HLAA '16 Perseverance and Career Success

Perseverance and
Career Success
OVERCOMING OBSTACLES AND BEING RICHER FOR
IT IN DAILY WORK-LIFE AND CAREER

Perseverance and Career Success
Tell you what I’m gonna tell…
HR Doctor Heal Thyself!
Perseverance 101
5 Things Resilient People Do
Workplace application
WORK TIP:
Use T-T-T
communication
daily!

25 years in HR,
operations &
marketing overseeing
employment of
thousands and
NEVER, not once….
BPJ Resume continued …
2013-Present
Director Marketing and Customer Experience
Communication Service for Deaf, Inc.
2006-2012
Vice President HR & Talent Acquisition
Movers Specialty Services, Inc.
Prior to 2006
• VP Organizational Effectiveness & GM
• Director Manufacturing Operations
• Global HR Director
• AVP Employee Relations
• Corporate HR Manager
“Seasoned” HR professional…
Diversity – Excellence – Change

… did I interview,
hire, assist or even
know a person
who is deaf or
hard of hearing!
Where were they?!
• Approximately 15% of American adults
(37.5 million) aged 18 and over report
some trouble hearing.
• One in eight people in the United States
(13 percent, or 30 million) aged 12 years
or older has hearing loss in both ears.
• About 2 percent of adults aged 45 to 54
have disabling hearing loss.
• The rate increases to 8.5 percent for
adults aged 55 to 64.
Summary health statistics for U.S. adults: National Health
Interview Survey, 2012. National Center for Health
Statistics. Vital Health Stat 10(260). 2014. (PDF)

Until I did it for me!
• Tone deaf since child
• SSHL (left) 2006
• Hearing aids fine until
Spring 2010, then…
• Vertigo, balance illness,
major bilateral declines
• “Effectively deaf” 7/9/10
“Mr. Jensen is effectively deaf.”
Doylestown Hospital-ENT
audiology report on 7/9/2010

Ultimate Diversity:
 Each disability is HUGELY
different from the next
 Individual uniqueness
 Job, task, role uniqueness

Fit for duty analysis
 Interviewing
 Training
 Client “shows”
 Field dispatch
 EE counseling
 Meetings
 Media, writing
 Benefits / comp
 Broker / negotiate
 Exec coaching
 MBWA, safety
 Exec facilitation

Diversity Model
Fit for Duty
Learn
Apply
Teach

Learn, apply, teach…
 Dictation apps
 Project chat
 Skype the halls
 Captel phone
 Pen, pad and
post-it-note
 Basecamp Colab
 CART / Typwell
 Cool safety gadgets
 Sound proof room
 Leadership issues
 Meeting protocals
 Job Skills Training w/
HoH examples

Do your own fit for duty analysis as it applies to
your current or ideal job. Write out bullets of
your major tasks. Identify 1 item and describe
the accommodation you need. Then employ
the Learn, apply, teach diversity model.
Application

HR doctor heal thyself
I could not understand people at meetings, so I
created new meeting protocals and employed
companywide.
Written agenda and white-boarding during meeting
Limit acronyms, face forward, talk one at a time,
minimize cross talk
Assign note taker and distribute to group (now use
Typwell for this)

Perseverance 101
Perseverance is steadfastness in doing
something despite difficulty or delay
in accomplishing success. It is about
achieving personal growth by
overcoming adversity. It is triumph
through battle.

Why are some people are more
resilient than others?
Perseverance is a process of choices
and actions, not a personality trait.
People decide and learn to persevere.
There is a direct correlation between
personal resilience and career success

Bounce
Back
Persist &
Endure
Achieve
Success
Be Better
for It
Path to Success
Success

 unexpected
 unwanted
 unpleasant
 unsettling
 unlucky
 unhappy
 unprepared
 uncharted
 unrelenting
 unimagined
Not about broken shoelaces

5 Things Resilient People Do
1. Believe success is a choice
2. Stare down hard reality
3. Find a higher meaning
4. Use own pain to heal others
5. Visualize the extraordinary

Success is a choice!

