Paul Copcutt - Just My Toonies Worth

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. 

Why having an Axl to grind damages your personal brand

This weekend see's the induction of Guns & Roses in to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland - minus Axl Rose. In fact his long running dispute with some of the original band members seems to be continuing to the point where he has asked not to be included in to the induction. With very lawyer type language and a very impersonal letter to "the hall, band fans and Whom it May concern" he said;

"I strongly request that I not be inducted in absentia and please know that no one is authorized nor may anyone be permitted to accept any induction for me or speak on my behalf."

The Sex Pistols were the only previous refusals to induction and that strikes me as very on brand for them!

Certainly Rose has had more than a share of controversy, difficult life situations and outbursts, so perhaps this is just another on brand action. 

But if you were faced with a similar situation in your profession alternative ways to handle this and not damage your personal brand as much might include:

1. A polite declined RSVP to the organizers. This is a highly appreciated and supported award and institution that is also recognising many of your peers not just the group you have a dispute with. Why make the event more about your absence and perceived gripes than their recognition?

2. Remember who got you there. Your own brand fans likely were integral to your being recognised, publicly refuting that support in any way is in the least crass. Create a personal message, perhaps a video in Axl's case would have worked, and post it on your web site clearly explaining your reasons in a more authentic way.

3. Take responsibility. Accept that past actions and reactions have not been looked upon favourably and this is an opportunity to step forward and change the future. Accept the invitation and use it as an opportunity to present a new YOU that everyone, especially yourself can look forward to live with going forward. 

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!

What's Love Gotta Do With It? - Your Personal Brand That Is!

 

Do you love YOU enough?

How often do you take time to reflect on your strengths?

I would quite confidently suggest very little. In my work with leaders and employees in Fortune 500 Companies the most under leveraged part of their personal brands are their core strengths.

Your core strengths are the things that you do so naturally and so well that you perform them almost sub-consciously. When I point out to someone that others have identified a particular strength in them they say

“Oh really, but I do that all the time!” – EXACTLY!

Many people are very poor at spending enough time on their own personal development. It might only be in their annual reviews that they do this. Those experiences are not always very positive ones. 5 minutes spent reviewing what you did well. Then 55 minutes spent on strategies to bring weaknesses up to, at best, an average level of performance.

Some may view this as either a little simplistic or harsh. Truth is that only 42% of  North Americans believe that working mostly on their strengths will mean they are more successful. That drops to an alarming 24% of Japanese and Chinese.

Very often it is difficult for you to articulate your top strengths and how they might be reflected in your career to date. If you can identify those strengths, you are ahead of the game. And you will love yourself more!

You can also take this information and create your examples, or stories, around how you have used that strength in business situations. People love stories. They will be more likely to want to work with you and for you based on these emotional connections.

There are many other assessments and tests that can be taken to understand more about yourself. It is probably best to find one or two that resonate and make sense to you.

Another good personal brand exercise is to conduct a SWOT analysis – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats. In each area ask yourself these questions:

Strengths – what are my strengths, what do I have that is positive, that can help me achieve my goals?

Weaknesses – what are my weaknesses, where am I challenged the most?

Opportunities – if I was able to overcome those weaknesses and utlilise my strengths what will result for me? What is the upside?

Threats – what is the down side if I do not address those challenges?

It’s not just enough to be aware of your strengths. Take the time to discover if you have other hidden talents either through your own analysis or from the feedback of others – ideally both. The foundation of ALL strong brands are built in part on maximising strengths.

 

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. 

Cancer is personal, so it's part of my brand

"You're not alone, in fact this type of cancer is the fastest growing type of oral cancer in men under 55, who do not smoke and are not heavy drinkers"

That word "cancer" immediately causes a heightened level of awareness as well as obvious concern.

Last October after a great summer vacation with my family in Jamaica and what I thought was a viral lump in my neck gland had seemed to go away and come back, I finally went to see my family doctor.

Within 72 hours I had most medical exams and tests you could imagine for this and was told that nothing appeared sinister and that I was being referred to an Ear, Nose, Throat Specialist. After two appointments with him and two inconclusive biopsies, he felt it was better to refer me to a head/neck colleague.

The appointment with this Dr came within 5 days (I figured not a good sign) and just a few days before Christmas last year, he sat down with me and very calmly and with much care said "I'm sorry, but I am 95% certain this is HPV cancer."

The week between Christmas and New Year the results of his biopsy came back and he confirmed that the lump in the lymph node was the secondary site of a head/neck cancer and that I was going to be referred to the Juravinski Cancer Centre in Hamilton for next steps. As you can imagine my mind went in to overdrive - all the negative, worse case scenarios as well as positive and even humorous takes on the whole situation.

The early January meetings with a round robin of Dr's resulted in mixed courses of action; surgery, immediate radiation, etc but the senior Dr wanted to take a little more time to see if the primary source could be located. He won out the day and after a left hand side tonsillectomy it was confirmed the tonsil was the primary source AND that it was HPV (Human Papilloma Virus). Believe it or not I was actually quite excited for a couple of reasons. Having lost my step mother to a cancer where they were never able to find the primary source and therefore treat it effectively, with me this meant we knew what we were dealing with. Secondly through the power of Google I was becoming quite well informed about HPV cancers in men, various treatment approaches, clinical trials - prognosis and success rates were encouragingly high.

