About a year ago, I publicly stated that I would change/improve some things with me based on the 360 degrees annual evaluation[en, blog]. Last year, in the fall, I did the 360 degrees evaluation for 2012, so I now have a pretty good overall picture of what I have accomplished in the 8 months which have passed from March 2012 till November 2012. Unfortunately, although I did my homework and completed the little research, I haven’t made time to share the results in such an organized fashion as I did for the 2011 evaluation here [en, pdf].
I have written this article due to the transparency I preach – do what I say and say what I do. Therefore, let’s take my accomplishments and failures in terms of 2012, in rapport with what I’ve assumed as a target in front of everyone. I have marked in red the losses and in green the successes. This is NOT the top of my strengths and weaknesses. This article follows the results of my goals in the order declared last year. This is part one – how I’ve developed my strengths.
1. Seriousness & reliability
People said about me in 2012: Professionalism, Seriousness, Maturity, Reliability, Correctness, Emotional self-control, Never complain, Decisiveness, Independence in making decisions, openness, honesty, niche, lots of info, am a Good specialist, and am preoccupied with things, not on the first hand, built façade, Word-keeper, Able to help, Healthy habits (Church, self-incentive, hard-working, supporting a cause).
The problem is that this considered quality is not the 3rd in the people’s eyes, but the 6th thing they think about when they think about me. This is totally opposite to what I intended to obtain. This was one of my most important things in 2012, and I haven’t accomplished it.
Personal self-critic. I abandoned some of my professional goals in 2012. How have I let down people in general in 2012?
I concentrated so much on writing for Discerne, my Romanian blog, and Filme-carti.ro, that I completely abandoned my English blogs: Analytic Vision and Debug Your Mind. At the same time, this focus resulted in my winning two awards with Discerne. But, to my shame, I have not notified my readers that I will take a long break.
I announced that I was going to publish two books on negotiation, and I have published just one. Basically, in 2012 I published the revised edition of the e-book “Guide for efficient learning” and my first professional printed book on business, “Persuasion’s Paths to Negotiation” [ro, blog]. So that’s 2 out of 3 editorial projects finished. In 2013, I planned to have published 3 publishing projects. However, March has ended, and I haven’t spent any of them yet. So we’ll see how I handle it.
I took a (too) long professional break-in consulting & training, first until April 2012 and from August to October 2012, while working on the book.
I also talked to some people about my plans to continue my post-graduate studies in the EU, but I have decided to postpone that opportunity for the moment. Still, last year I took from the faculties the original documents for the master’s I graduated in 2011: the diploma, the supplement, the analytic program, and the authenticity attestation. In 2013, I translated all of them and apostilled them with the Hague Apostille. 2012 was the first year of a long period when I haven’t been a student anywhere anymore.
2. Detachment
My enthusiasm has dropped 1 place at the top of solid points, according to the average opinion of 26 people I asked in 2012 to tell me 4+, 4- [en, blog]. I am generally enthusiastic and get involved in too many things and finish just some of them. Detachment is a quality that allows you to lean back and react in a balanced fashion, considering the bigger picture. I succeeded by taking the time to work on myself, to change some of the issues I was having. Detachment from my own emotions, from others’ opinions. For example, now I am in a period when I get involved in many things, and I strive for a bit of break time to take things into perspective. I learned to take breaks a little bit easier, which is helpful, especially since I don’t want to fall into burnout or depression.
3. Faith
This strong point became more visible in 2012 because I’ve been writing pro-orthodoxy articles. In addition, one of my best and oldest friends recommended that I write a book on this topic because he thinks I write well about it. As a result, this strong point went up from the 15th position (2011) in the top to the 9th (2012).
I think people consider this a quality even if they don’t share the same beliefs. For example, someone practicing a Christian confession is believed to have morality; therefore (s)he is more trustworthy. I do consider that some of my principles and rigorousness come from following and practicing orthodoxy.
4. Creativity
|
2011 |
2012 |
|
11th place in strengths |
11th place in strengths |
|
3.5 points |
4 points |
|
2 dissertation papers |
2 books published |
|
200+ articles published |
125 + articles published |
So, as you can observe in the table, although I was more prolific in 2012, my peers considered me almost as creative as in 2011. This is a blow for me because creativity is my life; it’s one thing that should define my activity as a marketer. More is not better, and this actually seems to be the case. Especially since 4 points is even lower than what I got for creativity in 2010 when it was in 13th place as strength. I have to admit that I haven’t come up with ground-breaking ideas or discoveries in 2011 or 2012.
