Anderson Cooper - Innovating All the Way to Success

Being determined, creative and thinking outside-the-box are all ways to get ahead, especially in the face of adversity. There isn't a successful person out there who hasn't come up against seemingly insurmountable odds. It's not the obstacle but how we approach it that matters.

Anderson Cooper is a perfect example of how someone went from being stymied in his career to the top of his field.


After graduating from college, Anderson knew he wanted to be a news correspondent and tried to get a job - any job- in a news station. After being turned down by a number of stations, he was finally offered an entry level job as a fact-checker at Channel One, a station broadcasting news to high schools. After several months on the job, Anderson became bored and realized the only way he was going to get to report on the front lines was to take charge of his future. He quit the station, borrowed a friend's video camera and, armed with a fake press pass, left for Thailand. He shot footage at the Thai-Burmese border of the Burmese refugees who were planning a government coup. Anderson's gamble paid off when he was able to sell the video to Channel One. Eighteen months later his career was launched when Channel One, where he had recently been a junior fact checker, now hired him as a correspondent.

After two years of compelling coverage in political hot spots like Bosnia, Croatia and Rwanda, Anderson got an offer to join ABC News, which just three years earlier had turned him down for a job as a receptionist! His initiative was paying off in a big way.

In December 2001, after the 9/11 attacks, Anderson accepted a position on CNN's program, "American Morning". In March 2003, after the start of the war in Iraq, Anderson moved to prime time, hosting his own program Anderson Cooper 360.

While Anderson had reached a certain level of success, first in broadcasting and then anchoring, he really made his mark during his compelling coverage of Hurricane Katrina.

Because of the weather conditions, there was no TelePrompTer, no script to support his on-camera reporting. "I had to be quick on my feet, ready for anything." Anderson's interview with Louisiana State Senator Landrieu got national attention because of his emotionally charged questions. While Senator Landrieu went on and on thanking President Bush and senior ranking senators, Anderson grew impatient. "Excuse me Senator, sorry for interrupting. For the last four days I've been seeing dead bodies in the streets. And to listen to politicians thanking each other and complimenting each other .... There's a woman's body that's been on the street for 48 hours and there's not enough facilities to take her up. Do you get the anger that is out here?"

It was that kind of impassioned reporting that put Anderson on the map. Whether he was on the front lines of a war zone or a natural disaster, Anderson got emotionally involved in the stories he was covering and would occasionally get choked up during a broadcast. This ability to freely show his emotions while reporting the facts became a trademark of Anderson and clearly differentiated him from his broadcasting colleagues.

Broadcasting & Cable magazine wrote: "In its aftermath, Hurricane Katrina served to usher in a new breed of emo-journalism, skyrocketing CNN's Anderson Cooper to superstardom as CNN's golden boy and a darling of the media circles because of his impassioned coverage of the storm."

Anderson Cooper's success can be traced back to his unconventional approach and to trusting his instincts. The same could be said for his reporting style. He asked the questions his viewers wanted answered and wasn't afraid to show his emotions.

"I think you have to be yourself, and you have to be real and you have to admit what you don't know."
If you're feeling "boxed-in" and stuck, think of an innovative way to move your career forward. Importantly, learn from what Anderson did when it came to his viewers - he focused on what was most important to them. Think of your constituents and how you can address their most critical needs.

Fred & Gladys
Whelan Stone
Executive Search and Coaching
Authors of GOAL! Your 30 Day Career Plan for Business & Career Success

New Year’s Resolution? This Time Stay on Track!

Another year has flown by – in fact – so has another decade! How are you going to make sure to stick to the resolutions you make in January? Wouldn’t it be great to break the cycle of starting and stopping on your goals? If only you had some way of keeping yourself on track.

The main reason people don’t reach their goals is that they give up along the way. Either they procrastinate, get discouraged or hit plateaus. And then of course there’s always Murphy’s Law. The difference between people who consistently reach their goals from those who do not, is that they keep plugging away until they get what they want.

Here are things you can do to overcome the common obstacles to reaching goals:

Procrastination: The hardest part for many people is just getting started. When you think about your goal it its totality, it may seem daunting. The key is to break it down into doable steps. Once you do that it’s easy to get started. During the course of your goal, if you feel the urge to procrastinate, keep the vision of your goal in mind.

Murphy's Law: "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong". Just when you were making real progress towards your goal, something unexpected happens and causes a set-back. Your attitude of how you approach a setback is key to achieving your goal. Some people will become discouraged and give up. Others will handle this in stride and find a way to get to their goal. Even if it feels like two steps forward and one step back, keep moving forward.

Plateaus: It’s normal after working on your goal for a period of time to hit a plateau. You know when you’ve hit a plateau because the same things that were working before, suddenly aren't working - and that’s exactly the problem. You need to do something different. Hitting a plateau means you need to shake things up, do things in a different order or try something new until you start seeing progress again. What worked when you first started on your goal may not work several weeks or months later. The key is flexibility.

Discouragement: Along the way to your goal you may hit a rough patch and become discouraged. The important thing to know about discouragement is that it’s just a mood and it’s temporary. If you’re telling yourself things like “I knew I couldn’t do it” that’s discouragement talking. The best remedy for that is to tell yourself something that’s going to give you energy to keep moving forward, like “I have everything I need to be successful.” That’s going to help carry you through when you feel like quitting.


Part of what helps successful people achieve their goals is that they know they’re going to experience obstacles along the way. They don’t know exactly which ones, but they know it’s inevitable. So, when something does happen, they’re not shocked, they’re not discouraged, they simply realize that this is part of the process. No matter what your goal is you will be faced with some obstacles that may appear to be insurmountable. Remember, if you keep on trying you’ll reach your goal.

