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Do What You Love, Love What You Do!

Mary Rosenbaum | December 16th, 2010

I am sure you have already thought about what you want for yourself for the New Year. Health, happiness and success are certainly up there with subheadings that include making more money, getting more clients, receiving that promotion, meeting Mr. or Ms. Right, staying healthy, exercising more, having more fun, etc.

I thought I would like to share my list with you – all under the major heading of: 
Do What You Love and Love What You Do!

1. Innovate: The only way for you to do this is to keep learning, growing, and being open to new ways to solve old problems. One thing I have learned as a career professional is that change is a constant. I love what I do and one reason why I am passionate about my chosen profession is the ability to be creative, to keep things new and interesting.

2. Collaborate: You may think you are great at everything (and maybe you are) but the best way to be successful in your career or business is to collaborate with those who can provide value in areas   a)you may not enjoy  b)you may not be as good at as they are    c)that take time away from work that you want to do    d)that take time away from work that keeps you on brand, on target, and profitable.

And besides, it’s more fun to collaborate, share the burden, learn from each other, while gaining the benefit of focusing on what you really want to do.

3. Build Your Tribe: Find others who you can support and who can support you and connect them with each other. The more connections you make for them, the stronger your tribe and the greater the bonds between all of you.

4. Define Your Brand: Be clear on what your value added is, on how you want to be perceived by others, and on being authentic in everything you do. Stay on brand and you will remain focused on your goals.

5. Take A Stand: Stand out by taking a stand. Be clear on what you believe in, what you offer, and why. Strong brands are not wishy washy. Give opinions that are based in fact and experience and you will attract those who admire you for it.

6. Reach High: Set your goals so they are a reach and not a slam dunk. Keep the rules for goals setting in mind: Keep goals Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-frame specific.

7. Give Back: Always look for ways to help those who need it. If you are fortunate enough to be working or own a business that is doing well, look for ways to help others on their way up. Also, helping others through charities is another great way to give back. So give, give often, give willingly, and give of yourself.

Feel free to add to this list and if you feel inclined, share with all of us as part of your giving back.

Happy New Year!

I look forward to continuing our conversation in 2011.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Utilizing her experience of over 25 years Mary Rosenbaum helps careerists and entrepreneurs position themselves so they can stand out from the competition. Get her free report Top Strategies for Getting Visible and Getting Ahead.

Follow me on Twitter @Careersguru

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2011: The Year When Possibilities Turn Into Reality

Mary Rosenbaum | December 7th, 2010

This is the time of year when you start thinking about what you are going to do that’s different in the New Year. Here is a suggestion. Make this the year where possibility reins free, positive thinking trumps negativity, and achieving the goals you set for yourself become a self fulfilling prophesy.

It does not matter whether you work inside an organization, are an entrepreneur, or head up a small business, your attitudes about possibility affect the goals you set and the results you achieve.

I read this story in the book, The Art of Possibility by Ben and Rosamund Zander (which I highly recommend).

A shoe factory sends two marketing scouts to a region of Africa to study the prospects for expanding business. One sends back a telegram saying:

Situation hopeless. No one wears shoes.

The second writes back:

Glorious business opportunity. They have no shoes.

The following exercise might help you understand how you think about possibility and how it affects your results.

Let’s imagine for a moment that you work inside an organization. You have been there a while and want to move into a leadership role, receive a promotion, or be able to move onto a faster career path. Which of these reactions represent how you would behave? No one is going to see the results so be honest with yourself and give it some thought.

1. You immediately start focusing on the obstacles, why this cannot and will not happen. In addition, new obstacles seem to present themselves by the minute. You don’t have the right experience, right education, right mentor, so and so is my competition and he has a leg up on me, I don’t know what I need to do to get ahead.

2. End of the year comes around and you are not promoted or recognized. You start to blame them – your manager, your co-workers, the economy, the company. After all, you did everything you had to do, everything you could do, and they still didn’t give you what you wanted. It was out of your control.

3. You become resigned to “staying on the same track” and waiting for something to happen, waiting for someone to recognize your achievement and accomplishments so you can move ahead. If I keep my head down and do my work I know that it will pay off.

4. You decide that this promotion and forward career movement is something that you WILL MAKE happen. In order to do that you take an honest assessment of your strengths as well as your weaknesses. You reach out to those around you, colleagues, family, friends, asking for their input to add to your own evaluations. You listen to what they have to say, even if it doesn’t reflect what you believe to be true.

