Standing out... where Personal Branding meets Marketing

For those starting to become more familiar with the whole idea of taking charge of your reputation and managing your profile online, you will undoubtedly have heard the terms 'personal branding' and 'market yourself'. Both key ingredients to career success. But, personal branding and marketing yourself are two very distinct concepts-- both equally important in the overall career strategy.

First, personal branding is about understanding who you are and what your strengths and weaknesses are, what you stand for and what you wish to be. Take William Arruda, CEO of Reach and a partner of Market Yourself Smarter/videoBIO in helping individuals to know themselves before sitting down in front of a camera for a videoBIO or thinking about a more concerted effort in building profile and marketing yourself. Reach has been in the personal branding business for years and is arguably the leader in the field for all things personal branding.

Next, there is the marketing step. This is the part where all of the groundwork comes together and is put to the acid test as you navigate through your career and create connections, make impressions and build success. Take videoBIO as a career marketing tool, for example. In order to get the best out of the videoBIO opportunity you need to know what you are putting into it. What are your key messages? What is your raison d'etre? What makes you unique and how do you convey this with energy and conviction?

So be sure to remember the one, two' step process when you are ready to launch your personal brand out into the market. Take care with your brand.

Career search 2.0

Robert Lesser, President, Direct Impact Marketing and blogger for MarketingProfs posted a great how-to on how Career Search 2.0 meets Demand Generation-- includes some great, practical tips for optimizing your job search online.

Social currency. How full is your bank?

The art of conversation. High value networking. Quality interactions. Meaningful relationships. Great buzz words but really not well executed in day to day business relations. We need to take care in managing each and every impression and connection that we make with colleagues. Great impressions + authentic interactions = social currency. At the end of the day our reputation and our network and human relationships is what will make you or break us in business. Take a moment to think about whether you are building or losing currency. How full is your bank?

Check out www.knowyourcharacter.com to learn more about your professional style and character.

Are you really who you say you are? And, do you know what to say?

There's something about video that brings it all home in a very personal way. Integrating video into your online profile or job search is the new hot tool, but with video there is no hiding behind an airbrushed photo or well crafted resume. It is you. You are out there for everyone to see! It is a very intimate experience between you and the video camera -- and an honest one that needs to be carefully thought through.

There are times in your life when you need to slow down and reflect on who you are and what you stand for. We usually don't take the time out to think about these things as they relate to work, or life. When you find yourself out of work or are looking to shift your career path you really need to take a good hard look at what you want, what you believe, and what you bring to the table.

These are all good questions in general but necessary ones in the process of understanding what your overall message is and how you are going to set yourself apart and connect with potential employers or clients. With the emergence of new online tools and lower-touch communications we have lost the art of relationship building and storytelling. Video is bringing us back to the basics and is forcing us to take more care with our presentation and personal brand messages. And, this is a good thing. Investing time and resources in managing your reputation and brand impressions will pay off.

For examples of well crafted brand messages and video bios, visit us at http://www.marketyourselfsmarter.com/

Marketing yourself (part 2). Your approach to market

This is a follow on to an earlier post Marketing Yourself, the A, B, Cs that focused on what I described as Part One of the A, B, C's of marketing yourself. Today I want to chime in on Part Two which is YOUR APPROACH TO MARKET. Individuals looking for their next position or looking to bolster their profile and build their networks can draw from the fundamentals followed by companies launching new products or brands into the market. You need to understand what your brand is and then you need to manage that brand impression in every media-- when meeting someone for the first time at a cocktail party, when in a meeting or on a conference call, when promoting yourself on your bio, resume or speaking at a conference, when managing your professional profile online. It all matters and it requires a plan and ongoing management and maintenance. Every interaction is an opportunity to make a great or an average impression (let's hope not a bad impression!).

To start you need to think about your goals. Are you in launch mode, build mode or sustain mode? Typically if you are at the early stage of your career you are in launch or build mode. If you are at a mid career stage but are shifting careers you will drop back to launch mode.

For online you will want to ask yourself how much of your profile do you want to be publicly available online? This will dictate your online, professional networking strategy with sites like http://www.linkedin.com/ and http://www.videobio.com/ . Do you want a video to add a level of personalization to your brand? Are you an entrepreneur who is constantly promoting something and seeking new networking connections? You may want to look at http://www.twitter.com/ for sharing daily updates on what you are up. Think carefully about how you use http://www.facebook.com/ as a professional networking tool as it is most commonly used for social / personal networking and it is important to keep your personal and professinal brands separate.