We do NOT control the
“External” world
 All other people
 Co-workers, boss
 Time and events
 Economic pressures
 Medical diagnoses
 Weather and seasons
 Harm and tragedy
 Hitting the lottery
No Control
(External)
Influence
(External)
You
(Internal)

We DO control the
“Internal” self
 Reactions to Externals
 Decisions, beliefs & values
 Plans (not outcomes!)
 Self-awareness
 Desire, passion & energy
 Skills and learning
 Behaviors and actions
No Control
(External)
Influence
(External)
You
(Internal)

We can “influence”
the external world
 It is ineffective to focus
on things you do not
control
 Focus on the External
DECREASES Influence
 Focus on the Internal
INCREASES Influence
No Control
(External)
Influence
(External)
You
(Internal)

Write two lists on your current challenges at work
I do NOT control:
• That I’m deaf now
• People who don’t get it
• Lips I can’t read
• Crappy captions
• Employment bias
I DO control:
• How I communicate
• Networking for help
• My personal integrity
• Learning new skills
• Advocacy (e.g. CSD)

5 Things Resilient People Do
1. Believe growth is a choice
4. Use own pain to heal others

Stare down hard reality
A. The optimism trap
B. Inventory cold hard facts
C. Grieve with passion

Resilient people keep things real
We are hard-wired unrealistic*
Optimism: Denial in disguise
* People hugely underestimate chances of getting divorced, losing a
job and being diagnosed ill while overestimating personal
achievement, family fortune, and life span.
- Time Magazine: The Science of Optimism
The Optimism Trap

I miss things and don’t know when I do
Get exponentially less information
I feel isolated; talk to less people
Interpreting visual cues is exhausting
Prejudice at work is a real thing against Deaf and HoH
My boss doesn’t understand!
Depleting all my money
Inventory Cold Hard Facts

Holding back is unhealthy
Sharing pain helps you & others
Process toward healing
“Sadness, anger and depression are sane reactions to great
loss. Grieving is a healthy process with stages that should be
experienced, not denied.”
- Coping with Grief and Loss: HelpGuide.org
Grieve with Passion

Resilient people know that pain instructs
and insist to find lessons through their
plight. They are convicted toward a
higher purpose in suffering. They simply
believe that hurt means more.
Find a Higher Meaning

Learned a new world
Advocate with CSD
Know great new tools
Insight into human behavior
Better listener via captions
Keener of others’ true feelings
Find a Higher Meaning
“Adversity introduces a man to himself.”
—Anonymous
 New friends who understand
 Inspired by champions
 Better at sharing my heart
 Closer to my children
 Higher vocation and aspirations
 Stronger professional network

Write your own list of lessons learn, new tools and
methods for collaborating with others, or desirable
outcomes that actually occurred as a result of your
difficulty.
Caution: List only firm convictions, facts or actual events.
This is not a wish list or ambiguous hope that something good will
come. It must be real.
Application

 You are uniquely qualified
 Pain instructs far more effectively than positives
 Pain creates action; satisfaction breeds sloth
 What are your most powerful “pain-connects”?
 Seek out ways to help
Use Pain to Heal Others
“You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may
be the best thing in the world for you.”
—Walt Disney

 Learn, apply teach (diversity model) is my daily mantra
 Created diversity model and employed it
 Started new blog & speaking service
 Contacted HLAA / ALDA
 Implored “Real About Diversity” to HR groups
 Joined CSD, hired others facing similar challenges
 Created this presentation!
Use Pain to Heal Others

Write a list of attributes that make you uniquely
qualified to assist others who share your pain; then
write second list of actions you can take to reach out to
them.
Then do it!
Application

Visualization techniques (as in athletes)
Imagine specifically “Dream job moment”
Set concrete goals for future
Visualize the Extraordinary

Imagine a future of happiness and accomplishment
beyond your current struggles. Describe your vision of
triumph at its optimal peak. Be very specific and write it
down. Use pictures!
Dream BIG!
Application

1. Believe growth is a choice
4. Use pain to heal others
5 Things Successful People Do

“Show me someone who has done something
worthwhile, and I will show you someone who
has overcome adversity.”
—Lou Holtz
Be Inspired Every Day!

HLAA '16 Perseverance and Career Success

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