Ignite your career

IgniteYourCareer
TheNewGradsBible
SoulaimaGourani

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Soulaima Gourani

Ignite Your Career
The New Grad’s Bible

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Ignite Your Career: The New Grad’s Bible
© 2012 Soulaima Gourani & bookboon.com
ISBN 978-87-403-0153-3

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Ignite Your Career: The New Grad’s Bible

Contents

Contents
Introduction

7

About Soulaima Gourani

7

No fairy tale

7

Ultra-ambitious

8

hirteen-year-old girl missing . . .

8

Happiness can be felt and should be appreciated

8

Luck or hard work?

9

VISION

9

COURAGE TO EXECUTE

10

TIMING

10

LUCK

10

You have to anticipate adversity

10

Times are changing

11

Individualism is a company asset

11

‘Sot’ skills are in high demand

11

Your career is about relationships

13

Networking involves value-based relationship selling

13

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Ignite Your Career: The New Grad’s Bible

Contents

Trust is Key

15

Trust is a relationship essential

15

Trust-driven business

16

Trust as a foundation

16

You Must Have the IT Factor

17

Knowledge is meant to be shared

17

Personal interest and involvement is a critical factor

17

Human beings are guided by emotions

19

You must continually develop yourself—there is no inish line

20

“Shining eyes” efect

21

he “Ctrl + C” is the opposite of authenticity

21

Find your motivation

22

he GROW model

23

Consider Meeting New People an Adventure

24

Become someone everyone remembers

24

How to be memorable

24

Developing loyal relationships

25

Be interested and interesting

25

Handling encounters like a professional

26

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Ignite Your Career: The New Grad’s Bible

Contents

Networking is King

28

Why networking is king

28

Motive and mission

29

Identify and use your advantages

30

Be accessible and approachable

30

Be personable, not intrusive

32

Relationship strength test

33

Networking situations

35

Business meetings

35

Conferences and events

36

TIPS:

37

General TIPS:

39

Networking correspondence

40

Network Maintenance

45

Map your network

45

Maintain your new relations

46

Communication channels

48

Expand your network

48

First encounters with new recruits

49

Allow for adequate talk-time

51

Conclusion

52

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Ignite Your Career: The New Grad’s Bible

Introduction

Introduction
he information contained in this book is a tool providing you with inspiration and practical guidance to start your career.
his guide contains proven methods to use in your daily interactions with colleagues, managers, industry professionals,
and customers—anybody that you will interact with during your career.
Read the book and gain access to my list of good advice that I know actually works based on my own experience.

About Soulaima Gourani
In December 1975, I opened my eyes for the very irst time in the dusty North African country of Morocco, far away from
Denmark, where I enjoy living today. I was born into a Danish/Moroccan family, and I was diferent from birth—a little
light brown outsider with curly hair among Danish siblings my mother had from a previous marriage.
he warmth of Morocco was already replaced with the cold of Denmark in Northern Europe in the irst year of my life,
but I did not become a Danish citizen until I was four years old. he move from the North African surroundings was
just one of many changes and relocations that strongly inluenced my upbringing and unusual life and career—just like
my roles as the ighting outsider and the atypical girl follow me throughout my life and become essential parts of the
authentic me and my personal leadership.
I am what you might refer to as mentally homeless and have never had a place that felt like home until now. I have lived in
more places than I can count. hus, I do ind it to be a complicated question when people ask me, “Where are you from?”

No fairy tale
he story of my childhood is not exactly a fairy tale. It was marked by a irm, proud, authoritarian, and temperamental
Moroccan upbringing within narrow bounds and the fundamental view that age is pivotal in all matters and that, therefore,
the parents are the highest authority—and obedience has never been one of my strong suits! herefore, my childhood was
something that I just wanted to get over and done with.
It would prove to take more than thirty years before I understood my roots, my family, my culture, my heritage, and, in
particular, my father. I did not come to this understanding until ater my father’s death when I visited his family in Morocco.
As a family, we never really settled in the places that we have lived. We were quite diferent from our Danish neighbors, and
a child can sense when other people look down on them. It marked me a lot, and unfortunately, I found myself resenting
my own roots. For many years, I had a hard time accepting the fact that I am only half-Danish.
I refused to learn to speak Moroccan, and I refused to see myself as a half-Danish. herefore, I did not get to understand
my roots. As a child, I oten felt embarrassed about my background. My name, last name, color—I questioned everything.

