Paul Copcutt - Just My Toonies Worth

Is LinkedIn a Waste of Time?

It still seems to be almost a week never goes by without an invitation to another networking / social networking/ connections platform that is going to be the next best thing since sliced bread or at least since Google +.

But how do you know if you should join or not?

Revisit (or start) with what communication objectives you have set for your personal brand. Just because someone in your network has invited you to join Ushi.com for example it may not have any relevance to what you are trying to achieve in connecting and networking. (Ushi.com by the way is for networking professionally in China).

Three things to determine before you sign up for the next network;

1. Who is your target audience? Get very, very clear on this and gather as much information as you can about who you want to reach. 

2. Spend some time on the network to see who is already on there. Do they fit the profile you drew up from Q1?

3. How many of your current network are on there already? There is nothing worse than getting the label of 'Johnny No Mates' by joining a new network and having 3 connections. Many of the better designed ones allow you immediately to download existing networks and databases or even make direct connections. That way you can connect with everyone you already know and make it appear you are in the know immediately. 

The key with any online networking is not a case of my list is bigger than your list, it's the value you offer to your network in terms of help and relevant information.

Better to have 200 targeted connections who are good prospects for business, referrals, resources etc than 2,000 social media gurus or online at home business experts!

Connect with me on LinkedIn if it's a fit http://www.linkedin.com/in/paulcopcutt

Your leadership brand is what others say it is - so what are they saying?

It's always gratifying and exciting to see clients make breakthroughs with their personal brands. Suddenly something that previously was never on their radar becomes an idea, then an action and finally a regular part of who they are.

This new way of being, or more accurately, conscious communication of their personal brand, makes the work with them so fulfilling.

On occasion this even gets noticed by others and it was pleasing to see over the last couple of weeks two clients gaining coverage in the press, for very different parts of their brands. One was as a regional winner of entrepreneur of the year, the other was for his tireless community and charity work. 

What was also great about their coverage was that others were recognising, commenting on and communicating what their respective leadership personal brands were all about. 

It all goes back to the old adage of branding - "Your brand is not what you say it is, it's what others say it is"

The first was Mac Van Wielingen of ARC Financial in Calgary who was in the Financial Post; 

Mac Van Wielingen, founder and chief executive of ARC Financial Corp., received the Prairies Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year award at a gala event in Calgary on Oct. 18. He also won in the professional/financial services category.

“Entrepreneurs understand better than anyone else that good ideas are too valuable to waste, and Mac is no exception,” says Luana Comin-Sartor, director of the Prairies EOY program. “His unparalleled drive to create long-term value for ARC Financial through calculated risk management and dedication to people excellence is what has taken his good idea from modest beginnings to new heights of market leadership.”

Realizing it takes more than ideas to get a business off the ground, Mr. Van Wielingen put together an engaged and motivated team from the start. He continues to commit to developing innovative processes and practices that ensure his top talent maintain and share his vision for the company’s future.

“Innovation isn’t just about developing new products and services, it’s about pushing ourselves to be better,” Ms. Comin-Sartor says. “And it’s exactly this careful balance of great ideas with great people that makes Mac a standout.”

The second was John Evans of Evans, Sweeny, Bordin , written about in The Hamilton Spectator;

John Evans is a guy who really cares.

He won’t tell you that.

But others will — including Len Lifchus.

The local United Way CEO credits longtime Hamilton lawyer Evans with mobilizing the city’s legal community to rally behind it — so much so that $1 million has been raised over the past 10 years for the United Way of Burlington and Greater Hamilton.

Lifchus sings Evans’ praises for more than his fundraising efforts, however. He is also impressed at the way Evans treats people.

Two years ago, when Lifchus came to town to take over the CEO position, Evans went out of his way to make him feel a part of Hamilton. He invited him to his home, and every time he saw Lifchus, asked how the job was going and offered to help in any way he could.

“He approaches his philanthropy in the same manner. He really does care,” Lifchus says.

As you consider your own personal brand, what would you want the local press reporting what others are saying about you? - and make a point of living that brand now. 

A Decade (and more) of Personal Brand Book Publishing

My whole interest in the subject of personal branding started with reading Tom Peters book The Brand You 50 in 1999, since then I have avidly collected and read many others – some great, some good and some questionable!

I dipped in to my collection and picked one book printed in each year since Tom Peters book and give a quick viewpoint. No doubt going forward my collection may well include a few Kindle versions, but in the meantime I loved picking these ones up and skimming back through them, some for the umpteenth time.

