Paul Copcutt - Just My Toonies Worth

What's your next job in the tech sector?

In some areas of products and services the technology sector is booming, in others it is going.....going....gone - FAST.

I have attended a couple of local events recently that highlighted a very innovative and growing tech hub in the Hamilton area - there is a new smartphone app from Snap Pay for example that enables anyone to take credit card payments in seconds . One presentation from Pipeline Studios (a highly successful cartoon house) informed us of one of the best kept secrets, that Canada is the largest producer of digital content for TV in the world!

This is all great news. Unfortunately this past week we have also seen the bad news associated with tech companies that were not able to keep up, were too big (or too slow) or just missed the opportunity and catch up was the worst game to play. This past week we saw thousands expected to be let go at RIM and HP announcing 27,000 lay offs.

Three things that you can learn from this for your career, regardless of the industry.

1. Never settle for what you have. You cannot afford to stay where you are in terms of skills and strengths. You have to be continually looking to add to your portfolio of experience and knowledge. What is in demand today is tomorrows forgotten role.
2. Remain flexible and open to new ways of doing things. The next best thing (or person) is just around the corner. They have figured out how to do things faster, smarter etc. They may not always be right, but when they are be ready to make a switch in the way you do things to stay ahead.
3. Cut bait and run. Sometimes you have tried everything you know and more and it is just evident you have either missed the boat or run out of steam. Know when its time to quit. Not from just a quitting point but so that your energy and resources can be directed to another area that makes more sense and is a better use of your time.

Now go make today a brand YOU day.

The Risks of Climbing to the Top

When you set out to go mountain climbing, as in business, there are a number of factors that increase your chances of success, but if not can cause a fall. 

• Knowledge - past experience, having all the right equipment packed, planning your route, practicing the more difficult traverses ahead of time. 
• Teamwork - having the right team with you, knowing everyones strengths (and weaknesses), understanding you do not have all the answers. 
• Realism - not living in the clouds thinking whatever happens that it's all going to be great. Having dreams yes, but ensuring your feet are set firmly in reality so that you make clear headed decisions. 

This past weekend's deaths of four climbers on Mount Everest, highlight the continual human drive to achieve the ultimate pinnacle. People with the drive to fulfil lifelong dreams and goals, willing to pay the ultimate price. Without knowing all the details and what they faced you do wonder if they stuck to those three principles. 

Recently we have seen some examples of this where senior business leaders have not and it has proved or may prove to be their undoing. 

Scott Thomson, the former CEO of Yahoo, fired for lying on his resume. He appeared to be a highly qualified leader. His knowledge seemed to be a good fit for the difficult task of turning Yahoo around. But when your experience is brought in to question peoples confidence fast disappears and they start to question other decisions you make. 

Irvin Goldman is the Chief Investment Officer at JP Morgan who had been fired for 'gamble' losses by another firm a few years ago and JP Morgan were aware of this. Now the firm faces at least $2 billion (or much more) in losses due to risky trades by one of Goldman's London trading team. 

Gene Morphis was the CFO of publicly quoted fashion company Francesca Holdings. His role as the main financial voice for the company meant he had access to the most sensitive of information. His regular complaints about his work and bosses expectations through tweets on Twitter and updates on Facebook were at best unwise. His perceived lack of reality cost him his job.

Each of these individuals leadership has certainly been questionable and damaging to their company's and themselves.

There is a deeper indication of poor leadership from their own leaders too though. The board at Yahoo knew of this resume error earlier, Jamie Dimon CEO at JP Morgan bank was an outspoken critic of government attempts to reign in bank trading and Francesca Holdings knew of these social media outbursts long ago but set no formal company policy. 

You must be aware of how your personal brand leadership is being perceived. It's not a case of do what I say but don't do what I do. Leadership has a big responsibility attached to it, and when you compromise that in any way the results can affect many more people than just you. 

There was a good article in the Washington Post on this Learn to Manage Your Personal Leadership Image

What is holding you back from your personal brand?

Through my wife's business I have had the opportunity to be connected to Keith Kochner at Mentorfish.com for the last few months and have found his teaching exactly what we need in the 21st century. Lots of great content, he is prolific with new insights and learnings - even for someone like me who tends to explore and read a lot! 

Keith is coming to Toronto next week to hold a live evening event so you can get a full experience of what he has to offer. Cost is just covering running costs of the event, but I know you will get way more value - hope to see you there. 

Personal Brand Book Review - One Piece of Paper

One Piece of Paper – The simple approach to powerful, personal leadership.

