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paulcopcutt

Why Have My LinkedIn Recommendations Disappeared?

This week’s LinkedIn tip is a result of a question coming from Dean. “I have clients that have posted recommendations for me on my Linkedin profile. I have noticed one is missing. Do you know why this would be?” There are a couple of possibilities; Whenever LinkedIn are tweaking the platform (which is often) random glitches seem to occur. With the impending user interface changes, this might be the reason. I… Read More »Why Have My LinkedIn Recommendations Disappeared?

Why I Hate My Job

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

3 End of Year Actions for Your LinkedIn Profile

As we enter the final 30 days or so of 2016, your thoughts may turn to the new year, fresh perspectives, new ambitions, and goals. Your professional online presence should be one of those areas that you take a moment to review and ensure you are set for 2017.  For many of you, your digital impression is gathered by others from your LinkedIn profile first. As we still await the new… Read More »3 End of Year Actions for Your LinkedIn Profile

The One Question I Always Get on Personal Branding

brand-called-you

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

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Does Your Personal Brand Have a Purpose?

The Inukshuk is a symbol that has always resonated with me – “A guide for the right direction”. Sometimes one of the hardest parts of the work in defining your personal brand is identifying your purpose. Mother Theresa was a great example of someone with a purpose- to help the poor in Calcutta. Another is Guy Laliberte, the founder of Cirque du Soleil, with his dream of providing water to… Read More »Does Your Personal Brand Have a Purpose?

URGENT – Do This With Your LinkedIn Account Now!

According to the LinkedIn expert in the UK, Mark Williams, who I mentioned last week, the new user interface for LinkedIn is coming out to most of us this month. He had a podcast on this last week which is very useful – click here to access. Something I recommend you should be doing at least quarterly is a download of your connections and data. Mark has advised that once the… Read More »URGENT – Do This With Your LinkedIn Account Now!

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly of Brand Trump

good-bad-ugly

Since the advent of social media, I doubt there have been many events that have garnished as many comments, engagement, and mainstream media column inches as the US Presidential election, and in particular about Donald J. Trump.

I have often cited Trump, the businessman, as an example of a strong personal brand. He often followed the three C’s of branding – Clarity of message, Consistent delivery of that message and Constantly working at getting that message heard and noticed in his business dealings.

Without getting into an intense political debate, it could be argued that he delivered on the latter in his political run, but missed the mark on the clarity and consistency.

There is going to be a lot more said and written about this election, his presidency, as well as the hours spent analyzing why and how he became the 45th President of the United States.

So what were the plus and minus aspects of his campaign from a branding perspective?

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Changes Are Coming to LinkedIn…………Watch this space!

Last week I mentioned that there are a lot of changes happening with LinkedIn and several people asked what news I could share. This is a link to the replay of LinkedIn’s press announcement about 3 weeks ago. The news that will probably impact you the most, is that the look and feel of your profile and the features associated with your account will be changing, in some cases quite… Read More »Changes Are Coming to LinkedIn…………Watch this space!

Will Today be Trump or Clinton’s Best Day at Work?

whats-your-best-day-at-work

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.

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Can LinkedIn Tell You What Your Salary Should Be?

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?