Branding Yourself – Erik Deckers & Kyle Lacy – 2011 – The latest book with a strong emphasis in the area of building the personal brand by leveraging technology and social media, with a few final chapters on offline activity.

Shift – Peter Arnell – 2010 – An ad man that had to make significant personal shifts to literally survive making this much more of a personal journey focus.

Me 2.0 – Dan Schwabel – 2009 – As the title suggests the emphasis here is communicating the personal brand online and looking  at personal branding very much from the perspective of the younger ‘wired’ generations.

Managing Brand You – Jerry S Wilson & Ira Blumenthal – 2008 – Another Fortune 500 executive is one of the authors, the other a brand consultant so the book transposes many product brand approaches to the personal brand.

Career Distinction – William Arruda & Kirsten Dixson – 2007 – The culmination of the first half a decade of his work with Reach, in collaboration with another early personal brand adopter and coupled with many examples from the Reach community.

Soaring on Your Strengths – Robin Ryan – 2006 – Written from the career coaches perspective this book has some good suggestions and actual examples of its use with career marketing documents.

UR A Brand – Catherine Kaputa – 2005 – Some good tie ins between corporate/product branding and personal brand. Some good exercises to complete and part of the author’s personal brand comes through in the use of Shakespere quotes throughout the book.

Career Warfare – David D’Alessandro – 2004 – there is a very shortlist of books on personal branding written for the corporate market, this is the best there currently is and written by someone who made it all the way to the top of a Fortune 500.

The Brand Called You – Peter Montoya with Tim Vandehey – 2003 – One of the better books on personal branding for service based businesses. Written with the small business owner in mind, comprehensive steps and ideas.

Be Your Own Brand – David McNally & Karl D Speak – 2002 – One of the first books to make the connection between personal brand and employer brand. Some interesting templates to help form the basic foundation of your brand.

Build Your Own Life Brand – Stedman Graham – 2001 – Most famous for being Oprah’s partner, this is a good basic read that connects the dots between personal brand at work and elsewhere, after all it’s not just about work.

Make A Name For Yourself – Robin Fisher Roffer – 2000 - Probably one I would continue to place in my top 10 of personal branding books and one of the few directly aimed at women. A good read with a well thought out process.   

The Brand You 50 – Tom Peters – 1999 - This book still has plenty of relevant ideas and tips, particularly for those caught up in doing too much online. THE book that started it all, following on from his Fast Company magazine article, the inspiration for the forming of Reach!

Looking forward to the next decade of personal brand books and seeing where the whole subject develops. 

 

Engage Brain Before Tweeting - 5 Personal Brand Lessons from Ashton Kutcher

So another celebrity, this time Ashton Kutcher, has proven to us all what we already know - that we are no different from each other when it comes to making mistakes. Last week on seeing the headline about Penn State firing their football coach he immediately put his stream of consciousness on Twitter and told his 8 million followers what he thought. 

This was his original tweet; 

 @aplusk: How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #noclass as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste

Within minutes the backlash started, nasty responses started to fly and within hours he had removed the tweet, apologized and then decided to suspend tweeting whilst he no doubt consulted with his PR advisors. 

As of immediately I will stop tweeting until I find a way to properly manage this feed. I feel awful about this error. Won't happen again.

Just a few hours later he announced his Twitter account was going to be handled by his PR agency. 

Twitter Management http://post.ly/3rk2N 

So what are the lessons you can learn from Kutchner's mistake;

1. Engage brain before tweeeting. Actually this goes for all posts, status updates and anything else you are thinking of posting online. Consider the wider impact. A personal opinion shared with a couple of friends becomes a whole different ball game when you send it out to the universe. What you say online is a reflection of your personal brand, once it's out there it's hard to take back. Removing a twitter post does not make it go away. 
2. Stop digging. If you have dug yourself in to a hole, do not try to justify what you have done, the hole only gets deeper. Kutcher claimed to have just responded to a headline, being more or betyter informed might have been a better approach. Take a deep breath, throw the shovel to one side and consider how you are going to start to fill the hole in. 
3. Apologize. We all make mistakes, we would never advance as a race if we didn't. But if you make a mistake or say something you regret, say you are sorry - as long as you mean it. 
4. Take a moment to reflect on your mistake. What can you learn from the experience? Share with others what you have learned so that they are less likely to make the same mistake. What will you be careful not to repeat? Be sure to understand the lead up to the mistake, what else was going on to distract you and make you do that knee jerk thing and try to minimise it's impact next time. 
5. Don't STOP tweeting. Social media to some extent has given some people an over blown view of their opinions, but for authenticity your personal brand reflections should be yours not some paid PR person or assistant - make it real, unless you are a company. 

