Media Recap

The Media Recap section of the CEO Forum has been designed to serve as an archive of press events, speeches, radio, newspaper and other media from Dr. Crawford and the XCEO team. By following the links below, you can review some of Dr. Crawford's speeches, listen to radio interviews and read articles written about leadership, corporate governance, career velocity and job hopping, among others.

Please e-mail us at info@xceo.net if you have trouble downloading any of the audio files or have any questions regarding the Media Recap.

Is an Ace of Hearts Better than a King of Diamonds? A Director's Perspective on the CEO-Chairman Debate. Corporate Board Member Magazine "The roles of the CEO and board are distinctly different. The CEO is responsible for leading the company's management, whereas the board chair is responsible for leading the board. Traditionally, in most U.S. corporations, one individual has both positions. A perceived flaw in the dual CEO/Chairman role is that, when the CEO also chairs the board, the CEO functions as his or her own supervisor. Therefore, combining the two roles is not viewed favorably by some investors and industry pundits." This is an excerpt from Dr. Crawford's article which was published in Corporate Board Member Magazine. The entire article can be accessed by following the link below:Article (if you have trouble accessing the link, go to http://www.boardmember.com/, click on "Resource Center" and then enter "Crawford" into the search field.)

CEO Chairman Debate: Ace of Hearts or King of Diamonds? Leadership Excellence Dr. Crawford has written an article detailing his views on the CEO Chairman Debate in this article published by Leadership Excellence Magazine in the May issue. The PDF version of this article is posted here.

Maxed Out - Job stress often a result of increased hours and duties Juneau Empire Dr. Crawford's book, Corporate Rise: The X Principles of Extreme Personal Leadership was referenced in the Juneau Empire. "If they never take any time off, if they are always behind in everything they do, if they feel they are in over their head - these lead to high levels of stress," says Curtis Crawford... To read the entire article: Article

The Art of Delegation - Entrepreneur Magazine:        October 24th, 2006

Dr. Crawford discusses the difference between "delegation" and "getting dumped on" in this new radio interview for Entrepreneur Magazine with Lee Mirabel. Dr. Crawford also shares his thoughts on how to not feel overwhelmed when you feel like you are "overworked" at work. Listen to the entire interview: wsRadio.com

Job-hop your way to the top - New York Daily News:        October 19th, 2006

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Gone are the days of joining a company after college and staying with it for a promotion-filled 40-year career. Today, more and more companies are seeking talent from outside their own pools, and tenure at one organization is rare. If you want to make it to the top of the corporate ladder, job-hopping may actually be the only way to get there, according to Curtis J. Crawford, author of the new book "Corporate Rise: The X Principles of Extreme Personal Leadership."  Article Read Marshal Loeb's reaction to Dr. Crawford's thoughts on: - Developing a relationship with your supervisor & his or her boss - Overlooking lateral moves - Finding a mentor who can guide you through your career transitions RECRUITING.COM Also, peruse readers' reactions to Dr. Crawford and Marshal Loeb's interview on Recruiting.com.

Standing Still Isn't the Way Up - Kansas City Star:        October 18th, 2006

Positive Living with Pat Raskin - Radio America:          June 19th, 2006

Dr. Crawford was the featured guest on the Positive Living show hosted by Pat Raskin. They discussed job hopping and career velocity. To listen to the complete interview, click on the Positive Living link and listen to the interview via the Windows Media Tool.

ACG Grow Awards, Silicon Valley:          May 11th, 2006

Dr. Curtis J. Crawford, founder, President & CEO of XCEO, Inc. was the Keynote Speaker at the ACG Grow Awards. The event. held at the Computer History Museum was held to recognize the Outstanding Growth Company and the Top Emerging Growth Company in each association's geographical area. ACG, Association for Corporate Growth, was founded in 1954 and is the premier global association for professionals involved in corporate growth, corporate development, and mergers and acquisitions for mid to large companies. Leaders in corporations, private equity, finance, and professional service firms focused on building value in their organizations belong to ACG. Please visit www.acg.org for more information.  Click here to see the Press Release for the ACG GROW awards.

Job Hopping is OK Again: Tech Watch by Bob Weinstein:           May 1, 2006

"Is job hopping good or bad? The vague answer is that it depends. A better answer is that it hinges on a few important factors, such as your career path and how focused you are on achieving your goals. But there is still more to the job-hopping equation.

Contrary to what has been written in the past, it has nothing to do with the economy or industry trends. That's the opinion of Curtis J. Crawford, author of "Corporate Rise: The X Principles of Extreme Personal Leadership" and president and CEO of XCEO Inc., a career consulting firm for executives in Santa Clara, Calif."

