Professional Savvy

Reprinted from Essence.com

by Yolanda Sangweni

If you feel like you’re inching closer and closer to the glass ceiling in your current position, most likely it is time to start going after a more challenging job description. Even with a tough economy and employers scaling back on promotions and new hires, marketing yourself more aggressively to will help you stand out from the crowd and get you to the next level. ESSENCE.com spoke with Austin-based executive coach and author, Ann Daly PhD about how repositioning yourself in the workplace can help you get noticed.

ESSENCE.com: What kind of behavioral changes can a person make in order to stand out at work?

DR. DALY: There are basically two things that people need to do in order to stand out today: one is to boost their visibility and, number two, is they need to boost their value. These ideas are really the same, as always, but the environment today is so cutthroat that you really have to work your competitive advantage in order to get ahead.

ESSENCE.com: Tell us more about visibility.

DR. DALY: You can’t get away with being unnoticeable anymore. In order to stay employed and get those rare promotions you have to put yourself on the radar screen of people in charge. Reconsider how you’re dressing. There is no room for anything less than a highly polished impeccable wardrobe. This becomes more important now when you want to distinguish yourself. Think of how we dress as the frame of our capacity and our abilities. So, on the one hand you don’t want a frame to be overpowering. You don’t want to overdo it and have people remembering what you were wearing rather than what you were saying. You want someone to say, ‘You know what, just looking at that person, I feel like they’re in control.’ You can communicate that with your dress. The other thing about visibility is this is not a time to cut back on your networking because today who gets the promotion and who gets the new job is because of who you know more than ever.

ESSENCE.com: Tell us more about boosting one’s value.

DR. DALY: With the job market the way it is we can’t just do an ‘okay’ job anymore. We have to impress. Not only are we impressing with our dress and impressing with our colleagues and our networks, we need to impress our boss with the value that we bring to him or her, to our department and to our company. The first thing is education. This is a great time to expand your knowledge base. Whether it’s some kind of new development in your field that you need to get on top of. When we hand it our projects, we have to double deliver these days. Good is not good enough any more. We have to go above and beyond and show initiative around the kind of work we’re doing. We have to show that we have the skill to take it to the next level within the company.

ESSENCE.com: Is there anything you can do to your resume to make yourself stand out?

DR. DALY: You do want to pull out your resume and take a good hard look at it. You want to make sure to ask these questions: first, is anything missing? If you have gotten more education, a certification or something of the sort, make sure it’s in there. The second thing to figure out is whether you have too much information on there. One of the biggest mistakes people make is just putting too much detail on a resume; making it too long so that it doesn’t function as it should, which is to give a prospective employer the highlights of your career. Then you have to ask yourself, ‘Have I really tuned this resume to the particular job that I’m going after.’ The days of just having one resume and mass distributing it are over. With every job that you go for, you have to strategically highlight the things that pertain to that specific job.

ESSENCE.com: How important is it for women to really shift their mindset to get ahead? A recent study noted, for example, that women do not apply for a position unless they know they’re 100% qualified, while men will apply even if they feel at least 60% qualified.
 

DR. DALY: Yes, that is a bugaboo of mine. Often times if a man and a woman have the same experience, the woman will say, ‘Well, I did this one project.’ The man will say ‘Oh sure, let me detail the projects that I did.’ So it’s a matter of confidence. Men are bred for confidence from when they are little kids and women in our culture are bred to be humble. Getting ahead is about breaking bad habits like always wanting to be humble and not too visible. As we always tell our children, ‘Just do it.’ Do you want that job with the raise? Do you want that promotion? You really have to know why you want it and you have to be able to taste it. Confidence comes from clarity of purpose and repeated action so you have to take small steps to build your confidence.

Simple Black Dress by savvycindy 

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You have a strong personal leadership brand when your individual strengths deliver value to the people you want to serve. 

- Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood

Oprah Winfrey - The Leadership Brand 

repost from John Baldoni, who blogs on leadership & managing people

 How to build a leadership brand that your company values

Excerpt from  Ask Jo, by Jo Miller, CEO Women’s Leadership Coaching Inc.