Mistakes happen and he is handling the fallout as best he can, his 8 million followers will not know if his next tweet is him or a handler - BUT the world will not stop turning because Ashton Kutcher has changed his approach to Twitter, and we have many greater concerns to expend our energy on. 

 

On the 11th hour, of the 11th day of the 11th month - Remember those who gave and still do

As on all remembrance days I will be remembering the sacrifices and bravery of all and in particular my father (above) who served as an instrument basher in the Royal Air Force for 6 years in WWII and my Grandad who served in both the army and navy in WWI - Lest We Forget

This was originally posted in November 2009, but in our busy, ever connected world, felt it was worthy of repeat.

Like many of you this past week, I had the opportunity to attend a remembrance day event. This one was part of a client event and included a talk by a WWII veteran.

As I listened intently to his stories I was distracted by a bright light in the dimmed auditorium. I glanced across and noticed an invited guest to the event checking and sending e- mail on their smartphone. Initially I gave the benefit of the doubt, you never know when someone has something personal and urgent going on.

But the scrolling, clicking and tapping of the keyboard continued. Finally I had to lean across and ask the person if the e-mail was so important that they felt it warranted the disprespect they were showing to someone who served to afford them the freedom to text in the first place. They quickly put the phone away.

A lot went through my mind before I said something. Most people would know me as someone not normally one who would speak out. But this individual was compromising one of my key values - Respect. Your core values are a key component of your personal brand and you should stand up for them and live them every day.

The final question I asked myself before I said something was. How would I feel on the drive home if I said nothing?

How are you living and expressing your values? Are they a core part of your personal brand?

What do you think? Take a moment to add your toonies worth.

 

Personal Brand Leadership Book Review - Paul Allen - Idea Man

Paul Allen - Idea Man - a memoir by the co-founder of Microsoft. 

© 2011 MIE Services LLC - 358 pages hardback  $- US 27.95  / Cdn $35

PERSONAL BRAND LEADERSHIP POINTERS

From this book you will learn:

• The importance of having several avenues of interest to round out your brand.
• How you can enjoy your passions AND make it part of who you are.
• Remain true to your core beliefs and not wavering. 
• Understand the power of doing what you're uniquely good at. 

Paul Allen is certainly best known by many as the co-founder of Microsoft, who left in the early 1980's but still wound up a multi-billionaire. Many might also choose to pick up this book to find out the insider scoop on what really happened in his 'fall out' with Bill Gates. Certainly the publishers have positioned this book to portray these very two renowned key points. 

However there is much more to this autobiography than just dishing the dirt and making billions from Microsoft. It could be argued that Allen has had more influence across a wider spectrum with his various successes and failures since, than an ever lasting impact with what remains of his legacy inside Microsoft. After all how much of Allen's work or influence even is in what the company is now - over 35 years later? 

What was more insightful was Allen's ability to think ahead of the technology curve (and beyond tech.) in a number of ways. This is more where the title "Idea Man" comes in to play - he invested, in some cases more closely gambled, on technology such as streaming content, wireless technology, consumer space travel. Some proved successful, others failed, but likely more from being too soon than completely wrong. 

The book can appear in places dry (read - too much technical information that may not have been needed) and although you learn of the trappings that wealth brings - yachts, sports teams, playing guitar with Bono - you certainly also understand Paul Allen to be a very private man, close to his immediate family but you learn little of his own personal life - something in an autobiography is lacking. 

Overall an interesting insight in the personal brand leadership of a technology titan, a community leader and philanthropist and some interesting lessons about business. 

Personal Brand Leadership Rating - 3.5 stars

About the Personal Brand that is Paul Allen; Paul Allen is the billionaire technologist and philanthropist who started Microsoft with Bill Gates. He is founder and chairman of Vulcan Inc., the company that oversees his business and philanthropic activities. 

Allen started Microsoft with Gates, a childhood friend, in Albuquerque in 1975. He was the company's chief technologist until he left in 1983. 