Crawford is a career coach and leadership development expert, and his clients are executives who hope to capture top corporate jobs. His practical advice about moving up the ladder and how job hopping is an essential strategy can be used by anyone, regardless of level, who hopes to move up the success and power ladder."

To view the article in its entirety, visit www.careerseeker.com.

Non-Traditional Career Advice... Start Job-Hopping!  - by Paul Megan:     May, 2006

"Remember when job-hopping was anathema? Well, you better take today’s hot new non-traditional career advice . . . start job-hopping!

Things have changed. The economy is booming, Younger job seekers are much more ambitious and almost instinctively understand that if they want to get ahead,. . . if they’re heading for the top, they have to job hop.

It’s really all part of the 21st Century job market and the dramatic changes that have occurred especially since 9/11 and Katrina. The old-fashioned job search approaches simply don’t work anymore. If you’ve been busy writing a traditional resume and then mass distributing it to job sites, job listings, a bunch of companies, some agencies and recruiters . . . well, you already know what I mean.

You’re probably sitting around nervously waiting for the phone to ring. Or hoping today’s mail will bring that priceless invitation to an interview instead of the more usual TNT (thanks-but-no-thanks) letter.

Non-traditional career advice is the solution to your job search dilemma. It makes you get in tune with today’s sophisticated job marketplace. You need to understand the employers aren’t interested in what you used to do for someone else (as outlined in your resume). They expect you to come forward with some understanding of the corporate goals are.

And they are impressed when you’ve done your research and come up with an ability to address your next boss’ personal requirements. This evidence of your commitment to excellence goes much further than a resume. It’s just another piece of non-traditional career advice.

So does a commitment to job-hopping. Curtis Crawford, author of “Corporate Rise: The X Principles of Extreme Personal Leadership,” advises that the more versatile you are, the more likely you are to move up.
What’s more, he recommends:

1. Don’t be afraid to be visibly ambitious. In the past, ambition was confused with arrogance and ruthlessness--getting to the top at any cost. Ambition is achieving your goal the right way--honestly, ethically, all the while gaining the respect of your subordinates, peers and management.

2. Avoid getting stuck in one job. Avoid becoming a specialist which means you’re pigeonholed as being able to do only one thing well. That specialist thinking flew years ago--but not anymore.

3. Make significant contributions. Just moving through different jobs is not enough. Take jobs that provide platforms for you to make significant contributions. It means getting involved in critical areas such as product development, financial management, technological improvements, or improving production or distribution."

...
For the complete article, go to FreeArticlesandContent.com.

Strategic Job Hopping... How to Get Way Ahead in your Career! - Paul Megan (Steve Blampied Blog):     May, 2006

"Job-hopping is bad. Job-hoping is good. Youve heard it all from both sides. The common wisdom has been that when the economy is on the move, you should be, too. Conversely when were in difficult or stagnant times, stay where you are.

Those of us who are proponents of non-traditional career advancement strategies recommend that you make job-hopping a routine part of your career plan. At least if you see yourself on the way up . . . if you have ambitions to reach senior management. Of course, you want it to be strategic job-hopping.

Strategic job-hopping means carefully planned and coordinated to fit in with your long-term goals . . . as opposed to random job change which just happens without thought. Strategic job-hopping is taking a new job because it enhances and builds your career.

For example, if you have your sights set on running the company one day, speed is important. How fast you advance will determine how far you advance.

The current crop of Generation Xers is a good example of this strategy. Curtis J. Crawford, author of Corporate Rise: The X Principles of Extreme Personal Leadership, points to some fascinating statistic hes gathered.

1. Only three in 10 workers have been with their employers for 10 years.

2. Boomer work for the same employers three times longer than GenXers.

3. Technical jobs have 40% higher mobility rates than most jobs.

Crawford concludes that ambitious young employees cant afford to stay in any one position longer than two years, because they will need to do about 10 different jobs to acquire the skills and knowledge needed to be senior management material.

Whats important here is that you sit down with yourself and make some intelligent decisions about where you want to go in your career. Unfortunately, most of us just let it happen. We fall into a job after college and we allow that to determine our career, moving forward along a straight line without considering or exploring options."

...
For this article in its entirety, visit steveblampied.com/blog/2006/05

Determine the Best Candidate - by Matt Krumrie (Monster.com Contributing Writer):           May, 2006

"It's an excruciating situation for managers: You're down to a few equally qualified candidates for one key position. How do you make an informed choice? The pain can be mitigated by knowing what questions to ask and how to assess each candidate's answers.

