The Career Distinction Workbook

Transcription

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2 The Career Distinction Workbook William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson Reach Communications Consulting, Inc (Reach). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from Reach. The Reach logo, where branding gets personal, and 360 Reach are trademarks of Reach. All other marks are owned by their respective companies. Page 2

3 Table of Contents page Using the Career Distinction Workbook 5 Vision 6 Purpose 7 Goals 8 Values 11 Passions 15 Brand Attributes 16 Strengths 18 Motivated Skills 19 Describing Your Competitors or Peers 20 Putting it Together 22 Describing Your Target Audience 23 Building Your Brand Profile 25 Career Marketing Tools Checklist 27 Making On-Brand Career Decisions 28 Page 3

4 Communications Skills 29 Personal Brand Communications Planning 31 Online Identity 33 Observing Your Brand Environment 36 Defining Your Brand Identity System 38 Connecting Members of Your Network 40 Page 4

5 Using the Career Distinction Workbook Congratulations on taking a major step towards ensuring a career filled with success and personal fulfillment! As you read Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand (Wiley, June 2007), you ll find references to exercises that you can explore in this companion workbook. This workbook has been designed to help you put the learning from the book into action. Remember to sign up for complimentary weekly Career Distinction Tips at They enable you to keep your career top of mind putting Principle #3 of Career Distinction into regular practice. These exercises are by no means the only exercises that can support you through the process. We have included in this workbook those exercises that have proved most useful to our professional clients. If you have recently taken some quantitative assessments through a career coach or know of other exercises or activities that work for you, by all means, incorporate them as well. If you are a member of the Reach Branding Club, you will see that there are other exercises from which you can select that will help you as you build a career that few imagine and even fewer attain. We wish you the highest level of Career Distinction. Enjoy! -William and Kirsten Page 5

6 STEP 1. EXTRACT UNEARTH YOUR UNIQUE PROMISE OF VALUE Chapter 4: Know Yourself to Grow Yourself Because the exercises in the Extract phase of our Success! personal branding process encourage you to dig deeply into some personal themes, some of them may seem a little touchy-feely. We urge you to keep an open mind and to complete the exercises over a period of time (or repeat them a few times) to get comfortable with the material. This is not a linear process. If you feel stuck while completing one exercise, move on to another. You ll want to finalize your work in the Extract phase, however, before moving on to Express or Exude. You ll find a detailed explanation of each phase in our personal branding process in Career Distinction. Defining Your Vision Think about one world problem you would like to see solved or one area of life that you want to see transformed or improved. This is your vision. Write it below. Page 6

7 Defining Your Purpose Now, imagine yourself at your own funeral. You are hovering above the room and can hear what people are saying about you. What are they saying about what you accomplished, how you touched their lives, how you made a difference to them and to the world? Their comments suggest your purpose. Write what you are hearing below. Page 7

8 The Mother of all Goals Exercises Step 1 Open up either a Microsoft Word or Excel document, and just go crazy typing in every goal you have for your career or business (one goal per line). You might type in items like I will be the head of our IT department, or I will take an assignment in the New York office. Type every single goal that you can think of into your document. And when you think you ve got them all out of your head, go back and add some more, because we guarantee you that there are some more in there. When you are done, you will have a long list that details everything you want to accomplish in your career. Step 2 Go back to your list, and to the left of every goal, put a 1, 2 or 3. Mark an item with a 1 if it s a goal you would like to accomplish in the next year, a 2 for those you would like to accomplish in two to five years, and a 3 next to every long-term goal (greater than 5 years). Step 3 Sort the list (this why you do this exercise in Word or Excel). You ll end up with all the 1s together, all the 2s together, and all the 3s together. Then within each of the three subgroups, ask yourself, is this one more important than this one, is this one more important then this one, and so on. Then for each of the three categories, put Page 8

9 them in priority order with the most important goals first. What you will end up with is a complete list in chronological and prioritized order. Step 4 There are two things that you do with this. First, look at the links among various goals milestones that together lead to achievement of a major goal. And second, you will find that by prioritizing them, you will see what is really important and will be able to focus your energies instead of fracturing your efforts on too many disparate goals. Step 5 After looking at the list: 1. Delete any goals that are not really important. 2. Consider adding goals or refining ones that you ve documented. Step 6 Look over your complete list of goals and identify the most logical next step in your career that will help you along the path toward your ultimate goal. Then, describe the position in great detail. Use the following to get clarity on the position(s) you are considering. Page 9

10 Fill in the blank or circle the items that describe your ideal position: Company size (by number of employees or revenue): Employees: Revenue: Circle One: Small Medium Large Type of role/ job titles: Location(s) Can you list the companies you are targeting by name? Page 10