After the surgery, a course of radiation and chemo treatments were recommended and at the beginning of March, I embarked on the first of three chemo and the first of 35 consecutive weekday radiation treatments. The treatments are now concluded and I am awaiting further tests to determine levels of treatment success and next steps.

Overall the whole process was probably better than was first laid out to me, side effects and the severe burning (like extreme sunburn outside and inside the whole neck throat area) have quite quickly subsided. Although I need to put back on some weight and muscle tone, my levels of energy are improving daily and I am back to eating almost normally.

But what I have also discovered on this journey so far, are a number of far more impactful things;

1. Most people, that I have come across, who are diagnosed with cancer ask a question of themselves along these lines - "If this was it, am I going to be happy tomorrow doing what I am doing today?" - for me this was probably in part one of the easiest questions to answer because I love what I do - helping people realise the impact of personal branding. I am going to be re-designing my business model in a number of areas over the coming weeks and months and priorities for some things are going to less and for others more (you will be reading more on all this in the blog over the coming months), but personal branding will still be at the centre.

2. You're not alone - everyone you speak to has been touched either directly or indirectly by cancer and have stories and words of encouragement to share. Do not be afraid to reach out and ask for perspective and insight from others.

3. I am very grateful and blessed to be surrounded by a loving and supportive family, fantastic network of friends and colleagues and many more I hardly knew but who have become more to me through this experience.

4. There is always someone who has it way worse than you, it may not make easier to bear, but it puts it all in perspective. You can find much strength from others who face the same challenge, there is a 'club' to which you belong and immediately you have a new set of cheerleaders.

5. Kids especially can help that perspective, we were very upfront from the beginning with our two about the whole situation, not hiding facts or conversations from them. They have been amazing and the card that my daughter gave to me within days of knowing what was happening says it all for me "Be happy and healthy - I will always love you" - I will be reading that in my father of the bride speech in 20 years (or hopefully longer!).

I spent a lot of time considering whether this type of post or topic has a place in a blog that has always had a business bias, but the more I realise what it is I offer, the more it made sense.

In the re-worked words of Larry Winget - "They call it PERSONAL branding for a reason" - cancer is very personal, but its part of my brand - thanks for reading.

When school feels like home

We are so blessed that our children attend what is what I believe is Canada's and fast becoming the finest Montessori program in North America. In working a few years ago with the principal and owner on the brand of the school we took one of his other passions "music" and developed an annual school fundraiser and over the years have had some amazing artists including Sarah Hamer, Kathleen Edwards and Daniel Lanois donate their time and skills.

This year the bar got set just a little higher when 300 of us attended a concert by Chantal Kreviazuk, it was one awesome evening and going to be tough to top, living your passions as part of your brand can be fun.

 

Resolutions Schmezalutions

 
As part of the continuing theme "Review Your Year With No Fear", there is still time to review 2010, just e-mail me paul @ paulcopcutt.com and I will send you the first three lessons. The final lesson comes out in a few days and is more about looking forward to 2011, so I thought that this article, written by colleague Jamie Broughton of Footprint Leadership, was a great lead in to that whole subject.  Make one of your resolutions signing up for his regular newsletter, its one I always read.

"Plans are only good intentions
unless they immediately degenerate
into hard work"
~ Peter F. Drucker (1909-2005)
"The Father of Modern Management"

"CLANG!!" went the piano keys in a loud and forceful way. 
 
"Arrrrgggh!!" bellowed my daughter Sam from the basement.

I looked downstairs to be greeted by a stern look. Her arms were squarely crossed in protest and her brow deeply furrowed in an 'you'll never make me!' look.
 
"I'm SO frustrated. I'm not doing these stupid scales any more. Why do I have to do them?! They are SOOO boring. I want to play Ode to Joy instead!. Arrrrggh, I just wanna quit."

And so we do.
 
Frequently.

Sometimes with just as much fanfare as Sam likes to demonstrate.
 
Enter the oft misunderstood, mistrusted and drunken half-brother of planning: the New Year's resolution.

 
If you haven't yet given up on it, planning for the New Year can be fun.
 
You know, you get a bunch of friends together, serve copious amounts of snacks and refreshments, do a little reflecting/celebrating (let's call it 'the New Year's bash', shall we?) and drunk with love, optimism, champagne or any combination of the above, we proudly declare our resolutions for the coming year.
 
We wake the next day with a furry tongue, bloodshot eyes, and a commitment hang-over, hoarsely wondering, "what the heck did I commit to last night?"

Thirty, sixty, or ninety days later, we're slinking around hoping people have forgotten about a) what a cheap drunk you were and more importantly b) your commitment(s) for the year.

 
Repeat annually.

Alcohol and joking aside, the New Year does ring with optimism, hope and possibility. And it's that sense of possibility that makes pondering 'what I'll do this year' (or planning in general) at least, tempting. 
 