Resolve this is the year that you will go after your goal with a new determination and the belief that you will achieve it.

Fred & Gladys
Whelan Stone
Executive Search and Coaching
Authors of GOAL! Your 30 Day Career Plan for Business & Career Success

Learn a New Language! Find the Time for That Or Any Other Goal.

People often assume they don't have the time to accomplish a goal without even knowing how long that goal might take. For example, how long do you think it takes to learn a language? People often say they don't have time for that, but how long does that really take?

According to Rosetta Stone, the language software company, it takes 180 hours to learn a new language. The people at Rosetta Stone say the most effective way to learn is to practice 3-4 hours each week (or 30 minutes a day) and in about a year you'll be speaking that new language.



Finding out how much time a goal really takes and then breaking it down into doable sessions makes it more attainable.

Time is a precious resource and sometimes we forget that we are in charge of how we spend our time each day. How do you think successful people get so much done? They plan every day. That's different from having a to-do list. When they assign a time for something it's not arbitrary - they look at what has to be done and figure out how long it should take. Then they schedule it. Planning your days is more efficient and frees up more time.

Another way to find time to do more of the things you want is to combine goals. You might be surprised at the goals that can be combined. For example, its commonplace now, but do you remember the first time you saw a parent jogging while pushing a stroller? Someone had the bright idea of combining those two - getting a workout while your child gets fresh air. We tend to put things in columns or categories and sometimes don't realize they can overlap. We all know how much business is done on the golf course. Those two categories were combined long ago and continue to thrive together. You can combine exercise, volunteering your time and spending time with your family if you all signed up for Habitat for Humanity. You could coach little league, that would combine your desire to be a mentor with spending time with your kids. There's almost always a way to combine at least two goals.

David Allen, the efficiency guru and author of "Getting things done" says
the best way to save time is to group like activities. If you have calls to make, do them all in a row. They don't have to be related because the calls are related by virtue of the fact that they are a like activity. That will save you time. Do the same for emails. Have certain times of the day when you're going to catch up on your emails. Put all of your filing together and do that, all the reading together and do that. And for your reading, if you have a backlog of stuff, like magazine and trade pubs, if you can't read the whole issue, just read the cover story. That's usually the most relevant article in the publication and it generally takes about 10 minutes. You'd be surprised at how many 10 minute windows you might have in a day.

It's important to find the time to work on the goals that matter to you. Research has shown that most people regret actions not taken rather than actions taken, regardless of outcome. Which is why it's so important to go after what you want. Start working on your goal today!

Fred & Gladys
Whelan Stone
Executive Search and Coaching
Authors of GOAL! Your 30 Day Career Plan for Business & Career Success

Finding Your Dream Job - You Had Me at Hello

It’s no secret that a lot of people are unhappy in their jobs. Given all the hours spent at work, wouldn’t it be better to do something you enjoy rather than stay in a job where you’re bored or unhappy? “Yes, BUT I need to pay my mortgage and this is no time to change jobs.” You’ll always have financial obligations and there’s no guarantee your current job will be there tomorrow.

Here's how do you go about finding that new exciting career that brings you back to life:

Use Your Current Job As a Starting Point – Even if you hate your current job, there might be aspects of it that can lead to your dream job. Let’s say you’re a brand manager and know you want to make a change. What part of the job do you like best? Is it the packaging, advertising, promotion, or market research? Maybe you decide it’s the market research. Do you like the qualitative side or the quantitative side? If you prefer the qualitative side, your new career could be a focus group moderator or someone who runs ideation sessions (this sounds like fun), or generates creative for a naming company, just to list a few. If you like the quantitative more, maybe you should go into risk management, become a go-to-market strategist, or a business consultant. There are many potential paths you can take that will enable you to do the aspect of the job you love most.

Listen to What People Say You’re Good At - Your co-workers, family and friends sometimes see you differently than you see yourself. If you hear people saying “oh, you’re great at staying in touch” consider opportunities that involve sales and networking. People might say “you’re good at giving advice.” Then ask yourself is there a teacher, trainer or coach lurking in you? Make a List of What You Like Doing – Don’t filter your responses. Make a laundry list of what gives you joy including things you used to do as a child. As a child, did you like to build things, write stories or perform? In addition to what you like to do in your current job, how do you like to spend your off hours? Next to each item on your laundry list, ask yourself what about the activity gave/gives you joy. See what epiphanies might occur and how you can translate these into your next job.

What’s Your Personality Telling You? – Some personalities are suited for certain positions. For example, if you handle rejection well and enjoy constantly meeting new people, sales might be right for you. Knowing who you are is a big part of finding the right career. Would you like to be a big fish in a small pond? If so, you may be cut out to be an entrepreneur (if you’re okay taking risks) or take a bigger role in a smaller company. Conversely, you may want the resources and cache of working at a large company and are willing to deal with multiple layers of management. Do you like being in a leadership role or a support position? Do you like working independently or in a team? Do you like project work or positions that require on-going building? It’s so important to find something that meshes with your personality. Otherwise, you’re a square peg in a round hole.

Be Open – Be open to ideas which can come from anywhere: when you’re reading books, newspapers and magazines; watching TV; talking to your family friends and co-workers. What ideas do you spark to? Being open means being inclusive – every idea is worth considering.

If there are a few career options that you have identified and need to know more about, go on informational interviews. If you’re still unclear as to what career suits you best, there are many great books like, “What Color is Your Parachute?” or career coaches (like us ) who can help.

It may be scary at first to think about changing careers, especially if you’ve been at it for a long time. But isn’t it better to face the fears than to stay in a job that’s not focused on what you enjoy doing most?

Yes!

Fred & Gladys

Whelan Stone

Executive Recruiters and Coaches

authors of GOAL! Your 30 Day Game Plan for Business & Career Success