Take Action and Move Forward in Your Career

By Michael P. Kelly

The best time to take action and move forward in your life and career was yesterday. The second best time is today! 

Michael P. Kelly owned and managed entrepreneurial businesses in the retail, credit, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) industries. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, he held executive positions as chief financial officer for several manufacturing and service companies. Through his experience as an executive, running and growing companies, managing people and company resources, and evaluating talent and performance, he identifies and describes in this book the development of personal characteristics and leadership skills that increases one’s opportunities for a successful career as a business executive or entrepreneur.  

• Language: English
• Publisher: Outskirts Press
• Release date: Jun 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9781977265142

Michael P. Kelly

Michael P. Kelly owned and managed entrepreneurial businesses in the retail, credit, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) industries. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, he held executive positions as chief financial officer for several manufacturing and service companies. Through his experience as an executive, running and growing companies, managing people and company resources, and evaluating talent and performance, he identifies and describes in this book the development of personal characteristics and leadership skills that increases one’s opportunities for a successful career as a business executive or entrepreneur.  

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Take Action and Move Forward in Your Career

All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2023 Michael P. Kelly

v2.0

The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.

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Dedication

I dedicate this book to my family whom I love dearly, including my wife, Gail, daughters Jennifer and Laura, sons-in-law Steve and Kevin, and my grandchildren Alex, Caitlyn, Erin, and Ryan.

Preface and Acknowledgments

This book identifies the personal characteristics and management skills that will hopefully inspire and enlighten readers to become outstanding leaders in their life and career. The information provided, when integrated with one’s own experience, knowledge, and expertise, will help the reader achieve the career success they have always wanted. The book describes my views and values interspersed with words of wisdom from many geniuses of history—Aristotle, Michelangelo, Benjamin Franklin, and Abraham Lincoln, to name a few—to support my written words and thoughts.

I have also included quotes from successful contemporaries such as my daughter, Jennifer Fardy, an attorney in Chicago; my son-in-law, Kevin Kapala, an executive with BP, Plc; my good friend and former colleague, John Zoellner, President, Zoellner Garten & Company; and my good friend John Gocke, MD (retired) whom I have come to know through our work on a local association board. I respect their opinions and advice and greatly appreciate their important contributions to this book.

My hope is that this work will enhance the opportunities for success in life and career, not only for my grandchildren, but for all who read this book.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Personal Attributes for Success

Chapter 2: Increase Your Job Performance to Achieve Success

Have a Strong Work Ethic

Be Ambitious, Assertive, and Proactive

Have Initiative and Be a Self-Starter

Be Innovative, Creative, and Resourceful

Have Passion, Courage, and Perseverance

Chapter 3: Develop Your Inner Strength for Success

Have Character, Integrity, and an Excellent Reputation

Be Honest, Ethical, and Trustworthy

Be Flexible, Adaptable, and Resilient

Be Responsible, Dependable, and Accountable

Be Instinctive, Intuitive, and Perceptive

Chapter 4: Develop Positive Attributes for Success

Have a Positive and Optimistic Attitude

Have Confidence in Yourself

Be Enthusiastic

Be Loyal

Be Punctual and Manage Your Time

Chapter 5: Develop Interpersonal Relationships for Success

Be a Team Player

Be a Good Listener and Have an Open Mind

Be Tactful and Diplomatic

Be Kind and Decent to Others

Be Thankful and Grateful

Chapter 6: Achieve Self-Fulfillment in a Successful Career

Be Self-Aware and Realize Your Full Potential

Have Respect and Tolerance for Others

Be Yourself

Chapter 7: Leadership Skills for Success

Chapter 8: Business Management

Business Management Basics

Managing Company Resources

Management Hierarchy

Chapter 9: Leadership Presence and Appearance

Your Leadership Presence

Your Appearance

Chapter 10: Strategic Thinking and Planning Skills

Vision and Goal Setting

Strategic Thinking and Planning

Chapter 11: Decision-Making Skills

Hiring People

Managing People

Delegating and Decision–Making

Evaluating Employee Performance

Chapter 12: Team Building and Mentoring Skills

Teaching, Coaching, and Mentoring Your Team

Inspiring and Empowering Your Team

Giving Credit and Serving Others

Chapter 13: Communication and Presentation Skills

Communication

Networking

Negotiating

Public Speaking and Presentations

Chapter 14: Managing Employees and Your Manager

Power and Influence

Risk Management

Managing Your Manager

Chapter 15: Additional Things You Can Do to Improve Your Prospects for Advancement and Personal Growth

Education

Managing Your Home Office

Personal Business Practice

Find Balance Between Work and Home

Avoiding Negative Relationships

Travel

Physical Activity

Politics

Chapter 16: Entrepreneurship and Business Ownership

Employment vs. Self-Employment

Advantages of Business Ownership

Chapter 17: Starting a Business

Types of Start-Up Businesses

Steps to Starting a Business

Find a Mentor or Create a Board of Advisors

Chapter 18: Buying a Business

Types of Business Buyers

Steps to Buying a Business

Valuing a Business Acquisition

Leadership After Acquiring a Business

Chapter 19: Managing a Business for Long-Term Success

Chapter 20: Conclusion

Introduction

I’VE ALWAYS BELIEVED that it is better to work hard every day to actually achieve something in your career. After all, you need to work every day to earn a living. Since you have to work, why not make the most of your time and do your absolute best to succeed? Why not take charge of your career right now to achieve your goals and realize all of your dreams?

