Speaking of Soft Skills (Favorite Friday)

Speaking of Soft Skills (Favorite Friday) I came upon this post this week, where I talk about a forbes article that quoted me with 2 of the 7 most universal soft skills. I mentioned creativity and curiousity, of course. the other five were interesting. What really got my attention, though, was what people put in the comments. There are some very smart and observant people talking about soft skills they think are critical. Check it out her: Universal Job Skills. Speaking of Soft Skills (Favorite Friday) I came upon this post this week, where I talk about a forbes article that quoted me with 2 of the 7 most universal soft skills. I mentioned creativity and curiousity, of course. the other five were interesting. What really got my attention, though, was what people put in the comments. There are some very smart and observant people talking about soft skills they think are critical. Check it out her: Universal Job Skills.

Kings of Content Interview with the UR Business Network - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Kings of Content Interview with the UR Business Network - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Recently, I had the pleasure of sitting down with two of my mentors and close friends, Sergio Garcia and Rick Brutti. Sergio is a multimedia  marketing expert, and has published several books in Latin America and a successful business magazine in the United States. Rick is a serial entrepreneur and the first ever CFO of the athletic shoe company, New Balance. Together, they are the co-founders of the UR Business Network, a full-service media production company that features nearly 40 (and growing) internet radio shows, a digital and print publishing arm, and a community of experts on a myriad of topics including how to start a business, how to sell one, and everything in between. I should say in the interest of full-disclosure that my radio show, Funny Business is on the URBN, so this interview is a bit self-serving. But since I began producing it, Ive been fascinated by the two figureheads, and have wanted to share their story. We discussed the origin of their partnership, the UR Bu siness Network, and their advice for young people in todays world. What originally brought the two of you together? Rick: A few years back, my radio show “Mind Your Own Business” was on another station, and Sergio had a magazine. We connected on LinkedIn Sergio Garcia thinking that we should collaborate, this is going back 4, almost 5 years ago. We met and hit it off and decided to get something together. The first thing we did was a trade show. I thought [Sergio] was crazy, but I admired his intestinal fortitude for pulling it off. Sergio: We put a show together in about 6 weeks, and it was down in Rhode Island, we had over 0 booths, I don’t know how we survived it but we got through it. Rick: From there we started looking at what we could do and at the time social media was really taking off, so we set up a little company helping people with their social media strategy. I would bring in clients, we had a team to execute the work, and Sergio was our “technical guru. How did that turn into the UR Business Network? Rick: At the same time, we were looking to move my radio show to another network, and we interviewed a few stations. Sergio was helping me with it, and we came across the idea of setting up our own online network, because online radio was really taking off. The choice was, to have a station that once you leave the parking lot you can’t hear the signal, or be online and it’s available around the world. From there it took on a life of its own. Sergio: What we quickly learned was that the content we were generating was very easy to share. It’s about having a two-way conversation with the audience, and the online medium allowed us to do that easily. I always joke, we’re sitting here in our studio, and people come to us. Any day you come to our office there are -20 new people around either as guests or hosts or to do business with us. It’s become a very interesting place to be. What makes you two successful and how have you built the company as a result? Rick: One of the reasons we are where we are today is that Sergio and I have a very good relationship. We’re very different so we don’t cross over Rick Brutti much into each other’s space. The second step is that as weve grown we surrounded ourselves with such incredible people, our team is so talented it really makes it very easy for us to do what we do. Sergio: We also have a great combination of young people who are doing some great and innovative things along with more seasoned business experts who are starting a new career sharing what they have learned. Rick: We have changed our business plan, Sergio calls it “pivoting,” so many times. Because a lot of what you think is good, ends up not working out, and you have to be very agile and willing to adapt. If you do the same thing over and over and it doesnt work, that’s the definition of insanity. I’m not saying we’re not insane, but not in that way! Sergio: We all like to talk, that’s for sure, but we are very good at talking not about ourselves but about the other people who we are surrounded by. I tell Rick all the time, I think he’s one of the best interviewers Ive ever heard, because he has the ability to build up everyone that he is speaking to. It’s amazing who we get to sit and consult with by building this community.  I laugh when everyone says, “do you have a business plan.” Because we have a business plan but it keeps changing and improving. We started as a social media company, and realized the main problem was that a lot of content exists, but not good, actionable content. Rick: Besides having a great internal team of people, we have also hand-selected all of our hosts. Not everyone can have a show with us, we make sure they fit in. We develop shows that fill a need, so it isnt just talking about the stock market 24/7. When we started the network it was just my show, and now only a year later we have almost 40 shows, which we’re very proud about. When you look back you can’t even figure out how we got here, it’s been a great ride. The people we thought we were going to make a million dollars with proved useless and the people we didnt put as much stock in are doing exceptional, so it shows how many mistakes we made. Sergio: My mother always used to say, “Show me who you’re with, and I’ll show you who you are.” How do you define your own personal brands? Sergio: Since I love anonymity that becomes a difficult question. Fortunately we have Sergio Garcia the golfer who takes up the first 3 million spots on Google. What I bring to the table is that I understand the strengths of others and make connections and networks that benefit everyone. People say very intelligent things or ideas all the time that get forgotten, and I try and make note of all of those and actually apply them. With the internet now, the biggest problem that we are seeing is that you are no longer competing against your vertical, you are competing against noise. People need credible content sources to drown out the noise. Rick: Number one, I consider myself a good radio host and interviewer, which I love to do. I love meeting interesting people and being on the other side so I can ask the questions, this isnt as normal for me. The other thing I do well and it’s something Ive learned is to constantly be developing new content. Recording shows and other content that will grow the business. That’s what I would say is my personal brand. I consider my personal brand as one that is morphed into the UR Business Network, I want it to always be growing the business. What tips would you give to someone starting their career? Rick: The first thing is to just jump in, to just do it. You could have the best idea in the world, but if you sit on the sidelines and don’t do anything about it, nothing will happen. And once you do jump in, align yourself with people that have different strengths and skills and can help you. Don’t think you have to do it all yourself. Sergio: The most important thing Ive learned is to stick to a vision. If you have a vision and nobody sees it or understands it, then you are with the wrong people. Surround yourself with people who can integrate with the vision, and it will grow. Secondly, we have to get out of the way of the younger generation, who are connected to technology and new ways of doing things. You feel it when you come into our office, the culture is set up so we all can learn from each other. It’s not that anyone is the boss, we can joke around, we can collaborate, and good ideas can come from anyone. Rick: As I tell everyone, I get an MBA everyday just coming here. Thank you to Rick and Sergio for taking some time to discuss their story with me. If you are interested in checking out more about the UR Business Network, or being a guest on one of the shows (including mine!), visit the website here!

