Open minded employers. A refreshing change.

Two weeks ago I was invited to join Terry Walsh, CEO, Cisco Canada in a one-on-one fireside chat about top employment practices and what it takes to be a top employer. The funny thing is that CISCO Canada is a top employer! They were among our six 2007 featured employers who were awarded this year as Employers who Walk the Talk. CISCO was specifically acknowledged for excellence in their family friendly practices.

This fireside chat on Nov. 15th was broadcasted live across Canada to all Cisco employees. Terry specifically asked me not to sing their praises but instead, to share with them what we have learned from other top employers and how they can improve. This open mindedness surely has a lot to do with why they ended up in the top six for the second year running. I was truly impressed with Cisco's spirited, family friendly culture. I enjoyed being there and have found their engagement to be refreshing and inspiring. Thanks Cisco!

Are women better networkers than men?

Or, could we all use some room for improvement? Barbara Moses, one of Canada's great career gurus recently ran two back to back columns in the Globe and Mail. The first, running on Oct. 16th covered Neworking Faux Pas and this last week on Oct. 26th she covered How to be the Consummate Connector. And, she is absolutely right! In our career culture we put very little thought into the connections we make. We rush to set up a meeting and then don't prepare enough to make it meaningful for both parties. Finally, we forget the follow up.

One of my favourite writers on this topic is Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone and columnist for Fast Company. He takes networking to a level of science that we should all appreciate. The best networkers out there get out what they put in. It takes effort!

So, what do you think? Are women better networkers than men? And, what makes them different?

Making an Impact on Employers

We hope that the Walk the Talk message gets through to employers. And, sometimes it does! Chris Carder, President and CEO of Thin Data attended our Toronto Walk the Talk Best Practices Forum on Oct. 23rd and was so inspired with what he learned that he is implementing new best practices and employment standards in his workplace. Chris recently blogged about this on the Canadian Marketing Association site.

Walking the Talk. A key ingredient in driving employee loyalty.

So, what does Walking the Talk mean and why is it important to employees? We often hear about employee engagement, productivity, retention and other standard human resource vernacular but are we measuring what is really important to employees?

With the changing employment landscape, employees are now defining their careers differently and with that comes major challenges for employers looking to attract and retain talent and staff up where shortages are now becoming more obvious as the boomer hits retirement age. Employees have more employment options then ever before and are no longer seeking the security of a full time, conventional employee role. With employees in the driver’s seat, employee retention and attraction are at the top of Employer lists of challenges to address into 2010.

So what does it take to keep employees in the game? Market Yourself Smarter conducted its second annual Walk the Talk Survey, organically polling employees across Canada on whether they feel their Employer walks the talk.

Last year’s 2006 survey ranked the Top 10 Eastern and Western Canadian Employers who Walk the Talk and unveiled that employees defined Walking the Talk as being honourable, authentic, transparent, supportive and open to new ideas (2006 award recipients . This year’s employee definition was extended to include listening and respect as key attributes.

The process:

-Employees anonymously completed a five minute online survey – www.marketyourselfsmarter.com
-Employees also had the option nominate their employer directly through an online nomination form
-To qualify for an award, employers required a minimum of 10 completed employee surveys, needed to be headquartered in Canada and have a minimum of 50 full time employees
-Survey question format included a combination of numeric ranking and qualitative, text-based answers
-Survey responses were 51 % positive, 37 % negative and 12 % neutral

The 2007 Walk the Talk survey will award three companies in Eastern and Western Canada that where voted in by their employees based on a common Walk the Talk theme. These six companies have exhibited excellence in one or more Walk the Talk areas and will be recognized with these awards to be released and announced at the upcoming Walk the Talk Employee Perspective Forum on Oct. 18th in Toronto and Nov. 1st in Vancouver. Details available at www.marketyourselfsmarter.com . The 2007 Walk the Talk report will be released later in November with highlights available for download at www.marketyourselfsmarter.com .

Oct. 1st Malcolm Gladwell on "Work is Getting Tougher"

Malcolm Gladwell chimes in with his perspectives in this morning's Globe sharing his take on the new workplace and what a career will look like in the future. I would be curious to ask him a few more questions with respect to what employers need to do today to embed loyalty into their culture and create a competitive employment environment.

Why do we love to hate strong, smart women?

Belinda Stronach and Hilary Clinton. Okay, many wouldn't put both of these women in the same sentence but they do hold a few things in common. They are strong, high profile women (in and out of politics) that many women love to hate. We have so few women who rise to the very top-- but often when they get there, we sabotage their success.

