Mother's Day

Today I'm sure you did your best to make your mother feel special. You sent her a card, with presents. Maybe even flowers. You may have made her breakfast in bed, and cleaned the toast crumbs off the sheets. Perhaps you took her out to brunch, or dinner. At the very least, you wished her a Happy Mother's Day. You made your mother feel like a star!

What about the rest of the year? What do you do to show appreciation to the people in your life? I'm sure you don't give them presents every day, but do you even say thank you? People are hungry for appreciation. You'll be amazed at the results you can achieve simply by thanking people for what they do.

My first job in professional theatre was as assistant director to Ed Sherin on a production of A Streetcar Named Desire. The great Shirley Knight starred as Blanche. I didn't do much during the production -- just followed along on the script and ran errands for Ed -- but to this day I can quote large pieces of dialogue from the play.

On opening night, Shirley gave gifts to everyone who worked on the play, including the stage crew, prop manager, lighting board operator -- and me. She gave me a small children's book, The Story of Ginger and Pickles, signed her name and wrote 'thank you.' I still have that book. It may not have meant that much to her, but it meant the world to me. I felt that my contribution, small as it was, had some value to her. That's how a great star behaves.

Our paths have not crossed since, but if I ever had a chance to do something for her, do you think I would hesitate? All because she took the time to thank a lowly assistant director many years ago. Most of the time, we never know how our behavior affects others. But our behavior can have a powerful effect, for good or bad. If you want to be a star, treat others like stars -- not just on special days, but every day.

Make Yourself Essential

That's the key to stardom. Movie companies don't hire stars because they like them -- although executives will often boast of the close personal relationship they enjoy with Leo, or Tom, or Katy. They hire stars because they open. That is, a movie with a star in it will generally earn more money in its first weekend than a movie without stars.

Movie companies consider stars essential to their success. That's why they keep paying them millions of dollars even in a recession. What about your job? Are you essential to your company's success? If so, what are you doing to demonstrate that? Are you bringing in revenue? Do you have an essential operating responsibility? Do employees outside your department know who you are?

By the way, these days, even having an important role is no guarantee you'll continue working at the same company. But a star at one company can usually find a job with another company. If Warner Brothers doesn't want Leonardo DiCaprio for their current project, Paramount will be happy to sign him for theirs.

So what are you doing to make yourself essential? Are you paying more attention at work? Are you taking the extra steps needed to make your work better? Are you taking time to talk to your colleagues and learn how to make their work easier? If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you should have started doing all of that and more by now.

If you stopped going to work tomorrow, how many people would notice? Would they be able to go on without you? If your answer to the second question is "yes," then you haven't gone too far along the path to stardom yet. Resolve to improve one thing about your job performance tomorrow. Then two days later change something else. Keep that up for two months. In six months, you'll be amazed at the positive impact you've made on your workplace. You'll be well on your way to starring in your own life.