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5 Steps to Breaking Bad Personal Brand Habits

You must have been on a different planet if you did not see something this past week or two related to Breaking Bad. There are almost 2 BILLION web references on Google, nearly 6 million Facebook likes and #GoodbyeBreakingBad on Twitter was being added at over 100 per minute during the season finale, which broke records, delivering 47% more viewers than the last season finale. I have yet to see… Read More »5 Steps to Breaking Bad Personal Brand Habits

Do You Make This Profile Damaging Mistake on LinkedIn?

Some of the top professionals and career experts on LinkedIn are making a very basic and in many cases obvious mistake with their profiles. The danger for all of us is if this continues, LinkedIn becomes more of a flea market than a professional network.

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But you might be doing the same, without knowing. This collection of well taken headshots are all purported to be of various professionals on LinkedIn. One of them even recently reached out to me to make a connection. But I noticed that her image had a watermark from one of the stockphoto services which immediately made me suspicious.

I uploaded their image to Google Image Search and discovered the same image was available for purchase on Shutterstock and 123RoyaltyFree as well as being used on a national women’s association website and in an industry magazine. She was also used on more than one LinkedIn profile.

Usually when receiving a new request for a connection I do not immediately recognise I look to see who else in my network might know them. Considering other perspectives I wondered if this was this being done out of a desire for some level of privacy? Or was my instinct correct, were there other phantom profiles?  Sure enough I started to find some of Amanda’s ‘friends’.

What was even more shocking was how many leading career experts and professional ‘gurus’ (some even networking and social media experts) had these types of profiles as 1st level connections. How was this so?  Maybe it was a…….

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Please Take My 2013 Reader Survey

I want to make my blog more relevant to your needs and interests. To do that, I need to know more about YOU. As a result, I have created my 2013 Reader Survey.  Would you please take a few minutes to fill out the survey? By doing so, you will ultimately be helping yourself. Why? Because you will be helping me make my posts even more interesting and relevant to you.… Read More »Please Take My 2013 Reader Survey

Is Your Personal Brand in a Category of One?

“What Does Your Brand Stand For? If you tell me about service and quality and customer focus, you haven’t answered my question, because a hundred other brands stand for that. If you are what others are, then there’s nothing here to own or protect or build upon” 

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“Compared to what? Compared to all those that you compete with for attention, for commerce, for donations and for employees, what do you stand for? Are you one of a kind or even one in a million?

Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton… they don’t actually stand for anything, do they? They can’t, because they stand for precisely the same thing. Puma vs. Adidas vs. Nike… They all want to stand for winning. How substantial are the differences?

Make a list of the differences and the extremes and start with that. A brand that stands for what all brands stand for stands for nothing much.”  Seth Godin

This past week I  had the opportunity to spend some time with two of my mentors and they helped me realise a number of things, some of which I want to share with you as I know they are going to help you.

There was a lot said about the importance of stories;

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Did They Hear of Your Resume on the Vine?

This is not the last time I will be writing about this. The resume as a lead in career document has to end now! SERIOUSLY! 500 years ago Leonardo da Vinci wrote the first resume. He also produced designs for, among other things,  helicopters, contact lenses and parachutes. In terms of technology which do you think have advanced more since then? This lady is Dawn Siff, , she used Vine, the new… Read More »Did They Hear of Your Resume on the Vine?

Do You Exist on Google and Why You Should Care

Social media can no longer be ignored. While we want to get away from it, you cannot get away from the fact that it is important to your personal brand.

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How do I know people are finding me online and not someone else?

How do I control what is being said about me online?

How do I make sure my Google ranking is good?

These are all good questions that many people have been asking at recent presentations and workshops I have been delivering. Its hard to answer them sometimes. And it was a little time consuming to go to Google and do this yourself, especially if you wanted to keep up to date on a regular basis. there might now be an answer.

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Are Cellphones Really That Smart?

The new Blackberry Z10 and upcoming Q10  launches and then competitor reactions changes nothing about the smartphone industry. The phone is out of date before the queue outside the store has disappeared.

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It seem’s like never a week goes by without another new phone hitting the market – I heard that the lifespan for a smartphone before it becomes ‘obsolete’ and overtaken by a faster, sleeker, more buttons and gadgets phone is about 3 months – maybe less.

Is the same happening for you in your career?

Dan Pink in his book A Whole New Mind said that if your job can be done faster by a machine or software or cheaper somewhere else then you need to differentiate yourself right now or that job may not exist.

This is particularly relevant now in a tighter job market and where competition to remain useful and employed is becoming key. Even if the economy is showing some signs of recovery you will see it’s impact for years to come – in fact everyone now seems to be saying this is the new normal.

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Do You Have a Personal Brand Day?

“Cry God for Harry, England and St George!” – William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act III   You have no doubt heard of the saying “The cobblers children never have shoes”  In my personal brand coaching and consulting with clients I often recommend that they pick a day that means something to their brand and that they can use to make contact with their network at least once a year.  I usually advise… Read More »Do You Have a Personal Brand Day?

How Strong is Your Leadership – As Strong as The Iron Lady?

Probably one of the most recognised political personal leadership brands, Margaret Thatcher, passed away recently. I grew up in the UK at the time she rose to power and changed the perception of Britain both domestically and internationally. Not universally loved for sure,  she may not have been everyone’s favourite person, but she certainly lived up to the key aspects of a strong personal brand; Clarity – even though originally she… Read More »How Strong is Your Leadership – As Strong as The Iron Lady?

Your Brain Has a Lot to Say

Friend, Enemy, Sex…………Indifferent Each year I always end up finding one or two key books that have the most impact on the way that I think, act or say. It’s great to find not just a book that fits that criteria so early in the year, but I know it is one I am going to be picking up and again and again, referring to on a regular basis. Tame… Read More »Your Brain Has a Lot to Say