Stay tuned for more marketing yourself a, b, c's.

Career and life reflected by one great CEO

Five years ago I had the pleasure to come to know Howard Breen, Chairman of MacLaren McCann Canada-- a man who needs no introduction on the North American advertising stage. Howard shared with me a few months ago that he was in the final stages of writing his book "A Page from a CEO's Diary" and I couldn't wait for the opportunity to help him promote it.

Well, it is now available for all of us to enjoy!

In addition to Howard's obvious career success he is an extraordinarily thoughtful and reflective man who cares very much about looking at the whole person, walking the talk, course correcting and holding himself to a higher standard.

The net proceeds for this book are being donated to Camp Oochigeas ( a wonderful camp for kids with cancer) and PrevNet (an organization addressing bullying). You can order “A page from a CEO’s Diary” at http://www.authorhouse.com/Bookstore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=55960

Here is what Howard has to say about it:

"This book reveals the most important lessons I have learned about business, career and relationships. I intend to challenge you to re-evaluate your thinking, values and practices with observations, anecdotes and questions. My goal is to help you gain a more honest picture of who you are and what you truly believe so that you can achieve greater success in your career…and happiness in life. " -- Howard Breen

Using video as a distinct advantage in your job search

A video bio is an important tool in your career marketing toolkit. Your on-camera ‘pitch’ is a way to present important soft skills like communication style, overall presence, attitude and energy, relate ability and professionalism whether you are in the job market, looking to promote your business or trying to build your profile. At the end of the day, people connect with people and video is a great way to express your whole self online.

Tips for using video online in your job search

1. Be sure to highlight your interests. Just out of school and looking for your first job you won’t have a lot of experience to rely on. Employers are looking to see leadership potential, ability to perform well in a team environment, energy and commitment. Sitting on college committees, volunteer work in the community, sports and other recreational interests all demonstrate a well rounded individual who makes time to develop all her skills.

2. Emphasize your achievements in high school and college. Did you graduate at the top of your class? Have you won any awards? Were you nominated for something by your peers? Did you take on an interesting project that had a great outcome?

3. Make it relevant. The employer doesn’t want to see the same video resume that every other employer is seeing. They want it tailored for them so be sure to translate your strengths into meaningful employment benefits. For example, highlight a specific skill that you have that can be immediately applied.

4. Share your ideas. Bring something specific to the table that shows that you have done your homework and you really want to work there. It demonstrates initiative and confidence.

5. Be confident on camera even if you are not. The key benefit of a video resume is that you can edit which means you have a few ‘takes’ or chances to get it right. Employers are looking for self assured, bright individuals with great communication skills so brush up on your key messages and prepare before your shoot. Make it conversational and not too scripted but make sure your best you comes across.

What are the don'ts of video bios ?

1. A videoBIO is not a video resume. It is a tool that will augment a resume and get your soft skills and communication style across. Keep it punchy and not more than 3 minutes in length.

2. Don’t submit a home grown, handycam version of your video resume to a potential employer. Employers are leery of the source of videos and the way they are submitted. Invest in a professionally shot videoBIO that comes from a credible source and is hosted on a webpage that can be easily viewed without downloading.

In this market climate it is more important than ever before to take control of and manage your online reputation.

check out my profile at www.videobio.com/cfennell

Walk the Talk excellence exhibited on Nov. 12th

The Nov. 12th Walk the Talk event was filled with inspired thinking for employers and new ways of looking at employees and how we engage and enable creativity and innovation-- not just the 'day job'. Employers are looking at new ways to employ and new ways to access talent in a collaborative and open global workplace. Wednesday's Thinking Beyond the 'CUBE' event speakers shared case studies and new ways to make to make this happen. Check out video below that features two of our expert speakers; Stephen Benson, CEO of Innovation Exchange and Chris Carder, President and Co-Founder, ThinData.