11 Understanding Your Values In the space below, document your top five values (the list on the following pages will help). These are your guiding principles. Refer to Identifying Your Values and Passions on page 40 of Career Distinction to learn more about the roles of values and passions in your career Now that you have identified your top five values, take a look at your current company s values and see the connection and intersection of those values. How can you become known for demonstrating these values? Page 11

12 As you determine your key values, here are some to consider; but don t limit yourself to just this list. As you go through the list, eliminate those values that don t really resonate with you. Then from the remaining values select the five that are the most important to you. Abundance Accessibility Accomplishment Accuracy Achievement Adaptability Adventure Affection Affluence Aggression Agility Alertness Altruism Ambition Amusement Assertiveness Attractiveness Awareness Balance Beauty Being the best Belonging Bravery Calmness Camaraderie Care Carefulness Celebrity Challenge Charity Cheerfulness Clarity Cleanliness Cleverness Comfort Commitment Compassion Completion Concentration Confidence Conformity Connection Consistency Contentment Continuity Control Conviction Cooperation Courage Creativity Credibility Curiosity Daring Decisiveness Dependability Depth Desire Determination Devotion Dignity Diligence Directness Discipline Discovery Discretion Diversity Drive Duty Dynamism Page 12

13 Page 13 Education Efficiency Elegance Empathy Encouragement Endurance Energy Entertainment Enthusiasm Excellence Excitement Experience Expertise Extravagance Extroversion Exuberance Fairness Faith Fame Family Fascination Fashion Fearlessness Fidelity Financial- independence Fitness Flexibility Focus Freedom Friendliness Frugality Fun Generosity Grace Gratitude Growth Happiness Harmony Health Heroism Honesty Honor Hopefulness Humor Imagination Impact Independence Ingenuity Inspiration Integrity Intelligence Intensity Intimacy Introversion Intuition Inventiveness Investing Joy Justice Kindness Knowledge Leadership Learning Logic Love Loyalty Making a - difference Mastery Maturity Mindfulness Modesty Motivation Mystery Obedience Openmindedness Optimism Order Organization Originality Passion Peace Perfection Perseverance Persistence Persuasiveness Philanthropy Piety Playfulness Pleasure Popularity

14 Page 14 Potency Power Practicality Pragmatism Precision Preparedness Privacy Pro-activity Professionalism Prosperity Punctuality Purity Realism Recognition Recreation Relaxation Reliability Religion Resilience Resolution Resourcefulness Respect Rest Restraint Sacrifice Satisfaction Security Self-control Sensitivity Sensuality Serenity Sexuality Sharing Significance Silence Silliness Simplicity Sincerity Solitude Sophistication Speed Spirituality Spontaneity Stability Strength Structure Success Support Surprise Sympathy Teamwork Timeliness Traditionalism Tranquility Truth Understanding Uniqueness Usefulness Variety Vigor Virtue Vision Vitality Wealth Winning Wisdom Wit Youthfulness Zeal

15 Unearthing Your Passions In the space below, document your top five passions. These are activities, interests or conversational topics that fascinate or excite you and make you feel energized. Your passions make you get out of bed at 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning or get you talking enthusiastically with other people Your top values and passions will also become important later, when you work on your personal brand communications plan in Step 2 Express (page 79).

16 Chapter 5: Remember, It s What They Think That Counts Brand Attributes Use the 360 Reach Personal Brand Assessment that comes with your purchased copy of Career Distinction to determine your brand attributes. You can find it at: Remember, you have 15 days of unlimited use of the assessment, so take advantage of this opportunity to poll those around you to understand their perceptions. Print our your summary before your 15-day subscription expires. You will not have access to the data after 15 days. Because this is a complimentary subscription, there is limited customer support. Get answers to your questions at Once you have completed the assessment, you can refer to your printed summary. To perform an analysis of the data and glean the greatest insights from the feedback you received, refer to the ebook: Page 16

17 The Complete 360 View Making the Most of Your 360 Reach Results available for $14.95 at: (If you are a Reach Branding Club Job Search Edition member, this PDF file is downloadable from your member area when you login to If you need more than 15 days to complete your 360 Reach assessment, you may purchase a 30-day extension. After completing the assessment, document what you learned below: My top five personal brand attributes are: Page 17

18 My Strengths Analyze your 360 Reach results to determine your strengths. Document them here Page 18

19 Motivated Skills Exercise This exercise also gives you great content for your resume and other career marketing materials. Make a list of the greatest personal successes of your career it doesn t matter whether or not you were compensated for these endeavors. Think about the times when you were outstanding and truly enjoying your work (hint: it didn t feel like work). Choose your three to five favorites, and write challenge/action/results stories in terms of the results or benefits you delivered. Document what made you so successful these are your motivated skills. Example: Pizza Hut Challenge: Make cinema commercial for less than $5,000 to improve sales in restaurants near movie theaters. Actions: Reviewed all existing footage from several countries, and edited together with "mock" Action Movie soundtrack and witty credits. Results: Budget and sales goals achieved. Motivated Skills Used: experimenting, creative thinking, taking calculated risks, collaborating Page 19

