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Filed Under: David Topus

 
I believe in the power of networking, as most opportunities in business, career and personal life come through someone you know, either directly or indirectly. If you sell for a living, the contacts you make can lead you to revenue; if you are in career transition, they can lead you to jobs. Regardless of your profession or career status, the people you meet can expand your horizons by introducing you to new ideas, resources and knowledge.

The meteoric growth and influence of LinkedIn, with 90 million profiles, has put networking into the mainstream. But along with the expanded opportunities to network online comes some responsibility to manage your connections — a.k.a. "hanging out with the right crowd."

 

Published on: Monday, October 25, 2010

A Brand is a Promise, What’s Yours?

Comments (1)
 
More and more attention is being placed in the career industry on personal, or executive, "branding." Branding is hardly new in the broader marketplace; it has been going on since the beginning of competition in free markets. Brands are a core part of life in America. We are surrounded by them; our thoughts are influenced by them. We make buying decisions based on them.

Marketing departments live and breathe branding because they know it can make or break a company. They also know it's the best way to command a higher price for their products and services. A company's brands can be one of its most valuable assets. If you're from a marketing background you know this. If you're from any other function, you probably at the very least appreciated it, as your company's brand "or lack thereof " will impact the organization's success to some degree or another.

 

Published on: Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Keep Your Cool

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Report from World Business Forum, New York

I head up the personal marketing services group of ExecuNet, so I'm no expert on global energy policy. But I pay taxes (like most Americans), consume more energy than I should (like most Americans), and care about the planet (hopefully, like most Americans). I also hate inefficiency, which is central to any conversation about energy and how we use it here in America.

So in attending the World Business Forum, and being asked to report for the organizers of the event on the comments of one speaker, Marvin Odum, the president of Shell Oil North America, I had the unique opportunity to get some firsthand insight about how one of the big four oil and gas companies is dealing with what is unquestionably a complex issue.

I have always had a personal interest in the topic of energy, especially oil — how it is being legislated, produced and consumed. Mostly because I am often struck by how much of it we use, how important it is to our way of life, and how time, money, and lives have been spent trying to ensure we have access to as much of it as we want.

 

 
It is always interesting when executives ask me how to make their résumés more compelling. Now, I recognize that most executives aren't expected to be experts in résumé writing, but what occurs to me is that most of them are experts of a sort in résumé READING.

Most executives have been on the hiring side for years, having reviewed and evaluated hundreds, if not thousands, of résumé. They've sat across the desk from candidates with résumés in hand, and they've stared at résumés on a computer screen with the candidate on the other end of the phone. As a résumé reader, surely they know what they did, and did not, like. They know what got their attention. They know what made them want to get the candidate in for an interview right away. They know what made them click and drag the document into the recycle bin.

 

Published on: Thursday, August 26, 2010

The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of Personal Reinvention

Posted By: David Topus
Filed Under: job search, david topus, reinvention, career change, reinventing
Comments (2)
 
People think about the matter of "reinventing" themselves as some kind of epic event – that it takes great planning, preparation and courage to become something new. But, no matter where you are, and no matter what you're doing now, if you look back over your life you will see that you have reinvented yourself multiple times along the way in order to get where you are right now. In fact, you reinvent yourself every day, every time you do something new. And most of the time you probably don't even realize consciously that you're doing it.

How many times have you been given an assignment from your boss to take on a project you've never done before? Probably often, and yet each time you will have to figure it out for the first time. That means reinventing yourself into that capability.

 

Published on: Thursday, August 19, 2010

There’s No Secret to Success

Comments (3)
 
As one who has dwelled in the corporate world for my entire 30+ year career, either consulting to senior executives, selling to senior executives, or packaging and positioning them, I am fascinated by the question of "What's the secret to executive success?" Is it in the DNA, like a Jack Welch-type success gene? Is it an educational credential (Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, MIT)? Is it political skill (Daniel Goleman, author of the book Emotional Intelligence, might say so)? Or is self-promotion and personal marketing the magic sauce?

Growing up in a business family in a community of accomplished professionals, I presumed that being smart and working hard is the recipe. But I have learned, over the years, that there's more to it. Frankly, as far as I'm concerned, it's a combination of all the above, with self-promotion and personal marketing the most influential among them. All across America every day there are millions of people doing great work and making significant contributions, but unfortunately much of it will go un- or under-noticed because the person doing the work is missing the opportunity to let it be known.

 

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