You set goals for yourself detailing what you want to accomplish and by what date. You understand what actions you have to take to make sure that you have sufficient assets (education, get the assignment you need to get the right experience and increase your sphere of influence) to obtain your desired outcome. Most importantly, you recognize that you need the help and support of others, your tribe, to get to where you want to go. When you build a tribe that supports you the results are far greater than going it alone.

Obviously I have stacked the deck and pointed to where you might want to be in order to turn possibility into reality. The characteristics outlined in 1-3 often result in lowered expectations and goals, disappointment that fuels disengagement from work and negatively impacts your personal life as well.

So make 2011: The Year When Possibilities Turned Into Reality

Utilizing her experience of over 25 years Mary Rosenbaum helps careerists and entrepreneurs gain greater clarity, more effective communication and improved leverage of their value added strengths and abilities. Get her free report Top Strategies for Getting Visible and Getting Ahead.

Follow me on Twitter @Careersguru

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Build Your Tribe of Supporters: Who Is In Your 150?

Mary Rosenbaum | November 19th, 2010

How many people do you know with whom you have a real relationship.? When I look at the numbers of contacts/friends/followers that some people have on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter it appears there are many people who have hundreds and even thousands on their list.

The proliferation of social media sites has created an environment where being “connected” with someone does not have the same connotation it once did. There seems to be some confusion about the value of these contacts and what it really means. Social media enables you to get the word out to vast numbers of people in a very short period of time. On such a vast scale, social media should not be confused with relationship building. Sometimes relationships develop, but those are isolated instances rather than common place occurrences.

Robin Dunbar is the director of the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford University, author of How Many Friend Does One Person Need? According to Mr. Dunbar, 150 people are the most any one person can be in a relationship with involving trust and obligation. These are relationships where there is some personal history, not just names and faces and perhaps the occasional shared tweet. The reason for this is simple, it takes energy, time, and mental capacity to build and maintain relationships. According to our brain capacity, 150 is the limit.

Beyond the 150 number, the tie that binds you to greater numbers of people are superficial and never extend beyond the occasional message, tweet, or shared photo. Social media has created a new way for you to “keep in touch” with those you would probably never have contact with again before these vehicles became so prominent.

The question I have is if you are spreading yourself thin by trying to maintain some form of relationship with vast numbers of people, are you diluting even the ones that would fall into the category of “real” relationships? Are you confusing followers with supporters?

I think instead of trying to grow your contacts or following by including large numbers of people who you cannot develop any sort of relationship with, your time might be better spent deepening the ones that could be part of your tribe - those who support you and what you do and those you can support in return.

The challenge is to increase the breadth of your relationships without sacrificing the depth. There are many ways to increase your tribe to ensure that the connections between all of you continue to provide value to everyone involved. So ask yourself:

Have I succeeded in deepening my relationships to a level where I can provide support?

How many meaningful relationships do I have?

Am I anywhere near my Dunbar number of 150?

Do I have the right people in my 150?

If not, what steps can I take to move myself forward?


Utilizing her experience of over 25 years Mary Rosenbaum helps careerists and entrepreneurs position themselves so they can stand out from the competition. Get her free report Top Strategies for Getting Visible and Getting Ahead.

Follow me on Twitter @Careersguru

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Make Your Story PITCH Perfect

Mary Rosenbaum | November 11th, 2010

Developing your pitch is probably one of the hardest things to do when marketing or selling you or your service. I know that it is more difficult to sell yourself than it is to sell your company or a particular product. You don’t want to brag so instead you understate your abilities, your messaging is not that clear, or you create a laundry list of skills and abilities that are quickly forgotten.

The questions you should ask yourself when developing your pitch are:

- Would they remember it tomorrow?

- Could they repeat it in six months?

- Was your core message clear?

- Did you connect with your listener?

Here are some tips to help you put your pitch together.

1. Make sure you are emphasizing a differentiating skill or ability that is unique to you and that can’t be easily replicated by others over a reasonable period of time. It’s important to communicate how this translates into a better result for your client or employer.

Here is my example:
When I started up an executive recruiting firm focused on the financial services industry I knew that my experience of having worked on the other side of the desk provided me with the ability to understand candidates better when screening them for searches. I knew the industry, understood the language, had better filtering capability, required less involvement from my clients, and completed searches in less time.

