Excerpted and updated from The Pink Slip and How to Avoid It

1. Serve your company faithfully, aggressively and tirelessly, just as you once served your country. But, the first day you sense even a hint of your being expendable, finalize your battle plan. Your next day, start looking for a new job – inside or outside your company. Discreetly, of course.

2. Develop one or more powerful internal company mentors as allies both to protect your flanks and enhance your intra-company image.

3. Develop and foster professional relationships with an external mentor who is a guru in your professional field or function. If promoted to a new department – for example, from sales to marketing – find an external mentor versed in your new field.

4. “Join” your company’s Board of Directors. Learn to track earnings just as your board members do. Learn to spot signs that a staff cut may be imminent.

5. Watch for unfamiliar “buzz words” in emails and company communications. Like calls for the team to be “more entrepreneurial” (meaning “produce or leave”). Or a “business check-up,” (meaning cost reductions, e.g. layoffs are on the way).

6. Know the danger signs and develop defensive postures accordingly. If excluded from meetings you’ve always attended … or you can’t see your boss as often as before … or you’re sent on “special assignment” during reorganization – you are vulnerable.

7. Beware of consultants or unfamiliar professionals who show up. Management often turns to outsiders to look “objectively” at how best to boost productivity – and reduce head count.

8. Make yourself more personally attractive. Pay attention to the preferences of those who evaluate you, on dress, behavior, work habits. Wherever you differ – adjust accordingly.

9. Develop a personal and professional “wow factor.” Every company has one. Learn it and exercise it.

10. Adjust your personal “time clock.” If the boss is “AM,” so should you be. If he (or she) is “PM,” stay until dark – especially when things get shaky.

11. Cross-train to improve your value. Like learning Russian, or what competitor companies are doing. Learn to play the piano or golf, as a counter-balance to work stress. Golf is great because maybe you’ll play with your boss.

12. Become a “corporate Baptist” and “self tithe” no less than 10 percent of your time to self-promotion and name recognition. Use outside sources to influence your value to internal management. Follow the lead of the “Big Boys” in building community, political, organizational, and volunteer relationships.

13. Paranoia isn’t all bad. Maintain a private diary, including memos you receive, to record events which later may be challenged. Act like there is an imaginary gun to your head. If you’re in a staff role, transition to a revenue-producing role.

14. Develop the perception of financial independence. Those who wield the career knife seem less likely to sever the individual who is not going to miss the paycheck.

15. Don’t be complacent. Put these survival tactics into play, now. Before it’s too late to get started.

Wes Poriotis is founder and Chairman of the New York-based Center for Military and Private Sector Initiatives (aka Veterans Across America), a nonprofit that helps veterans, especially wounded and disabled veterans, compete for quality employment. He is also author of The Pink Slip and How to Avoid It. Dr. Ray Healey is the co-founder and Executive director of Veterans Across America, and a former head of editorial communications for Forbes magazine.

Source: Veterans Across America

When you are at work, do you get frustrated because things don’t seem to be happening the way they’re supposed to be? You see people milling around but nothing gets accomplished. And in the daily hustle and bustle, do you feel that your goals remain just that – goals. Then maybe its time for you to stand up and do something about it.

Most people are content just to stand around listening for orders. And it isn’t unusual to adopt a follow-the-leader mentality. But maybe, somewhere inside of you, you feel the desire to make things happen – to be the head, not the tail. Then maybe leadership just suits you fine.

Some people believe that great leaders are made, not born. Yes, it may be true that some people are born with natural talents. However, without practice, without drive, without enthusiasm, and without experience, there can be no true development in leadership.

You must also remember that good leaders are continually working and studying to improve their natural skills. This takes a commitment to constantly improve in whatever endeavor a person chooses.

First of all, let’s define leadership. To be a leader, one must be able to influence others to accomplish a goal, or an objective. He contributes to the organization and cohesion of a group.

Contrary to what most people believe, leadership is not about power. It is not about harassing people or driving them using fear. It is about encouraging others towards the goal of the organization. It is putting everyone on the same page and helping them see the big picture of the organization. You must be a leader not a boss.

First of all, you have to get people to follow you. How is this accomplished?

People follow others when they see a clear sense of purpose. People will only follow you if they see that you know where you are going. Remember that bumper sticker? The one that says, don’t follow me, I’m lost too? The same holds true for leadership. If you yourself do not know where you’re headed to, chances are people will not follow you at all.