We all want our workdays to have meaning and purpose instead of simply going through the motions reacting to emails, alerts, and text messages. We want enriching careers of accomplishment and self-fulfillment. We all want a work environment that allows us to achieve our goals and leave a legacy of accomplishment.

Many people have lofty dreams of being successful, of earning a high position, or making a lot of money. But dreams are just dreams unless you expend the energy and effort to actually do something to achieve them.

In order for that to happen, we need leaders to support, encourage, and motivate us. We need leaders who inspire us to be the best we can be. And when we become leaders, we need to do the same for those who follow us. We need to nurture them to be future leaders.

No matter your current position, you have the power within you to change or transform your job, profession, or occupation into a meaningful career. You simply have to decide what kind of transformation you want to make.

Determine what you want to do with your career by developing a vision of the future you want. Then establish meaningful goals and create an action plan to achieve them. You may then realize your full potential.

By doing so, your work life can be much more enriching and rewarding. Since you need to work, why not accomplish something and make a name for yourself? Why not make a difference in your life, your job, the company you work for, and, perhaps, the world we live in? If you want to be successful, you’ll need to take charge of your work life. No one else will do it for you.

I’m sure you would like to have a career doing something you love to do. If you love what you do, then it may not seem like work. Of course, it’s easier to do what you have always done. It’s safe and comfortable. But if you don’t push yourself to grow beyond your current limits, you may never be truly successful. Stretch yourself every day and do something that will set you apart from your peers. Action can propel you to succeed. You need to take action and move forward in order to successfully realize your dreams.

Keep in mind that no dream is too high. If you believe that anything is possible and you work hard to accomplish your goals, it is possible to successfully achieve your dreams.

What is success anyway? The common definition is the achievement of one’s personal goals, whatever they may be. In other words, each person can decide the meaning of success for themselves. So, if your goal in life is to watch television and play video games all day while sitting on the sofa eating your favorite snacks, then you are successful, at least in your own mind, if you achieve that goal.

Others may define success as simply being happy, fulfilled, safe, healthy, and loved. By definition, everyone who achieves their personal goals in life is successful. In the end, you are the only one who can decide what success means to you.

Many people associate success not only with the achievement of one’s goals in life but also the attainment of wealth, power, position, esteem, honors, and perhaps even the achievement of fame, recognition, and a certain amount of celebrity along with it.

But fame and fortune are empty achievements as an end goal by themselves, compared to the overall fulfillment and satisfaction you feel when accomplishments are shared with people who matter in your life. The highest level of success is doing what you enjoy with people you enjoy.

To be deemed successful based on the public perception and recognition of the achievements and accomplishments in your life and career, you need to develop leadership skills, and you will need to have certain personal attributes to support those skills. Success is achieved by people who have strong leadership skills as well as the personal characteristics and attributes needed to help them advance their career.

So, what is leadership? The New Oxford Dictionary of English defines leadership as: The action of leading a group of people or an organization; the state or position of being a leader.

Others have defined leadership as a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others toward the achievement of a goal or objective. Notice this definition uses the words social influence rather than authority and power. That’s because the most successful leaders do not manage others through power, intimidation, or fear.

A true leader is someone who leads a group of people through influence, inspiration, direction, and guidance to achieve personal and organizational goals and objectives. Leaders are people who motivate and encourage their teams and others to take action and move forward. Successful leaders ultimately achieve their individual and organizational goals by influencing others to take action on their behalf. Great leaders are people you follow because they inspire you to take action, move forward, and get things done.

The fact that you may have people working for you doesn’t make you a leader. True leadership means that you have willing followers. They follow voluntarily because you have inspired them to act. Successful leaders never have to goad, prod, coerce, or threaten people to do their jobs. They get the best out of their people by working with them, inspiring them, coaching them, and mentoring them to achieve their own goals.

If you inspire others to accomplish more and become more than they are, then you are an excellent leader.

Successful leaders are curious. They try new things, take risks, speak up and tell the truth, and learn from their mistakes and failures. That’s what makes them better leaders.

We often think of leadership as a singular skill. Actually, it’s an accumulation of individual personal attributes and leadership skills. These attributes and leadership skills can be attained over time as you progress through your career and gain more experience.

Think about the leaders you have interacted with throughout your life and career. Learn from them. They probably had leadership attributes and skills that you can relate to. You may want to emulate some and perhaps not others. Make a mental note of the leaders and their attributes and skills that appeared to be particularly successful, and examine those who were not as successful.

