I often get books to review from guests of my "Biz Growth Live" programme so it especially exciting to get a new book to read from a colleagues and friend as happened to me last weekend.
William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson, colleagues and friends who I have known and worked with for a couple of years are now officially authors with their launch this week of their book "Career Distinction".
"Career Distinction" is now on my list of recommended reading if you are an individual in an organisation looking to progress your career.
Personal branding is definitely the hot topic of the moment with everyone from coaches to image consultants, from web designers to bloggers talking about how to build your personal brand. Personal branding is one of the key areas I write, speak and teach - I recently covered how to build your personal leadership brand on of my recent podcasts at "Todays Women in Business".
Having spent almost 20 years in executive positions across the globe, what I was particularly struck by was one very important message in the book.
I have appointed many business leaders over my time in my corporate career, but few recognised the key message in "Career Distinction". Progressing in your career is not a start and stop approach - many people update their resume/CV and start networking when they are looking for a new job.
Instead, Arruda talks about considering your career management plan as something you work on continuously.
Co-author Kirsten Dixson brings to the table her experience of helping people build their personal brand online and I was delighted to see the subject of business blogging versus static web profiles to build your personal brand online being covered. However if you do want to build your personal brand online with a business blog or personal blog I would recommend that you also read books such as "Go Blog Wild" by Andy Wibbels which will provide specific guidance on blogging.
In summary, "Career Distinction" is a distinctive book about personal branding if you are looking to progress your career. I would recommend it for people in early career or middle management - there are some other elements I would want to see covered before recommending it to executives.
It would also make a great college graduation gift to help young graduates discover how to nurture their career right from the start.
If you would like to disover three key reasons why I recommend "Career Distinction" you can read my full review on "Todays Women In Business".
The earlier you start building your brand, the easier it will be to be successful in your field. The biggest challenge is finding out who you are and what you want to do.
Posted by: Dan Schawbel | June 13, 2007 at 01:13 PM
Why I think personal branding is so important is that people join and leave managers....if you want to attract the right talent you need to have a brand that people want to buy into, people can see the benefit from sharing their talent with you....your talent is your product make sure it is attractive to employers and talent alike.
Posted by: Anna Farmery | June 13, 2007 at 02:18 PM
@Dan - in fact Dan we start to develop our personal brand as children. The challenge of course is to nurture your brand as you move through significant milestones in your life.
And remember that we can engage many people in helping figure out the essence of our brand and what we are passionate about and want to build our reputation around. The key is to take ownership as the CEO of your career.
@Anna - you are absolutely right as all the evidence points to the fact that people leave people not organisations. In terms of our personal leadership brand it can be a great competitive advantage in the war for attracting and retaining great people to your team.
Posted by: Krishna De | June 13, 2007 at 05:54 PM
We need to keep blogging Krishna, as I need to find something that I disagree with you on!
Posted by: Anna Farmery | June 14, 2007 at 12:45 PM