You yourself must know the vision of the organization. Having a clear sense of hierarchy, knowing who the bosses are, who to talk to, the organization’s goals and objectives, and how the organization works is the only way to show others you know what you are doing.

Being a leader is not about what you make others do. It’s about who you are, what you know, and what you do. You are a reflection of what you’re subordinates must be.

Studies have shown that one other bases of good leadership is the trust and confidence your subordinates have of you. If they trust you they will go through hell and high water for you and for the organization.

Trust and confidence is built on good relationships, trustworthiness, and high ethics.

The way you deal with your people, and the relationships you build will lay the foundation for the strength of your group. The stronger your relationship, the stronger their trust and confidence is in your capabilities.

Once you have their trust and confidence, you may now proceed to communicate the goals and objectives you are to undertake.

Communication is a very important key to good leadership. Without this you can not be a good leader. The knowledge and technical expertise you have must be clearly imparted to other people.

Also, you can not be a good leader and unless you have good judgment. You must be able to assess situations, weigh the pros and cons of any decision, and actively seek out a solution.

It is this judgment that your subordinates will come to rely upon. Therefore, good decision-making is vital to the success of your organization.

Leaders are not do-it-all heroes. You should not claim to know everything, and you should not rely upon your skills alone.

You should recognize and take advantage of the skills and talents your subordinates have. Only when you come to this realization will you be able to work as one cohesive unit.

Remember being a leader takes a good deal of work and time. It is not learned overnight. Remember, also, that it is not about just you. It is about you and the people around you.

So, do you have the drive and the desire to serve required of leaders? Do you have the desire to work cooperatively with other people? Then start now. Take your stand and be leader today.

There is so much to know about conversation that anyone, even I, could ever realize. You can go though watching talk shows; radio programs; clubs dedicated to public speaking; ordinary conversations; certain rules still apply when it comes to interaction through words. It may sound tedious, I know, but even though it’s your mouth that’s doing the work, your brain works twice as hard to churn out a lot of things you know. So what better way to start learning to be an effective communication is to know the very person closest to you: yourself.

1. What you know.
Education is all about learning the basics, but to be an effective speaker is to practice what you’ve learned. My stint as guest at every Toastmasters’ meeting I go to taught me that we all have our limitations, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn to keep up and share what we know.

2. Listening.
It’s just as important as asking questions. Sometimes listening to the sound of our own voice can teach us to be a little bit confident with ourselves and to say the things we believe in with conviction.

3. Humility
We all make mistakes, and sometimes we tend to slur our words, stutter, and probably mispronounce certain words even though we know what it means, but rarely use it only to impress listeners. So in a group, don’t be afraid to ask if you’re saying the right word properly and if they’re unsure about it then make a joke out of it. I promise you it’ll make everyone laugh and you can get away with it as well.

4. Eye Contact
There’s a lot to say when it comes to directing your attention to your audience with an eye-catching gaze. It’s important that you keep your focus when talking to a large group in a meeting or a gathering, even though he or she may be gorgeous.

5. Kidding around
A little bit of humor can do wonders to lift the tension, or worse boredom when making your speech. That way, you’ll get the attention of the majority of the crowd and they’ll feel that you’re just as approachable, and as human to those who listen.

6. Be like the rest of them
Interaction is all about mingling with other people. You’ll get a lot of ideas, as well as knowing what people make them as they are.

7. Me, Myself, and I
Admit it, there are times you sing to yourself in the shower. I know I do! Listening to the sound of your own voice while you practice your speech in front of a mirror can help correct the stress areas of your pitch. And while you’re at it you can spruce up as well.

8. With a smile
A smile says it all much like eye contact. There’s no point on grimacing or frowning in a meeting or a gathering, unless it’s a wake. You can better express what you’re saying when you smile.

9. A Role Model
There must be at least one or two people in your life you have listened to when they’re at a public gathering or maybe at church. Sure they read their lines, but taking a mental note of how they emphasize what they say can help you once you take center stage.

10. Preparation
Make the best out of preparation rather than just scribbling notes and often in a hurried panic. Some people like to write things down on index cards, while other resort to being a little more silly as they look at their notes written on the palm of their hand (not for clammy hands, please). Just be comfortable with what you know since you enjoy your work.

And that about wraps it up. These suggestions are rather amateurish in edgewise, but I’ve learned to empower myself when it comes to public or private speaking and it never hurts to be with people to listen how they make conversations and meetings far more enjoyable as well as educational.