The MESH Winner Collecting her Fantastic Prize

Today's success tip comes from Avril Henry.

In 2006, Avril won the prestigious Lifetime Achievement in Human Resources Award at the Australian HR Awards. She has been a finalist in the Best HR Director and Sydney Business Review Businesswoman of the Year awards, and nominated for Telstra Business Woman of the Year on four occasions. She now works in Sydney and owns AH Revelations. Avril continues to help and inspire 100's of business owners every year.

Can you tell us about your early career and the lessons you learnt along the way?

My early career was in the finance industry, working as an accountant in structured finance and then in investment banking. I was young, female, blonde and very enthusiastic. I believed I would be judged on my performance and merit, and was hugely disappointed and surprised when I discovered this was not the case.

My first experience with discrimination at work was when two male colleagues were paid more than I was (and one was given a company car), despite the fact that I was already a qualified accountant and they had not yet finished their accounting studies. I was told it was because one of them was married and therefore needed to be paid more! I told my boss that if I didn't get a pay increase to the same level as my male peers and a company car, then I would resign! I got the salary increase and the company car.

From this experience I learnt two things:

1. If you want something badly enough, then ask for it (but make sure you have a sound business case) - I presented a written business case to my boss requesting a salary increase and a company car after I researched what other accountants were being paid in similar industries, coupled with the inside information supplied by my peers.

2. You need to take calculated risks regularly - it was a risk to tell my boss that I was willing to resign, however I was prepared to take that risk and follow through on my ultimatum if I needed to. Taking risks can lead to failure, but it is how you deal with failure that is important. If you see it as a learning opportunity then you will grow and develop as a person. I believe the only difference between successful people and less successful people is that successful people have failed more often, but managed to transform the experience into a lesson. I love the quote by Honda, after failing 167 times before producing the first Honda motorcycle prototype - 'Success is 99 per cent failure!'

I have also learnt many other lessons throughout my career:

It is important to have mentors throughout your career - find people who you can trust and who you can ask for advice and guidance when the going gets tough. Mentors are more likely to be honest with you and give you constructive feedback. I have often discussed major career decisions with my mentors before making a change.  

Seek opportunities to continually build your skill-set and competencies - if you can do this you will be more employable and valuable as an employee, manager and leader. The more diverse your experience and skill-set is, the more innovative you will be when analysing and solving problems.

Always invest in yourself - you should never hesitate when spending money on developing your professional and personal capacity. I live by the philosophy that if you are not growing as a person, you are simply stagnating!

Be true to yourself - my maternal grandmother taught me, 'Always be true to yourself and know that you can look at yourself in the mirror and not be ashamed of what you see'. Throughout my career I have constantly subscribed to the philosophy, 'To thine own self be true'.

Surround yourself with good people - in the latter part of my corporate career I have learnt that it is critically important to surround yourself with good people who have different skills to your own, different ways of thinking and working, and who will challenge you as a leader.

I have always believed that diversity is a strength rather than a weakness, and good leaders value diversity rather than uniformity.


This website contains even more great tips from Avril Henry.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE NOW.

Movember culminates at the end of month Gala Partés. If you would like to be part of this great night you'll need to purchase a [ Gala Parté Ticket ].

Thanks for your support.

 

More information is available at http://www.movember.com/.

Movember is proudly grown by Holden and Schick.

Movember is proud partners with the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue - the national depression initiative.

 

A Mountain of New Content Available to Help You Achieve Success

Remember, as a member of the Absolute Success Arena you can access and download everything above for FREE

Unlike other programs out there where for a similar monthly membership fee you are given just ONE item per month. I am sure you'll agree that approximately 20-30 ALL-NEW ITEMS PER MONTH represents extraordinary value.

What's more, we don't just make that commitment once, it is something that we have committed to doing each and every new month, to give you the best and most relevant information so you can achieve the success you want.

Each of these items takes hours of time for our team to read/listen to, edit, review, then write text about and then upload into the Absolute Success Arena. Now I don't say that for the sympathy vote. I simply want to ensure that you appreciate the time and effort involved, and then make use of this information.

If you are a member of the Absolute Success Arena, LOG-In and then click on the link below and you will be taken straight to all of the new eBooks, Audios and Videos which are available to you:

www.AbsoluteSuccessArena.com/latest-uploads

If you are not yet a member of the Absolute Success Arena, don’t miss out any longer. Join the Absolute Success Arena today for the special introductory price of just $1.00. Click below and take action now.