’ I recently met with a company where a senior manager said, ‘those kids are spoiled… they think they can just take off an afternoon.’

When I challenged this manager and asked him how many Gen Yers were on his staff, he said ‘1′.

When I asked him how many Gen Yers he interacts with a week, he said ‘1 or 2.’

When I asked him if he explored FaceBook or some other websites where there are a lot of Gen Yers, he said ‘no’

When I asked him if he read our book, he said ‘no’

Ignorance is not always bliss. Just like any culture, generation or religion, you (Gen X, Boomers, etc.), need to get out of their current mind set and interact with young folks. Besides learning, there is another good reason.

It is scientifically proven that one lives longer if they interact with younger folks. (Please don’t ask me to send you the article that states this because it will take a while to find it)

It is ok for Gen Yers to wear their pants low, wear a baseball cap sideways, have a tattoo or a pierced body part. Who are we to judge? It is natural to have some prejudices, but hopefully they can dissolve over time.

Just know that they will change jobs more than you do, they will dress differently, they will have a different vocabulary, and they might even eat different food.

Be open. Be Y!

Listen in to this great interview I held last night with Misti Burmeister. Misti is the CEO of Inspirion, Inc. and is one of America’s top generational experts (and she’s only 29). She is the author of the new book From Boomers to Bloggers: Succcess Strategies Across Generations (a really great read). Misti is featured in Chapter of 19 of Millennial Leaders.

Listen to the interview here:

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Political leaders want their votes. Businesses want their disposable income. Organizations want their talent. Generation Y represents over 72 million influencers, and they are a powerful force to be reckoned with. During this interview, published author and corporate writer, Sara Thomas, interviews executive coaches Carol Graser, Beth Bloomfield and Bea Fields about some of the most pressing questions companies are facing about how to best develop The Millennials into future leaders.

For more about host Sara Thomas, visit her blog at SarahThomas.com.

Listen to the audio here:
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