Daniel Pink: We’re All Secretly Sellers
What do innovation and personal branding have in common? They’re both about understanding your customers’ needs and figuring out how to persuade them. (Either to buy a product or to hire you).
Next week, I’ll be representing the Personal Branding Blog at the Front End of Innovation conference in Boston, Massachusetts. One of the speakers …
Get Hired: How to Appear More Confident
When applying for a job today, it’s essential to appear confident in your communications with the hiring manager. Everyone knows that “looking the part” is important. That’s why job seekers wear nice clothes, style their hair professionally and obsess over the design of resumes.
But even when they’re fixating on details such as the style …
Focus is Everything
There’s a myth in innovation that creativity means letting go and throwing out the box. Everyone needs to open their mind completely and let possibilities flow in from everywhere. There’s no structure – just openness. That’s how you get the good ideas.
It’s a myth because it’s not true – innovation sessions without structure rarely …
How To Convince Others That You’re An Innovator
Innovation has been a buzz word for a while now – and it’s one of those hurdles you must surmount if you’re looking for a job. Employers want creative employees. Investors want to put their money behind creative people.
The National Association of Colleges and Employers found that employers overwhelmingly look for problem solving skills …
Why Restraint Helps Your Personal Brand
Looking to persuade someone that you’re the absolute right person for a job or a new business? Turns out that how much you say about yourself might matter more than what you say about yourself.
When we’re trying to convince someone that a person or a product is great, the tendency is to keep telling …
What Your Personal Brand Needs Before Your Ideas Will Get Funded
If anyone asked me if there was a bet I could not lose, it would be this: all of you out there have amazing business ideas bouncing around your head.
How do I know this? Because – as someone who works in innovation – I have people tell me their ideas all the time. And …
Be Authentic – To a Point
The other day, I was at an event where the speaker was advising attendees about the power of authenticity. During the Q&A, one of the audience members raised her hand and asked about how much authenticity the speaker advised. As the audience member explained, she was just beginning a career as a freelance copywriter, but …
Your Personal Brand is also About “Them”
A friend just starting out as an independent contract worker and I were discussing her personal brand while out on the lake the other day. “I’m not sure how I want to shape my personal brand yet,” she confessed. “I don’t know who I want to be my primary customer yet.”
You’d think I’d stop …
Accessories Matter in Personal Branding
Over the past week, as my smartphone slowly turned into an expensive digital clock, I was forced to think about what cell phone I wanted next – and what my choice would say about me.
When I came back to the US several years ago, I was forced into buying a smartphone. Before, since I’d …
Do Something That Builds You Up While Job Hunting
A couple years ago, I lost a dream job in a horrid way. I’d spent years networking and branding myself for the opportunity and had just gotten it. Then, shortly after I started, the company’s fortunes went downhill and my co-workers and I endured an agonizing, demoralizing few months until we were laid off.
It …