Your ideal leadership brand is one that utilizes your talents, feeds your passions, and delivers a service that is needed and wanted by your company. Titina Ott is Vice President of Organizational Effectiveness with a leading global software corporation, and founder of their corporate women’s initiative. Ott’s advice to any woman hoping to build a dynamic leadership brand is to understand what you are passionate about, understand how that aligns with your company’s objectives, and clearly articulate it to your manager.

Understand what you are passionate about

When describing her leadership brand, Ott said “Throughout my career, I have always been known as the go-to person. They would say “give it to Titina–-she will find a solution”. I was known for my ability to work in high-pressure, short-term situations, building something new from the ground up. When the solution was in place, I would move on.”

Ott reached a point in her career seven years ago where she began to ask herself what it really meant, to be a leader. “For me, leadership is all about finding the possibilities in others” she said. This insight would eventually lead to her current role, overseeing global strategy to improve employee engagement and to strengthen alignment of talent to business strategy for over 14,000 employees.

“My brand now includes helping others find their possibilities” she said, demonstrating her passion for developing and enabling others. This is evident not only in her role, but also in her drive to create a women’s leadership initiative that cultivates and retains her company’s female talent.

Articulate how your passions align with your company’s objectives

It is vital in recessionary times to build a brand that demonstrates how you are adding value to your company. Ott believes it is important that every employee is able to create a direct “line of sight” between what they do each day to their organization’s bottom line. She designed and leads webinars for employees on how to do this.

Her step-by-step approach is as follows:

1. Understand your company’s vision, goals, and value proposition. These can be found on your company’s web site.
2. Understand the goals for your line of business, by asking your manager.
3. Understand your team’s goals, objectives and priorities. Ask your manager, as this is a critical part of their role.
4. Take a look at your development plan for the year. It is your responsibility to put this plan together. Map your goals to objectives for the company, your line of business, and your team.
5. Discuss your plan with your and manager, to gain their alignment. Ott states “A plan is not effective unless your manager knows about it, acknowledges it and assists in providing the opportunities and support to execute against it.”

Ott understand that it’s not always easy to find alignment between passions and organizational goals, but emphasizes “You a really have to think about this. We all work in a world that’s about the bottom line. Ask yourself if what you are passionate about is important (to your company), and to what level you are willing to adjust. You need to find the balance that’s right for you.”

If after this process of self-discovery you find there’s no alignment, Ott agrees “It’s OK to explore other opportunities”.

Build an industry-wide brand

Ott stressed the value of building a brand that reaches beyond your company. “Having an industry-wide presence is important. Don’t develop yourself in a silo inside the culture of your company.”

“Develop skills that work independently of your company’s culture” she advised, which she models by participating in activities outside her company that include speaking at national women’s leadership conferences, and by serving on several non-profit boards and leadership programs in her local community.

Jo Miller is CEO of Women’s Leadership Coaching Inc. which offers women’s leadership seminars, webinars and coaching programs. To read more of her career advice, visit the Ask Jo archives. Copyright 2010, Women’s Leadership Coaching Inc.

Here is a Harvard Business video interview with David Ulrich and Norm Smallwood, authors of the book  Leadership Brand: Developing Customer-Focused Leaders to Drive Performance and Build Lasting Value. 

Defining YOU

by Niurka ( reposted from Success for Women e-zine)

A personal challenge to innovate in a rapidly changing environment

As human beings we have an instinctive drive to innovate, evolve and improve, to make things faster, smarter, easier and better; and with technology we are exponentially expanding the scope of what’s possible. But even as new opportunities arise, many people find their old jobs obsolete or changing and their skill sets ready for an overhaul. Now, more than ever, it is essential to be clear about what specifically is most important to you and how you choose to express your purpose through your life’s work.

Most people identify strongly with their occupation. One of the most common questions when strangers meet is What do you do? So as careers shift, it can influence self-perception. Work is a way to express purpose and contribute to society; and when a seemingly solid foundation of a career shifts, it can often lead to serious self-reflection or even an identity crisis. We begin asking the timeless questions about our essence, purpose and mission: Who am I? What is my purpose? How do I fulfill it?

Continual Learning
How do we innovate ourselves—not only to keep up with rapid technological advances and a shifting economy, but to direct the course of the progress toward our vision for the future? How do we align our thoughts, words and actions to manifest our destiny? How do we develop our own inner being so that in any environment we recognize, articulate and exemplify our purpose while expressing our gifts and talents in a way that creates value for others and prosperity for ourselves?

