Career Distinction E-Book

William Arruda

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 239

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

Praise for Career Distinction "Hands down, this book is the bible on branding for your career!" -- Susan Britton Whitcomb, author of Job Search Magic "As a professional resume writer and career coach, I have extolled the concept of personal branding for my clients for years. Now, for the first time ever, I have an outstanding resource to recommend--Career Distinction by William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson. This book details the concept of personal branding in a magnificent and easy-to-digest presentation that is a must-buy for every serious job seeker." -- Wendy S. Enelow, CCM, MRW, JCTC, CPRW Executive Director of the Career Masters Institute "Arruda and Dixson are widely respected in the global career coaching community as gurus who not only teach but live the personal branding model, and their expertise and passion show through on every page of this practical, indispensable book. I highly recommend it to all who want to distinguish themselves from the competition." -- L. Michelle Tullier, PhD, Vice President of Right Management and author of The Unofficial Guide to Landing a Job

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1 - Understand the Future of Work

Change Is the Only Constant

What Employers Really Want

New World of Work—New Opportunity

Chapter 2 - Adopt the Career Distinction Mindset

Principle 1 Stand Out: Stand for Something

Principle 2 Be Your Own Boss

Principle 3 Forget the Ladder: It’s a Ramp

Principle 4 Think Like a Brand

Chapter 3 - Brand Yourself for Career Success

The 1-2-3 Success! Personal Branding Process

STEP ONE - EXTRACT—UNEARTH YOUR UNIQUE PROMISE OF VALUE

Chapter 4 - Know Yourself to Grow Yourself

Articulating Your Vision and Purpose

Clarifying Your Goals

Identifying Your Values and Passions

Chapter 5 - Remember, It’s What They Think That Counts

What Are Brand Attributes?

All You Need Is Love: The Power of Emotional Brand Attributes

Shining the Spotlight on Positive Brand Attributes

A Note about Your Strengths

Chapter 6 - Define Your Brand Community

The Importance of Your Target Audience

Identifying Members of Your Target Audience

Focusing on Your Target

Chapter 7 - Tell Your Brand Story

Putting Your Brand Statement to Work

Developing Your Personal Brand Statement

Writing Your Brand Profile

Putting Your Brand Profile to Work

STEP TWO - EXPRESS—COMMUNICATE YOUR BRAND TO YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

Chapter 8 - Create Your Career-Marketing Tools

It Is All about You: Branding Your Bio

Crafting the Right Resume

Conveying Your Brand through Your Cover Letters

A Few Words about Job Interviews

Chapter 9 - Express Yourself

Understanding the Three Cs of Brand Communication

Building Your Communications Wheel

Establishing Your Thought Leadership

Developing Your Physical Communications Plan

Executing Your Physical Communications Plan

Chapter 10 - Assess Your Online Identity

The Age of Google

Determine Your Current Digital Profile

Chapter 11 - Build Your Brand in Bits and Bytes

Join the Blogosphere

Create a Web Portfolio

Use Online Networking Sites

Extend Your Brand Online

Start Now

STEP THREE - EXUDE—MANAGE YOUR BRAND ENVIRONMENT

Chapter 12 - Be On-Brand in All That You Do

You Are What’s Around You

Understanding Your Brand Environment’s Components

“First Impressions Last”: Your Appearance

Your Office and Business Tools

Chapter 13 - Get a Visual Identity

Developing Your Identity System

Implementing Your Brand-Identity System

Chapter 14 - Increase Your Career Karma

Career Karma: Give to Get

Give without Being Asked

Starting with the Next Cubicle

The Dual Advantages of Social Capital

Demonstrating Your Personal Social Responsibility

Summary

Appendix

Index

About the Authors

Copyright © 2007 by William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Arruda, William, 1961- Career distinction : stand out by building your brand / William Arruda,

Kirsten Dixson.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-470-12818-3 (cloth)

1. Career development. 2. Success in business. 3. Professions—Marketing. I. Dixson, Kirsten, 1968- II. Title.

HF5381.A828 2007 650.14—dc22

2006039541

Foreword

I have lived and breathed career management for over 30 years, and in that time I have seen seismic changes in the world of work and consequently in the field of career management. The biggest shocks have all come in the past 10 years. The coming of the Information Age, and the tsunami of the Internet engulfing our daily lives, has rendered most beliefs about career management, for those who ever held any, obsolete.

