How is your career going…you’re great at your job, you have 2 degrees, a masters, and have over 12 years experience in your field…but; just how popular are you.  How many people that really matter know all about you and your expertise?  More importantly, how interesting are you?  How interested are you in other people?  Do people often ask you for your opinion on subjects other than your work?  There is no doubt, that interesting people are easily able to develop strong positive brands…people want to be around them more, and people just know who they are!  I encourage all my clients to take some time out and think about how often in the last 2 years they have dedicated time to creating a more popular person, and not simply focusing on being better at your job!  In planning and our careers, most of us spend way too much time trying to be better at our jobs (which is important), and little (if any) time on being more ‘popular’ .  Recently we released a product called Brand You News, which is a simple daily email that has all the worlds headlines on one page with 2 or 3 line summary of the headline.  Our thinking with this initiative is to give clients more access to daily information, which will allow them to get a broader understanding of what is happening in the world.  We know this will position people as more wordly, and interesting…and ultimately, this will make them more popular…watch this space as we survey our clients to understand what difference Brand You News has made to their lives…

Source: WikipediaWell I’ll be…technology and web 2.0 just continues to blow me away.  Today I learnt about Zemanta, which is a fresh new technology out of the incubators Seedcamp in London.  Efectively, this technology makes blogs sexier!  As you type and write posts, the technology (as a sidebar to wordpress) suggests links and photos.  Read a recent interview about Zemanta here Also…Zemanta inserts images, images which are suggested by the technology as you type!  For examaple, see the image above….this is way cool!  try it by visiting the Zemanta website.

Well, today we started planning our Brand New You Day for 2008.  To be held on the 1st September (first day of Spring) in Sydney, this event is a fundraiser and free information session aimed at helping the less fortunate start afresh and start over with their personal brand!  Our aim is to provide some insight, entertainment and practical lessons to as many members in our community as possible who need a little help repositioning themselves in the marketplace.  Our intent is to have over 200 people from the long term unemployed, recovering from illness, battling a drug or alcohol addiction, at an event aimed at giving them inspiration, and tools to position themselves in front of prospective employers and the like.  Watch this space for more details on the event, and I look forward to getting people’s input on the format, and special guests for the event!  Stay tuned…

Source: Wikipedia

I was speaking with a client today who was referring to the ’skilled labour shortage’ that we are experiencing across all sectors.  He made comment of all his peers, and how they are having trouble attracting good applicants, and retaining trained applicants past the first 12 months.  Then we spoke in a little more detail about attraction and selection, and how wasn’t it strange that good performing teams, and individuals leading teams, did not seem to have the same problems attracting the right applicants in the first instance.  This is not a post about recruitment or managing your human resource…but it is a post about personal branding.  You see, what we agreed, several coffees later, was that ‘line managers’ and team leaders with good strong personal brands; and a real reputation in the market as ‘movers and shakers’ (whatever that means exactly), had no problem attracting GREAT applicants and retaining them…why you might ask?  The answer is simple…people naturally gravitate, and want to work with people who have a good reputation as employers and business leaders…it makes perfect sense…think of the last great hire you made?  Did they come looking for YOU, or did you have to go looking for them?

Wow, this personal branding stuff takes some work…it is Easter Sunday, and I have spent 6 hours in front of my PC making sure that my brand is magnified across the WWW in a consistent and professional manner.  The great thing is, I have learnt more about online tools, and brand building in the last week than in my lifetime!  Importantly, I have learnt and applied these tools….and in the scheme of things; 1 week is not a long time.  These tools have given me a whole new appreciation for technology, and the commitment required to building a positive personal brand.  Tom Peters recently wrote that an individual with a strong personal brand is always reinventing and learning new things…I guess this includes me? When was the last time you took the time to learn and apply something completely new?