Mind Your Knowledge Gap: Why Social Media is Essential to Your Career

March 13, 2009 By 10 Comments

This is a wake-up call to my mid to late 30 to 40 something (and older) contemporaries.  It’s time to figure out what all the noise is about social media and how to leverage it for yourself, your career and your organization.

It’s not going away.  It may change and morph, but there’s a whole new world of conversations and interactions going on and if you are not plugged in, you are tuned out and wandering aimlessly.

Do You Tweet?

If I had $100 for every conversation that included something like (with a tone of disdain), “Twitter sounds ridiculous.  Why do I want to know that someone is taking a shower or what they ate for breakfast,” I would be well on my way to recovering a few losses in my 401K. 

I’m two months new to Twitter and amazed at the quality of the conversations and the number of great professionals that I’ve met.  I’m also flabbergasted to think about the conversations, resources and talented professionals that I was missing out on prior to joining. 

Are You LinkedIn?

Or another exchange that I had with a brilliant and talented and dear friend the other day, “I only signed up for LinkedIn because I was looking for someone.  I hope this isn’t a mistake.” 

Sigh. Instead of a mistake, in the right hands, this is a remarkably powerful research tool and the most efficient way to-date to connect with and maintain a dialogue with former and current colleagues.  The only mistake is not to take advantage of it.

Thought About Marketing Lately?

I chat with many experienced marketing professionals that still view their jobs and their profession through the eyes of individuals that grew up and never left the teaching and prevailing wisdom of the 80’s. 

Meanwhile, Seth Godin (Tribes) and Guy Kawaskai (Reality Check) and David Meerman Scott (World Wide Rave) and others are serving up powerful arguments that the processes of reaching people, building visibility, building brands and establishing credibility are all different.   

The Younger Generation, Blogging and On-Line Learning:

As the MySpace/Facebook generation asserts itself in the workforce (see my post: In Hopeful Praise of the Millennials), the relevance of old approaches of working, leading and promoting will fade into history. 

In my own case, a mere two years ago, I wasn’t certain about blogging and the prospective value from the time it would take in my daily schedule.  Now, I’m a raving advocate for the medium as a means of establishing a dialogue with sharp people and for building your brand. The time commitment is down to less than one hour several times per week.  I’m also curious about what’s next.

I am an education junkie (and passionate about great universities and great educators) and love the chance to bring a heavy dose of pragmatism into my MBA classrooms.  I  was slightly cynical about the potential of on-line education and wondered what all of the noise was about. In following the old adage, “if you want to learn something, sign up to teach it,” I did.  Three times. 

Once you rethink and acclimate to the communication dynamics, the potential to integrate on-line and live education is remarkable.  In my hybrid class (one week face to face the next on-line) in Project Management this past winter, the on-line portion provided the ability to research and share perspectives much broader and deeper than any I’ve ever witnessed in a straight classroom setting.

The Bottom-Line For Now:

I’ll be back on this topic sometime soon. 

My advice to you or for your doubting colleagues is to show them the networking and research power of social media.  Highlight examples of brand-building and thought leadership development that cost nothing but time.  Showcase the savings from eliminating many interruption-marketing techniques in favor of the new approaches.  Invite them to Twitter and show them how to filter out the noise and focus on connecting with the many, many sharp people.

There are no silver bullets in life or business, but there are sure-fire ways to fail.  One of the best is to start acting like some of our parents and avoid what we don’t understand.  

Hey, by the way, join me on Twitter or connect with me on LinkedIn.  The conversations are great. 

Now, if I could just figure out what all of the fuss is about Facebook.  I just don’t get it…

Filed Under: "To Do" List, Career, Crisis Leadership, Marketing, Marketing Yourself, Professional Growth Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Seven Survival Tips for the Newly Independent

February 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I suspect that we are all engaging with former colleagues, friends and family members that have recently been furloughed from the corporate world. 

