Foreword
This book is about techniques for success in life and leadership, provided in bite-sized morsels, easy to savor and digest. In fact, the strange title, “Slice the Salami,” is centered on the idea that you could choke on a salami if you tried to eat it whole, but a slice at a time makes great sandwiches and eventually allows you to consume the entire salami. Likewise, making changes in your life, for career leadership or at-home satisfaction, can be accomplished one step at a time.
This book is based on my 40-year career in a demanding industry, with real-life lessons learned and condensed here in short yet powerful chapters that provide concrete tips for success. The topics are easy to read, with fun and memorable examples, graphics and exercises. Yet, these themes are based on typical challenges we all face. Solutions are provided with step-by-step approaches you can implement to achieve long-term results that will pay off for you.
How do I know they will work? Because they have worked for me and for scores of professionals, friends and family members that I have coached to success. From an entry level engineering position, I had the good fortune to rise rapidly through the corporate ladder from plant manager (the youngest in my company) to senior vice president, responsible for a half-billion dollars in annual sales, plus an international assignment as general manager in Chile, South America. The techniques that enabled my recognition and reward are shared in these chapters. I have presented much of this material in corporate workshops, with my staffs as I moved from one job responsibility to another, and even at the university level, where I created, developed and taught a semester-long curriculum for business school students. The techniques work.
Read at your leisure, from cover to cover, or cherry-pick chapters that capture your interest. Try the methods for success explained here. Active participation, rather than passive reading, reinforces skills. Enjoy the benefits that follow by achieving executive presence, work-life balance, and control of your life through time management, while also making ethical choices and rejuvenating passion in what you do.
In fact, there are several chapters on how to prepare for interviews (how to take an interview, as a job applicant, or give one, as any one of the interviewers in the screening and hiring process) and how to improve your résumé, even if you have been out of the job market for a while.
In addition, many of the chapters provide techniques for non-work situations, with family or friends, including how to modify the behaviors of those who are not doing what you wish (such as children, neighbors, or maybe even your spouse), and how to relax to enjoy your life with continuous learning, a positive attitude and reduced anxiety. The object lessons from my experiences are summarized in quick-read chapters that cover the following themes:
Chapter 1 – Slice the Salami: The importance of implementing change one step at a time, gaining momentum and motivation along the way. Chapter 2 – See the Flames, Smell the Smoke: Critical communications, and how to implement change with a sense of urgency, when you don’t have time to slice the salami. Chapter 3 – If I Only Had the Time: Time management techniques for short-term and long-term success at home and at work. Chapter 4 – They Don’t Wear Shoes: It’s all about attitude. Chapter 5 – Be a Change Maker: How to be the leader of change in your life, department, organization, family and community. Chapter 6 – The Power of Positive Reinforcement: Behavioral techniques that work. Chapter 7 – Continuous Learning: The importance of this practice, and how to apply it to grow and succeed. Chapter 8 – Teamwork: A vital skill for the success of any group. Chapter 9 – The Four-to-One Rule: How helping others will help you. Chapter 10 – Visibility: How to be seen in constructive ways and how to make a difference where it counts. Chapter 11 – Cross the Threshold: Getting into the supervisor’s office and why. Chapter 12 – Don’t Forget: Why fail-safe follow-up (so you don’t forget your commitments) is critical to success, and how to manage this skill. Chapter 13 – Discretionary Time: How to create your own time, and what to do with it. Chapter 14 – The Three Eyes (I’s): Involvement, imagination and initiative. Chapter 15 – How to Interview, Part One: Three critical concepts for the interviewer or the interviewee. Chapter 16 – How to Interview, Part Two: The phases of the interview, and what to do in each part. Chapter 17 – How to Improve Your Résumé: What to do to increase the odds of your résumé achieving its objective. Chapter 18 – Ethics and Values: It is more than just profit and results. Chapter 19 – Be Happy! It’s about your life and balance.
I was fortunate to have worked with mentoring and model bosses, with support teams that were dedicated to results, and to have had a variety of experiences that offered many learning opportunities. Of course, I also worked with difficult people, stubborn subordinates and high-pressure challenges. This book is a digest of key leadership skills that can gain success for you, with many tips about how to anticipate and deal with potential threats to your success. Some of us learn the hard way, and some benefit from the experience of others. I wish you the best with the fastest and most productive route to your own success.
Sometimes we win, sometimes we learn. This book gives you the opportunity to learn, so that you can win!
Why should you believe anything that I say? Because what I learned and applied on and off the job, succeeded. What I taught others, allowed them to succeed. What I share here will help you to succeed. It’s that simple, and it works. Let me now share some highlights of my career as background, and reinforcement that these powerful concepts are functional, easy to understand, and yield results.
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