Embracing Your Authentic Self in Adversity

 

 

In the ever-evolving landscape of the professional world, losing a job can feel like a personal failure, an assault on your self-worth, and a confirmation of your worst fears. When it seems like a company doesn't value your contributions, the sting can be particularly sharp. Yet, in these moments of uncertainty and self-doubt, it’s crucial to remember that your value isn't solely defined by your job title or your current employment status. Instead, it’s rooted in your authenticity, professionalism, and the image you project to the world.

The Importance of Being Yourself

At the heart of your personal and professional journey is your authenticity—who you are at your core. This is your unique combination of skills, experiences, values, and personality traits. Being yourself means staying true to these elements, even when external circumstances challenge you. When you lose a job or feel unappreciated at work, it's easy to question your identity or try to mold yourself into what you think others want. However, this often leads to further dissatisfaction and a loss of self-respect.

Authenticity is your anchor. It is what sets you apart in a crowded job market. When you embrace who you are, you allow others to see the real you, which fosters genuine connections and opens doors to opportunities that align with your true self. In essence, staying true to yourself isn't just about personal integrity—it's about being the best version of yourself, one that resonates with others and leaves a lasting impact.

Projecting Your Image: You Are Your Own Marketing

In today's world, you are your own brand. Every interaction, both online and offline, contributes to the image others have of you. This image is a powerful tool, especially during times of professional upheaval. Even if a company doesn’t value you as you deserve, how you handle the situation can either enhance or damage your personal brand.

Think of yourself as a product in the marketplace. How do you want to be perceived? Reliable? Innovative? Professional? Your behavior, attitude, and the way you present yourself all contribute to this perception. When faced with adversity, such as losing a job, the way you manage your emotions, communicate with others, and move forward will be closely observed by those around you. This includes not just potential employers, but colleagues, friends, and even family members.

By maintaining a positive and professional demeanor, you reinforce your brand as someone who can handle challenges with grace and resilience. This doesn't mean ignoring your feelings or pretending everything is fine—it means addressing those feelings in a way that is constructive and aligned with your long-term goals.

Doing Your Best, No Matter the Circumstances

One of the greatest tests of character is how you perform when the odds are against you. It's easy to excel when everything is going well, but true strength is revealed when you continue to put in your best effort, even when it seems like no one is watching or caring.

Doing your best, regardless of the circumstances, is a testament to your professionalism. It shows that you are committed to your work and to yourself, not just to the external rewards or recognition that might come with it. This commitment is a critical component of your personal brand—it tells the world that you are reliable, dedicated, and capable, even in the face of adversity.

Moreover, this approach can have a profound impact on your mental and emotional well-being. By focusing on what you can control—your actions, your attitude, and your effort—you can regain a sense of agency and purpose, even when external factors seem overwhelming. This mindset shift can be incredibly empowering, helping you to navigate through tough times with confidence and dignity.

Professionalism in Adversity

When you lose a job or face a professional setback, it’s natural to feel hurt, angry, or even bitter. However, how you handle these emotions can significantly affect your future opportunities. Professionalism isn't about suppressing your emotions; it's about managing them in a way that upholds your dignity and respect for others.

This means not burning bridges, even when you feel wronged. It means communicating with others—whether it's your former employer, colleagues, or potential new employers—in a way that is respectful, honest, and constructive. It’s about showing up, doing the work, and maintaining your standards, even when it feels like no one else is.

By maintaining your professionalism, you not only protect your personal brand, but you also set yourself up for future success. People remember how you made them feel, and by handling adversity with grace, you leave a lasting positive impression that can open doors later on.

Conclusion: Turning Adversity into Opportunity

Losing a job or feeling undervalued by your company can be a daunting experience, but it doesn't have to define your future. By embracing your authentic self, projecting a positive and professional image, and continuing to do your best, you can turn adversity into an opportunity for growth and reinvention.