A few that I have spoken with are struggling to adapt to the new reality and are finding themselves floundering as they struggle to replace the comfortable routine of getting up and going somewhere with wandering around the house wondering what to do and where to start.  

Here are some ideas that I’ve either learned myself over time or have gained from others that have mastered the art of working alone and managing themselves without the services and security of a mother ship.  I would love to hear your suggestions as well

7 Suggestions to Survive and Prosper in your Period of Corporate Independence:

1. Define your new work, establish goals and create and work your plan. 

If you are looking for a job, that is your full time job.  Set goals for yourself. Create plans to achieve the goals and dive into your new work.  A number of people I know like to establish daily targets for networking and prospecting activities.

If your new work is reinventing yourself or pursuing a venture other than a job, it may be a bit harder to set goals…but you need to identify the priority activities that will move you towards your objective and focus on those activities.  Exploration, networking, research, plan development, vetting, more networking and so on. 

2. Create a new routine.

Allow yourself to enjoy the break from fighting traffic every morning, but don’t lounge away your time reading the paper.  I like to hit my home office with cup of coffee in hand by 5:30 a.m.  I allocate 45 minutes to write a post and then I’m off to the races on my priority tasks. (Note: not all of the neurons are firing this early, which explains my occasional typos and editing lapses!)  Breakfast consists of a run for another cup of coffee, enough time as it takes me to assemble a bowl of oatmeal, add milk and raisins, heat it in the microwave and return to my desk.  Elapsed time: about 3 minutes.

Depending upon what I’m working on, I’ve identified optimal times for networking calls and prospecting as well as time for content creation/preparation for the next engagement etc.  It took some experimenting, but there are better times to catch people than others, as any salesperson will tell you.

 3. Give yourself a routine break and work off stress.

Some new independents have a severe guilt complex if they vary the routine off of work.  If that ‘s you, get over it.  There’s nothing more energizing for me than the mid-day workout at the health club.  As long as I’m comfortable that I am not missing prime networking opportunities, an investment in one hour at the club returns huge dividends in the form of stress relief and energizing you for the next part of your day. Oh, you can turn this into a networking opportunity.  Unplug the headphones from your ears and say hello to the person next to you on the treadmill.  It might just be the CEO of the company down the street that is looking for someone like you.

 4. Learn to leverage the new technologies but don’t become consumed.

I’m a huge fan of the power of social networking technologies and am active on LinkedIn and Twitter.  I do however set strict time limits on my use of these services.  I allocate 15 minutes per weekday.  Otherwise, it would be possible to get lost in an on-line existence. 

I’m still under 1-month new to Twitter, but I’ve met a number of great professionals who are now part of my extended network. A few benefits thus far: I’ve conducted and have scheduled numerous phone calls with prospective clients or partners that I met on Twitter.  I’ve been invited to be interviewed for a podcast aimed right at my target market, and I’m talking with other successful bloggers about exchanging guest posts.  My blog traffic is up considerably thanks to the Twitter referrals and the free access to new prospective readers. Plus, I’ve reconnected with former associates in a way that a simple phone call would never allow.  We are interacting daily…140 characters at a time. There’s something to it, and you need to approach it with clear objectives in mind. 

Also, as an fyi, that was a long commercial for Twitter.  LinkedIn offers some remarkably powerful professional networking tools.  You should learn how to leverage this great service. It may be one of your best friends in a job search.

5. Invest in yourself.

I don’t care what you do, but do something that shows that you are concerned about your own personal/professional development.  Take a class, read books, start a blog and immerse yourself in a topic to feed the creation of posts.  Start your MBA or explore courses that fit with your business or career aspirations.  Do something productive with your brain or it will atrophy or worse yet, it will allow negative thoughts to take root and grow like wildfire. 

6. Help others. 

Strive to give way more than you are asking for.  Help others with their networking activities.  Help at school, at church or check to see if your county has a Volunteer Center.  I am now on the board of my county’s Volunteer Center and excited to be helping this organization recast its vision and strategy.  