"Well-thought-out, scripted questions, written specifically for each job and asked to each and every candidate, are critical to every interview," says Lissa Weimelt, principal of The Hiring Experts, a retained executive search company. "Managers need to predetermine key success factors -- not skills or experience -- needed in the job or company."

These strategies will help you get the information you need to make the right decision.

Identifying Success Factors

According to Weimelt, success factors include a candidate's character traits, habits, motivators, teamwork skills, reaction to failure or success, and ability to manage stress or change. She urges managers to listen carefully for clues to the candidate's approach to each one. At the end of the candidate's answer, ask yourself: What did I learn about her that translates to success in our company?

It's also helpful to understand candidates' weaknesses. Can they be coached to improve? Also, determine their motivation for job hunting. Are they running from something or to new opportunities?

Questions to Differentiate Candidates

Corporate consultant Curtis Crawford, founder, president and CEO of XCEO and author of Corporate Rise: The X Principles of Extreme Personal Leadership, recommends asking these questions to help reveal key differences among candidates:

• Considering we have three reasonably similar and extremely well-qualified candidates for this position, what are the significant attributes you believe you offer that should substantially differentiate you from the others? Why should we select you as the next XCEO employee?
  
• Do you believe there is a significant difference between invention and innovation? If so, please share your perspective.
  
• How do you describe your long-term career aspirations, and what do you expect from this company in your pursuit?
  
• Do you believe that XCEO should place a higher value on managers who have consistently produced outstanding financial results or those who consistently demonstrate the ability to develop successful employees?

Questions to Aid Decision Making

Crawford says the following questions are useful when making tough hiring decisions:

• Which is most important to you: money, power or prestige? If none of the above, what motivates you to perform at your highest capability?
  
• Since we are not the current leader in our industry, if you had an opportunity to work for either us or our main competitor, which company would you choose? Why?
  
• What motivates you to pursue and ultimately achieve outstanding results, and what do you consider the best reward for great work?
  
• Are role models important to you? If so, do you have any professional or personal role models who inspire you to achieve greatness? Are you comfortable sharing them with me, or would you prefer to keep it personal?
  
• What is the one word you believe best describes your style?"

...
To view the complete article, visit www.kron.com.

Modern Work - Is job hopping good for the resume? AP Newswire by Megan Scott:       April 30, 2006

"I guess I had a hard time trying to find myself," says Krug, of Ridgewood, N.J. "I was always looking for job security and most of the jobs were lousy money. Nobody offered health benefits. The funny thing is now I work as a fireman and I plan on sticking with this job for 25 years."

Career experts say Krug's job hopping is a little excessive, but not all that unusual.

Only 31 percent of workers 25 and over had been with their employer for more than 10 years in January 2004, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The median tenure of workers 55 to 64 (9.6 years) was more than three times longer than workers ages 25 to 34 (2.7 years). And that can't be explained by the sheer number of years they have been in the workforce.

"When I was coming along, you were expected to work for the same company for 25 years," says Curtis Crawford, author of "Corporate Rise: The X Principles of Extreme Leadership." "If you did a great job and contributed successfully to the company you got a retirement plan, a gold watch and walked into the sunset. Today, the expectations are quite different."

To review this article in its entirety, visit www.wv.com.

Governors State University : Discussion & Reception        April 6th, 2006

Governors State welcomes back one of its most accomplished alumni, Dr. Curtis J. Crawford, on April 6 at 7:30 PM for a discussion of his recently published book, Corporate Rise: the X-Principles of Extreme Personal Leadership. “Individual leadership is the foundation for competing effectively by inspiring creativity and leveraging intellectual capacity. Engaging the principles of extreme personal leadership is the touchstone for maximizing results” – Dr. Curtis J. Crawford. The discussion of Dr. Crawford’s book, sponsored by the GSU Foundation, was held at Engbretson Hall, located at Governors State University,1 University Parkway , University Park . Dr. Crawford will be available to sign copies of his book. The event was free, and open to the public. For more information call 708-534-4105. A tape of the discussion will be posted on our site shortly. Please check back with us.