Remember, you are your own best marketer. Every challenge is an opportunity to reinforce your personal brand and demonstrate to the world—and yourself—that you are capable, resilient, and worthy of the success that awaits you. Keep showing up, keep being true to yourself, and keep pushing forward. The world is watching, and the image you project today will shape the opportunities of tomorrow.

Leadership during uncertain times

 

 

In an era characterized by rapid change, globalization, and unforeseen challenges, leadership has become an increasingly complex and critical skill.  There are essential qualities and strategies that effective leaders must cultivate to successfully navigate their organizations through uncertain times. By examining case studies, leadership theories, and practical applications, leaders can often find answers that help them to thrive amidst uncertainty.

The only constant in today's world is change. From technological advancements and economic fluctuations to global pandemics and environmental crises, leaders are continually confronted with uncertainties that require agile, innovative, and resilient responses.

Key Attributes of Effective Leaders in Uncertain Times

Vision and Strategic Thinking: Leaders must have a clear vision that provides direction and purpose. Strategic thinking enables them to anticipate future challenges and opportunities, ensuring that the organization remains aligned with its long-term goals.

Emotional Intelligence: The ability to understand and manage emotions is crucial. Leaders with high emotional intelligence can build strong relationships, handle stress, and make informed decisions that consider the well-being of their team.

Adaptability and Resilience: In times of uncertainty, leaders must be flexible and resilient. They should be open to change, willing to pivot strategies, and able to recover from setbacks quickly.

Decisiveness: While it is important to gather information and consider various perspectives, leaders must also be decisive. Making timely decisions, even with incomplete information, can prevent paralysis and maintain momentum.

Strategies for Leading Through Uncertainty

Fostering a Culture of Innovation: Encouraging creativity and innovation helps organizations adapt to change. Leaders should create an environment where new ideas are welcomed, and experimentation is supported.

Building a Strong Team: A leader's success is often determined by the strength of their team. Investing in team development, promoting collaboration, and recognizing individual contributions can enhance collective resilience and performance.

Scenario Planning and Risk Management: Proactively identifying potential risks and developing contingency plans can prepare organizations for various scenarios. This strategic foresight enables leaders to respond swiftly and effectively when challenges arise.

Embracing Technology and Data: Leveraging technology and data analytics can provide valuable insights and improve decision-making. Leaders should stay informed about technological trends and incorporate data-driven strategies into their planning.

Prioritizing Well-being and Support: The well-being of team members is crucial, especially during uncertain times. Leaders should prioritize mental health, provide support resources, and foster a work environment that promotes balance and resilience.

Add a comment…

The importance of joins in relational databases

 Relational databases play a crucial role in organizing and managing vast amounts of data efficiently. One of the key operations in relational databases is the join operation, which allows the integration of data from multiple tables based on common attributes. This paper highlights the significance of joins in relational databases.

Relational databases are widely used in various industries, including finance, healthcare, e-commerce, and more, due to their ability to store and manipulate structured data. Joins enable the retrieval of relevant information by combining data from multiple tables based on common columns.

We have spoken previously about the relational model where data is stored in tables; those tables are self-contained from the logical perspective; in other words, the student table contains information about the students, the grades table contains information about the grades, the calendar table contains information about the academic calendar and so on. But most of the time, you are going to need to collect information from multiple tables to be able to produce meaningful information, and that is where you leverage the join technique to traverse from table to table to get the information you need using the relationships among those tables.

There are many types of joins, and they will be discussed in detail further down the road,

• Inner Join
• Left Join
• Right Join (outer join)
• Full Join
• Cross Join
• Self-Join

Inner joins and right joins (also commonly known as outer joins) are the two most common types of joins; on an inner join, rows from the two tables in the join are included in the result only if their related  columns match, while outer join returns rows from one table in the join even if the other table does not contain a matching row.

Here we have six students, but only five grades; please notice that “Nathan Edwards,” with student id 6519659, has not had grades posted yet.

 

When we join both tables using the where clause, there has to be a match on both tables in order to be included in the result set. 