© 2011 by Mike Figliuolo, 237 pages, Hardback

5R Score: 30/35

The Leadership Maxims Approach

1. Leading Yourself
2. Leading the Thinking
3. Leading Your People
4. Leading a Balanced Life
5. Making it Real

On a scale of 1-7   

Relevance - is it right for personal branding? - 6

Resonance - does it make sense to the reader? - 6

Relation - is there a connection for everyone? - 6  

Remarkability - does it stand out, will it get noticed? - 6

Real - does the personal brand come through? - 6

Would you pick it up?

This book is one of the early runners for me as my book of the year for 2012 and carries one of my highest ever ratings. It’s both that good and I believe a must for anyone looking to do work and define more clearly their personal leadership brand.

I actually chanced on picking it up, the sub-title ‘personal leadership’ was what had caught my eye as this is a hot topic at the moment in terms of requests for my speaking services from Fortune 500 companies. I am glad I did pick it up. Once I had I could not put it down or stop recommending to anyone prepared to listen!

Relevance

This book is all about your personal leadership, which ultimately is your leadership brand. The author does not make any direct reference to personal branding, but the book is liberally sprinkled with many of the approaches, exercises and discussions personal brand strategists have with leadership clients.

Certainly going forward for any client wanting to communicate their leadership brand to their team etc., I am going to be adding this to the ‘must read and implement’ list.

Resonance

For those not familiar with the personal branding term or approach they do not have to worry. This book and the approaches that are recommended are intuitively evident. In fact it is likely that a lot of your leadership maxims are already in place, it is more of a case of being consciously aware of them

Once you have your maxims then sharing those with others becomes the easy part and communication flows after that. It really is a simple but highly effective approach.

Relation

Regardless of it you are in a people management position or not you can still be a leader. So that makes this book even more useful and relevant. You do not have to wait for that role that actually has people reporting to you to define now what your leadership style is and will be.

This book might be especially useful for those aspiring to be leaders but feel it is a few years away. With your maxims defined you can be ahead of the game and even start to be trying them out in less risky environments away from work in volunteering for example.

Also for the many of you who are in solopreneur type roles the one piece of paper could prove in=valuable in helping you get clear on your thought leadership and ensuring you stay true to it regularly.

Remarkability

I really loved the simplicity of the book and approach. Like an over blown business plan your leadership does not have to be described in impersonal, lengthy and ultimately boring documents that end up on the shelf and never used.

The one piece of paper concept makes it easy to share, post, reach for and refer to all the time. You could even reduce it down in size and make a pocket version of it if you like. I love the simplicity and quick ease of use and relevance.

Real

Mike shares his own leadership mantras at the end of the book. Also throughout the book he gives many personal and client examples to make the points and share the value in the approach

But as he points out there are not like the 10 commandments, they are not set in stone forever. They can and will change depending on many factors. That for me really makes this book realistic and the process workable and actionable.

 

 

It's time to play the music, its time to hit the lights - its time to stand by your personal brand

The very public resignation by Greg Smith from Goldman Sachs last week using an op-ed piece in the NewYork Times is not a recommended tactic for your career!

Certainly not at the top of your personal brand communications plan!

However, what he did was good personal branding. One of the very first exercises that I get clients to undertake and a core part of the personal brand building foundation is the Values exercise.

I describe Values as being your moral compass. The things that we stand by in all situations, or if they are being compromised either by ourselves or someone else it makes us angry or upset. You only have to see Greg Smith's outburst to understand that on some level his personal values were being effected by working at Goldman Sachs.

Now in reading the 'backlash' from his very public outburst there may be other underlying reasons for his departure. But none the less he finally reached a point where all the benefits of working there could not outweigh how he truly felt.

Was he wise to do it so publicly is a whole different conversation. It may well come back to bite him. But I wager there will be a company out there who will hire him because of what he said, it just my not be in investment banking!

Personal Brand Book Review - 18 Minutes

18 Minutes – Find Your focus, Master Distraction and Get the Right Things Done

© 2011 by Peter Bregman, 263 pages, Hardback

5R Score: 28/35

The 18 Minutes  

Part One – Pause

Part Two – What is This Year About?

Part Three – What is This Day About?

Part Four – What is This Moment About?

 

On a scale of 1-7   

Relevance - is it right for personal branding? - 6

Resonance does it make sense to the reader? - 6

Relation is there a connection for everyone? - 6  

Remarkability - does it stand out, will it get noticed? - 5

Real - does the personal brand come through? - 5

Would you pick it up? 

For me there is always one book each year that has the most impact on the way that I think, act or say. At the end of last year this was the one. People regularly identify a strength in me, organizing and I have been consistent in a related area to this – making some kind of daily planning system work for me – NOT!   

There are far too many books out there that espouse the very latest ways, ideas and ‘simple’ systems to implement and make your life easier. I have tried many of them and found that most of them require a Phd to understand or operate and ultimately get frustrating and unworkable. 