You will find the answers when you make conscientious choices based on what is essential—not what is necessary or required, but what is of your essence: who you are and who you choose to be. You have all the resources you need within you now; with imagination, innovation and purposeful action you can create your life by design.

As Einstein said, imagination is more important than knowledge—knowledge will provide a valuable foundation, but imagination allows you to go beyond what was previously believed possible while you lead the direction of your growth. Education and self-development become a lifelong commitment. You’re continually growing and adapting as you shape your experience in alignment with your vision and purpose.

When I was 19, Jim Rohn told me, “Work on yourself harder than you work on your job. If you work on your job, you’ll make a living; but if you work on yourself, you’ll make a fortune and build an incredible life.” He recognized that innovation from the inside influences everything else. With innovation, you can purposefully shape the future.

Who do you Choose to be?
Rather than coasting the waves of change and allowing the tide to drag you where it will—declare your intention and choose your role. One of my favorite questions is: Who do you choose to be in this life? What is your grandest vision for the future? Can you picture it? How will you contribute to make that dream a reality? How will it feel when you get there? Out of infinite possibilities, you have the freedom to choose and the power to create your life by design.

We each have the power to reinvent outdated self-perceptions that no longer serve us and return to the essence of who we are in relation to our life’s work. We can choose an identity based not on what we do but on who we are. Rather than defining work by position, tasks and responsibilities, we can define our roles by the creative contribution we offer and the fulfillment we receive from bringing value to others and ourselves. Work becomes an extension of spirit and an expression of individual gifts and talents; it’s what you’re passionate about—what you love to do, rather than what you have to do.

But even though everyone has a genius inside, just waiting for the right conditions to shine, most people along the way have been taught to compromise dreams and conform to “reality.” Reality is not hard and static—it’s ever changing; the seemingly impossible is absolutely possible with the right combustion of creativity, innovation, clarity of vision and commitment. When you follow your inner guidance and allow your passion and creativity to flow uncensored, you will be led to fulfill your mission and purpose. Let your inner genius emerge!

To thrive and prosper in a changing environment while creating a career that is an extension of your passion and purpose, here are my suggestions:

1) Know Thyself. Answer the question, “who am I?” honestly and completely. What is at your core? What’s most important to you in life? What can you not live without? What is essential? Throughout your life, what has remained the intrinsic elements that define and drive you—beyond jobs, beliefs, relationships, history and any additional stories and identities that have been piled on throughout the years? Who are you in essence? What makes you unique? What ignites your passion? In what way do you reveal your inner genius? These are the qualities that you will express wherever you go. Your purpose and mission will emanate from this essence.

2) Define Your Purpose. Purpose is your reason for being—the grand vision you are here to discover and materialize as your life unfolds. Purpose answers the question, “why am I here?” It’s your North Star—the bright light that guides and directs you as you explore possibilities and live your mission. When you make choices grounded in your essence, you reveal and refine your purpose. What is your unique contribution to the world? Look to your life history for clues: if you string together the defining moments of your life, they will often point to a theme or a definite calling. Follow that thread. Some people are aware of their purpose from a young age, while others discover it piece by piece.

3) Live Your Mission. Your mission is purpose in action—it’s how you express your purpose through what you do. You live your mission by expressing your essence consistently through the choices you make. Through your mission, you answer the question, “How can I serve?” How will you create the life you envision? How will your creations influence the world around you? What will you give? How specifically will you express the grandeur of who you are through your words and deeds in accordance with your purpose? When you live your mission, you direct the course of change and innovation because it flows from your purpose and essence.

When you define your purpose and live it through your mission, you have personal power. You won’t be thrown around by the currents because your livelihood and sense of self isn’t tied to a job or position; instead it unfolds from the essence of who you are and who you choose to be. That’s real success: when your thoughts, words and actions are aligned with your purpose and you live from that space of inner harmony, congruency and total power.

About the Author
Niurka is a dynamic speaker with a sharp wit and inspiring stories. She is a communication and influence expert and founder of Niurka Inc., a corporate-training company. With more than a decade of experience, she has entertained and informed audiences across the country with her message of peace and prosperity. Visit niurkainc.com for free inspirational downloads.

“Being ready isnt enough; you have to be prepared for a promotion or any significant change”.

Pat Riley, leading American Basketball Coach

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