Take this weekend's spotlight on Camille Paglia, another pop culture contrarian who I enjoy, in conversation with Margaret Wente on Hilary Clinton . In this article, amongst other observations, Camille notes that Hilary "doesn't possess core values". While I love a devils advocate, isn't this going a little far?

And what about other fallen female CEO's like Carly Fiorina or Eleanor Clitheroe, left to sweep up the residue from their very public corporate exits. Who takes responsibility for the long lasting effects these negative "stories" have on their personal and professional reputations?

Who is celebrating and supporting the success of these brave women who are breaking through barriers and making a difference?

Remembering Anita Roddick

Sadly Anita Roddick passed away on Monday Sept. 10th, much before her time. Anita, Founder of The Body Shop, was an inspiration to all female entrepreneurs with her impassioned views and zest for life, the world, and making it a better place for all. Thank you for all of your life contributions. Anita, you will be missed!

Walk the Talk Revisited

Well, the 2007 Walk the Talk survey is now open and will be until September 27th. If you have something to say about your employer-- good or bad-- we want to hear from you. If you have a good news story you can nominate your employer today. This year we will be featuring the Walk the Talk survey highlights at our upcoming Think Tank events-- The Ideal Workplace of the Future: The 2007 Employee’s Perspective scheduled for October 18th in Toronto and Nov. 1st in Vancouver.

If you are an Employer, take advantage of this opportunity to give your employees a voice.

Thrive or Just Survive?

Also posted on Corporate Women.

"Be distinct or be extinct. To be in business today, the most important job is to the the head marketer of the brand called you." Tom Peters has been touting the importance of personal branding for years. So, how does this apply in your world of business? Marketing yourself is less about emphasizing the one or two things you do really well and more about the marketing campaign you launch and sustain to sell yourself on a day to day basis.

Does the idea of that turn you right off? Well if you answered yes to that question you would be like most women in the corporate world, and, many female entrepreneurs for that matter. Women often feel that being a high performer and delivering in their job is enough. And, frankly, it should be given all of the extracurricular responsiblities that we have to fit into a day. But the fact is that it just isn't enough to stand out and get noticed.

So, the idea of marketing yourself seems trite, vain, superficial or below you-- right? Well, whether you know it or not, some of the smartest female and male executives in the market today have a personal marketing plan and can clearly articulate what it is if you asked them. In fact, we did just that in February in conversation with six top Canadian executives in Toronto and Vancouver at our recent "Finding Your IT Factor" events. There is an art and science to marketing yourself in today's competitive business world and it all starts with self awareness.

As a starting point, ask yourself the following 6 questions:

1. Are you aware of the way you are perceived by others you work with?
2. Do you consider yourself to be well networked externally?
3. Do you have strong office alliances?
4. Do you have a coach or mentor who is helping to guide you in your career path?
5. Do you actively promote yourself at work?
6. Can you, on demand, clearly articulate your strenghts and how you add value?

If you answered "yes" to all of the above, you are probably doing a pretty good job. If you answered "no" to one or more of the above, you have some work to do. We recently ran a poll asking women what they thought was their IT factor or key success factor. The number one response was a "positive attitude" and the second was "great communication skills". As we move up the corporate ladder or build our businesses what we learned in business school becomes less important and what we might have learned in finishing school takes on a whole new meaning. This is because the way that we present, are perceived and can relate to people around us is paramount to our success.

If you are left with any doubt, you can take a page out of the book of any of today's popular celebrities or musicians who have put countless resources behind building their personal brands. Business people have lots to learn from other industries.

Innovate or Stagnate

Have you ever given any thought to how business people and their marketability is like a product or a business? If you look around at today's most successful businesses and business people dawning the front covers of Fortune, Fast Company, Wired and Time, you will notice that marketability and innovation is the key ingredient resident in most of them.

As business people we need to always be thinking about the currentness of our 1) knowledge and the currentness of our 2) mindset.

1. Let's start with knowledge:

Businesses are laser focused on trying to avoid reaching the maturation and decline stages of the Product Life Cycle. Don't we all want to stay in growth mode on the way up the hockey stick? This takes a lot of good information and instincts as well as the ability to position your business as one which anticipates market changes, innovates, or is a position to be immediately responsive and adaptive to innovation in order to capitalize on opportunities as they arise. If you want a dose of business inspiration, follow Google's innovative moves. Innovate or stagnate.