Becoming credible and visible in your career is more than just the reward of doing a good job; it is the result of working consistently over the years to make a difference to those you serve and to those with whom you work. The more you work toward credibility and visibility in your profession, the quicker you enter that inner circle—in your department, in your company, and ultimately in your industry. One of the many rewards for this effort is that you get to know and be known by the most committed and best connected in your profession. That is how I got to know William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson. They have become valuable members of the leadership community on career management thought.

One thing that links the most successful professionals at all levels is that they take a proactive approach to managing their careers. People who are ahead of the game don’t wait for a career emergency to activate their network or update their resume. As Arruda and Dixson explain, you have to make career management a habit. Their innovative, step-by-step approach focuses on personal branding—a new concept for most of us that is largely misrepresented in the media. In this book, Arruda and Dixson dispel the myths and demonstrate that if you get personal branding right, you will attract your ideal opportunities rather than having to seek them out. Like them, you can increase the success and enjoyment that you bring to your work by making the most of who you really are.

The future is bright for those who are able to manage their careers the way that companies manage their businesses. Like companies, people must be incredibly clear about what they uniquely offer and who benefits from it. People must engage in ongoing communication activities to keep their personal brands in the forefront. And they must ensure that everything that they do delivers on their brand promise.

Arruda and Dixson are two pioneers in building and managing online identity; in fact, they improved mine. What they do is becoming more and more vital as we are all Googled before meetings and interviews.

Adopting the Career Distinction mindset and integrating the ideas from this book into your career strategy will have a positive impact on your career. Listen to what Arruda and Dixson have to say; it could make a real difference in your professional life.

MARTIN YATE

Author of Knock ’em Dead: The Ultimate Job Search Guide

Preface

In the new world of work, your reputation is the only accepted currency. Whether you are looking to move up the corporate ladder in your current organization, find a position at another company, make a major career change, or start your own enterprise, you will no longer be hunting for your next role. Instead, opportunities will come to you. Colleagues, hiring managers, clients, and recruiters will use search engines like Google as well as social and professional networks to find out about you and reach you. To thrive in this new environment, you must identify your personal assets and clearly communicate your unique promise of value. Your credibility and visibility will drive demand for your services. You must use who you are to affect how you earn. That’s where Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand comes in.

This definitive step-by-step guide enables you to determine how others perceive you, reshape those perceptions to achieve your goals, and communicate your message about your personal brand clearly and consistently. In this book, you learn how to become the “must-have” professional—by being yourself. We demonstrate the power that comes with being yourself by providing examples of people (some names have been changed for privacy) just like you who have achieved professional success and fulfillment by living their personal brands. But before we introduce you to these fascinating people, let us introduce ourselves.

Who are we, and why did we join forces to write this book? William is the perfect example of someone who initially had no career strategy whatsoever. When he was deciding on a major in college, he chose to go into engineering. He selected this discipline because he knew he would find it difficult, and he thought university had to be hard. And it was. He was thankful for the electives and humanities courses that kept his grade point average in an acceptable range. William had no awareness of his own passions or motivations—yet they were clear to those around him. For example, he had a deep interest in advertising from a young age. Over the years, he built up a large collection of TV advertisements on VHS and watched television more for the commercials than for the programs. In his words:

After graduating from school, I took on many marketing tasks while a consultant at KMPG and then officially moved into marketing in the information technology sector. I felt at ease there—motivated, energized. But it wasn’t until I had the incredible opportunity to manage the rebranding effort for Primark—a financial services company—that I realized my passion for branding. I had always been an ambassador of my favorite brands—Apple, Starbucks, W Hotels, Moulton Brown. With this project, I was able to learn about and apply the principles of branding for myself.

As I progressed in my career, I started to manage more and more people and discovered my other passion—empowering and mentoring others. I saw the power of helping people discover their talents, advance their careers, and reach their potential.

Then, something amazing happened. It was July 1997. I was working for Lotus in Cambridge, MA (the best company I ever worked for), and was busily writing a report. I needed a break, so I went out to my assistant’s desk and saw the new issue of Fast Company. I took the magazine outside, sat on a bench near the Charles River, and read the cover story, “The Brand Called You,” by Tom Peters. It was like all the planets aligned for me. That article cemented the connection between my two great passions: branding and people. In reading that article, I took my initial step toward launching the first global personal branding company.