And congratulations to our three awarded Walk the Talk companies annouced last Wednesday! The three 2008 Walk the Talk Awards go to:

Sequel Naturals, Port Coquitlam, B.C. Most Open Walk the Talk 2008 Awardee
I Love Rewards, Toronto, ON, Most Inclusive Walk the Talk 2008 Awardee
Speakers Spotlight, Toronto, ON, Most Supportive Walk the Talk 2008 Awardee

Stay tuned for our full 2008 Walk the Talk best people practices report to be released in December 2008 on http://www.walkthetalkers.com/

Master of our own brands? Maybe not quite yet.

Social media DIY unearths some pretty exciting opportunities for individuals to express themselves and shape their online profiles and reputations. Not only can we have an online profile, we can present different versions of that profile to different audiences based on the community where it lives. We can communicate in code, in full sentences and in published written works. We can bring our personality to life with audio, video clips and music. We have so many options now that building and managing the online profile can be a full time job.

Perhaps the key distinction is where this brand originates. To have a personal brand pre-supposes that there is some thought that went into the original brand platform. Be sure the your personal brand strategy resides and starts with you. You have the opportunity to steer this as you go but once launched, that digital thumbprint lives on and will be shaped by the communities that you engage with and the ongoing dialogue and storylines that define you.

Marketing Yourself Smarter. The A, B, C's

If there was any doubt that marketing yourself was important, the recent American presidential race has brought style and substance into the spotlight like never before. Marketing yourself has long taken a bad rap. Perception being those who marketed clearly needed the help or were shameless self promoters. And... we certainly didn’t talk about it. Well, not so. Marketing and emphasizing your unique, sellable attributes is an important part of your strategy and just makes good business sense. And, if you have a particular area of weakness, you can draw on your marketing package to emphasize your strengths. Take Sarah Palin for example. What Sarah lacks on the substance side, she makes up in the down-home personality and approachability in her overall look and delivery. Mind you, we don’t all buy it. But that’s another story.

So, what does marketing yourself entail? Part one: your package, Part two: your approach to ‘market’. The rest is out of your hands. So, for today let’s focus on part one. Your package involves many things. Your unique message, your communication style, your relational style, your personality, your physical presentation (overall look, trademark style?) and then focus, consistency and repeatability to enforce and reinforce your message.

We could all benefit from a little packaging. Take a minute and start thinking about each of these points and whether you can describe each one as it applies to you. For the ones that you are struggling with, spend some time thinking about what your unique selling opportunities are given your strengths. And remember, whether you are an employee working your way up the corporate ladder, an entrepreneur, author or politician, marketing yourself will give you the stand out platform necessary to accelerate your career goals.

Stay tuned for part two: your approach to market.

Social currency and saying thank you.

Social currency is what we have to offer as individuals and business professionals-- extending your relationships on behalf of your colleagues to help them accomplish their goals. Building relationships with new people and sharing learning, resources and experiences.

Exchanging value. Creating value.
It’s what we have to give.

So when you extend your network to someone else it is then in their hands to carefully handle and nurture those contacts. Here’s the catch. As you start building on those relationships and share and exchange value—don’t forget to acknowledge and thank the connector. This is one of the most commonly make mistakes in networking and relationship building today. Social currency is what we have to give. It is a currency and has value. When you benefit from that currency, be sure to recognize the source and at some point down the line…. match the value.

Are top women slipping through the cracks?

I was forwarded an article from BBC News today called, Women 'lose out' in top jobs race which highlights the decline of women in top positions across UK organizations. Gender inequality in the workplace is not a groundbreaking idea, but the fact we are losing women in these positions is. I mean, I thought companies were we making positive changes to help women achieve their career goals. So what has been the impetus behind the sliding female executive numbers?

According to the EHRC (the Equality and Human Rights Commission) annual study, “it blames Britain’s business culture of long working days and inflexible working practices for discouraging women who want to both work and raise a family.” This has always been an issue with women so why would it cause a shift in the workplace now? Also if this decline has occurred in Britain, are we to expect a similar trend in North America?

I often hear in the news about women US CEOs like Patricia Russo from Alcatel-Lucent who are ousted out of their positions, or others being shifted from one company to the next. Between Britain and North America, women are getting to the top but it seems to be a struggle to stay there.

Sarah Palin. A pitbull with lipstick.