7. Stay positive, celebrate your victories and your progress.   

Don’t preoccupy on the defeats and rejections.  Again, every great salesperson knows this style of thinking.  They have to stay positive or the rejection would push them over the edge.

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There are many, many more ideas.  Feel free to share your own in the comments. 

My bottom-line for now is: keep moving, keep thinking, keep planning, follow-up and keep improving. 

 

Filed Under: "To Do" List, Career, Professional Growth Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Feeling the Economic Deep Freeze? Ten Actions that You Can Take to Thaw Out and Combat Your Blues

January 15, 2009 By 2 Comments

The thermometer here in Chicago this morning indicates that it is -12 degrees outside.  Fahrenheit.  That’s cold.  We get a deep freeze like this every winter, and it gives the local newscasters something to blather about for the few days that the world here looks like a scene from the movie, Dr. Zhivago.

As the economy continues to crumble around us, one of the common themes that I am hearing from people at all levels and in all forms of positions and professions is that they “don’t know what to do.”  Much like the weather outside, people are frozen in place.  Fear will do that, and it’s definitely not healthy.

The best way that I know to combat fear and unfreeze your mind from the “what might happen” or “what just happened” mentality is to start moving by taking action. Actions generate energy, push out the negative emotions and provide hope.

Here’s my randomly generated and in no specific order list of 10 ideas for anyone seeking to thaw-out and start moving forward in spite of the sub-zero headwinds.  This list is good for anyone…employed or unemployed.  I’ll be back in a future post on things to do in the workplace while the rest of your colleagues are frozen in fear.

1.  Don’t Preoccupy on the News-it’s mostly bad. It’s amazing how traumatizing it can be to have the “nattering nabobs of negativity” (thanks, Spiro Agnew) blathering on incessantly about how bad things are and how much worse they might be in the coming months.  Turn it off.

2.  Update your professional resume/cv

This seemingly onerous task feels great once you get going.  For many, the resume is a core marketing tool, and the intellectual effort of thinking through where/how you created value for your organizations serves to remind you that you do have something good to offer prospective employers.

Get help with this task if you need it.  Ask colleagues and former managers to review a draft and provide you with ideas and feedback.  Use my recent posts: Marketing Yourself, The Irreverent Opinions of a Resume Hobbyist and Marketing Yourself Part II: Defining Your Professional Value Proposition to jump-start your process.

3.  Jump-start your networking activities.

For business professionals, LinkedIn is a great tool to facilitate this task.  Creating your LinkedIn profile is a natural part of the resume update process, and developing your list of former and current colleagues will help you recognize how many people you know.  Not everyone is on LinkedIn however, so don’t restrict your communication activities to just those that you find in this environment.  (For those of you out there that would like to connect, click here to go to my profile and send me a note with your invite.  If you are new to this tool, I will be happy to offer my two cents worth on using it effectively.)

Remember that networking works best if you give more than you get, so carry this philosophy forward by helping others connect with colleagues in your network that might offer help. Start reaching out and connecting with people.  Most actually appreciate the contact.

4.  Read or listen to something by Seth Godin.  Seth is a popular marketing author and guru, and every time I read or listen to Seth, he reminds me that many of our most ingrained patterns of thinking are just plain obsolete.  Spend some time with Seth and stretch your brain a bit.

A great starting place is the recent podcast: Seth Godin Thinks You’re Boring, that Seth conducted with another of my favorite and provocative gurus, John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing. Seth and John help you make sense out of some powerful new approaches to thinking about the world, about marketing yourself and about competing in this environment.  He’s got a new book out: Tribes, We Need You to Lead Us, and I expect to finish it this weekend.

5.  Do something physical.  Hit the gym, chop some wood, clean the basement, paint a room, or do anything else that gets you moving. (Yep, that too.)  You will feel better.

