Tomorrow will be my last presentation this year. In total, I will have delivered over 20 keynotes, workshops, and online webinars on personal branding in 2016. Often the core message is the same, and then I adapt the content to the particular client and event. I am often asked, “Don’t you get bored?” I remember discussing this with a colleague some years ago and he told me that he always… Read More »Why I Hate My Job
Image Fast Company Magazine August 1997
Next year will see the 20-year anniversary of the Fast Company magazine article “The Brand Called You” by Tom Peters. This was two years before his book series, which included “Brand You 50” were published. Most recognize the article as the ‘birth’ of personal branding or at the least the first time that the concept of having a personal brand appeared on the business radar. When you Google “Brand Called You” the article still appears at the top of the rankings. Read the article here
Many people still minimize the power of personal branding and some label it as egotistical and ridiculous. The criticism is legitimate towards those who have likened branding yourself to branding a bar of chocolate. In fact, the intention is to show the contrast between a person and a corporation when it comes to branding.
It probably took ten years after that article, for the notion of owning your personal brand to be embraced as an accepted way of managing your career, business, and even life. Celebrity branding has exploded with constant exposure and an unquenchable thirst for more. This leaves many people feeling inadequate unless they too garner the same visibility. Sadly credibility can sometimes take a back seat.
Social media has been both a blessing and curse and can be blamed for some of the hype, expectation, and disdain that personal branding attracts. But fault can also lie at the feet of the ‘gurus’ and experts who tell you to “Fake it until you make it” or encourage you to turn your social media streams into a one-way flow of personally branding me, me, me that should never be turned off.
When it comes to personal branding the one question I always get is
Read More »The One Question I Always Get on Personal Branding
By the end of the day, one of the candidates may well be looking back to today as one of their best days at work, at least so far. Of course, the work for the successful President of the United States is only just beginning, some future days maybe best days and some may be the worst, it’s not an easy job for sure. The best and worst seems to be how many of you look at your own jobs and careers.
Presenteeism, time spent at the workplace while not productively engaged in work, is the new absenteeism
The conclusion of a 2015 Canadian study, The True Picture of Workplace Absenteeism, with 1,300 people including just over 1,000 employees, found that 80 percent of respondents self-reported experience with presenteeism. 81 percent indicated that they had gone into work while they could not perform as well as they would have liked.
The reasons for doing so included physical sickness (47 percent), stress or anxiety (40 percent) and workplace issues and/or problems with co-workers or managers (22 percent). Depression was specified as the cause by 15 percent of respondents.
A quick Google search of #BestWorkDay uncovers plenty of top 10 lists on ways to ensure you have your best days at work. The common advice to these problems seems to fall into two camps.
Read More »Will Today be Trump or Clinton’s Best Day at Work?
There are a lot of changes happening with LinkedIn right now, and more to come, so watch this space! The latest new feature to roll out in the US, Canada, and the UK is a salary calculator called LinkedIn Salary. “Earlier this year, LinkedIn emailed members asking them to anonymously disclose their salaries”, said Ryan Sandler, a product manager. “In exchange, they were given insight into what peers in their fields are… Read More »Can LinkedIn Tell You What Your Salary Should Be?
Many believe that the endorsements, given by others, of your skills on your profile, are next to worthless. Following several acquisitions of companies in the artificial intelligence (A.I.) space, LinkedIn has been incorporating some of the technology into upgrades of its platform. This includes looking to make the endorsements of skills more relevant to those viewing your profile. We all appreciate the value of a solid recommendation from a colleague or client.… Read More »Are Skills Endorsements on LinkedIn Really Worth Anything?
A big source of revenue for LinkedIn is it’s recruiter focused accounts. Naturally (as in the ad above) they want to make the platform attractive to recruiters. But not all candidates are public about their job searching intentions because they fear their boss may find out. Now LinkedIn has introduced a feature that you can turn on or off which privately advises recruiters that you are open to new opportunities.… Read More »Don’t Make the Mistake of Telling Your Boss Your Are Looking for a New Job
“A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.” – Bob Dylan
The Fall is a busy time for everyone. Many companies view the last 4 months of the year as an opportunity to spend the years budgets, or individuals look to make that all important career move, ready to start the new year in a new opportunity.