 

However, there are times when you want all records to be displayed, even if it is to create awareness that a professor. To display all of the students who exist on the table, including those who do not have a grade, use the Outer Join operator. This operator, a plus sign enclosed within parentheses (+), will be placed on the side of the join condition that is deficient in information – the right side or student_grade table. 

Conclusion Joins play a fundamental role in relational databases, enabling the integration and retrieval of data from multiple tables based on common attributes. The ability to combine data efficiently has significant implications for data analysis, decision-making, and business operations across diverse industries. Understanding the various types of joins, their benefits, and their challenges is crucial for database administrators, developers, and analysts to design and optimize join operations effectively. By leveraging join optimization techniques, organizations can harness the full potential of relational databases and derive valuable insights from their data.

Time Boxing

  

DISCLAIMER: I am not the author of this article, and unfortunately I don't know how it got into my inbox, but I use this technique, and agree with the statements below, I am sharing it with you as it could be useful for you as well. the only contribution that I will add is that I also categorize with colors my to-do tasks, green for those that are not important because have a flexible deadline, red for those that are very important, orange is for research time or learning time and purple for anything personal.

 "Sunmary

In a recent survey of 100 productivity hacks, timeboxing — migrating to-do lists into calendars — was ranked the most useful. Timeboxing can give you a much greater sense of control over your workday. You decide what to do and when to do it, block out all distractions for that timeboxed period, and get it done. The benefits of calendarized timeboxing are many, varied, and highly impactful. The practice improves how we feel (control), how much we achieve as individuals (personal productivity), and how much we achieve in the teams we work in (enhanced collaboration). This may be the single most important skill or practice you can possibly develop as a modern professional, as it buys you so much time to accomplish anything else. It’s also straightforwardly applied and at no cost. Box some time to implement a version of this that works for you. 

Five years ago I read Daniel Markovitz’s argument for migrating to-do lists into calendars. Since then, my productivity has at least doubled.

That momentous (at least for me) article describes five problems with the to-do list. First, they overwhelm us with too many choices. Second, we are naturally drawn to simpler tasks which are more easily accomplished. Third, we are rarely drawn to important-but-not-urgent tasks, like setting aside time for learning. Fourth, to-do lists on their own lack the essential context of what time you have available. Fifth, they lack a commitment device, to keep us honest.

This was enough for me. I converted from my religiously observed to-do list (daily work plan) to this calendar system, also known as timeboxing (a term borrowed from agile project management). All five of Markovitz’s criticisms of to-do lists have manifested for me. In a study we conducted of 100 productivity hacks, timeboxing was ranked as the most useful. And over the last few years, I have also discovered several additional benefits of timeboxing, which I would like to share.

First, timeboxing into a calendar enables the relative positioning of work. If you know that a promotional video has to go live on a Tuesday and that the production team needs 72 hours to work on your copy edits, then you know when to place the timebox. In fact, you know where to place the timebox: it’s visual, intuitive, obvious. Working hard and trying your best is sometimes not actually what’s required; the alternative — getting the right thing done at the right time — is a better outcome for all.

Second, the practice enables you to communicate and collaborate more effectively. If all of your critical work (and maybe just all of your work, period) is in your calendar, colleagues can see it. So not only are you more likely to plan your work to accommodate others’ schedules (the paragraph above), others are able to check that your work schedule works for them. Shared calendars (with attendant privacy options) are the norm in the corporate world now, with Microsoft and Google leading the way.

Third, it gives you a comprehensive record of what you’ve done. Maybe you get to the end of a blistering week and you’re not even sure what happened? It’s in your calendar. Or a performance review looms — what were the highs and lows of the last six months? It’s in your calendar. Or you’re keen to use an hour to plan the following week and need to know what’s on the horizon. It’s in your calendar. Just make sure you have your own personal (i.e. not exclusively employer-owned) version of this data, or someday it won’t be in your calendar.

Fourth, you will feel more in control. This is especially important because control (aka volition, autonomy, etc.) may be the biggest driver of happiness at work. Constant interruptions make us less happy and less productive. Timeboxing is the proper antidote to this. You decide what to do and when to do it, block out all distractions for that timeboxed period, and get it done. Repeat. Consistent control and demonstrable accomplishment is hugely satisfying, even addictive. This is not just about productivity (largely external), this is about intent (internal, visceral) and how we feel.