 
What I like about ’18 Minutes; is that it boils things down to the core basics of what is most important to you and ‘forget’ the rest. 
As you slip out of all the good intentions you had at the start of the year, this book can get you back on track fast. 

Relevance

Perhaps not immediately evident that this is a book about your personal brand. But once you have clearly identified what your personal brand is and who needs to know about it, then you have to get on with living and communicating that brand. The challenge is remaining focused and not getting distracted. This book and its easy to follow 18 Minutes a day looking at the 5 most important areas of focus for the year make staying on brand much more effective. It also means at the end of the year you are going to be much further forward.

Resonance

I found the 18 Minute approach quick to grasp, easy to initially implement and in most cases stick to regularly (a failing in many of the more complicated systems – one I have followed has almost 20 pages to act on - weekly!).

For me though the most compelling part of the whole system is that when I have not followed it for a day or I find my day got away from me, I can check back in and identify right away where I was falling down AND find a quick solution to getting back on track.

Relation

In today’s world of multiple demands on seemingly less and less time we can all relate to the desire to want to not just get back control of our lives and simplify them too. But deep down we also want to know we are making a difference (whatever we define that to be), 18 Minutes gives us the approach to focus just on what is most important.

Remarkability

Because the approach is so simple there is a danger that people do not see this as remarkable. That would be a shame. We do not have to complicate or over think things to have them make us more effective or successful.

Just the simple suggestion of setting a one hour alarm to do focused and concentrated work has made a huge difference to my productivity. This book review and one other article were effectively completed in one of those 60 minute bursts.

Real

The author is constantly using personal and real life work and client examples to get his points across. His blog posts do the same. The book is broken down in to very bite size 2-4 page chapters that get one key point across. This makes for easy reference and pick up again stickiness. But once ingrained it’s certainly one to keep on the bookshelf. 

 

 

Step out of your personal brand comfort zone

While waiting for his owner to return from some local shopping, Bernard here knows where his boundaries are and he is not going to stray at all. If he were to jump out of the back of the truck he would certainly be placing himself in danger. 

Unfortunately, at work, this is something we are all a little guilty of. Perhaps on occasion, assuming it's not going to be life threatening, we need to take a risk or two and leap out of our comfort zone - or maybe just a gentle step will do. 

Three things to step out of your personal brand comfort zone at work;

1. Bring a little more of your personality to work. Choose something from home that you are passionate about or that means a lot to you and add it to your desk, cubicle or office space.  Perhaps a favourite picture, photo or desk ornament. 

2. Consider adding a piece of jewellery or favourite coloured accessory and making it a regular part of your wardrobe. It does not all have to be navy and black. 

3. Identify a skill or strength that you are well known for, that you have a reputation for delivering on consistently and mention it in your outgoing voicemail message. If you pride yourself on returning calls promptly, say so in your voicemail. BUT if you are not good at getting back to people do not date your voicemail either! 

Just my toonies worth - make today a brand you day. 

 

100 Toonies Worth

With consistency and progression comes change. As you spend more time consistently delivering on what you say your brand is and find your career progressing in the right direction, you are going to reach a point where new challenges and opportunities arise. New skills are developed and new ways to communicate your uniqueness present themselves. 

This week see's the 100th edition of the Tuesday Toonie weekly e-tip, which I feel is quite a milestone. Thank you for reading, commenting and recommending to others for the last 2 years. 

It is also a great time to announce some small changes to the format and delivery of this weekly resource. When we started the Tuesday Toonie the rise of Facebook and Twitter was really starting to gain traction and people subscribing to news and blog feeds was rising. Now this weekly Tuesday Toonie is only being read 10-20% of the time by people via the e-zine delivery method - the rest of the time you are reading it or getting to it via social media or directly at the blog. 

This does not make the content any less valuable but with our inundated in boxes and busy lives it does beg the question about sending it out in full format in an e-zine rather than a quick mailing, linking to the blog for the full content. So going forward the Tuesday Toonie is going to be a 21 second or less read. Enough for you to maybe stop and think for a moment about your career and if you want to understand more then go to the blog to get more on that weeks topic.  

We will be continuing with the monthly Inukshuk e-zine that delves deeper in to the subject of career management and personal leadership branding and provide in there links to all the previous months weekly Tuesday Toonies for anyone you might have missed. We also continue to blog and post other very latest links and resources via social media - especially our Facebook page and my LinkedIn updates, or you may just prefer to be made aware of the Tuesday Toonie via one of these methods - so if you have not done so please connect with us at;

www.facebook.com/personalbrand and http://ca.linkedin.com/in/paulcopcutt 

Thank you again for reading and we look forward to continuing to serve you. 

Personal Brand Book Review - Standout

StandOut – The groundbreaking new strengths assessment.