Giving Up on Goals

Giving Up on Goals The recipe for success It might seem counterintuitive to take career advice from someone who has made his living poking fun of work. But Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert cartoon series, is a deep thinker (as most funny people are.) His recent Wall Street Journal essay on goals is a great example of inspired career advice. Adams writes about failing his way to success, and why his failures didn’t discourage him. He tells the story of meeting a businessman on a plane trip to a job interview.   The businessman says that his theory on job search was that you should start looking for a better job immediately after getting your next job.   “For him, job seeking was not something one did when necessary. It was a continuing process. This makes perfect sense if you do the math. Chances are that the best job for you wont become available at precisely the time you declare yourself ready. Your best bet, he explained, was to always be looking for a better deal. The better deal has its own schedule.” Adams says that a light went on for him: “This was my first exposure to the idea that one should have a system instead of a goal. The system was to continually look for better options.” Systems work better than goals in almost every endeavor. I’m an avid cook, and I much prefer techniques over recipes.   Cooking techniques explain why and how achieve a certain flavor or effect; recipes give you step by step instructions with specific ingredients. (Brief cooking lesson follows; feel free to skip to the next paragraph if don’t care about food.) For example, deglazing a pan after you have sautéed meat or vegetables is a wonderful technique for building flavor. Deglazing means to pour some cold liquid into a very hot pan to get up all the brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Those bits are where all the flavors are, and it is called “fond” (rhymes with “phone”; French for “bottom.”) You can use any liquid to deglaze a pan: water, chicken stock, wine or juice; each will bring a different flavor to the dish. Knowing the technique means you can substitute when you don’t have or don’t want to use an ingredient in a recipe.   Inexperienced cooks are often stumped when they don’t understand techniques â€" they don’t have the ability to improvise, which is part of the joy of cooking. Goals are like recipes: they specify an outcome based on inputs. And as such, Adams writes: “To put it bluntly, goals are for losers. Thats literally true most of the time. For example, if your goal is to lose ten pounds, you will spend every moment until you reach the goalâ€"if you reach it at allâ€"feeling as if you were short of your goal. In other words, goal-oriented people exist in a state of nearly continuous failure that they hope will be temporary.” Again, food is a metaphor for the rest of your life.   Focusing on losing ten pounds makes us miserable (take it from the voice of experience.) Learning the technique of eating well (or low carb, or with intermittent fasting) is a way to achieve lifetime health and svelteness. Adams goes on to explain his technique for getting rich (“The idea was to create something that had value andâ€"this next part is the keyâ€"I wanted the product to be something that was easy to reproduce in unlimited quantities.”) He also outlines his most “aromatic failures” to make sure you realize that his ideas stunk and failed most of the time.   It’s that last one that didn’t fail that made him famous, made him worth about $75 million and makes me laugh every day. (Thanks Scott.) “Failure is a tool.” That’s how Adams describes his approach â€" and how many others have as well. Thomas Edison is quoted as saying “I have not failed. Ive just found 10,000 ways that wont work.”  I admit that the thought of failing   at anything gives me cold chills.   But I’m starting to re-think my position, especially after this insightful essay by Jon Gordon hit my email inbox today.   The Universe is trying to tell me something: If you haven’t failed at something today, you haven’t tried anything. The definition of success is getting up one more time than you were knocked down. What have you failed at today?   Celebrate it!

