// BLOG
Personal Branding the Concert Pianist Way
March 9, 2010
This blog first appeared in Recessionwire 
Most of us have heard so often that it’s important to have a personal brand that we’re sick of it. The overuse of the term is beginning to devalue it. I’m not a box of cereal; I’m a human being, you might say.
That is true. And it is increasingly difficult to find a differentiator as the competition for jobs and consulting assignments is so fierce. Maybe it’s because we’re looking at ourselves as a business. We’re using dull and dry terms to describe ourselves: team player, proven track record, top producer. They don’t exactly leap out and grab someone by the throat. (more…)
Writing a Letter Will Amaze and Delight
March 4, 2010
I received evidence today that letter writing isn’t dead. I just finished tossing my junk mail, as I do every day. But in between all the magazines and discount flyers for Broadway shows, I was delighted to spy a letter from a new bridge partner containing several instruction sheets with conventions we’re working on. Now, Susanne didn’t have to send these to me. It was a favor and she could have given them to me when we play next week.
White Castle Boss Goes Undercover and Learns Employee Engagement Works
March 2, 2010
I was finally persuaded by a friend to watch the new hit show “Undercover Boss.” This reality show confirmed that a CEO can learn a lot about how to make the company better by engaging with employees. For those who haven’t seen the new show on CBS, a CEO goes undercover as an employee in his own company to see for himself how things are working. Dave Rife, owner of the White Castle hamburger chain, was this past Sunday’s undercover snoop.
Simplicity, Clarity, Singleness: Goals for Bloggers to Achieve
February 25, 2010
Every day I receive an email with motivational quote from HeartMath and I’ve saved many of them because they resonated at a particular time in my life. Last week, I received this one and it seemed totally appropriate for bloggers, so let me share it with you:
“Simplicity, clarity, singleness: these are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy.”
—– Richard Halloway
As I originally wrote for The Bloggers’ Bulletin , these are the attributes that bloggers strive for in their writing. I know that I do. Sometimes I find myself including too much information in a post. And I especially think that trying to stuff a post with key words so the search engines can find you can ruin a post – from the readers’ perspective.
This applies to large businesses, too, that have the resources to research the information needs of their customers. Maybe the words customers use are not the words the company is using in its advertising and promotional materials — and this includes blogs. What is great about blogging by companies is that they can generate immediate feedback from customers, if you hit their hot buttons — or key words.
Whether you are writing for yourself or your employer, ask yourself these questions: Are the key words really relevant to your content? Are you writing for your readers with simplicity and clarity? Are you articulating one key idea in the post that is easy for the readers to understand? Is the idea likely to stir comments from readers?
It’s easy to get discouraged when a brilliantly written blog (in your view) falls flat with readers. Let’s all keep at it with a will to getting better and enthusiasm for our ideas. I will leave you with another quote that I hope will make your blogging a happy and productive experience.
“Begin growing from where you are – not from where others think you ought to be by now.”
—— Steven Douglas Lawrence
Should Google Tamper With its Brand for the Olympics?
February 18, 2010
Have you noticed – how could you miss it – that the familiar Google logo is nowhere to be seen on the search engine’s landing page? Instead, a soft green Google logo, with a sports figure matching the day’s events at the Winter Olympics, has replaced the colorful one that about a billion searchers see each day.
If you’re a sports fan, you may love it. But a lot of people actually hate it (OK, maybe my friend is not representative of the universe). They want the familiar Google. And, remember, not everyone is a sports fan.
But there is a larger issue here: should a company tamper with its brand identity when it is the category leader? (more…)
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