My Moroccan father did not exactly it into the nonexotic Danish towns with his dark skin and diferent features combined
with his impulsive and straightforward personality. Now I understand that I have an innate git and that my diversity is
an asset.

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Ignite Your Career: The New Grad’s Bible

Introduction

Ultra-ambitious
I am and have always been ultra-ambitious, but nobody expected that I would go far in life. Nobody on the Danish side
of my family has ever graduated from high school.
I never experienced getting any support in relation to my ambitions.
In grade 4, my teacher even said to me that I should lower my ambitions since I most likely would not make it very far
because I was a girl, dark, and named Soulaima. hat experience only gave me an even stronger desire to aim higher.

Thirteen-year-old girl missing . . .
During my childhood, I was really the outsider—the diferent dark-skinned girl in a “white ghetto” among serious village
people. I did not it in at all. I even, for shorter periods, experienced being bullied in school by my classmates. I was
diferent through and through, and I spend many hours alone with a jumble of emotions that I cannot share with others.
Everything in me was screaming, and I packed my stuf and ran away from home. I was reported missing in the newspapers:
13 year old girl missing. I was sent to a children’s institution, where I was quickly characterized as bright and well functioning.
I was ofered to come into family care, and later, I moved into a youth institution. In Danish context, it was an atypical and
tough upbringing, which certainly did not make it obvious for me to pursue a career with the national and international
recognitions that I have today.
Ater I graduated from trade school at twenty years old, I moved to Switzerland, seeking new experiences. I started as
an export technician. I studied for four years, and during those years, I went on training placements in Luxembourg and

Norway. I met my husband when I lived and studied in the Danish town of Odense. hat was almost twenty years ago.
Ater I started my professional career, the business world began noticing this energetic, ambitious, and industrious person.
Against all odds, Soulaima Gourani slowly became a name that people recognized, and then I started working in exciting
job positions for world-renowned companies. I was headhunted from one job to the next.
I completed my MBA in 2007. Fourteen days later, I gave birth to our irst child; and in the spring of 2009, we had our
second child—this time, a baby girl.

Happiness can be felt and should be appreciated
Today I am happy—I have accepted and enjoy my fate as an inspirational provocateur and debater working with some
of the largest and most demanding companies in the world. I am a company owner and thrive on being the highest
authority in my own life.

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Ignite Your Career: The New Grad’s Bible

Introduction

I am very much aware when I feel happy, because happiness has not been a constant factor in my life. My adversity and
struggles have become important motivators for me. My mottoes are “I cannot change my childhood, but I can appreciate
that it is over” and “It is not important where you come from, but it is important where you are going.” Your career and
personal life are all about having the courage and the ability to seize the opportunities that you run into. I believe that
people can decide to become successful and reach essential goals by means of hard work.

Luck or hard work?
You are probably thinking that you have to be lucky to have a successful career. Luck is only part of it. here are four
essential factors in creating a successful career:

VISION
If you do not have a vision, you will not know where you are going or what resources (money, people, energy, etc.) you
will need to get there. he future will come no matter what, so you might as well be the one to create it. A vision is critical
for inding the right direction in your career and your life.
Do you know where you want to go?
It is important to set aside time to create a plan and to ind time and peace to think about what you really want. Don’t
try to set your true goals while you’re in a stressful and pressure-illed environment, as your brain doesn’t function very well
under these conditions. One needs a sense of clarity to make the right long-term strategic decisions. If you are stressed, it
is very diicult to remove yourself from everyday activities and study things with a bird’s-eye view—which is necessary
when trying to come up with some good ideas about your desired future.
My advice is that you ind a peaceful place where you cannot be disturbed. A vision does not have to be a detailed plan,
and you do not have to worry about whether your vision is realistic. he vision should include professional, social, or
spiritual goals. You should deine visions for your level of commitment, the quality of your work, your competencies, your
self-development, your network, and your image. For example, you may envision becoming the most inluential person
in industry X or Y, earning more than $2 million a year, being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, or even something more
down-to-earth. Whatever your vision is, it should be ambitious and meaningful to you.
TIP: Your vision represents the greatest thing that you can imagine happening in your life. A vision must be a great
goal that will make you happy and motivated. he next step is to describe how you will feel once you have fulilled your
vision. It is almost impossible to achieve your goals without the help of other people, so you should carefully consider
whom to involve.
My ten-year vision is called 3, 6, 9, 10. his means I know where I would like to be when I turn forty-ive. My vision is
so clear, measurable, and easy to communicate so that everybody can understand it and contribute to it. When I have
fulilled my vision, I will of course deine a new vision to pursue.