Successful leaders have many personal characteristics and attributes that contribute to their success, including a strong work ethic, character, integrity, honesty, ethics, trust, initiative, courage, perseverance, positive attitude, loyalty, optimism, and other personal characteristics and attributes.

Leadership also includes skills in management, vision, planning, delegating, mentoring, communication, employee evaluation, hiring, and other skills.

The following pages identify the personal attributes and management skills that will help you become the best possible leader you can be to realize the success you have always dreamed about. All good leaders exhibit many of these attributes and skills. If you don’t currently possess some of them, don’t panic. Most are learned and adapted over time through education, formal training, seminars, mentor influence, self-reflection, and on-the-job learning and experience throughout your career.

Keep in mind that it is not likely that anyone could possibly possess all of these attributes and skills. It probably isn’t humanly possible. No one is perfect. But you should strive to be the best that you can be in all areas of your work and career.

Later we will discuss how these attributes and skills can be utilized in your own business if your goal is to be an entrepreneur. We will also discuss what it means to be an entrepreneur and how to start or buy a business.

Remember: The best time to take action and move forward in your life and career was yesterday. The second-best time is today.

CHAPTER 1

Personal Attributes for Success

PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES ARE the traits or personal characteristics that determine your personality and make you a unique individual. Your attributes can determine your effectiveness at work and determine how successful you will be in your career. Many people believe these attributes are innate—you either have them or you don’t.

But people have a will, and the will to succeed may inspire and motivate a person to further develop these qualities within themselves. Human beings tend to be flawed—good at some things and not as good at others. Because of that, very few people will have most of the characteristics described in this section. But I believe if people work hard, they can develop additional attributes and improve the ones they have.

Successful people tend to have a strong will to succeed. That is the difference between a successful person and others.

Two people with the same education, experience, and skills may not advance their careers the same way because each will have different personality traits motivating them to achieve their desired success. However, the way we manage ourselves, via personal development and self-improvement, is paramount to becoming a successful leader and having a successful career.

We will discuss personal attributes further in the following chapters:

CHAPTER 2

Increase Your Job Performance to Achieve Success

Have a Strong Work Ethic

Be Ambitious, Assertive, and Proactive

Have Initiative and Be a Self-Starter

Be Innovative, Creative, and Resourceful

Have Passion, Courage, and Perseverance

Have a Strong Work Ethic

Well done is better than well said. —Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), Founding Father of the United States, scientist, inventor, statesman and diplomat

What does it mean to have a strong work ethic? It means that you have a personal attribute that surpasses most other attributes. It means that you are conscientious, diligent, dedicated, and committed to your work. People who have a strong work ethic are responsible, accountable, and fully engaged in their career. They take action and get things done. It is what every employer wants in an employee.

Establish a work ethic that will propel you ahead of your peers. Too many people simply go through the motions every day, bide their time, and can’t wait until they punch out at the end of the workday. Many continue to put in minimal effort all the way to retirement. What a waste of valuable time. Time is something you will never get back. Once wasted, it’s gone forever.

You need to use your time well and keep moving forward. Evangelist George Whitefield believed you needed to use your time effectively:

I would rather wear out than rust out. —George Whitefield (1714–1770), evangelist. The quote was often repeated by a very busy and active Theodore Roosevelt.

I can’t imagine looking back on my career and realizing that I simply marked time without actually accomplishing much. Make your time count and actually achieve something. You will feel much better about yourself when you look back on your career and realize all that you had accomplished. That is much better than looking back and saying, I wish I did that, I could have done that, or I should have done that. Instead, successful people think in terms of I can and I will.

Hard work is necessary to achieve your goals. The dictionary is the only place where success appears before work. Success will not fall out of the sky and land in your lap. Success comes to people who sacrifice their time, put in the effort, take action, and move forward. Success does not come to those who fail to accomplish their goals in life. Mark Twain believed that you need to take action by breaking down what needs to be done in smaller tasks and then getting started on the first one.

The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret to getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into smaller manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one. —Mark Twain (1835–1910), American writer

Every project you undertake starts with a single step. If you spend the effort to do that first step well, and then give equal effort to the next small step, and the next, and so on, you will have completed the entire project with the excellence it deserves. If a project is worth doing, give maximum effort in every step. That is the mark of leadership and a successful person.

Small tasks matter. If you can’t do the small things right, you will never complete the big things right. Doing each small task well separates strong performers from others and ultimately determines those who are destined to be successful leaders.

When things feel overwhelming to you, think one thought at a time, do one task at a time, or simply take one day at a time. You will feel much better. And by thinking and doing one thing at a time, you will create a strong sense of accomplishment. Before you know it, you will have completed multiple tasks and perhaps the entire project.

It is important to work hard and produce excellent results in everything you do. Even a young person working in a beginner’s job flipping hamburgers, and other such jobs, must develop a strong work ethic from the