Party bias aside, there is no questioning Sarah Palin's charm and effectiveness as a speaker and public servant. How wonderfully to see Sarah combine the best of feminine charm and scrappy, calculated communication effectiveness to pull off what was undoubtedly a career making speech. Not to suggest she didn't have one before!

I will eagerly follow Sarah Palin, the self-described pitbull with lipstick, to watch how America responds to her Hockey mom, broad based warmth and appeal while combining obvious skill in persuasiveness and conviction. I am interested to see whether these translate in the upcoming, unscripted V.P. debate. I am glad to see now that her male opponents will not tread carefully because she is a woman. She is no shrinking violet and like all women, should not be treated with kid gloves. As a woman, I wouldn't vote for her (because I am neither Republican nor American) but I certainly support her and now add her to the list of strong women to follow.

Do women vote for women... period?

John McCain is potentially committing political suicide with his VP pick in Sarah Palin. Or is he? McCain and his campaign advisors clearly feel that by putting a female -- any female-- on the ticket, he may bridge the gap and win over some disgruntled Clinton voters.While Sarah is clearly charming and confident and may appeal to the conservative base with her strong pro-life position, she is no Hillary Clinton. In fact, Sarah and Hillary could not be further apart in their bios (or lack thereof in Palin's case).

While most of us women are thrilled to see a woman on the ticket in this election the presumption that Clinton voters will just 'come on over based on gender is mildly insulting. This clear misunderstanding on the part of political advisors to get in the minds of women is not uncommon. Women are not simply advocating women in positions of authority but more importantly getting the right person in the position to get the right job done. This means voting on the issues and by party ideology first, gender second.

Having said all that, in this case, I could be entirely wrong. Who will win this race is anyone's guess. Perhaps Palin will move the needle. Maybe women are so disgruntled that they will take this platform to make a point with their vote. One thing is for sure, I now have a reason to tune into the Republican convention.

More than just talk: We are all looking for responsible companies

This is an extension of an earlier post on April 24th which highlights the diversified packages and benefits now available to employees. These changes have been driven primarily by Generation Y, who is looking at more than just salaries when they are trying to land a job. Many candidates are looking at company’s that feature volunteer programs.

The other day I came across a featured article in the New York Times that talked about that very subject. PriceWaterhouseCoopers, IBM and Merrill Lynch are featured in the article as companies that walk the talk when it comes to employee engagement. In a world where you have to attract the best talent and retain them, you have to offer the best overall package which is more than just a comfortable salary . It’s the workplace, the intent and culture that matters.

For Canadians interested in starting an employee-supported volunteer program at their company go to www.volunteertoronto.com or www.volunteer.ca.

Does your company offer one or more of these great benefits? Are they a place where everyone wants work? Now is your chance to nominate them for a Walk the Talk Top Employer Award.

New employment models raise fear in employers

Resistant to change? Well, we had better get comfortable with it if we want to find the best talent out there. Full time employment isn't always the drawing card for Gen Y and employers need to shift their thinking from away from a 'property' orientation to a talent orientation. If we want to find, stimulate and nurture creativity, innovation and frankly, happiness in employees, giving them a job is not always the way to do it. So how do you outsource creativity? Business school taught us that you insource your core business and outsource the rest. What we didn't take into account back then is that by insourcing our core we might not be able to attract the best people to get the job done on our terms. So, as uncomfortable as it may make us as employers, we need to explore different employment models where we can get the best work from the best people, protect our ideas and IP and do it through more outsourced or contracted relationships. Many flexible employment companies are cropping up in response to this demand. And, there is one particularly progressive organization, The Innovation Exchange, that has created a platform for outsourced innovation which is catching hold around the world and utilized by blue chip companies and talent alike. Worth checking out.

All great Canadian employers take note

The walk the talk employee survey is now open and if you have a great story to tell be sure to encourage your employees to take it. The employment landscape is changing and the employee voice is strong. We all know what it takes to find and keep great people and it starts with walking the talk.

And hey, if you aren't as confident with your employer 'rating' but want to get tapped in, this is the place to start.

Visit www.walkthetalkers.com to take the survey, see employee videos and get details on our interactive career event scheduled for Nov. 12th. You don't want to miss it!

Survey is open until September 22nd.

102.1 - who's listening?