2. Create a narrative, a story, that addresses the arc of how you arrived to where you are now, how that impacts what you do, and how it affects the results of who you work for. Making the story personal makes it memorable, interesting, and keeps it authentic. It allows people to connect with you on a very different level than if you were to describe the whole thing in corporate speak.

Here is my example:

My journey from Wall Street to Executive Search to Personal and Leadership Branding and Career Management has provided me with unique insight into how companies think when looking for executives who can lead and how to position yourself so that your differentiating strengths and value added are spotlighted. My passion is to make an impact, to make a difference on people’s lives and each time I came to a fork in the road my internal compass kept pointing me in the direction that fulfilled my need. I know that when I help clients understand, communicate and leverage what is best about themselves I am having a significant impact on their confidence and on their ability to make the right decisions going forward. Their success becomes my success.

3. Include stories that highlight the strengths you bring to the table. Skill based stories are valuable ways to show rather than tell your successes and allows the listener to extrapolate how he/she might benefit from your services or employment. Instead of saying that you are creative tell a story that illustrates your creativity in resolving a problem or issue. I wouldn’t advise telling many of these stories in a pitch but bringing up a story that the listener can relate to because of his/her own needs would be more effective.

4. Test drive your pitch. Try it out on everyone and watch their reactions? Ask for input. Remember, you are trying to make it real and to connect while still providing the information you want them to hear to keep the conversation going.

Do you have some horror stories about delivering your pitch? Share them with me by emailing me direct. Would love to hear some of your stories.

Utilizing her experience of over 25 years Mary Rosenbaum helps careerists and entrepreneurs position themselves so they can stand out from the competition. Get her free report Top Strategies for Getting Visible and Getting Ahead.

Follow me on Twitter @Careersguru

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Dream Big: Design Your Future

Mary Rosenbaum | November 5th, 2010

Do you dream big? How BIG? In a leadership training class I am taking I was recently given this assignment: write your own aspirational obituary. This was an intoxicating idea. To actually put on paper all of those dreams I have that I would love to enact.

Once I began this process it reminded me of what it was like cleaning out my closet. I would go in there and find something that I once loved. It generally triggered some memories of when I wore it and how I felt at the time. Maybe it was a first date, the first corporate client I pitched, or maybe a first anniversary. And suddenly when I look at it in the light of day I realize how faded and worn it looks. And worst of all, it no longer fits. Well, the same holds true for some of your dreams.

When I first started the assignment I thought this would be a piece of cake. But what I realized in the process of putting words to paper is that some of the dreams I have always held dear were no longer at the top of my list. Although I am still the same person, the passions, vision, and values I lead with today have shifted and my aspirations are somewhat different than they once were.

I am still working on my obit but I have already redefined some of my personal and career goals. I know that I will continue to change and lead with different values and strengths that will emerge in the natural course of my life. And I also know that if I were to write another aspirational obit in 5 years it would be very different than the one I write today. But this doesn’t diminish the value of having gone through the process. After all, it’s good to periodically clean out that closet and make room for some new clothes.

To help you go through this exercise yourself, here are some thoughts and tips to get the most out of this valuable exercise.

1. Be honest about your dreams. This isn’t a goals oriented exercise but rather a time for you to dream big.

2. Go beyond the who you are today. Unlock those doors that keep you tethered to the present.

3. Ask yourself if the values you lead with today are the ones that will get you where you think you want to go?

4. Are the goals you set for yourself big enough?

5. How will your purpose impact the vision you have for the world?

Once you have written this aspirational piece look at the direction you have set for yourself. The next step is to design your future and turn those dreams into reality.

Utilizing her experience of over 25 years Mary Rosenbaum helps careerists and entrepreneurs position themselves so they can stand out from the competition. Get her free report Top Strategies for Getting Visible and Getting Ahead.

Follow me on Twitter @Careersguru

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Leadership Oprah’s Way

Mary Rosenbaum | October 29th, 2010

I just read this article How to Lead Like Oprah by Jenna Goudreau. The article highlights how Oprah’s leadership skills, her uncanny ability to inspire her team and build a loyal following have enabled her to create an empire with a net worth of $2.7 Billion. Oprah’s success is undeniable but there are many reasons why she has succeeded and Ms. Goudreau sums them up by elaborating on these three areas: her team, her vision and her values.

There are many lessons we can learn from Oprah. Here are a few that can help you manage your career or build your business.

1. Dream big. It’s easy to set your goals within reach. The key is to make sure your goals and vision are a stretch. You can’t win big unless you dream big.

