The 1st Annual DYPB Have you ever felt ‘lost’ as a leader? Are you trying to forge a corporate career path that makes sense for you? Are you an entrepreneur who is looking to find your voice? Are you a student who wants to make sure you have chosen the right academic path? Then you MUST understand what your Personal Brand is and how to leverage it in your personal,… Read More »Who Else Wants to Discover Their Personal Brand?
Usually this formula applies. I jotted it down in my Moleskine after a conversation the other day with Robert Lavigne, The Social Business Mentor. it was a very clarifying conversation. Then it occurred to me that other people might benefit from Robert’s ability to really quickly distill what is being discussed in to clarity, direction and action. I like conversations with Robert because they are interesting, his questions are… Read More »High $ + High IP = Strategy, Low $ + Generic Offerings = Tactics
I am always flipping between seeing LinkedIn as a useful tool and experiencing it as flea market. But one place it should not be used for is to send terse rejection notes. Meet Kelly Blazek. Or at least this might be one of the few places you might now see her. Following a particularly terse and some would say nasty rejection of a unsolicited request to connect on LinkedIn,… Read More »How to behave badly 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.
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…….
Read More »Do You Make This Profile Damaging Mistake on LinkedIn?
I almost felt like I was living the 12 days of Christmas at a recent networking meeting; 12 Mortgage Agents lending, 11 Realtors listing, 10 Financial Planners investing……… You get the idea. When you have a large event there will always be multiples of businesses, vocations and specialties. So when that is the case, how do you stand out? Meet Donald Lofthouse of Keybase Financial Group. He likely… Read More »This little piggy went to networking…….
The recent news that Bombardier (the Canadian transportation company) had a strategy around it's business development and lobbying activity should come as no surprise. In fact I was astounded that the tone of the Globe & Mail article and certain commentators seemed to perceive this as somewhat deceitful. The particular business activity that was being analysed was their eventual win of a $2 billion train and maintenance contract for South… Read More »Your networking is confusing me. Am I missing something or has the train left the station?
Through my wife's business I have had the opportunity to be connected to Keith Kochner at Mentorfish.com for the last few months and have found his teaching exactly what we need in the 21st century. Lots of great content, he is prolific with new insights and learnings – even for someone like me who tends to explore and read a lot! Keith is coming to Toronto next week to hold… Read More »What is holding you back from your personal brand?
When you walk in to the lobby of a tall office building, often you will see the sign for the stairs. But does that sign say enough to make you ignore the elevators and walk the stairs? Unless you are still sticking to a new years resolution chances are no! But if you saw the sign above, chances are by over 35%, that you would. Even 9 months after the… Read More »Personal Branding is an Uphill Climb
With consistency and progression comes change. As you spend more time consistently delivering on what you say your brand is and find your career progressing in the right direction, you are going to reach a point where new challenges and opportunities arise. New skills are developed and new ways to communicate your uniqueness present themselves. This week see's the 100th edition of the Tuesday Toonie weekly e-tip, which I feel… Read More »100 Toonies Worth
The recent report of an executive recruiter in the UK being fired for e-mailing a job candidate to go away using colourful language – but accidentally copying everyone (all 4,000+ of them!) on the candidates blast list, highlights the dangers of damaging your personal brand and career by relying too much on technology. What is that recruiter going to say when the question comes up "Why did you leave your… Read More »How E-mail Damages Your Personal Brand