What Professionals Do

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...which describes the essential ingredients to what serves as not only differentiators in your workforce, but the "difference makers". I believe the few people that get the lion's share of work done exhibit these behaviors. Being a professional involves a code of conduct. While consultants (Blood Type of a Consultant) and contractors (Blood Type of a Contractor) are defined in the referenced posts terms of what it means to carry their associated profession's badge, Seth does a good job of providing attributes of "being professional"

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The Art of Problem Solving

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...while there are many frameworks which have been developed which attempt to get to sought after answers in a methodical manner, the reality is there is less hard science behind this than we would hope. Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato were philosophizing about this long, long ago. Debates brought out valid points in different approaches, but no consensus...

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Spark!, Now What?

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...If you are paid for your ideas, then it is a different story. While it is often prudent for your good ideas to find and make friends with other good ideas, building a more comprehensive good idea, you frequently do not have that luxury. Your ideas often have to mature quickly. More importantly, your ideas often need to be shared with others under a deadline, and in a manner that will drive behaviors. No small task.

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How We Make Decisions

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...It is often thought that big decisions need big process to support them. This is not necessarily so. Sometimes speed of decision is more important than the comprehensiveness of a "big process". Let us be clear though, a process (formal / informal, structured / unstructured, instinctive / thoughtful) exists for all decisions, whether you realize it or not.

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Margin Notes

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...Another tool I have found is to review margin notes of managers, directors, and above. When available, if you are able to take a look at meeting agenda's, presentation handouts, status reports, and the like you may notice something quite interesting. The handwriting which people place on these documents are far more than simple markings. The handwriting which in the margins is the individual's personal take on specific items. In a similar way that handwriting analysts are able to understand a writer from their handwriting (based a direct connection from brain to pen to paper), margin notes are created in the same way...

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Leading at the Edge

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...At the edge, the action is about change. The action is about identifying a vision and working towards transformation of an organization. In the post noted above, Edge IT is defined as functions and services that rhyme with IT Strategy, workforce planning, financial and operational modelling, scalability and capacity planning. This is an area where leadership makes all the difference...

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