2. Challenge the status quo. A willingness to take risks and make mistakes are necessary – if you don’t try you will never succeed. Oprah was successful in introducing so many new ways to connect her with her audience. The book club, the give aways, the personal story are just a few. She didn’t imitate but instead kept trying new things.

3. Build your support team, build your tribe. Oprah surrounded herself early on with mentors and supporters who helped her achieve her goals. But she didn’t stop there. She was committed to building a team of the best and the brightest, unafraid to take guidance and always willing to provide support. What holds many people back from building a strong team is fear of losing ground or power to them. The smartest leaders know that this type of fear can only hold them back.

4. Communicate your vision to all those around you. When you share your vision you know that everyone who works with and for you are on the same page.

5. Nourish and support your relationships. She is always asking her audience what they want and need from her and lets them know how valuable they are to her and to her success.

6. Identify and focus on your goals. Goals are your road map and a keen focus keeps you from getting side tracked and losing your way.

7. Live your values and make them visible. Oprah lives her values of generosity, humor, easy to relate to, and optimism. Their visibility make up the glue that bind her to her followers and admirers.

Of course it goes without saying that hard work and a positive outlook are necessary underpinnings to great leadership. What other lessons or ideas do you have that you can add to this list?

Utilizing her experience of over 25 years Mary Rosenbaum helps careerists and entrepreneurs position themselves so they can stand out from the competition. Get her free report Top Strategies for Getting Visible and Getting Ahead.

Follow me on Twitter @Careersguru

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A Client Appreciation Story

Mary Rosenbaum | October 21st, 2010

Have you shown your appreciation to your clients lately? I recently heard a great story and wanted to share it with you.

A group of guys I know have been going for a drink after work to Bobby Van’s for years. Bobby Van’s is a well known restaurant in midtown NYC near their office. They have gotten to know the bartenders well and sometimes eat at the bar before heading home. One night last week three of them went to Bobby Van’s. While there the head maitre’d, someone they rarely came in contact with, came over to speak with them. In his conversation, he wanted to know about each of them, how long they had been coming to the bar, and what they liked about the restaurant.

It was then that he presented each of them with a brass plaque inscribed with their names. Needless to say, the guys were surprised because he not only knew their names but that he knew who each one was.

Each man was allowed to pick a spot on the restaurant’s wall of fame where their brass plaque would hang, visible to all. When I heard this story from Bob, one of the recipients of the plaque I asked him how he felt. He was surprised, pleased, and proud of the fact that his plaque is keeping company on a wall with others whose names are more well known and in some cases, famous – politicians, mayors, and television and movie stars.

A plaque that cost a few dollars at most provided each of these guys with a sense of pride about being recognized in this very visible manner and tangible knowledge that their business is greatly appreciated. This gesture by the restaurant will most surely result in continued loyalty and positive word of mouth buzz from this small group of customers.

Not everyone can demonstrate their appreciation in this manner. Actions you can take fairly easily include:

- sending a personal handwritten note

- a phone call just to say thank you

- an offer to provide them with a special service for free or at a reduced rate

- creating an honor roll on your site or on Twitter thanking and recognizing clients that have helped you get to where you are

It does not have to be a costly gesture, but one that resonates with your particular audience.

What have you done to let your customers and clients know that you appreciate them?

Utilizing her experience of over 25 years Mary Rosenbaum helps careerists and entrepreneurs position themselves so they can stand out from the competition. Get her free report Top Strategies for Getting Visible and Getting Ahead.

Follow me on Twitter @Careersguru

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Marketing: Lead With Your Beliefs

Mary Rosenbaum | October 7th, 2010

Recently I listened to this TED Talk by Simon Sinek called How Great Leaders Inspire Action. He turns the whole concept of marketing to clients, customers or prospective employers inside out.

What’s the most common way you market your services or your product? Nine times out of ten you sell your services or product or even yourself this way:

- What you do, what product or service you provide

- How you do it, your differentiating qualities, benefits

- Why you do it, your beliefs and values

Sinek believes that successful marketing starts with the Why, then the How, and ultimately the What. One of the examples he gives to illustrate this point is Apple. Apple’s marketing goes something like this:

(Why)In everything we do we believe in challenging the status quo by (How) designing products that are easy to use, cutting edge, pushing the envelope, making sure we keep you ahead of everyone else. (What) Oh, by the way, we make computers and phones.

