@Deb (@CEOCoach) – thanks so much for your continued kind words. I took a big risk financially hiring you (never knew how huge until the financial crisis hit) and it paid back itself in spades, and I’m not talking about monetary return. It has and will continue to pay itself back in long-term career fulfillment which I believe is elusive for most people. I think everybody goes through a “mid-life” career crisis (I am one of many friends who were in my space, quitting their excellent paying executive jobs to find that next big thing), and with your help I believe I’ve emerged relatively unscathed and setup well for the future. I look forward to a long and fruitful relationship.

@Karen What a small world! I am very impressed by your son Rob Katz at Next Billion and the Acumen Fund who at such a relatively young age is clearly a thought leader in the creative capitalism space. I recently sent me an email of your conversation this weekend before I even had a chance to look at the comments of this post. Interesting about your comment on work-life balance. I blogged about this at http://www.disruptiveleadership.com/2008/09/29/work-life-balance-pop-quiz/ . It introduced me to a work-life balance “expert” who commented on the post. Great to be introduced to Rob’s mother … you clearly did a great job raising him!

@John – I even more honored to catch the attention of one of my favorite “little books.” I think your almost singular focus on the “giving” piece of networking was key for me. One short story … I have a friend in China who is a recruiter who had just opened his on business recruiting attorneys in China. I asked him to connect me with some folks in his network. He gave me a few contacts. Because I read your book, my mind initially went into thinking “what can I help him with?” I realized I had worked with an attorney who was a Chinese national who worked at a Law Firm in Washington DC but split his time in Beijing as he was an expert at working with the Chinese government. I figured he had a great attorney network in China/US and would be a great contact for my friend. I introduced them and my friend then turned into a personal recruiter for me, introducing me to probably more than 15 folks. And it made me feel good! Thanks for putting out a great nugget of wisdom.

@Louise Thanks for the kind words … it really did start with you back in March and the connections you made for me. I was in my “sabbatical” period but was definitely churning in terms of all the potential forks in the road. And I love visual PC … thanks so much for introducing me to it (and Deb!). You and Facebook have certainly lit a fire under LinkedIn. Hopefully the site can continue to evolve and provide a complementary and/or competitive advantage.

Thanks again all … I’ve enjoyed networking with all of you.

Mark

1) Yes, you did the “matchmaking” to put us together; and it worked beautifully. Many thanks!

2) You are exactly right; Mark’s brand was there all along, as was his passion, but he wasn’t aware that it was his singular “best thing” to offer (great personal brands are built on ONE core thing, as you know). Mark lived his brand at Intel by being a passionate “intrapreneur” and emerging markets “digital access” evangelist in a corporate environment, but after a while the square peg/round hole thing was just too frustrating and he left because he had to work way too hard to manage around Intel’s culture. I think that’s when his brand power really started to emerge and mature, because once you start living your brand, the wrong fit feels REALLY wrong.

Mark’s quitting Intel “cold turkey” was hugely gutsy, but even though his brand drove him to do it, his concrete, concise brand knowledge still wasn’t there. When we worked together, within weeks it just exploded. When we began, Mark was playing it a little “safe” and a little “corporate” at the beginning (as many clients do), but then he just let go and decided to go with his core message and passion, That’s when the floodgates opened and the “real” Mark Beckford, Creative Capitalist, emerged, took charge, and rocked his world.

That often happens in branding – when we uncover the core brand, it just takes on a life of its own and pretty much flattens any lingering doubts like a steamroller. Anything not on brand feels really wrong, even intolerable; anything on brand feels exactly right (even if a little scary sometimes). Wrap that brand around a value message and watch out world!

Deb Dib

Congrats on your new position and, especially, on gaining clarity and doing all the hard work that you did.

Much appreciated —

John

I have inside knowledge of that award-winning site, and know that one of its co-founders grew-up in the careers space, reading Fast Company and “The Brand Called YOU!” Branding and Web 2.0 tools like blogs and social networking are essential elements of Social Entrepreneurship and BOP.

Interesting that Rob mentioned you to me, but not in the context of personal marketing. I think it is fair to say that your “branding process” was so successful that it wasn’t visible even to a “trained eye.”
Jason’s blog post and your story resonate with the conversation we had yesterday about age, transferable skills, and career transition.

If I’m understanding your story correctly, you are one of the accomplished folks who would trade work-life balance for money any day; whose career transition is unlikely to be advanced by recruiters because it is not based on a “career curve” (Recruiting Animal’s term). You have successfully engaged career strategies and career coaches who have helped you to take ownership of your career and helped you to conduct a proactive search.

Congratulations to you, to Louise, Deb, and to the insightful folks at http://www.Next.Billion.net (Rob Katz)!

Once he knew his personal/executive brand (and value — a brand is no good to business unless tied to value), he went the distance. There was nothing he wouldn’t tackle to get it out there. We developed a portfolio of branded documents (resume, case studies, etc), but I wanted so badly for him to do a blog — his passion/knowledge around “creative capitalism” was SO strong I was sure it would create an almost instant community…and it did. In fact, he tackled a blog, Facebook, LinkedIn, VisualCV, and Twitter nearly simultaneously. When Mark decides to do something, he does it!

The funny thing is that initially Mark (as most job seekers do) balked at narrowing his job focus to his branding sweet spot. But the more we worked together, the more he realized he could not deny the “power within” — and when he embraced it, WOW! Branding and passion (and may I take a little credit, too?) helped him stay motivated and moving forward on his pursuit strategy, even when things were getting tough financially and with the economy in meltdown. He never gave up.

Mark used lots of job search methods, but the personal relationships he built traditionally, and through Web 2.0, delivered the opportunity for job he truly wanted (and that job will help him truly “change lives through technology” which is one of his core values.) Doesn’t get much better than that!

Mark, you are one of the greats and NComputing is lucky to have you!

Deb Dib
Mark Beckford’s proud and happy CEO Coach