The Engaging Brand

Your Career Needs 360 Degrees not Just One

When coaching I am struck by how many people lack real self confidence because they don't have the right qualifications, yet they are gifted and talented people who are achieving success in their business careers. 

Here is this weeks Bab's Booster to show you that leadership, management, entrepreneurship is not just about formal qualifications.....in fact when it comes to social media marketing Bab's is right!

We live in an age of a networked economy, when social business is on the rise....One degree in your back pocket won't make you more social or more human. As a person with two degrees I am not downgrading degrees!...I am saying that for talent development, your social ability is just as important.

Social networking, social media is about showing all sides of your personality not just your business skills.

Social business is about having core skills but enhancing them with an ability to share...and ability to be the person in the role, not just the role.

Social business is about seeing problems, opportunities, ideas, skills as 360 degree topics and looking for unusual ways to combine them.

Social business is about showing all sides of your personal brand, or your corporate brand, to show how you are different. Many people have a skill.....but

Do you show the social element to your skills?

5 Ways to Generate Power of Networks

Networks of talent are the new working capital; working in the sense of actively creating business value.....and capital in the sense of needing investment, maintenance to see a return to the bottom line.

Human capital is a phrase that has developed over time to represent how your talent is an asset that delivers future revenue streams...and therefore needs protecting, nurturing and growing as part of your human resource management.

Over the last decade, the rise of the knowledge economy combined with the ubiquity of the web, I have started to believe that talent has moved from a fixed asset to a fluid (or current) asset.

The mobility of talent, the access to information has created the need to see talent as more than just idea creators.....talent needs to be defined differently, seen differently, managed differently.

Talent is important however the power of the network  is just as important.

Networking are at the heart of business. Yes literally when you think of the web...but also as communication and production channels for ideas.

Social networking is more than posting a picture of your cat from a business perspective. Social business networking is about

Generating the power of connection from your talent base.

Here are ways of generating that power

1. Networks are as strong as the connections....how much do you spend time on developing those connections? 
2. Do you value networks...do you bring people together...do you provide value into the network?
3. Do you know what and who your networks are? Do you see people as a role or a valuable connection in the network?
4. Do you see talent as fluid and therefore spend time on developing talent to keep them within your network?
5. Do you think about the networks within your business, connected to your business and your personal brand? Have you a plan for each?

 

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How The Web Has Changed The Talent Search

There is a great quote about talent and business by Stan Davis & Christopher Meyer 

“When land was the scarce resource, nations battled over it. The same is happening now for talented people.”

When preparing for battle you need a strategy, you need the tactics to deliver it and the resources to enable the tactics.

When it is a battle for talent it is just the same and many companies forget about one modern tactic and key resource to help you succeed with your talent strategy.

Developing your social media skills can be an important tactic to find, nurture and show your talent.

The social web can be a really useful resource not for checking out whether people are a social party animal (after all you would never employ Richard Branson with his wayward adolescence), but for seeing who is thinking about your industry differently.

From an employer perspective - do you have alerts created for words and phrases to find the bloggers talking about different concepts?  Are you using the search facilities on social networking sites to find people talking about your industry? Are you actively looking and open to new ideas and concepts? Are you connecting with these people to explore ideas?

From a personal branding angle - Social media is your shop window, it is an active CV which not only shows your skills but often most importantly your thinking and your personality. It is a great tool to create and distribute your personal brand. It is a great way to search and connect with companies that portray your values.

Recruitment agencies are still important, however they can only offer a 2D picture of your personal brand. They offer the words and the constructed interview. Social media however provides a 3 Dimensial insight into both your mind, your personality and your skills.

Search is not just about products and services.....search is the ultimate talent finder as well.

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How to Listen....Really Listen

One of my favourite poems is by Ralph Roughton called On Listening.

It is a great poem to keep close to you, on your desk or on the wall - as a reminder of the most precious gift you can give people....listening. I wanted to post it today because this poem is as relevant at home, at work, at play.....as we are now 5 days into the New Year, it is a great reminder of how we can be the best we can be - this year.

