New CPAs

Career advice blog worth checking out

One of the things I love about blogging is finding great nuggets when reading other blogs. Today I found a great blog for all of you Gen Xers and Yers who want to make a difference in your career.

It reminded me of a quote by a futurist I met named Watts Wacker. He said, "If  you don't have a vision for yourself or your company, you will just get sucked into someone else's vision."

Check out Thrilling Heroics. I came across one of their recent posts titled Learn to Build a brand That Shouts Distinction, Commitment, and Passion. The post features a recap of Tom Peters' book, The BrandYou50. Peters is one of my favorite author/speakers and one I highly recommend you start adding to your reading collection (see my prior post on leaders are readers). Make sure you get a copy of the cheat sheet they have on their post - a great time-saver recap for you busy professionals!

This post reminded me of Peter's article in FastCompany magazine that was the precursor to his book, titled, The Brand Called You. While it dates back to 1997, ancient by your standards, I think you will find it spot on nd useful in making you stand out from the crowd by establishing your own personal brand.

Also check out the follow-up article titled Brand You Survival Kit.

What do you think - is establishing your personal brand important?

The secret to career success -your next killer app!

How do you maintain your value as a professional in the face of rapidly changing times?

I am going to give you a killer app for your career success from Tim Sanders, former Leadership Coach at Yahoo. I got to meet Tim at a conference that I have come to refer to as my one "must-attend" professional development activity every year, the Association Digital Now conference put on by my friends at Fusion Productions.

The new formula for success is to leverage your Knowledge, Networks, and Compassion, or as Tim Sanders says be a biz lovecat (from his best-selling book, Love is the Killer App - How to Win Business & Influence Friends). He says that succes today is not about adding-value but multiplying knowledge.

Where do you start?   By constantly acquiring knowledge. He defines the "love business" as "the act of intelligently and sensibly sharing your intangibles (knowledge, networks, and compassion) with your bizpartners."

How do you do it? By reading books, taking notes, and sharing with your network (colleagues, customers, and partners). Tim's chapter on knowledge (and reading) fundamentally changed the way I read and process books and taught me how to share the knowledge gained. Did you know that the most successful CEOs and leaders read an average to 7.5 books per year? That is why you hear the old saying that leaders are readers.

What are the benefits to you for investing this time in yourself (according to Tim)?

1. You build an outstanding brand as a person.
2. You create an experience.
3. You have access to people's attention.
4. You harness the power of positive presumption.
5. You receive exceptional feedback.
6. You gain personal satisfaction.

A closing thought from one of Tim's quotes in the book, from Harry Beckwith in The Invisible Touch, "Instead of thinking about value-added, think about knowledge-added. What knowledge can you add to your service, or communicate about your service, that will make you more attractive to ... business partners and customers."

So grab Tim's book for your final summer read and get working on making yourself the next killer app!

Resources:

See a clip from Tim's speech at the Digital Now conference by clicking here.

Read Love is the Killer App article in FastCompany magazine.

Tim Sanders recommended book list  Download tim_sanders.doc

My post on summer reading and my latest reading list - click here

Two examples of summarizing books (as recommended by Tim Sanders)

Double Digit Growth

10 Rules for Strategic Innovators