Why Corporate Results Are a Matter of Personal Style

Why Corporate Results Are a Matter of Personal Style To thrive in this female-driven consumer world, female leaders should be at the forefront of all strategic decisions. These leaders need to have more than just a seat at the table. In fact, companies should work to empower these women with opportunities to be in front of the audiences that will drive revenue. Remember that “stages” come in many shapes and contexts, and that women leaders make business magic happen on stages at conferences, in board rooms and in media interviews. They “wow” stakeholders at sales pitch meetings and in the field with customer events. Wherever they are, they must be in the best spot possible to instantly grab their audience â€" heart, mind and soul. This approach helps leaders capitalize on snap decisions to control the conversations and the outcomes. It’s time to change the way you get dressed every morning, empowering yourself to be recognized and positioning yourself to achieve more. Embrace your “first three steps” â€" the actual, physical movement of your body into a room, onto a stage or into a stakeholder’s line of sight. And nailing the impression you make in those first three steps comes down to three key principles. It starts from the inside out and is built upon: The Story The Style The Brand Every morning starts with one simple question: “What is my story today?” Here is how this comes to life with my clients. When I first meet a new client, my goal is to understand who she is as a person and as a leader. You can learn a lot by sitting down one-on-one with people and having raw and real conversations. But in Corporate America, vulnerability is hard and getting to the essence of someone and their story is even harder. So, when I first sit down with a client, I ask a lot of questions. I need to know the answers to these questions so I can ensure that the story she lives is the story she portrays: What do you do outside of the office? Do you have a family or like to travel? What’s important to you, and what are your values, goals and vision? What are your fears? Whats holding you back? What do you do for work? What is your role within the company, and what do you love about it? If you manage a team, who do you lead and how do you lead? What products or services does your company provide? Do you believe in the products and services? One of the most effective ways I’ve found to confirm my under- standing of someone is to meet with my client, then meet with their team and then validate the team’s observations with my client. This is a delicate dance, and the first part of getting to know some of my clients has begun as a dressing room interview. Personal Style I intentionally use the dressing room as a place to validate some of the most important information I can about my clients. It’s a great opportunity to ask some of the harder questions when they are behind closed doors, away from others. For instance, a team has told me that they love their boss because she pushes them to be the best version of themselves. I quoted this accolade back to my client and asked, “Why do you think they said this about you? How do you do it?” These stories â€" their stories â€" are where I start to understand how my clients get to where they are and why they lead the way they do. Armed with this information, we lay a foundation upon which to construct her looks. Excerpt from Story. Style. Brand.:  by Janel Dyan JANEL DYAN is a well-regarded brand strategist and expert on how to build a story to achieve brand alignment for both company and consumer success. She founded Janel Dyan, Inc. (JD) in 2014, which provides transformative brand and style consultation to high-visibility clients across various industries.  Dyan resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two sons.  Learn more about Dyan by visiting her website and connecting with her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.    Story. Style. Brand. is available now on Amazon.

Tips For the New Resume Writing

Tips For the New Resume WritingAre you looking for some tips on the new resume writing? If so, then I'd like to share with you a few things that can help you. It is one of the most important decisions you will ever make and your resume plays a very important role in this decision.The resume is essentially your job application in all but name. Many people overlook the importance of this document. So here are a few pointers on how to write a good resume.First of all, when choosing a resume, you should never pick the first one you find. You need to take your time and be prepared. Some people take their resume to an online site to give it a professional look. If you do this, it might help but you will probably not have the best resume available. It is better to go ahead and gather together a resume based on your unique skills and qualifications.After you have a professional resume written up, you need to pick the skills that are most relevant to the position you are applying for. This me ans that the skills that are most relevant to the job you are applying for will be highlighted on the resume. If you are looking for a job at Walmart, you would use skills like accounting and math.Try to highlight some of the great points that you may have about yourself, or write a good summary of your educational background. In fact, if you can include some documents that demonstrate your skills then you can add more credibility to your resume. However, be sure to go beyond this by including samples of work you have done in your interview as well.When writing your resume, there are a few important rules you should follow. First of all, you want to write your resume in a professional manner. This means that you should spell check it and don't include any grammatical mistakes. You also don't want to use adjectives and prepositions unless they are absolutely necessary.Also, a nice summary of the skills you have should appear at the top of your resume. So you should write your skill f acts in the first paragraph and then the summary of your experience and skills at the bottom. You should also make sure that there is enough space in the top and bottom portion of your resume for you to write any additional information you might have about yourself. Make sure there is no blank spaces left either.So if you follow these tips, you should be able to create a good resume. You should feel comfortable with it should provide you with a good impression of yourself.