On Listening

When I ask you to listen to me and you start by giving me advice, you have not done what I asked,

When I ask you to listen to me and you begin by telling me why I shouldn't feel that way, you are trampling on my feelings.

When I ask you to listen to me and you feel you have to solve my problems, you have failed me. Listen !

All I ask is that you listen, not talk or do...just hear me.

When you do something for me that I can do for myself, you contribute to my fear and inadequacy.

When you accept as simple fact that I do feel what I feel, no matter how irrational then I can quit trying to convince you and get about the business of understanding whats behind this irrational feeling.

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What to do when faced with a problem

It is hard to be wrong, it can be embarassing, it can be painful. However, ignoring what people are saying is much worse....

I remember going to speak to Dad when I was faced with a really difficult Union issue to deal with and he had this one piece of business advice which I have kept with me

"Seek the truth, rather than prove the point"

This week when faced with a problem, when faced with dissenters...remember this piece of advice.

Much more painful, much more damaging to your personal brand is being seen as stubborn, someone who is seen as stubborn. In seeking the truth, you must let go of what you "think" you will find, you must let go of pre-conceived ideas...

That is hard...but then being a good human being can be hard. Business is not about what it is easy, it is about doing the right thing.

Anyone can prove a point......so do you want to be part of the crowd or to a seeker of truth who is respected?

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4 Questions to Develop Your Personal Branding

Coaching is not about giving answers, it is about serving up the right questions so that the individual finds the answers for themselves.

For me though coaching should always start with yourself. To be a great leader, to develop a strong personal brand you need to coach yourself - after all if you don't know who you are and where you are going...then who will!

Furthermore, social marketing is - in a sense -  personal coaching for your brand. To maximise your return on influence from the web, then you need to be able to answer

Here are some questions that can help you both as a personal brand, developing a social brand or even ahead of an appraisal.

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Memories are the Fuel for the Future

Memories are strange things.

Memories are personal. Memories are emotive. Memories are what makes us who we are.

Memories affect how we think about the past, how we view today and what we expect from the future. But most of all for us as people, for us as business people memories are created through interaction.

So when help shape memories we help shape a better future.

When we evoke memories we act as a mirror to the past and a reflection of the future.

Whether we are talking about our personal brand, or a corporate brand....we are not about producing for people or giving a service to people...no it is much greater than that...memories inspire change.

We are little memory filling stations...providing that relationship bridge from things and events.... to personal, emotive experiences. Social media are like the pumps that help deliver that fuel.

The question about whether we are the fuel to a positive or a negative memory is whether we see the other person as more than a connection.

If you saw your role as a memory creator, then how would that change how you go about your life and your work? Creating memories is so much more inspiring than processing a piece of paper to cover your back!

10 Challenges For A Better Life

I have just finished Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom and wanted to share with you a few quotes which I jotted down as I was reading

1. Are you trying to be as human as you can be?
2. Love wins. Love always wins.
3. Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do
4. Life is a series of pulls - back and forth
5. Sometimes you can't believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel
6. Part of me is every age
7. Material things can never hug you back
8. Satisfaction comes from giving others what you have to give
9. We don't see what we could be
10. You can obey little things like red traffic lights, but on big things like how we think, what we value...you must choose the path yourself

How do you define yourself?

It is strange how humans need a way of defining themselves....

History has shown we have defined it by geography, nationality etc 

The present shows a difference....the tangible ways of defining are disappearing and ideas, thoughts are arguably becoming the defining factor.

But what strikes me is why? Why do we need to be defined by something else? 

I am me, with my values and my distinctive 'humanness". Yes, I need people and people need a community to thrive. But..

 I believe we define ourselves first and then look to see how we can bring value to people around us...

That way we are happy in ourselves and able to give more to others...

How do you define yourself?

Happy Father's Day - Still Miss You Dad xx

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