Fifth, you will be substantially more productive. Parkinson’s law flippantly states that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. Although it’s not really a law (it’s more of a wry observation), most of us would concede that there is some truth to it (especially as it pertains to meetings). A corollary of this observation in practice is that we often spend more time on a task than we should, influenced by the time that happens to be available (circumstantial) rather than how long the work should really take (objective). Disciplined timeboxing breaks us free of Parkinson’s law by imposing a sensible, finite time for a task and sticking to that. Although it’s hard to precisely quantify the benefits of any time management or productivity measures, this is clearly enormous. Just take a commonplace example: do you habitually take two hours (cumulatively, often drawn out over multiple sessions) to complete a task that really could have been done in a single, focused, time-boxed hour? If the answer is yes, then your personal productivity might be double what it is right now.

The benefits of calendarized timeboxing are many, varied, and highly impactful. The practice improves how we feel (control), how much we achieve as individuals (personal productivity), and how much we achieve in the teams we work in (enhanced collaboration). This may be the single most important skill or practice you can possibly develop as a modern professional, as it buys you so much time to accomplish anything else. It’s also straightforwardly applied and at no cost. Box some time to implement a version of this that works for you."

 

 

You are not doing the proper assessment.

 

   

I have been in leadership roles for at least 14 years now, and when I have a hiring need, I personally weigh my hiring decision 50% based on soft skills and 50% on hard skills. The reason is straightforward; technology is constantly changing. I have been in places where X technology was used 100% of the time, therefore very relevant for the job, and in a matter of a week, you are using a totally different technology. 

I look for candidates with the passion and desire to learn, candidates that can adapt to the constant technology changes, that are open to sharing their knowledge with the team, that are a cultural fit with the organization, candidates that are enthusiastic and excited about the work they do. 

So, if technology is constantly changing, why do we fixate on the technical skills as if that was the most critical element?. 

I give you an example; 20 years ago, I was working for an International Software Company leader on mobile communications, I was a Database Administrator, and I got asked to create a C program based on pseudo-code given to me by a brilliant R&D director that happened to be my boss’s boss (Let’s call him Bob); I was good at SQL and PL/SQL, I also had previous coding experience I gained while earning my bachelor degree (COBOL, Fortran, REX, Basic, etc.). However, I had no prior experience with C, so once I got the task, I told Bob that I could do it, but It may take a little time since I have no previous experience coding in C. 

I could see that Bob had more faith in me than what I had in myself at that time. In my mind, I was estimating two weeks to code the program as it was not trivial ( a database fail-over routine that used a heartbeat technique to check that the database was healthy and responding to calls in less than 5 seconds; otherwise, the program will shut down the ill database, start a different database, reconnect database sessions to the new database and start the heartbeat process on the new database).  

I have to admit that I was a bit intimidated by Bob approaching me with this request; Bob was a brilliant man that mostly kept to himself, he was very respected in the company, and previous to his request, I do not recall we interacting directly ever, but as part of group meetings. 

I was excited and worried at the same time, but once I started, I was able to complete the code in 3 days; just after three days, I went from not knowing C to code a relatively complex C program. Bob, was surprised as he was expecting it would take longer, he asked me to demo it to him, which I did, and he was happy with it. 

My point is that sometimes hiring managers are fixating on technical qualifications, to the point that it looks like a contest of who knows more about a specific technology, and if they know more than you, then you are not qualified, they often do not evaluate well the soft skills of the candidate, and ignore the potential benefit that the person can bring to the organization. 

Ask yourself, how long will it take for a person with X technology to transition to Y similar technology? I will be surprised if you tell me more than 2 or 3 weeks, however getting a person in the team with the wrong soft skills can significantly delay work, demoralize the group and create a management nightmare for you. 

One of my old mentors and friend always says, “It is not the technology; it is the people.”

Cheers!!