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Ignite Your Career: The New Grad’s Bible

Introduction

COURAGE TO EXECUTE
here are millions of excellent ideas that will never be realized, because although many people have great ideas, only a
few have what it takes to turn them into reality. You need courage to realize your ideas. But what is courage?
he American philosopher Henry D. horeau in the nineteenth century said that “the mass of men lead lives of quiet
desperation.” his means that most of us lack the courage to live the life we dream about. To have the courage to pursue
our dreams despite knowing that we risk failure is perhaps the greatest form of courage.
When you consider that among the top ten things people regret on their deathbed being they did not live a life true to
themselves, then you really realize how important courage is.

TIMING
You must also know when the timing is right for you to carry out your ideas and plans. It is my experience that the perfect
timing exists, but sometimes you just need to give it a little nudge! Don’t just sit and wait for things to fall into place.

LUCK
his is where the notorious luck comes into the picture. Luck, luck, and, again, luck. What is luck? Luck is something
good happening to a person by coincidence.
Sigmund Freud was of the opinion that the belief in luck was caused by people’s desire not to take personal responsibility
for their choices. he more I think about it, the more I realize that yes, I have been lucky at times. I have ended up in
situations or have sought out situations, gone places, contacted people, or taken chances that later turned out to be
important for my success—but if that is because of luck, well, it is also a combination of the following:
• Hard work
• Focus
• Courage
• Network
What do you think is important for achieving success?

You have to anticipate adversity
It is impossible to avoid adversity. What is important is how you tackle adversity. Do you give up, or does it make you

stronger? Adversity makes me stronger. hroughout my upbringing, I developed some qualities and survival techniques
that still play an important part in my drive for success in my career today. he foundation for my personal leadership,
my values, my focus, and my sense of responsibility can be tracked all the way back to my challenging childhood. he
days of hardship have been transformed into something very positive.

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Ignite Your Career: The New Grad’s Bible

Introduction

However, I have to admit that I as an adult have had to learn to enjoy life, to relax, and to create more humane working
conditions for myself. I have to admit that I have had to work very hard to break the patterns and convictions that I had
been carrying. I have had to change my belief that everything you do must be either painful or at least very diicult.
Just because something is really diicult or almost impossible, it doesn’t mean that I should always accept the task. It
had been a long tradition of mine to take on impossible projects—just to challenge myself to the maximum. With this
approach, I consequently had not been unconditionally successful in everything that I had done. However, it has been a
great learning experience.
I would like to give you the opportunity to take a few shortcuts by ofering you access to the best advice that I have
received, learned, and experienced throughout the years.

Times are changing
Not long ago, it was possible to predict someone’s future paycheck based on their academic performance. Times are
changing; we are moving away from the concept that a high IQ alone equates to a successful career. On the contrary,
having a high IQ has almost become an impediment to career success because companies seek more than intellectual
competence. Entities and managers are looking for someone in whom they can place their trust. his trend of valuing
trust above knowledge and intelligence will be intensiied as the world becomes increasingly complex. Trust will become
the most important prerequisite for growth in all organizations.

Individualism is a company asset
Something exciting is happening in management these days. Increasingly, charismatic individuals are considered valued
employees. It will become more and more accepted to be yourself, authentic and personal. his is really good because
now is your time to shine!
Previously, employees were expected to be company people, devoted to the company without any focus on themselves
or their personal lives. Today, career and private life are intertwined; personal stories arouse identiication with others.
Increasingly, young people want to work for companies and managers that understand and appreciate that employees
who live full lives are well-positioned to make positive and creative contributions to the company.

‘Soft’ skills are in high demand
Do you intend to become a success? hen you should understand that your specialized knowledge must be combined with
the ability to collaborate, motivate, and communicate with other people. Many less-educated and “self-made” people do
far better in the business world than you might expect despite the fact that their IQ is average. hese people can arouse
conidence in others, and they have the ability to get others to agree with them. hey can sell a good idea and get people
to support them, and their ideas and suggestions.