20 Chapter 6. Define Your Brand Community Refer to Figure 6.1 on page 59 of Career Distinction. Describing Your Competitors or Peers - Commonality Think about your competitors or peers actual and potential. Can you identify them by name? By category? What do they all have in common? What makes you different from your competitors? Consistency with Peers To know what makes you different, it is often valuable to identify what you have in common with your peers. List below the items that you share with your peers or those who seek the same career objective. These items can include credentials, attributes, skills, etc. For example, you might list items like: B.S. Marketing, solid communications skills, and creativity. Page 20

21 Describing Your Competitors or Peers - Differentiation Now, list below the items that make you stand out from others who are seeking the same position as you. These items can include credentials, attributes, skills, etc. For example, you might list items like: Chair the Committee at my local Boys and Girls Club, sarcastic wit, certificate in international business. Page 21

22 Putting it Together Now think about your ideal job and determine which of the items you identified in the exercises above (attributes, skills, and differentiation) will be helpful in reaching your goal. Take a look at the lists above and complete the following: Identify those items that are absolutely essential for achieving your ultimate career goal. Think about how you can use these differentiating attributes to achieve your goals (the job you seek and your longer-term goals). Ask yourself how you can inject more of your strengths, skills and differentiating attributes into what you do now. Ask yourself what s missing. Are there brand attributes or skills that are critical to success that you need to have? If so, list them below: Page 22

23 Describing Your Target Audience Take a few minutes to think about your target audience. If your career goal is to make it to CEO of your current company, your target audience will include many people that you know by name. If you are looking for a new job right now in a new company, industry or location, you should be able to describe your target audience by demographics and psychographics. You want to be crystal clear about the people who need to know about you! Fill in as much information as you can about your target audience in the space provided below. Demographics: Age range Gender Career/job position/title(s) Income Location/geography Education Page 23

24 Psychographics: What do they do in their spare time? What magazines or newsletters do they read? What movies or TV shows do they watch? What websites or portals do they visit for information? What do they do for vacation? What are their professional activities outside of work? Page 24

25 Chapter 7: Tell Your Brand Story Building Your Brand Profile Write your personal brand statement (a brief description of your promise of value) in the space provided below. This should be a wellworded description of what you do, for whom, how, and what makes you unique. Try to keep it to one sentence. Refer to examples on page 71 of Career Distinction. You can elaborate on your brand statement by completing your brand profile below. But it is invaluable to be able to communicate your essence in a sentence. Now, review your brand statement against the PBS Checklist on page 76 of Career Distinction. My PBS: Concisely summarize your vision, purpose, values, etc. in the spaces provided below. Vision: Page 25

26 Purpose: Values: Passions: Personal Attributes: Finally, to find another way of expressing what you strongly believe, think of your favorite quotation (not created by you) and write it below: Page 26

27 STEP 2: EXPRESS COMMUNICATE YOUR BRAND TO YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE Chapter 8: Create Your Career Marketing Tools Completing Your Career Marketing Tools Checklist Here s a checklist that will help you as you develop your careermarketing tools. Bio written and up-to-date (See bio advice on page 83 of Career Distinction). Resume up-to-date date (See resume advice on page 87 of Career Distinction). Resume starts with Summary of Qualifications (See resume advice on page 87 of Career Distinction). Customized Cover letter template ready to go (See cover advice on page 94 of Career Distinction). All documents communicate my personal brand and differentiation. Page 27

28 Making On-Brand Career Decisions After interviewing for several positions, you will need to determine which job is going to meet your criteria and move you toward your ultimate career goal. Complete this checklist for each opportunity you are considering: The company is the kind of organization in which I can be successful. The position fits all/most of the ideal characteristics I described above as the ideal. I will have an opportunity to use what I am passionate about in this new role. This position will allow me to fulfill my purpose in support of my vision. The company s values are consistent with my mine. This role is a logical next step toward my ultimate career goal. Page 28

29 Chapter 9: Express Yourself Communications Skills Self-Evaluation One thing all strong brands have in common is that they are great communicators. Assess your communications skills in the following areas with 5 being the strongest and 1 needing most improvement. Although branding is about using your strengths to stand out, all strong brands are excellent at communicating. 62% of CEOs say it was their communications skills that got them to the top spot. Writing Presentation Telephone In-person Now, looking at the communications skills in which you excel, think about creative ways you can increase your visibility. Refer to the story on page 108 of Career Distinction. Page 29