Business people are on a similar life cycle in their career, seeking to avoid peaks and valleys and remain forever in growth mode while avoiding maturation and decline. Remember how it felt to get your first real career job? Remember the pace of your learning and your eagerness to immerse yourself in every little detail so as to learn the ropes quickly, get noticed and move up? Over time however, as you become more comfortable in your middle management position you may become comfortable, assimilate or not be as eager to find that big idea. Sometimes you lose touch with the pulse of the larger, outside market and slow down your pace of learning. Innovate or stagnate.

We can often forget that we are in charge of our own individual brand and responsible for our marketability.

2. Now, let's deal with mindset. Mindset is as important as knowledge in innovation and marketability. What are the qualities of a business with a successful mindset?

Successful businesses today have a few common qualities when you dig down to the basis of their executive mindset and guiding corporate values. They are open to new ideas and anticipate, rather than resist change. They have a willingness and want to learn. They listen. They find a healthy balance between risk taking and stability. They care about and support their people and their human capital. They are fair, ethical and transparent. And, they innovate-- testing new ideas without fear of failure. They "walk the talk".

Successful business people today have similar qualities. They have a high emotional intelligence and are aware of people and the world around them. They communicate well with others and are aware of their individual goals and how they map to their career goals. They take a proactive, leadership role in life and work. They are fair and open and have a want to genuinely support the people around them-- both above and below. They are adaptive and constanting learning and evolving. They innovate. Interstingly, Google makes #1 on Fortune's Top 100 list, just released.

We can all benefit by taking a more conscious look at our unique strengths and how marketable we are. On the journey of career and life take a moment to do a pulse on your innovation factor. Remind yourself that you are in a constant state of creating yourself. We are all work-in-progress. Innovate or stagnate.

The "IT" Factor

Some people have it, some people need to fabricate it. But what is it? We have all heard of the celebrity "it" girl.... we see politicians, authors, athletes and companies brand themselves and invest heavily in promoting those brands, so why don't we invest the same effort and energy in branding ourselves as business people? I know what you are thinking.... I am not an entrepreneur, I am an employee. What impact could personal branding have in the corporate world? Well, in the words of Tom Peter's himself "be distinct of be extinct!".

I believe there is enough risk of extinction in the corporate, assimilating world of work. Why not resist the numeric droid default position and take charge of marketing yourself smarter? The key words there are "take charge". That is really the first step which begins with knowing yourself, your strengths, how you relate and where you fit in your world of work. Know what you want to attain and where you want to go. These are critical self assessment questions to answer before designing your brand and marketing strategy.

Next step, building your brand and emphasizing your "IT" factor.

Want to learn more about marketing yourself smarter? Sign up for our February event on " Finding Your "IT" factor.


And, stay tuned for Marketing Yourself Smarter tips and strategies to be made available on our site early in the new year.

The Female Advantage: Impressions Count

Market Yourself Smarter hosted an exclusive and provocative event yesterday located at the swish Toronto Street Goodlife Fitness Club for Women location. The topic? First impressions and why they count. An interesting dialogue and debate ensued which inevitably delved into the male:female communication style discussion. Are women overly concerned about gaining the acceptance of their male counterparts? Are men or other women as judgemental and quick to stereotype as some women believe them to be? Should we care? Is it important? Are there things women could and should learn from the male communication style?

Well yes, it most certainly is evidenced by the room full of women eager to discuss the topic of making a good first impression. The fact of the matter is that we do care and we should care-- at least a little bit.

Whether physical or gender-based discrimination exists or not, the perception is that it does. And perception is reality. Companies are investing heavily in this very topic. Changing the mindset and bridging the gender gap in a corporation is an important effort and will payoff in acquisition and retention efforts and hopefully in encouraging more women into the executive suite.

What was agreed on by most was that women have a distinct Female Advantage that should be emphasized and leveraged. The female advantage pays off in sales meetings, board rooms, top and bottom line results.

Alana Free, Director of People Development at Goodlife Fitness did a terrific job at facilitating this heated discussion and shared with us a list of related books on the topic listed below.

Stay tuned for more cafe events where this one came from! What are your thoughts on the topic?

The Female Advantage, Women’s Ways of Leadership
By Sally Helgesen

First Impressions, What You Don’t Know About How Others See You
By Ann Demarais Ph.D, and Valerie White Ph.D

How To Talk So People Listen, Connecting In Today’s Workplace
By Sonya Hamlin

Happiness is a Choice
By Barry Neil Kaufman

Announcing the Top 10 'Walk the Talkers' Finalists in Eastern and Western Canada

Congratulations to the Top 10 Employers in Western and Eastern Canada who made the in our first annual Top Employers Who Walk the Talk Survey done in concert with The Collin Baer Group. We have released the downloadable report from our survey available at www.marketyourselfsmarter.com .