With a vision of entrepreneurship shining in my mind, I moved to London and then to Paris to manage the Lotus brand in Europe. Finally, in 2001, while in my office at La Defense in Paris, I decided it was time to launch Reach. The rest is history.

Of course, 2001 wasn’t the best year to start a company, so it was a rocky start. And back then, no one had heard of personal branding—let alone wanted to spend any money on it. But, six years later, my only regret is that I didn’t launch the business sooner.

My career now focuses exclusively on the human side of branding. I work with professionals and entrepreneurs to help them use their personal brands to stand out and expand their success. I assist senior leaders in building their executive brands so they can make indelible marks on their organizations. And I deliver keynotes and workshops for forward-thinking organizations that want to get the best from their talent by helping employees unearth and leverage their unique value.

So I have found my niche and have increased my professional fulfillment. I live my personal brand every day. It is now my mission to help others to do the same.

What makes you unique, makes you successful.

—William Arruda

Now we introduce you to Kirsten. William met Kirsten when she joined the initial session of the Reach Personal Branding Certification program. In fact, she was the first person to register. He knew instantly that she was an innovator. She absorbed the Reach personal branding methodology as if it were in her DNA. There were times during the program when William thought Kirsten was more excited about the material than even he was. As Kirsten relates it:

Like William, I had no real plan for my career. I wasn’t sure how to turn my disparate interests in theatre, international travel, foreign languages, and writing into a career that would satisfy my creative and entrepreneurial spirit. I transferred to Vassar College in my sophomore year and immediately had to choose a major in a new school. Because I had enjoyed acting, I thought “why not be a drama major?” Somehow, it made sense at the time, even though I knew that I would never be a professional actor. In the summer between my junior and senior years, I taught English in Thailand through AFS. I came back wishing that I had been an international studies major, but it was too late to switch and still graduate on the four-year plan.

As I entered the real world and had to search for my first nonsummer job, I was filled with unrealistic expectations about how I’d begin my career and took the first offer I got. Out of character, I worked in sales management support for a retail computer chain where I was fortunate to gain a lot of my early technology knowledge. After a shocking layoff, I found my way to the more tumultuous world of advertising.

I was working on the Peugeot Motors of America account when Peugeot decided not to sell cars in the United States. Then I worked on a new business pitch for Mazda: The agency I worked for won the account, and then the car was not introduced. I was laid off again. This time, I was sent to outplacement where I discovered that there was an entire industry devoted to helping me with my career. I then moved to Los Angeles (for love) and switched to the seemingly more stable “client side” of marketing. Among other things, I facilitated the international brand licensing program for Kahlúa. (I should also mention that amid these transitions, I held some long-term freelance assignments that gave me an insider’s view of companies in a variety of industries.) When the parent company reorganized, I opted for a package and moved back to New York. Before I left, I went to outplacement again.

I took part in a group seminar led by a particularly effective trainer who was talking about the concept of Me Inc.—long before it was mainstream. Right then and there, I decided that I wanted her job. In that moment, I realized that I could finally be in control of my own destiny and use my strengths and experience to help others do the same. I enrolled in NYU’s Adult Career Planning and Development program, and I was on my way to discovering my true calling. After my first daughter was born, I resigned from my position at a human resources consulting firm and launched a career marketing service that I sold a few years ago. Although I mostly specialized in working with career changers, I helped hundreds of professionals at all levels in a wide variety of industries, and I really didn’t yet have a personal brand.

Building your personal brand online gets you noticed in the real world.

—Kirsten Dixson

Now, back to William to explain how we began our collaboration:

One day, Kirsten sent me an e-mail asking if we could meet in person. (The certification program was delivered through teleseminars.) We met face-to-face for the first time in Boston before she was scheduled to review resumes at a Women for Hire expo. Kirsten told me about her plans to launch Brandego® (pronounced brand-eh-go)—a consultancy for executives and solopreneurs to build their brands online—and asked me to be involved. This was the perfect business for Kirsten. She is future focused and anticipated the need for people to manage their online identities before the term ego-surfing even existed.

