Jack Canfield: The Success Principles: How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be
David Allen: Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
Daniel Pink: A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age
Seth Godin: All Marketers Are Liars : The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World
Keith Ferrazzi: Never Eat Alone : And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time
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I was mentioned yesterday in the Globe & Mail by Sean O'Donovan, he is writing a weekly column on his executive job search and I have been helping him out with getting a web presence and also taking the 360 Reach personal branding assessment.
Here is a link to the article. Here is what Sean said about the 360 tool
"I would recommend completing a 360-degree profile to anyone, unemployed or not. The feedback you get is incredibly valuable."
Meet Amber MacArthur (or her blog name Amber Mac), she was the lunchtime keynote at the TECH 2006 conference yesterday.
She was a perfect second speaker for the event, young, confident, dynamic and extremely passionate about technology and her career in IT. She is the example of where careers are heading in the 21st century having already had a number of different experiences in a variety of roles - all linked and related in someway - but very much following or going with the flow of opportunity and excitment of the project versus and more conservative planned career approach.
Not to say that her career is not progressing having just recently started as the New Media Specialist for CITY TV and CP24 in Toronto.
Her list of five - how to get the career and life you want - was simple, clear and bang on for the audience.
Great advice.
Today I was priviledged to have had the opportunity to meet Dr Roberta Bondar - Canada's first woman in space, before she gave the opening keynote address to the TECH 2006 conference organised by the Hamilton Training Advisory Board of which I am currently a Director.
One of our table asked her what it was like to take off from earth - she described it as what it must be like to be on the top of a Roman Candle and also she had a whole new appreciation for the being in a tin can!
What I liked about her message to the several hundred female high school students was that anything was possible. She said;
"Regardless of your age you have to think of yourself as pioneers" and what she realised quite early on is "I know some of my basic skills are my greatest strengths"
She really did a great job of relating to the audience and helping them to understand that even the perceived technical aspects of the job as an astronaut and the 'glamour' of being in space her 8 and a half day trip still boiled down to not being able to have a shower and spending that time in an outhouse with 6 men!
This past week saw my starting another group of soon to be Reach Personal Brand Strategists and saying congratulations to another group just finishing the certification program.
This graduating group have been located all the way from the west coast of the US to South Africa and points in between and they will be a great addition to my Reach strategist colleagues who are now getting close to 100 globally.
As I wrap up another program I am able to reflect on more learnings from another great group of professionals who will all be using the approach differently in their businesses and also I look forward to seeing how they develop and grow in the coming months and years.
Whenever I travel I always take the opportunity to see if I can connect with people in my network, or look to meet with others that potentially can become part of my network. Ferrazzi talks about this in his book Never Eat Alone and its a habit that is very worth forming.
This trip to Montreal has been no exception as I have been able to connect with one colleague and two new potential connections.
I met with Danielle Silverman, a fellow personal brand strategist and we were able to catch up on each others businesses and developments.
We then both met with a great lady Joanne Duchastel of JED New Media, a company that is really carving a place ofr itself in the elearning space and creating a library of every topic you can think of through its JEDlets.
And then I was able to meet Mitch Joel of Twist Image, a rapidly growing digital marketing agency, at a really funky cafe in one of the neatest office spaces I have seen for a long time. Mitch has been speaking on the topic of personal branding and I always find its great to meet with like minded people and see where that leads.
Take a moment next time you are going on a trip to see who you might want to connect with - you'll be glad you did.
Today I am off to Montreal to deliver another personal branding workshop for a corporate client and can't wait to experience the shift that I see when people get it.
Also have taken the opportunity to conect with a fellow personal brand strategist based in Montreal as well as connect with a couple of people who I have been meaning to contact and the trip is a great excuse.
Just had a great weekend celebrating my wifes birthday, family time, dinner with good friends and today our son has a PD day so she can spend some extra one on one time with him - which makes it extra special for the both of them.
He came up to her first thing this morning and said -
"Happy 24th Mummy! -ooops I mean sorry, I got the numbers round the wrong way!"
I think she preffered the first ones!
After running a personal branding workshop for a corporate client yesterday, I am still excitied by the possibilities that we came out of the day with - and I trust the client is too.
The feedback from the participants was positive and I will be following up with each of them in a few weeks to see if they have implemented the personal branding actions that they said they would - you know how it is when you get back to the office all the other stuff takes over!
Some people question the wisdom of allowing your employees to brand themselves - just take a look at Starbucks or Westjet to see the positive effects you can have on employee engagement and retention by letting indivduals be themselves with in the corporate brand - its powerful stuff!
Today saw me start to facilitate another Certified Personal Brand Strategist Program on behalf of William Arruda at Reach and in 3 months time we will have another 10 great people all the way from Seattle to Mauritius working on personal branding with clients and employees.
By early 2007 we will have over 100 certified strategotst dotted about the globe - it makes for a great community and helps get the message of personal branding out there.
As you go about your weekend - in exactly 24 hours time, take a moment and ideally two minutes at 11 am to remember and respect those that gave.
And if you have to explain to anyone why - send them to Terry Kelly's video and song - they'll get it then.
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