Recruiters are also very active, between now and the end of the year can make or break their commissions or bonus, and for some those payments can be significant. Unfortunately that can sometimes mean they lose sight of what is best for the candidate.
A word to the wise when you get that next headhunters call!!
I am reminded about a certain recruiter who I think only ever worked for one client and therefore when he was contacting people to talk about a great new opportunity he could really only have one ‘sales pitch’.
One September he called a friend of mine who had, to that point, a successful career in sales in consumer goods and proceeded to tell him that industry was dying, no future, consolidation was happening everywhere – to an extent it was true. He went on to say Now if you want to get in to a growth industry do I have the opportunity for you – I’m thinking of you and I’m thinking – aluminum extrusions, was how he described it – we knew it was double glazing!
Three years later, again in September, my friend, who had by then switched to the medical industry, had a call one evening from the same recruiter – his opening line after finding out what my friend was doing was “That’s a dying industry, lots of consolidation – now if you want to get in to a growth industry do I have the opportunity for you – I’m thinking of you and I’m thinking – aluminum extrusions……..!!!!!!”
You should not be leaving your next career move to the whims of anyone else, it’s up to you to own the definition of who you are.
Here are 5 ways to ensure you have better control of your career;
Read More »Don’t Leave Your Personal Brand to Chance – 5 Tips for Success
In recent weeks we have seen two very different brand stories when it comes to the latest smartphones.
The launch of the iPhone 7 has been accompanied by all the pre-launch build up that Apple does so well and that leads to increased demand. We have seen images of the ‘Apple Junkies’, who have already secured their new phone by pre-order, but still queue up overnight to be one of the first to physically have their phone.
Contrast this with the total product recall of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7. There have been reports of a risk of it exploding and airlines have even advised passengers not to get on the plane in possession of one.
These events are accompanied by Apple dropping the price of its ‘older’ models, Samsung having to dispose of whole technology divisions to pay the expected $1 billion+ in compensation, and of course Apple’s share price rising.
Until the next launch or product recall.
After all, it seems like never a week goes by without another new phone hitting the market. Apparently the lifespan for a smartphone, before it becomes ‘obsolete’ and overtaken by a faster, sleeker, more buttons and gadgets phone from someone else, is between 3 and 6 months.
Is this same risk of obsolescence happening for you in your career?
Read More »Is Your Personal Brand Like the iPhone 7 or More Like the Galaxy Note 7 ?
One constant in today’s work world is change. Look at the jobs available now and in the future and the older you are then the more likely they have little relation to what you thought you might be doing when coming out of school. Making yourself a viable candidate in this changing landscape falls to you. You have to take charge of your own career, and own the definition of who you are because no-one else is going to do it for you.
Here are 8 steps to help you survive in the ever changing world of work:
Read More »Easy Marketing of Brand You Even a Newbie Can Do It
This past weekend I had the opportunity to speak again at the Discover Your Personal Brand Conference. DYPB 2016 was different from 2014 in a number of ways.
The focus was more toward small business and the caliber of speaker, panels and attendees was awesome. There were many inspiring young Canadians in attendance that really gave me a lift about the future of our country. All held within the back drop of Telus’ state of the art office in downtown Toronto, an environmental LEED building, bursting with technology and balanced with space and light.
The opportunity to attend conferences is always a big investment, even if its local so it was great to get such a rich experience.
After introductions from the motivating conference organizer and founder Bobby Umar and keynotes from the always excellent Mark Bowden and inspiring Real Food for Real Kids founder Lulu Cohen-Farnell the highlight of the first evening for me was the Personal Brand Leadership All Star Panel. They were;
Cameron Gordon, Head of Communications, Twitter – Moderator
Erin Bury, Managing Director at 88 Creative
Jennifer Ettinger, Founder & President at Fit Your Style
Jagmeet Singh, MPP, ONDP Deputy Leader
Bobby Umar, Founder, Raeallan & DYPB
Full bios and more details on the schedule http://www.dypb.ca/schedule/ and other speakers can be found here http://www.dypb.ca/speakers/
Here is a Summary of the questions and panel answers;
Read More »Lessons From Discover Your Personal Brand Conference – The All Star Panel