At the same time, I was looking to launch an e-learning product, the Reach Branding Club, that would give professionals everything they need to brand themselves at their own pace and for an affordable fee. Many people had come to me looking for brand coaching but weren’t able to or didn’t want to pay my hourly fees. I had the intellectual property—the content and methodology—and I needed to partner with someone who could find the most innovative and interesting, yet simple, way of delivering the material. There was only one person I could think of.

Kirsten is perhaps the biggest believer in the Reach methodology (okay, maybe the second). She uses it with every one of her clients. It’s integrated into her offerings at Brandego, and she talks about it with everyone she meets. Combine this with her passion for leveraging the Internet for career success, and you have the perfect coauthor for this book.

William started writing this book in 2001 with his then coauthor, Andrea O’Neill (a bright, accomplished branding and marketing expert). At the time, the book was titled Bulletproof Your Career—which reflected the post-Internet bubble economy where layoffs were the norm and job security was a pipe dream. When Andrea decided the book did not fit into her future plans, William left the files on the Reach server until he saw many books being published about personal branding—and noticed that none of them dealt with the future of work. Not a single author of these books described the shift in mindset necessary to succeed in the changing economy. He felt inspired to begin writing again. Having seen the value of working with a coauthor, he asked Kirsten to join him. And you’re holding the result in your hands. Writing this book has been nothing short of life changing for us. We hope you take away from it a little of the inspiration we have felt in writing it.

In this book, we share with you the forward-thinking methods for standing out from your competitors and peers that we have helped our clients to adopt. With the companion Career Distinction Workbook and access to the 360°Reach personal brand assessment (both available at www.careerdistinction.com/workbook), you have all the tools you need to transform your approach to career management for an enduring and rewarding career.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my parents, Joe and Barbara; and my sisters, Doreen and Beverly, for their constant and unconditional love and support. I would also like to thank Andrea O’Neill, who contributed her creativity and writing to the original manuscript, and Kirsten Dixson—the perfect business and writing partner—whose energy and drive helped make this book and the Reach Branding Club a reality. I would also like to express heart-felt gratitude to Joao Rocco, Susan Gladwin, Suzanne Tanner-Meisel, Suzette Fraser, Nancy Preston, Hans Nystrom, and “la Famille” in Paris for their friendship, inspiration, and encouragement. Finally, I would like to recognize Paul Copcutt and the 150+ Reach-Certified Personal Branding Strategists who span the globe and are committed to using the Reach personal branding methodology to enhance the lives and careers of their clients.

W. A.

Most importantly, I want to thank William Arruda for asking me to write this book with him. The gratitude that I have for everything that I’ve learned from William and all the ways that he has accelerated my career is beyond words. I would also like to express my deepest appreciation to:

Brian Wu, without whom there would not be Brandego. Brian’s vast talent and wisdom has elevated every project on which we’ve collaborated.

Wendy Enelow for initially recognizing that career technology should be my niche.

My husband, Chris, for his support in fulfilling my dreams and being a great father to Abby and Cate.

My mom for consistently believing that I could do anything, her sacrifices on our behalf, and making sure that I could communicate well.

My dad for instilling his entrepreneurial spirit in me and for a “launch in and learn as you go approach” that has served me well.

Nathan for teaching me to make each day count.

K. D.

Together we would like to thank Wendy Enelow for reviewing our book proposal and encouraging us to go for it; Jennifer Sneirson Kun and Brian Wu for creating images for this book; L. Michelle Tullier for connecting us with our publisher; Laurie Johnson for her editing expertise; and the Reach Strategists whose contributions are in the book: Kim Batson, Paul Copcutt, and Deb Dib.

Chapter 1

Understand the Future of Work

In this chapter, you will learn:

• The factors that are impacting our careers

• What employers are really looking for

To help you make the most of this book, let us set the scene for you and pose a question: What is happening in the world of work, and how can you succeed in this new paradigm?

Change Is the Only Constant

The accelerating retirement of the baby boomers and worsening shortage of knowledge workers are just a few of the trends reshaping the labor market and making personal branding more crucial than ever. To put the advice in this book into context, consider the following additional changes you can expect in the employment landscape of the new millennium.

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.