We JUST announced our 2018 International Conference on Happiness at Work - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

We JUST announced our 2018 International Conference on Happiness at Work - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog I could not be more excited we have just announced our ninth annual conference on happiness at work and this years program is better than ever. We have 11 international speakers and experts to share the theory and practice of creating happy workplaces. See the full program and get your tickets here. And you can see 5 of the best speeches from our previous conferences here. Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

Dont Waste Your Time Networking - Instead Build Relationships

Dont Waste Your Time Networking - Instead Build Relationships Dont Waste Your Time Networking Instead Build Relationships Dont Waste Your Time Networking Instead Build Relationships September 1, 2012 by Career Coach Sherri Thomas Leave a Comment The goal of networking is NOT to start asking someone about job opportunities. The goal of networking is to build a relationship with someone.   It takes two things to be successful in your career: 1) doing high quality work; and 2) having positive relationships with the right people.   The right people will help you get hired, promoted and introduce you to others who could potentially hire you, as well as  give you  a continuous supply of job leads,  referrals and  recommendations. Whether you’re employed or not, its impossible to have a successful career without the support of others.   So how can you build strong supportive relationships with others? Here are a few key strategies that can help â€" Show an interest in them Let’s say that you have an upcoming  meeting, conference or a professional networking event.   Look at the agenda and ask yourself, Who would I like to meet? Maybe it’s someone you’ve never met, or maybe it’s someone already in your professional network. Plan ahead and think about a topic that you think might interest them such as a new product launch in their division, or how you’ve applied one of their teachings that you read about, or perhaps offer them an idea you have on a challenge they are currently facing.   The point is to keep the conversation focused on that person (it’s not about you! -at least not yet!) 2.   Listen more than you talk You connect with someone by being genuinely interested in him or her.   While you’re establishing relationships, you’ll want to listen more than you talk. This is worth repeating you need to LISTEN more than you TALK ??   So to keep the focus on them, you’ll need to ask some good questions like, How’s that big project going that you’re working on? or How is the new product doing that your company just launched? If it’s the first time you’ve ever met, then you don’t need to have a long, in-depth conversation. Instead, when you feel that the conversation has run its course, simply say, I’d love to stay in touch â€" do you want to exchange business cards? Or, I can send you an article I just read on that very same topic.   Would you like me to forward it to you? The point is that you want to connect with your contact and do so in a way that is genuine, authentic and shows an interest in what they are doing. 3. Be a resource for them As a leading Career Coach, I’ve noticed that many professionals make the mistake of sending a message to others that shouts, I need a job!! The message is all about them, and not about the other person.   It’s a one-way relationship, instead of a two-way relationship.   It’s very selfish.   Who wants to be in a relationship like that? Instead, you want to be sending the message that you’re a successful professional who’s resourceful, well connected, and who has some similar interests as they do. You want them to realize that you are someone that THEY should get to know! Send out personalized notes and e-mails to your network with links to industry news, reports, case studies, press releases, videos, or cool websites that you think may interest them. Volunteer to write recommendation letters, and introduce them to others in your network. Invite them to business networking events, and introduce them to movers and shakers that you know. Be proactive and offer to connect them to others in your network that may help them solve a problem, offer advice, or potentially advance their career. One thing that works really well for me, is offering to share my resources, tips, and lessons learned that may help them in some way. I’ve found that doing this provides the foundation for a long-term relationship. Also, one of the key benefits of building a connection and being a key resource to others is that you are more likely to receive career support from them including job leads, personal recommendations and referrals.  ?? â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"- Sherri Thomas is a Career Strategist, international speaker and best-selling author of two books including “Career Smart â€" 5 Steps to a Powerful Personal Brand” which is currently on AMAZON’s TOP 10 LISTfor personal branding books, and “The Bounce Back â€" personal stories of bouncing back higher and faster from a layoff, re-org or career setback“ also available on AMAZON and BARNES NOBLE.     Right now you can download three FREE CHAPTERS of “The Bounce Back” at http://www.MyBounceBack.com