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Ignite Your Career: The New Grad’s Bible

Introduction

Young professionals that are in demand know that emotional intelligence is one of the three strongest and most sought-ater
competencies. he other two are integrity and creativity. One’s Emotional Quotient (EQ) is a measure of how efective one
is at understanding themselves and others in order to adapt to and cope with the immediate surroundings to successfully
deal with environmental demands. Employees who possess and continually develop their EQ, integrity, and creativity will
increase their value to their managers, companies, and customers.

A good leader must understand himself/herself in order to understand others. By 2015, three to four generations will be
working together. In 2020, it will be approximately ive generations. his will be the irst time that so many generations
will be living and working together. It will be an enormous challenge to understand one another and get the best out of
one another’s diferences, strengths, and challenges.

In many organizations, there is still much ignorance on how to attract, retain, and develop employees of diferent
generations. his is with good reason because there is no single recipe. Age, diversity and generational understanding is
your, your boss’s, and your company’s next big challenge. It will place huge demands on your overall EQ.

People have become less authoritarian than they were before. he number of younger employees is less than the number of
more mature employees. People follow those whom they trust and listen to those who do sensible things. Create something
meaningful or signiicant, as I usually stress. Your EQ is there—so incredibly central. Use it if you want people to listen
and follow you. It may eventually be accepted that a person’s IQ cannot be used to predict a person’s success, either in
personal life or in business—a realization that has already made Daniel Goleman an award-winning author.

360°
thinking

.

Discover the truth at www.deloitte.ca/careers

© Deloitte & Touche LLP and affiliated entities.

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Ignite Your Career: The New Grad’s Bible

Introduction

In my recent work with my book Take Power Over Your Career, I have conirmed that there is no correlation between
how smart people are and how successful they can become.

Ater ten years of mapping managers and their business skills to build, foster, and expand professional relationships, I ind
that EQ is more important than other personality traits and exceeds IQ as the most relevant factor in achieving success
in business, and in life.

Your career is about relationships
Over the course of your career you will meet many people. Some of them will have a positive and enormous efect on
your career. It will be nearly impossible to foresee who those people will be. What is most important is to know how to
develop, manage, and nurture business relationships. Being or becoming comfortable meeting new people is a skill that
you must master in order to succeed.
Here are some critical elements that will bolster your relationship success:
• Your personality brought about by your EQ (your EQ manages mutual trust and chemistry between you and
others)
• Your current power base (your existing network)
• Your current and future skills (your potential)
• Identifying what the other person can get out of the relationship (it’s not all about you)
he big question is whether you inspire conidence in others. heir trust depends on what they know about you and your
life. What personal history are you willing to share? What questions do you ask to help others open up to you and talk
about what lies in their hearts? You can measure the strength of a relationship based on the number of times you have
come to an agreement with each other, the number of personal stories involving each other, and how familiar you have
become and will remain over time with each other.

Networking involves value-based relationship selling

If you want to get results, you must be good at selling yourself. Do you have a great idea, one key issue, or do you just
want to be an employee in a business? Whatever the situation, you must learn to sell.
I call this value-based relationship selling (you sell yourself, your ideas, and your key issues). hink of this as trading
knowledge and skills. You are a merchant, and others can buy from you or from the competition.
Do you see all of your stakeholders as your customers?
If you want to accomplish something in your career, you must communicate clearly so that people understand and
remember you.
Consider the following statements. How many can you answer YES to?

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Ignite Your Career: The New Grad’s Bible

Introduction

1. Do you leave an impression on other people, or do they easily forget you shortly ater they meet you?
2. Do people contact you, or are you the one oten putting the efort into a relationship?
3. When people see you, do they smile and greet you, or do they barely look at you?
4. Do people remember your name?
5. Do people remember what you said when you were last together?
6. Do people trust or distrust you? Do other people recommend you to people in their network?
7. Are you invited to join exciting tasks, meetings, and events?
How well you develop and maintain a network of colleagues, industry professionals, advisors, and customers is a
determining factor of how successful you will be throughout your career. Get started early in your career developing and
improving your networking skill.

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