Our 2006 Top 10 Finalists are:

Western Canada

#1 University College of the Fraser Valley
#2 Urban Systems
#3 Flight Centre Canada
#4 Pacific Western Brewing Company
#5 Schlumberger Canada Ltd
#6 Rocky Mountaineer Vacations
#7 Vancity
#8 The Ethical Funds Company/Credential Financial
#9 British Columbia Institute of Technology #10 TransCanada Pipelines Ltd.

Eastern Canada

#1 Export Development Canada
#2 Media Profile
#3 Cisco Systems Canada
#4 Bell Canada
#5 Accenture
#6 Career Builder
#7 ThinData
#8 GE Canada
#9 Scotia Bank Group #10 GoodLife Fitness Clubs

'Walking the Talk' simply describes what is on the minds of career people today. Although compensation is important, employees have other aspirational expectations of their employers which employees been expressed as:

-to follow through on promises
-to mean what you say and say what you mean
-to be a role model
-to set an example
-to act responsibly, fairly and honourably

As our Walk the Talk survey was conducted in a non-sponsored organic approach many of the employers were unaware that they had been nominated. This survey was a true pulse check on the employee mindset. Those companies that made the Top 10 in Eastern and Western Canada should be very proud.

Congratulations again and stay tuned for our 2007 survey.

What we can learn from Roger Waters

There are certain things that never go out of style. Rock and roll, great lyrics and social citizenship. Roger Waters used his concert last night at Air Canada as a platform to communicate a message about peacemaking and the importance of taking a stand as a global citizen.

How can we apply this to the corporate world? Being a good corporate citizen and walking the talk are two areas quickly rising to the top of employees' lists of what is important in the world of work. In order to attract and retain the best talent today corporations need to shake themselves out of comfortable numbness and re-frame their priorities when it comes to their role and ability to make a difference in the external world.

Give big. With your wallets and your time.

Come on all of you busy executives-- give of your time or from your wallets. Catharine Fennell was recently featured in the Toronto Star for her role in Chairing a Panel for the United Way's Allocations Committee. A well rounded career that involves your day job and contributing as a volunteer on a Board is a great way to market yourself smarter. For those interested in broadening their career horizons Catalyst has done a lot of research in the area of women and board participation.

New moms. Keep your day job.

Long lives the debate on where a woman will seek the most control over their career. Initially, the lure of entrepreneurial life seems quite attractive but is it reducing or increasing work-life anxiety? Newsweek featured an article this week on the mom-preneur trend. Balance? I am not sure.

Building your brand... employment style

There has been a lot written about the employment brand. You know, the special one that your employees or prospective employees see when they look into your company. Isn't it that the employment brand is THE brand. It is tough to differentiate an external-facing brand when you are appealing to the public. After all, your employees are often your customers too.

Maybe more to the point is that employers need to walk the talk in everything they do. They need to be upstanding citizens conducting themselves honourably both behind closed doors and out in the community. There is no longer any tolerance for incongruous 'brand' messages.

Take the recent Radio Shack fiasco reported in the Globe and Mail where 400 employees were given the e-boot in one foul swoop. I am thinking that this poor judgement call on the part of the ivory tower may have some cascading effects.

Women: Still got something to prove?

Women as boss. Are we making progress or do we still suffer from a case of high school-aged insecurity, feeling like imposters in our executive offices. Are women supporting the advancement of women? We spend a lot of time educating the marketplace -- particularly the male gender-- on the importance of gender equality in the executive suite, yet women themselves can be the first to sabbotage other women's climb up the ladder.

Do women prefer to be led by men? In many conversations that I have on this topic-- and trust me, there have been many-- women secretly tell me that they prefer working for or with men. Or, in the entrepreneurial world, they prefer male clients.

What qualities do men bring to the workplace that make women more comfortable, or less threatened? Perhaps we can learn a thing or two from our male colleagues.

Top Employer Buzz

What's in a top employer list if it doesn't come from the employee? I mean really from the employee. We just had the pleasure of running our first annual "Top Employer Who Walks the Talk" survey www.marketyourselfsmarter.com and were overwhelmed with the response-- both good and bad. You know you are hitting the right audience when you get such honest responses.

So what is the angle? To provide a trusted forum and voice for employees and to ultimately bridge the gap between employees and their employers. Being voted in by employees as a Top Employer Who Walks the Talk is possibly one of the highest compliments paid to a Canadian employer and one that should not be taken lightly.

Stay tuned for the results!