But there it often ends.

Planning is all about opportunities while execution deals with limitations. Planning and strategy is about possibility. Execution is about accountability. Possibility is fun and liberating. Accountability, er, not so much.
 
The problem of course is unexecuted plans, fun and sexy as they are, aren't worth the paper they're written on.

While there are lots of worthwhile aspects of planning you're likely familiar with, here are a few keys that dramatically increase the odds of executing on your plans for 2011 (for real).

Simplicity. For goodness sake, keep it simple.

Consider selecting only one or two CORE objective(s) and having 'optional', if-I-get-to-them, ones. When the inevitable crunch of time, money or energy comes, you need a clear idea of what's most important. "He who chases two rabbits catches none" goes the old Chinese proverb.

Core structure. You need a framework, a foundation.

At the center of any worthwhile project there is the 'heart of activity'; the core stuff that just has to happen and regularly. It's rarely sexy but you know it's critical: call two people a day, no email before noon, write for an hour a day, eat breakfast...do my piano scales first, etc. What's the central activity your core project/goal hang's on? 

Accountability. It's ok, we all need it.

Admit it, you'll take the easier route if you can, you're human. Studies have shown your odds of completing a task almost double if you commit to another (sober) person and set up a time to follow up on your commitment. Who can support you in what you're up to this year? Look for someone who cares about you but won't put up with your excuses. Set up a regular time to connect.
 
Have a wonderful and prosperous New Year!

Jamie Broughton

Jamie Broughton is one of those premier executive coaching types. He is the founder of Footprint Leadership and author of The Emerging Leader: Identify, Ignite and Retain Your Company's Next Generation of Leaders. It's won a pretty big book award and been endorsed by a bunch of cool folks and best-selling authors including Stephen M.R. Covey.  For over a decade, he's specialized in helping organizations get the best stuff from their promising leaders, fast. He's also a cycling fanatic and spends too much money on bikes.

Copyright © 2011 Footprint Leadership
 

Is Your Personal Brand Ready for 2011?

2010 A YEAR OF FEAR?

In my business 2010 has for me been a good year, on par with 2009, which was particularly pleasing as 2009 was my best since starting Square Peg over 7 years ago. But what has been even more fantastic this year has been seeing my wife Keri develop in to a very capable and successful business owner and leader. Last week I was so proud as she entered in to qualification to be a Regional Vice President for Arbonne, a skin care and wellness company - from nothing, just 16 months ago, she will be responsible next year for a sales operation that will likely generate over $1 million.

I would say that a lot of her success has been due to finding what went and worked well for her in the early stages, set some new goals and then really being focused and going for it, it is amazing not just what she has achieved personally but also in helping a number of other women start to realise their own business success. She even got me looking after myself better and using skincare on a regular basis, I have to admit the products work great!

(BY THE WAY - QUICK ADVERTISEMENT! - Stuck for those last minute gift ideas? Check out the Arbonne site by clicking here and then contact Keri directly (keri@kericopcutt.com) quoting Square Peg and she will give you 35% off your order or she can tell you about the other great offers she has).

So how has your 2010 stacked up, is it a year that you can celebrate about, like Keri, or is it a year you would rather see the back of? Either way you need to take the time to wrap up the year and then be ready to embrace 2011.

2011 YOUR BEST YEAR EVER

I firmly believe that 2011 is going to be a year full of fantastic opportunities for those who are ready and open to being the best personal brands they can be. In fact I am so excited that I am going to be running a very special program starting just before the holiday break that will help you identify the good things about 2010 that can set you up for a fantastic 2011.

The "Review Your Year with No Fear" program is going to delivered virtually via e-mail and blog FREE! as my gift to you - no charge, no hidden extras, no small print, yours to take advantage of and also pass on to anyone else you feel might benefit.

There is going to be a optional 3 month follow up coaching program starting on January 1st 2011 "Get Your Year into Action", open to a limited number of people, which will take the work you do with the earlier program and set some objectives, goals and actions to make 2011 your best year ever.

Details of both programs will be coming out shortly, to be on that announcement send an e-mail with "Best Year Ever" in the subject line to office@squarepegsolution.com

 What kind of year do you see 2011 shaping up to be? Take a moment to add your toonies worth below.

 

 

Stop Callin', Stop Callin' , I don't want to think anymore

According to AshleyMadison.com, the discreet dating service, Blackberry users are bigger cheats than iPhone owners in Canada. A recent survey found that Blackberry smartphones were logging in to the website as much as three times more.

This might be due to the demogpraphic of the owner or that the 'sinful' user likes the increased safety of the Blackberry encrypted service.

Although the use of such a service is certainly also a reflection of someone's personal brand it is not likely to be one that they would broadcast!

There is the saying "Blackberry for dough, iPhone for show", but both companies are working hard at attracting the opposite of this too. However, your choice of smartphone and even it's ringtone can be clear communication of your brand and you need to ensure like many other visual and tangible signs that these are on brand for you.

Which one do you use and do you have a distinct ringtone that is on brand for you?