Last week I was delivering a workshop to a group of senior professionals and executives who had been let go by their previous companies, many of them after one or two decades or more of service. One of them observed that with the advent of social media, in particular LinkedIn, it highlighted for him how important networking was in the job search process. It also equally was observed by another… Read More »STOP your social media branding
According to a recent Princeton study money can buy you happiness – to a point – around $75,000 as an annual household income apparently. More than that has limited or no effect on your emotional well being or how elated, sad or stressed you feel on a day to day basis. Most of us believe that the best way to motivate ourselves and others is with external rewards like money—the… Read More »What drives your personal brand?
While we are seeing some recovery in the job market it seems to be evident that the recovery is going to be a slow process. This means that companies will continue to be cautious in their hiring and likely to more readily look internally than externally first and with employees less likely to be active in a depressed external job market the competition is going to be tougher. So are you ready… Read More »Are you ready for the internal interview?
My kids certainly do! In fact one of the things they love about Baskin Robbins is they can theoretically try all 31 flavours of ice cream before actually buying one! But when it comes to new ice cream experiences the cold marble slab market is opening up in a big way – both in terms of competition and PRICE! If you have not had the opportunity to try one of… Read More »Do Your Kids Love Ice Cream?
Today sees the return to school for children here in Canada. There is a mix of excitement, trepidation and relief – and that is just the parents! It used to be all about learning the 3R's. But with the todays reality children have many more options and challenges as well as probably a lot more to learn than just three! September is also viewed as 'the start to a new… Read More »Back to school for your personal brand
One of the exercises I have introduced in my workshops is taking a before and after headshot and getting the audience to guess the vocation of the individual. There seems to be several schools of thought out there at the moment as to how you should present yourself in terms of picture in online profiles. I have seen a number of leading social media experts advocate the use of the same… Read More »Are you being one dimensional with your picture?
According to AshleyMadison.com, the discreet dating service, Blackberry users are bigger cheats than iPhone owners in Canada. A recent survey found that Blackberry smartphones were logging in to the website as much as three times more. This might be due to the demogpraphic of the owner or that the 'sinful' user likes the increased safety of the Blackberry encrypted service. Although the use of such a service is certainly also… Read More »Stop Callin’, Stop Callin’ , I don’t want to think anymore
In several discussions with clients recently, the whole area of social media and how they should be thinking about their personal brands has come up. At a recent presentation by Kevin Durkee of The Jet Star Group, he talked about the fact that the use of social media is "a conversation happening at the speed of light. Also he outlined 20 tips for companies to consider when communicating their brand via… Read More »How do you communicate your personal brand via social media?
Our family has just returned from a relaxing and enjoyable vacation in Jamaica, a country I had never visited before and we were able to experience some really fun and unique moments on the island as well as really just switch off and unwind. Obviously I still had my 'branding hat' on and it was interesting to observe that the staff at our resort were generally not typical of what… Read More »Where does the buck stop when it comes to brand experience?
If someone is getting up your nose, then it may be on purpose as a way to influence your perception and connection to them. According to a recent Bloomberg Business Week Article there is a growing industry in the creation of ambient scents associated with brands and customer experiences. I can distinctly remember many years ago hearing about the UK supermarket retailer Tesco was reported to be pumping the fresh baked… Read More »Is someones personal brand getting up your nose?