Employers Group Newsletter:        April, 2006

The Employers Group Newsletter for HR executives, professionals and specialists contains a cover article featuring Dr. Crawford's thoughts on "Extreme Success Ideas for Today's Leaders: Why job hopping might be good". This article is a valuable resource for any person interested in climbing the corporate ladder, anyone who is considering changing jobs, or anyone who doesn't think that lateral moves are good for your career. The newsletter also includes other interesting articles about cultural sensitivity in the workplace, increasing costs of healthcare and harassment training. Click on the above link to download a PDF copy of the newsletter. Dr. Crawford will be the Key Note speaker for the Employer's Group National Conference. The conference, scheduled for July 19th, 2006 will be held in Long Beach, California. Please check back for more details in the coming months. Also, for those of you interested in finding out more about Employers Group, visit www.employersgroup.com.

DePaul University: University Center Event                 April 5th, 2006 

Dr. Curtis J. Crawford was on the DePaul University campus on Wednesday, April 5th at 5:30 PM to discuss extreme personal leadership with DePaul University students, faculty and staff. The University Center of Chicago (UCC) opened in the fall of 2004 and is just steps from DePaul’s downtown Loop campus. This new 18-story residence hall is affiliated housing with DePaul and also houses Roosevelt University and Columbia College of Chicago students in the nation’s first residence hall of its kind. As a Trustee of DePaul University , Dr. Crawford is committed to promoting academic excellence and continued higher education. If you would like to learn more about UCC follow this link: http://housing.depaul.edu/UCC/UCC.asp. UCC is located at 525 South State Street , Chicago , IL 60605 . If you would like to attend this event or have any additional questions, please call 312-924-8030. This event was taped and a highlight video will be posted on our site soon.

The Inside Business Success Show:        March 30th, 2006

I interviewed Curt Crawford, author of Corporate Rise: The X-Principles of Extreme Personal Leadership on The Inside Business Success Show.  He has done it all from Systems Engineer to CEO at some of the largest companies in the world.  He has a passion to help individuals succeed by achieving excellence in their business and personal life.  He is truly a man of supreme integrity, knowledge and wisdom among America ’s business elite and has a passion to share that knowledge with others to help them be successful.  He “walks the walk” as he embodies all of the X-Principles he describes.  He was an excellent guest.  My audience was challenged to look on the inside at what they want and what they need to do to get it.  I look forward to the opportunity to have him on the show again.

Jan Schleicher                      
Host of The Inside Business Success Show

Listen to the complete interview by visiting http://theinsidesuccessshow.com/. Or, download the MP3 file of the first segment of Dr. Crawford's interview: CurtisCrawford1.mp3.

Orange County Dispatch:    March 10th, 2006

Dr. Crawford wrote an article titled "How To Rise to the Top of Your Company Via Lateral Moves" for the Orange County Dispatch which ran February 22nd, 2006. The article discusses how X-Leaders must undertake broader corporate responsibilities every 2-3 years in order to make it to the top. Below is an excerpt from the article:

Desmoines Register:       February 28th, 2006

Larry Ballard wrote an article for the Desmoines Register which featured Dr. Crawford and his book Corporate Rise. The article is called "Your cubicle partners search for exit" and you can read it by clicking on the following link: www.desmoinesregister.com. Please visit our site again for additional media events that Dr. Crawford will be participating in or to hear taped radio segments airing throughout the country and newspaper articles which are currently in circulation across the United States.

Amber Grady Radio Show:     February 14th, 2006

To hear a great interview on the topic of Career Velocity, follow this link: AG_mp3. This is an MP3 recording of Dr. Crawford's discussion with radio host Amber Grady from February of this year. This segment is 20 minutes long (17.0 MB) and features some of Dr. Crawford's thoughts on career velocity, job hopping and how to make relationships with your supervisor rewarding. The file will play with any MP3 accessible tools, for information on how to download Real Player, go to www.realplayer.com.

WebEx Web Seminar:       October 13th, 2005

Dr. Crawford's Web Seminar was a huge success! Thank you to all of you who participated. For those of you who missed the event, you can view a taped recording of Dr. Crawford's WebEx Web Seminar by following this link: webexevents.webex.com.

In the taping, Dr. Crawford discussed his new book Corporate Rise and the need for extreme personal leaders. Dr. Crawford outlined his 11 principles of extreme personal leadership, provided a detailed explanation of two of the11 principles (people development and chaos), and answered many of the questions raised by seminar participants. The event lasted 1 hour.

• You believe there is a positive correlation between excellent leadership and the overall success of your organization as measured by increased shareowner value.
• You are aggressively seeking new and exciting ways to broaden your exposure and experiences.
• You want your organization to consider you a high potential employee.
• You want to accelerate the current rate of progress in your career advancement.
• You aspire to be a senior executive officer or a board member.