At the same time, I think people generally associate creativity with innovation, which is not necessarily the case. I have a more pronounced correlative intelligence rather than an innovative one. Considering I made it a goal in 2012 to be more creative and failed to do that, in the feedback of 32+ people, it’s certainly something to think about.
5. Organisation
I haven’t accomplished this goal – I will write about the weaknesses more in the article.
6. Expressiveness
The number of points received by this strength has more than doubled spectacularly, making expressiveness one of my top 3 strengths. People said about me in 2012: Assertiveness, negotiation, Efficient communication, excellent verbal expression, Diplomacy, Understanding, Offering good feedback, Relaxed presenting style, Good education, common sense, respect, Good man, Manners, goodwill, Nice guy, Writing a lot, Easy to talk to, Nice looking, Sympathetic, Ability to have a dialogue.
So, even if I’m considered less creative in 2012 compared to 2011, I’m considered almost twice as expressive, which shows that I have improved my communication abilities. I have also enriched and diversified my style of writing. This is one of the goals I really nailed in 2012. Nobody can tell me you can’t succeed in planning with precision to affect other people’s opinions.
7. Optimism
More people from those who gave me complete, relevant feedback viewed me as an optimist in 2012 compared to 2011. Probably since I became more expressive, people could perceive me more coherently. One of my strengths is my optimism, even if its corresponding weakness is idealism, which is much more visible.
8. Concision
The attribute analysis, as a strength, fell from the 5th to the 7th position in 2012. The attribute overanalysis has also dropped its position (from 11 to 12) and points (from 6 to 5,5) at the top of weaknesses. I’ve been complimented on the results of my work with “Persuasion’s Paths to Negotiation” [ro, blog]. I published the book in December 2012, so after completing the 360º evaluation. I’ve been commended for the fact it is a very concentrated book that synthesizes thousands of pages of specialty books excellently.
Next to my great analytic talent, developing the ability to synthesize is very important. But, unfortunately, people expect me at my age to make some conclusions and not to keep analyzing alternatives.
9. Balance, calm
Although some people appreciated me in 2010-2011, the balance, the calm, the objectivity, I confess, seeming to lose all of it in 2012. Actually, I was perceived as more in a rush than in 2011. My patience with myself and others seems to have run out in 2012. So, unfortunately, people see me somewhat as agitated than peaceful.
10. Data & rights security
This is not related to my personal branding or development but is a declared interest. I have been continuing my activity in password-protecting all the documents I sent. I have kept removing my writings from all unwanted places (e.g., materials written by me and published by others on Scribd without permission – including a draft of a book), and I have registered my copyrights for all of the articles published in 2012. I have shared my work with fewer people.
I have participated in one security workshop.
I kept changing passwords to all my accounts, and none of them got hijacked. I have used a virtual keyboard to access sensitive accounts from wireless connections. I have installed protection software for wireless connection and disabled google tracking in Chrome. I have been using an encrypted partition for my work.
I haven’t had a file data loss since 2011. My maintenance of computers, both the central unit and the laptop, both software, and hardware, has spared me any problems. I had my laptop cleaned from dust and replaced its charger and battery.
I have been raising attention to the internet-rights as human rights [en, php] related issues by publishing posts on this topic and sharing initiatives such as accessnow.org.
Other positive things I have accomplished in the area of my strengths, based solely on the 360º evaluation:
I considered 2012 50% more intelligent and 2 times more emotionally intelligent than 2011, which is a radical and consistent improvement in my image.
People said about me in 2012:
- Intelligence, Evolution, Competitiveness with self (perfectionism), Reasoning capacity, Self-taught, reading a lot, (thirst for) knowledge, Smartness, good memory, passion for study,
- EQ (empathy + showing emotions), attention to others’ needs, good listening & confidence, knowledge of people & questions, good advice, helpfulness, innocence, constructivism, will to do good, caring, a thesaurus of wisdom, offering, generosity, remembering the names of people, nice guy. Practically, this attribute has gone from the 8th position straight to the 4thposition in 2012.
I will continue with an article to share what I have accomplished in working on my weaknesses. So far, 70% success from what I proposed as a goal from 2012 for 2012.
Marcus Victor Grant
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