Every morning on the way to work I listen to the Dean Blundell radio show on 102.1 the edge. It is a male dominated morning show that prides itself on being raunchy, disgusting and chauvinistic. It’s mostly harmless and it can be quite funny. Today, they introduced a new female intern onto the show and in their usual banter of inappropriate questions they ran down a list of similarly inappropriate tasks that would be included in their duties, most of which included breaking wind in each other’s offices. This was all well and good until I found out that the intern is a 22 year old girl. As a female listener, I take all of their nonsense with a grain of salt, but something inside of me wonders what will happen when you throw a young girl into the mix. What role will she play? Would she be relentlessly harassed because she was good-looking, young and new to the workplace or is she there to be “one of the boys”? Clearly sensationalism sells listenership. And, freedom of speech.... yes, I get it. Hey, I’m listening! But what accountability does 102.1 have to upholding fair, non-discriminatory workplace and broadcasting practices (and frankly common sense) as it relates to gender. And, through the popularization of misogyny with their dominantly male audience, does this not just serve to build the back room alpha boy banter?

So, I challenge the folks at 102.1 to take our Walk the Talk employee survey launching July 7th at www.marketyourselfsmarter.com . Or, send us a note and tell us where you stand on this.

The Alpha female-- don't look to the Alpha male!

We were recently at a friend’s home for a dinner party and shortly after arriving, their Scottie dog ‘Jacques’ came right over to me and sat at my feet. My girlfriend (the dog’s owner) looked over at me and said, my dog always knows who the Alpha female is in the room.
I laughed and took it as a compliment. Strong, independent, decisive, a leader--- these would be the qualities of an Alpha male, wouldn’t they? Then naturally, I would be all of those things in a female body. Funny in this context but how does this apply in everyday life? Or, in the boardroom?

In male business communities, Alpha males congregate and celebrate their common strengths and superstar characteristics. They join the YPO, they play golf together, they have each others’ back. As an Alpha female there is no such community. While we have many women’s associations and clubs, women are still very uncomfortable sharing their success. And why is this? 1) we were not socialized to self promote and 2) when we do, it usually isn’t genuinely received and celebrated by our female peers. So where do Alpha women toot their horns? When a strong, powerful, trailblazing woman like Hilary Clinton—the quintessential Alpha female --is still scrutinized based on what she is wearing and characterized as too aggressive, the double standard remains clear.

When you hear Alpha female, who do you think of and does it conjure up a positive impression?

The Results-Only Work Environment: Do Whatever You Want, Whenever You Want ?

I've joked with friends a lot lately about how strange it is that we moved through a school system that trained us to be increasingly independent, given increasingly more freedom to manage ourselves and our learning, only to finish university and find this independence ripped away. Entering the grown-up, 'professional' world, suddenly you're no longer trusted to manage your work or your own time, instead relegated to function in a way you haven't had to since elementary school - your success dependent on conditioning yourself to show up on time, adhere to rules and obey authority figures, rather than producing work worth doing. And you don't even get nap time like the last time this was your reality.

The idea that you can do whatever you want, whenever you want might sound silly at first, even childish (thanks no doubt in part to memories of the "Do what you feel" festival depicted on the Simpsons back in the day when I was in elementary school). But in truth, it's been shown to not only make work suck much less from the employee perspective, but also produce far less sucky work that leads to better results for employers (hence, the name).

Since we are conditioned to follow an industrial model of quantitative rather than qualitative value, you of course need some proof. Two human resources professionals, published a book last week on Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It, as part of the quest to provide just that. They first made their ROWE, or results-only work environment, philosophy a reality for the 3,000 employees at Best Buy's corporate headquarters. The shift was so successful that it made the cover of Business Week in 2006.

In a ROWE, the person who attempts to climb their way to the top via contact reports, status reports, time-sheets, and otherwise creating the appearance of working by managing time instead of results, will find themselves falling off the rungs. It isn't about putting in hours but rather, turning out great work.

Successful people in this paradigm will be creative, receptive to changing environments, assumptions and problems, rather than simply doing what they are told. It doesn't make any sense for managers and employers to fear letting people do whatever they want, because really, how many people do you think truly don't want to do anything? There is no better way to build your personal brand than to be focused on the results of what you do, rather than where and at what time you do it. At the end of your career, would you rather say, "I worked this many", or "I accomplished so much"?