—John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States

Shrinking Job Tenure

In both prosperous and challenging economic times, the duration of job tenure decreases. During periods of economic growth, job hunting and job hopping intensifies. And, during economic recessions, downsizing further shrinks job tenure. Consider these facts:

• According to the U.S. Department of Labor, over the past few decades, the average length of time a person stays in a job in every sector of private business has decreased.1 Today, employees change their jobs every two years, their companies every three, and their industries every four.

• A 2005 ExecuNet survey revealed that corporate leaders are changing companies every 3.6 years, down from 4.1 years in 2002.2 For some occupations, the expected average tenure is even shorter. Take chief marketing officers: At the world’s top-100 branded companies, CMO tenure is just under two years, according to a 2004 Spencer Stuart survey.3 Why the revolving door? CMOs are now accountable for return on investment (ROI).

• In a project-based world, the new loyalty is to the project at hand. If the project doesn’t deliver results that directly boost the bottom line, the typical organization will cancel it—along with team members’ employment contracts. This is not a secret to most career-minded professionals: A 2006 Pew study revealed that 62 percent of Americans believe that there is less job security today than there was 20 or 30 years ago.4

In this dynamic environment, the time you have to make your mark is reduced. You must be crystal clear about the value you bring to your organization and the specific project. You must deliver that value consistently and, at the same time, be prepared for changes to your assignment or employer. The first 100-day plan, once reserved for CEOs, is something you need to bring to every new assignment.

Blurred Boundaries between Work and Personal Life

The BlackBerry, ubiquitous Wi-Fi, and mobile phones have created a “work anytime, anywhere” world. This blurring of boundaries between professional and personal life will only increase as being in the office becomes less and less necessary for knowledge workers. Again, the facts and figures say it all:

• With the exception of France (where the work week has been reduced), the number of hours we work each week has increased. In 1969, couples in the United States, aged 25 to 54, worked a combined 56 hours per week. By the year 2000, they were working nearly 70 hours.5

• Hotels, airports, Starbucks, and cafés have become Wi-Fi zones, making it easy for people to work from any location. Entire cities, like Philadelphia and San Jose are becoming “Wi-Fied.” And you can expect Wi-Fi on aircraft and in many public places in the coming years. Companies are starting to expect an “always-on” attitude from employees.

As you spend more time working from remote locations, your visibility around the office will decrease despite the increase in work hours. Your personal brand must be powerful enough to impact colleagues and managers even when you are not physically present. This freedom allows you to work from anywhere at times that are convenient for you; but you now have to ensure that you’re communicating your value with every e-mail and every phone call. And if you are going to be on the job all the time, you’ll want to increase the fulfillment you gain from your work, aligning it with your values and passions.

This book is a testament to the virtual project team. The authors have only been in the same city at the same time twice during the writing of the book. We have never met our editor in person, nor have we met in person with our graphic designers who created the images for the book. Most of William’s words were written while on a plane or in an airport lounge. Yet, with an electronic project management system, Wi-Fi, and Skype, we put this book together on a short schedule.

Accelerating Organizational Change

Under increasing pressure from Wall Street to grow revenue and profits, companies are continuously extending into new business areas, expanding internationally, merging with and acquiring other entities, outsourcing work, and rethinking their products and services. Consider these trends:

• Companies continue to leverage technology to ensure that information flows where it is needed. Use of technology renders geographic boundaries less important, making all organizations global and all businesses e-businesses.

• Globalization and technology advances are forcing companies to develop more fluid and complex organizational structures characterized by cross-organizational networking, alliances, and outsourcing of noncore activities to specialized agencies.

• Regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act are creating jobs in finance and corporate law, while IT jobs are being handled offshore.

• More work is done in the United States by fewer people, as evidenced by the rise in productivity. Information technology and the pressure on companies to increase shareholder value through economies of scale have driven this productivity increase.

Just when you understand how things are working in your current organization, they are likely to change. The rate of change is increasing and many external factors that are beyond your control impact how you work. The burgeoning flexibility of organizational structures increased the options for how your job can be accomplished. And the people competing for your job are no longer the people in your city; they are the people in the next city, state, and even country. Likewise, you will have the opportunity to work on projects that are located in Paris even if you are living in Peoria. Those who embrace change and accept it as a constant will reap the benefits of this ever-changing environment.

Employees’ Growing Mobility