Since then, Allen has become one of the nation's leading philanthropists and continues the search for knowledge that led to the creation of Microsoft. Allen's multibillion dollar investment portfolio includes a major real estate redevelopment in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood and holdings in dozens of technology, media and other companies. 

He also owns the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League, the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association, and is part of the primary ownership group for the Seattle Sounders FC, the city's Major League Soccer team. 

In 2004 Allen funded SpaceShipOne, the first privately-backed effort to successfully put a civilian in suborbital space, winning him and designer Burt Rutan the Ansari X-Prize. 

His independent film company, Vulcan Productions, has won numerous awards for feature films and documentaries, including the Emmy-award winning Rx for Survival–A Global Health Challenge; and the Peabody award-winning Judgment Day: Intelligent Design. 

With lifetime giving of more than $1 billion, Allen has also pledged to leave a majority of his estate to philanthropy. He gives back to the community through the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, whose goal is to transform individual lives and strengthen communities by supporting arts and culture, youth engagement, community development and social change, and scientific and technological innovation. 

In 2003, the Allen Institute for Brain Science was created with a $100 million commitment from Allen. The Seattle-based Institute is an independent, nonprofit medical research organization dedicated to accelerating our understanding of how the brain works. The Institute takes on projects at the leading edge of science—far-reaching projects at the intersection of biology and technology. The resulting data is available, for free, to researchers worldwide. 

Allen is also founder of Experience Music Project, Seattle's critically-acclaimed interactive music museum; the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame; and the Flying Heritage Collection, an assemblage of rare World War II aircraft restored to flying condition and shared with the public. 

The 7 Signature Signs of Jimmy Savile - An Original Personal Brand

It was sad to see the news earlier this week of the passing of Jimmy Savile, two days short of his 85th birthday, a truly authentic if slightly eccentric personal brand. 

Many years ago my aunt experienced a stroke and was in Stoke Mandeville Hospital in the UK, world renowned for it's work in spinal injuries, but also a hospital supported and visited on a regular basis by Jimmy Savile. We happened to be visiting one weekend when he was 'doing his rounds' as a volunteer porter and experienced first hand his overwhelming generosity, humour and uniqueness.

Apart from his core attributes, he had many ways that he exuded his brand that were signature to him and made him perhaps one of the early authentic celebrity brands.

He was;

1. Known for wearing shell suits and clothes with the very loud colours and patterns - an early CHAV.
2. The "King of Bling' wearing very flashy jewellery and adornments - long before it was hip for rappers.
3. Recalled often for his memorable phrase that was mimicked by every comedian - "Howz about that then?" - an early celebrity tagline.
4. Also known for a yodel that made an almost monkey sound at the end of many introductions on the popular Top of the Pops, TV show accompanied with other catchphrases -  "Now then, now then, now then", "Goodness gracious", "as it happens" (pronounced "as it 'appens") and "Guys and gals". 
5. A keen and regular marathon runner, raising thousands of pounds for charities - long before it was socially expected to be seen being charitable. 
6. Always seen to be chomping on a big fat 'cohiba' stlye cigar - long before the stoggie was a must to be seen with.
7. His life was lived on his terms and although he was certainly a character and showman it never seemed to be contrived or inauthentic - a sadly rapidly disappearing trait in todays 'celebrity circles' and those that want to be in them.

And like any star struck young kids, we also got him to sign his autograph, which again was unique with a happy face in the circle round of his 'J', the 'S' was a dollar sign and the 'L' he made in to the pound sign. 

Thanks Jimmy - RIP. 

 

Apple Bobbing Just 'Ain't What It Used To Be!

Who Wants to be a Superhero When You Can Be an iPhone 4S? 

Apple bobbing is a Halloween game that we still do not indulge in on the 31st, although this year it certainly had some connection. But for someone who comes from the UK, where up until only a few years ago Halloween was not really celebrated, I have gone 'all in' on the theme.

The house and garden regulalry vie for scariest in the neighbourhood and my kids are insistent that I try to make it so scary that other children might be prone to dropping their candy and adding to their own haul! 

The power of brands certainly game in to play this year as far as costumes go! For my 11 year old son, out of the window go Spiderman or Ghosts or Vampires - no the winner this year was the iPhone 4S, complete with Siri app. of course! 

As far as your own brand goes, remember that the brands you associate with and endorse are all a reflection of your personal brand and people will make assumptions based on these almost as much as they will on your skills and strengths. 

So what did your Halloween costume say about your personal brand this year?