30 Refining Your Communications Skills Review your responses to the above. Below, list three ways you re going to improve your communications skills in the areas that you identified need improvement. For instance, you may want to take a writing class, join Toastmasters (the international public-speaking training organization), or take advantage of some other resource to hone your skills. Record your ideas: Page 30

31 Personal Brand Communications Planning List the communications vehicles on the communications wheel above that are right for you and that would be effective for reaching your target audience. Then, document the overarching content theme that you will communicate through these vehicles. Content themes are the key messages you want to get across. They sit at the center of your communications wheel and can be applied to all of the communications vehicles you have identified. Page 31

32 Write your comprehensive annual communications plan (organized by month) and gauge its effectiveness with the checklist on page 112 of Career Distinction. To ensure that you implement your plan, schedule daily activities in your to-do list. Page 32

33 Chapter 10: Assess Your Online Identity Google yourself and take the Online Identity Quiz at: Look at the online identity matrix on page 121 (Figure 10.1) of Career Distinction and read the descriptions on page 124. Then circle where you currently are on the scale: Digitally Disguised Digitally Dissed Digitally Disastrous Digitally Dabbling Digitally Distinct Page 33

34 Chapter 11: Build Your Brand in Bits and Bytes Online Brand Building Checklist I ve performed a baseline Google assessment to determine my online identity. I ve registered my domain name e.g., I have an up-to-date profile on zoominfo.com, linkedin.com, ecademy.com, and other online profile and social networking sites. I have my own niche blog and/or website. I have the volume of Google results that is appropriate for my level (Refer to Table 10.1 on page 123 of Career Distinction). My online search results are relevant for what I want to be (Refer to Table 10.2 on page 123). My online communications plan is in place. I ve sourced the appropriate professionals (Find tips for this on page 137). Page 34

35 I ve found relevant places to post comments/advice and publish articles. I m committed to one online identity-building activity at least every other week. I Google myself every Monday morning. Three things that I will do to improve my online identity in the next two weeks: Page 35

36 STEP THREE: EXUDE MANAGE YOUR BRAND ENVIRONMENT Chapter 12: Be On-Brand in All That You Do Observing Your Brand Environment For the next two weeks, observe everything you do, every tool you use, every article of clothing you wear. For example, do you use a Palm Pilot or other PDA, a printed calendar, a handwritten to-do list? Do you carry a briefcase? Your actions, tools, clothing, and office space all constitute your brand environment. In the space below, list all the items that make up your brand environment. Now, for each item in your list, identify whether that item is onbrand or off-brand, and explain why. Page 36

37 Finally, in the space below, write the changes you need to make to your brand environment so that you can be more consistently onbrand. Page 37

38 Chapter 13: Get a Visual Identity Defining Your Brand Identity System Work with a designer to develop the visual vocabulary for your brand. This vocabulary is used to describe your brand attributes and differentiation. For some communications, you will be required to follow your corporate identity guidelines. But for other activities, such as presentations to professional associations, your blog, articles you publish, etc. you will want to have your own identity system that reflects your unique promise of value. When used consistently, it will help those around you recognize you. Document below the items that make up your unique brand identity system. Color(s): Based on the table on page 161, circle the color that best represents your brand Font(s): Refer to the Figure 13.1 on page 162 to select the font(s) that best represents your brand. Also, search for fonts in Page 38

39 Microsoft Word and printed publications, and share your preferences with your designer. Now think about the other elements that are appropriate for your brand identity system. Refer to the examples on pages of Career Distinction. Images: Logo: Textures: Audio/music: Tagline: Page 39

40 Chapter 14: Increase Your Career Karma Connecting Members of Your Network Connecting members of your network with each other is also important. Often, a meeting of two powerful brands can create tremendous value. Review the names of your inner-circle network members and think about the value that might emerge if you were to connect certain members with other members. Draw lines among these network members. Design a plan to connect them with each other. Write your ideas below, including dates by which you intend to implement your plan. Also check out a cool online tool for organizing your network and your career-management efforts. Page 40

41 Additional Resources and Special Offers Reach Branding Club Job Search Edition When you ve purchased Career Distinction, you can join the club for half price. This innovative brand development and social networking site will help you accelerate your career success. The benefits of this annual membership include: Networking with other like-minded club members Connecting with career coaches, executive recruiters, and hiring managers Keeping the branding process top-of-mind with fun, inspiring on-demand presentations, exercises, and quizzes A free copy of the 360View ebook and an interactive presentation that will help you analyze your 360 Reach results Access to the recordings of our monthly teleseminars with top experts and authors Page 41