6.  After doing something physical, start a blog. I’ll agree with Seth here.  I don’t care if there are 190 million blogs worldwide.  The act of setting up a blog and the discipline imposed by writing and publishing regularly will change you for the better.  Drop me a note if you want some ideas on getting started.

7.  Figure out how to leverage Twitter for business purposes and send me a note. OK, this one is a bit self-serving, but I am new to Twitter and while I find it exciting and fascinating and socially very cool, I have not yet cracked the code on this popular new form of communication.  Join and let’s “follow” each other and see where this thing takes us.

8. Sign up for that class that you’ve put off or get going on the degree. Tough times are a great time to get to work on improving your skills and advancing your education.  There’s nothing on TV you can’t record, you shouldn’t be Twittering and blogging more than a few minutes a day, so evenings are a great time to be in class or on-line in a class.

9.  Volunteer. Someone in your community needs help. Your school, your library, your church or the many shelters and nonprofits.

10.  Connect with people in person. Limit your time on the computer and increase your face time with real people.  It’s too easy to sit behind the screen in this world.  Find a networking group, join or start a book club, attend an occasional seminar.  Push away from the keyboard.

The  Bottom-Line for Now:

Do something.  Anything.  Stop worrying, start taking action and success will breed success.  Maybe my list will prompt some ideas of your own.  If that happens, remember to share.  Pay it forward.

Filed Under: "To Do" List, Career, Marketing Yourself, Professional Growth Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Darn It, I Cannot Resist New Year’s Resolutions

December 31, 2008 By 2 Comments

While I stand behind my post on Personal Quality Programs as the best way to make improvements in your life, I am a goal-oriented person and resolutions are like a challenge just daring me to achieve.  I confess that I cannot move through the New Year holiday without organizing my ambitions into a neat little list.

I’m also a big fan of making your goals public.  They seem to stick better when you’ve shared them with a few hundred of your friends.

In case you are interested, here are my goals for the upcoming year.

  • Complete and publish 1 e-book per quarter.  I’ve pussy-footed around this one long enough.  I love writing, I love publishing and I love the promotional opportunity with e-books.  I’m also a fan of the work and principles that David Meerman Scott espouses in the New Rules of Marketing & PR and his blog, Web Ink Now, and he’s convinced me of my need to publish in this format.
  • Read one book every two weeks cover to cover.  In this time-compressed, Tweet-driven (join me on Twitter) sound-bite world that we live in, I find myself reading the introduction, the first and second chapters and the conclusion.  Unfortunately, too many business books feed this formula by putting all the meaty content at the beginning and the end.
  • Launch my first on-line webinar/workshop modules.   Much like e-books, I’ve danced with this topic and not executed.
  • Increase work efficiency and manufacture more time for family.  Back to the Personal Quality program again.  Simple things, like saving minutes per hour by not monitoring e-mail in real time.  Ignoring blog stats and focus on content creation can help increase efficiency.  More efficient workouts at the gym can trim half an hour.  Getting up at 5 instead of 5:30 every morning is more time created.  With a bit of work, I can manufacture 2 additional hours per day to give back to work and family.
  • Make the tough decisions.  I preach about this in a business setting and yet I’ve held off on some key personal/professional decisions about my practice and career.  I’ve been staring at the cliff on pursuing a Ph.D. and have not jumped or stepped back.  It’s time to decide and keep moving.
  • Find more new professional experiences and conquer them. I’ve long wanted to teach in Grad school and last year it became a permanent part of my life.  I have a few more to knock out.

And last and not least, do a better job remembering how precious our time here is and to try and make every encounter in class, in workshops, in consulting engagements and in life, a good one.  Happy New Year.  Whether you are a goal-driven freak like me and have your own list, or you are satisfied to meander through your days, may you be happy and healthy.

Filed Under: "To Do" List, Career, Decision-Making, Marketing Yourself Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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