Who does this appeal to? Anyone who wants to be cutting edge, wants to be the first to have or use the product, who believes in challenging the status quo. Customers are attracted to the company (and its products) because they share the same beliefs.

How does this apply to you? Lead with your beliefs – your values and passions define your beliefs. I always say that people do business with people they like. Another way to look at this is that people are attracted to those who have similar beliefs and values. Marketing based solely on the product or service and its benefits doesn’t raise the bar high enough. Eventually the competition will catch up and then you are just back to a discussion on price – a commodity, not a differentiated or unique service or product.

So take the time and watch the video. It’s worth the 18 minutes you invest. I would love to hear your views on the content.

Utilizing her experience of over 25 years Mary Rosenbaum helps careerists and entrepreneurs position themselves so they can stand out from the competition. Get her free report Top Strategies for Getting Visible and Getting Ahead.

Follow me on Twitter @Careersguru

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Twitter: Less is More

Mary Rosenbaum | September 29th, 2010

What is the relevance of having thousands of followers on Twitter? How many of these thousands read your tweets? How many of those would be driven to act on something you recommended?

Those who use Twitter and Facebook for marketing purposes believe that the more “eyeballs” that see their message the more likely they will sell their product or service.

Social media marketing cannot take the place of creating a product or service that is needed and wanted. Throwing mud at the wall and hoping it sticks is old school marketing. People today are bombarded by offerings, information, options for just about everything they need, want and use.

It’s not about the numbers. It’s about finding those followers who want what you have to sell or teach them. It’s quality, not quantity. Wouldn’t you rather have a 100 followers who read your messages and take an interest in what you say rather than a 1000 who either ignore or skim the content? I know I would.

I attended a talk on social media a few weeks ago and one of the attendees asked this question: “I send out a newsletter every two weeks with free give aways, free webinar offers, and free consultations. My email list is over 1000 people and I use Twitter and LinkedIn to deliver the same message. My response rate is single digits. What am I doing wrong?”

No one knows for sure but my guess would be that either he has the wrong target audience or is selling something nobody wants or needs. Additionally, his communications with his audience are all one way – out. The lack of connection, human contact, and relationship building – critical to growing a business – all contribute to this lack of response.

So how should you use social media?

- Make sure what you are offering is something people want or need.

- Use social media as tools, not as the only means of communicating your message.

- Relate, communicate, find out if you are hitting the right target.

- Modify your offerings as you learn from your active followers.

- Take your online contacts and turn them into real world relationships.

- Take your time.

What other advice do you have?

As an FYI, I read this great article in this week’s New Yorker by Malcolm Gladwell, a favorite author of mine called Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted. It’s a great read.

Utilizing her experience of over 25 years Mary Rosenbaum helps careerists and entrepreneurs position themselves so they can stand out from the competition. Get her free report Top Strategies for Getting Visible and Getting Ahead.

Follow me on Twitter @Careersguru – it’s where I pass along articles I think might be interesting to you.

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Personal Branding: Even Ballet Dancers Are Doing It

Mary Rosenbaum | September 22nd, 2010

If you are in a business that provides a product or service you know that the competition for business is stronger than ever. Your affect on the experience of your client or customer lasts a lot longer than the work you provide or the product you sell. That experience supersedes the brand name of the company, even having the power to strengthen or weaken the impact of that brand.

Clients and customers today want to “connect” on a more personal level than ever before. Perhaps the impersonal experience of purchasing something on the internet has created a demand for a more humanized experience whenever possible, even in places you would least expect it. Another reason is that there are more quality choices available today so one of the distinguishing factors is the overall experience a client has with you and your company.

There was an article in the NY Times the other day describing how the New York City Ballet Company was trying to humanize the experience of attending the ballet. Their management believes that audiences today want to “connect” on a more personal level with those who perform on stage. Consequently they have their dancers meet with audience members before performances to talk about their every day experiences, answer questions and in effect, connect one to one. Audience members get to know the dancers and are given the opportunity to relate to them as people, not just as performers on stage. Those who attended the talks felt the experience of watching them dance was greatly enhanced.

In a profession where mystique once reigned, dancers are coming down from the stage and letting their personalities show through.

What are you doing to “connect” with your clients?

Utilizing her experience of over 25 years, Mary Rosenbaum helps careerists and entrepreneurs position themselves so they can stand out from the competition. Get her free report Top Strategies for Getting Visible and Getting Ahead.

Follow me on Twitter @Careersguru

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