© 2011 by One Thing Productions Inc, 227 pages, Paperback

5R Score: 25/35

The Three Strengths Principles

1. Your Genius is Precise
2. You Can’t Respect What You Don’t Remember
3. You Must Reach Beyond Your Roles

On a scale of 1-7   

Relevance - is it right for personal branding? - 7

Resonance does it make sense to the reader? - 6

Relation is there a connection for everyone? - 5   

Remarkability - does it stand out, will it get noticed? - 5

Real - does the personal brand come through? - 2

Would you pick it up?

Since getting involved in the whole personal branding area, one of the core pieces of work that I use and refer to on a regular basis has been “Now Discover Your Strengths” by Buckingham and Clifton and other updated versions of the work.  That is until now.

I have always enjoyed the work of Marcus Buckingam and he has been personally branded as the “Leader of the Strengths Revolution”. He is a joy to watch and listen to as a speaker (I would kill for a fraction of his speaker fees!). But what I really like is his continued efforts to make understanding your unique strengths, simple. With this book he has taken it all a stage further.

Now you just need to know your top two strengths, (mine were Equalizer and Influencer) and there are only 9 strengths in total, so it’s also easier to understand others as well.

Relevance

One of the core foundation pieces of personal branding is to understand your strengths. If you cannot immediately identify what those are then you need to invest in a book like ‘StandOut’. Each book comes with a unique code to take an online assessment and Buckingham has obviously spent a lot of time and resources in getting this working optimally set to give best results.

Resonance

Strengths are just one part of your personal branding puzzle, but a key one, so not underestimate the need to do this. The book is mostly made up of chapter explanations of each of the 9 strengths, so on first read you might skip a lot. But if you go further with this, start to know others strengths it’s the type of book that should almost be on your desk versus a bookshelf.

What is really excellent about this book is that it helps you understand how you can maximise your strength in various situations;

-      You are at your most powerful

-      How to describe yourself (in interviews and performance reviews)

-      How to make an immediate impact

-      How to take your performance to the next level

-      What to watch out for.

-      How to win as a leader.

-      How to win as a manager.

-      How to win in sales.

-      How to win in client services.

There is also a team strengths version which is very neat.

Relation

I firmly believe that if you are going to live any type of life you love then understanding and playing to your strengths is key, so this book and its approach and principles applies to anyone at any level.  In fact it is a good leveler – it does not matter where you are, strengths are strengths.

Remarkability

In much of my work with personal brands I would say the most underplayed element of most peoples personal brands are their strengths. It is what you do naturally and so well that it’s almost a sub-conscious action. Many people might look at this work and think it rudimentary, but I will bet most of them are not leveraging their strengths anywhere at the level they could be, so there are many lessons from this.

Real

Marcus Buckingham has one of the most amazing strengths based stories about his personal brand, but apart from a few anecdotal personal pieces you are going to have to go somewhere else to find that one out. As most of the book is specific to understanding the strengths you would hope there were more examples, but it lacks that level and is the most disappointing part of the book.

Having said that this is a must for all my future personal branding work.   

 

 

Is your career facing a Kodak moment?

No doubt the business school case studies in years to come about the sad demise of Kodak and it's brand will raise many questions about the effectiveness of it's leaders. 

The filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy by Kodak this week has many lessons for all businesses, but what can you learn from this and be sure that you are not facing the same in your career?

1. Don't underestimate the impact your ideas have. 

It was the mid-70's when Kodak actually developed for the first digital camera. Can you imagine how far ahead they may have been in the market place and for how long had they moved on this revolutionary idea. 

Personal Brand Lesson - just because your industry or vocation has done it the same way for a long time and everyone is comfortable with that way does not mean an idea out of left field is not a better one. Be willing to challenge the status quo. 

2. Don't be complacent or greedy. 

Kodak leaders decided to shelve the digital camera because they felt it was going to do too much damage to their highly lucrative and profitable film business. 

Personal Brand Lesson - it makes sense to maximise your value with the core strengths you have. But know that you need to continually develop yourself and add new skills. Demands and markets change, so your brand has to evolve over time. Anticipate demands and start adding to your skill set now. 

3. Be Prepared to Re-brand

The plan for Kodak is to sell it's $2 billion worth of patents and emerge as a more agile company in the printer business. They see revenue and profit in ink (HP generates $9 billion a year in ink cartridges). But does the tagline of the "Kodak Moment" still apply? Likely not, as they become less and less synonymous with photos a re-brand of the company would almost seem inevitable. 

Personal Brand Lesson - the experts tell us that the workforce of the future might well be in many different vocation, not just jobs, in their lifetime. The foundation and core of your brand might remain the same, but sometimes the message and your target audience will change and a re-branding is necessary. 

How do you see business the lessons from the likes of RIM and Kodak apply to your career and personal brand?