Ken Tanner - Never Order Barbecue in Maine: Proven Career Strategies from People Whove Been There, Done That

Words of Praise for Ken Tanners
Never Order Barbecue in Maine

I love this book! Short on the usual lectures and tall on practical, tried-and- true coaching tips for achieving the competitive edge at work, its a book every new grad (and even some old ones) should read.

Lois P. Frankel, Ph.D., Los Angeles, CA Host of Eye on Your Career
and author of Nice Girls Dont Get the Corner Office.

I know too many people who are frustrated with their workplace. If only they had read Never Order Barbecue in Maine! But its never too late... I am going to present a copy of this book to my dearest friends.

Anand Chhatpar, Madison, WICEO, BrainReactions LLC
Named by BusinessWeek as One of the Best Entrepreneurs Under 25

Whoever says theres nothing new under the sun hasnt yet read Never Order Barbecue in Maine. Proven career strategies? Kens real-world advice is right on target. From building your image to managing your boss to finding new opportunities, the advice in this book is ethical, practical, and solid. Read this book and watch your career take off !

Dick Bott, Overland Park, KSCEO, Bott Radio Network

The chapter on playing office politics with integrity is worth the price of this book all by itself. But you get so much morelike fueling your career by figuring out what you do best, how to recover from setbacks, and what it really takes to get that dream job. ( Just ask Jay Leno.)

Stone Peyton, Atlanta, GAAuthor, leadership trainer and motivational speaker

I studied Kens real-world advice when trying to land a must-have job. When my car broke down on the way to a critical interview, I recalled his advice on turning negatives into positivesand he had used this exact possibility as an example. So, instead of panicking, I used the event to show them how well I can handle pressure. I got the job!

Michelle Moberg, Eden Prairie, MN

Ken shows how to build a career without sacrificing your integrity in the process.With so many others suggesting its OK step on your coworkers to get ahead, thats a breath of fresh air. At the same time, Kens strategies arent of the goody two shoes variety. His is real-world advice thats both practical and effective.

Greg Black, Atlanta, GANational radio news anchor

For Mom

Blanche Baggett Tanner who, along with the other women of our greatest generation, preserved this country during its great crises, faced life with dignity and wisdom, and prayed Gods blessings upon her family and neighbors.

Stories are used throughout this book to illustrate the principles and strategies being discussed. Many of these stories are reproduced exactly as they occurred or even in the participants exact words. These can be identified by the use of the individuals full name. Some people allowed me to use their stories but asked that their names not be used for privacy reasons. I substituted a fictitious first name in these cases. Most stories are based on actual events and molded to better fit the point being made. These can also be identified by the use of a first name only.

Several stories are pure fiction andas they say in the moviesany resemblance to any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Any references to Cousin Ralph or any such family member obviously fit into this category. Also, every story in the chapter Listen to Your Mom is fiction and does not refer to any actual person or event.

Copyright 2006 by Ken Tanner

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Nelson Book titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail: SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, KING JAMES VERSION.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Tanner, Ken.
Never order barbecue in Maine : proven career strategies from people who've been there, done that / Ken Tanner.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-7852-1349-X (hardcover)
1. Career development. I. Title.
HF5381.T234 2006
650.14--dc22

2005035062

Printed in the United States of America

06 07 08 09 10 QW 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

CONTENTS

Section I
DEFINE YOUR CAREER

Section II
MATURE YOUR CAREER

Section III
REFINE YOUR CAREER

I WAS JUST OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL WHEN I RECEIVED AN invitation to attend a program in Chicago sponsored by the American Academy of Achievement. This organization held a yearly event in which it brought together one hundred Young Leaders of Tomorrow with thirty famous people. For a week I rubbed elbows with Neil Armstrong, Howard Baker, Michael DeBakey, and Sir Edmund Hillary (who responded to my question rather indignantly: Why did I climb Mount Everest? Because, hell, boy, I like to climb mountains. Youre thinking of the chap that climbed the Matterhorn.). And we listened to inspirational speeches from people like Lowell Thomas (who said everyone should go to jail at least once) and Dr. Jim Jenson, who had recently discovered the worlds largest dinosaur. (His pearl: No one would have paid any attention to me if I had discovered the worlds smallest dinosaur.)

Most of the advice and thoughts I heard during this week were not as cleverly phrased; however, I harvested an abundance of plainspoken wisdom derived from years of experience. The president of General Motorsthe employer of 700,000 peoplechatted about dealing with people on an individual basis. A now-paralyzed Olympic champion taught us how she hurdles real obstacles these days. And, as detailed later in this book, a young executive provided surprising insight about how he used relationships to become president of a major corporation when he was barely out of his twenties. This week was the best educational experience of my life. Nothing compared to sitting at the feet of great men and women while they reminisced of their successes, failures, and dreams yet to be realized.

How different this seems when you survey the offering of problem-solving advice in business books and magazines, and from consultants and other so-called gurus. While there is some comfort in confident advice from MBAs, media stars, and gimmick-ofthe-month programs, you often get the feeling that much of it is all frosting and no cake. Why? The latest theories and pontifications havent been tested properly. Or those offering the advice are still wet behind the ears. Or a very successful person will assume that what brought him or her success will work for anyone else.

Whenever I am faced with a new problem, I tell myself, Someone has faced this before. All I need to do is find out how that individual dealt with it successfully and duplicate the solution. I can skip the time-consuming analysis and risky weighing of possible options that others struggled with as they searched for solutions. I can use their pain to avoid some of the trial-and-error and skip right to the successful solutions.

Thats the idea of this book.We will examine career strategies from different angles. But each angle has one thing in common: its based on the actual experiences of people who had some success in their careersincluding me. These strategies are proven to work. Youll find chapters on building your career, developing relationships, avoiding career mishaps, coping with your job, and bouncing back from adversity. Youll learn how to market yourself, manage your boss, get promoted, and cope with stress. But all these chapters will be in service of one central idea: attaining a more satisfying career, whatever that means to you. (And well even help you sort out your thoughts there.)