I came across Mark Beckford a few months ago, as he is a client of one of my partners, Deb Dib.  Mark immediately struck me as very nice, very ambitious, very successful, and very unemployed.  I watched as he started his blog, Disruptive Leadership, and remember his first post wasn’t even the awkward “I’m here, blogging, now what do I say” post.  He jumped right into it, with an analytical, opinionated view on current events that he had professional passion about.

Very nice start, I just wondered if he would be able to keep up the momentum.

Well, he has kept up the momentum, and he stays true to his name Disruptive Leadership.  Very impressive.  Just about everything he has on his blog is impressive… I love the name, colors, look-and-feel, etc.  He is fearless in what he blogs about, has a great style, knows when to write a lot and when to write a little… he has an excellent blog.

And that’s all I’m going to say about why his blog rocks. If you want more substance into what makes a great professional personal branding blog, you can sift through the last 2 years of award winners.  For now, let’s shift gears a little and move from technique to RESULTS.  Because RESULTS is what this is all about.  Mark gets the customary 6 months of JibberJobber premium (transferrable), the highly sought-after link to his blog in my blogroll, a cyber-high-five, and a Blog Marketing 201 - 501 webinar… not too shabby for Mr. Disruptive.

Now let’s get down to RESULTS.  I’m going to let Mark share, in his own words, the results he got.  This is kind of long, but it’s a great read.  This is exactly the type of story I look for to quantify the value of having a strong personal branding strategy.  Mark, take it away!

After 11 years with Intel and a 3-year assignment in Shanghai starting up a new business group and turning around a few businesses, I found myself unsatisfied.  Being in China with Intel was a great experience, but a combination of things, including a dearth of entrepreneurial opportunities, led me to take a year off.   So I pulled the plug on Intel and China and returned to my home in California to spend time with my family (not much opportunity to do that as an expat or Intel executive), dabble in some hobbies (drawing, blogging, and cycling), and do some self-exploration.

I have read more books on various topics in the last 9 months than I have in 20 years.  Some of the standouts tended toward common themes:

• Networking: Never Eat Alone; The Go-Giver; How to Win Friends and Influence People
• Social Networking: Groundswell
• Career Development: I’m on LinkedIn, Now What? Career Distinction; Ask the Headhunter; Now Discover your Strengths; Uniting the Virtual Workplace
• Global Perspectives: The World is Flat; Post-American World; One Billion Customers (how to do business in China)
• Social Capitalism: The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, Creating a World without Poverty

As I started thinking about getting back into the job hunt, I realized that for the first time I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do.  I  have always been very goal oriented, knowing what I wanted to do or be in 5 years, yet here I was, unsure of what I should do next. Join a startup?  Go back to a big company?  Do consulting?  Go international again? And what type of function (biz dev, general management, etc.)?  It was an uncomfortable place to be.

I joined a six-week teleseminar in March on career management for execs which I found on Blue Steps, led by Louise Kursmark.  Deb Dib presented at the first session and gave an update on personal branding—my first intro to it.  Louise recommended Jason Alba’s book on LinkedIn, and suggested I use VisualCV because my career had strong visual elements.

I agreed with Deb’s approach ideas about branding, but I was daunted at the thought of doing it by myself. I knew that at work I was at my most creative when I was bouncing ideas off people.  In 2006, I had hired a resume writer, Gloria Gordon, to update my resume for the first time in 10 years (never updated it after business school… just got promoted within Intel and never really needed it.)   Gloria did a great job both on the resume and the cover letter—from scratch—for about $600.  They got me interviews and a job offer, but it wasn’t about branding.

I looked at several brand experts and went with Deb Dib (the most expensive, but I believe that you get what you pay for). In April, I then began the branding process which started with self discovery and included doing things that were very uncomfortable but rewarding. For example, I didn’t like sending Reach’s 360 out to my friends/colleagues.

Bottom line: it helped me realize I had an entrepreneurial passion for growing for-profit tech businesses in emerging markets, creating a wildly successful business while doing good by helping people in need.  The interesting thing is that once I discovered this, I found that there is a huge movement out there to bring business principles to do social good, mixing the dynamics of creating sustainability and growth through capitalistic principles while promoting a social mission.  It is called a “double bottom line” business (i.e. using both profitable and social measurements for success).

So originally, the idea was to take a year of—the first half of the year to hang out with my family, and the second half to do the job search.  I originally figured it would take a few months to find a job.  I had already gotten offers before I left Intel, and headhunters were calling me here and there.  But by June, the phone was no longer ringing, and I realized that this was going to take awhile.  Then things got ugly as the economy ground to a halt and all the companies went on hiring freezes (great for JibberJobber).   The home equity loan I had planned to tap into in case my nest egg for the year got dented decreased due to the decrease in the value of our house.  My wife and I started letting go of all the “help” (gardner, housecleaner, pool man).  I watched my 401K get whacked 20 percent in one week.  Anyway, the financial crisis train was on its way and it was the worst time in 20 years to be looking for a job, especially an executive level job.

The one light for me in all of this was that I now knew exactly what I wanted to be now … CEO of a startup selling computing devices to underserved populations in emerging markets.  The intermediate step given my finances was to work for a startup (preferably) doing this, or a big tech company like Adobe, Google, Facebook that was already doing it (more likely scenario).

But as you know, looking for a job completely SUCKS.  It is demoralizing and boring to boot.

I had become fascinated with web 2.0 and online social networking.   I joined a bazillion social networking sites, but found zero value in 90 percent of them.  The exceptions have been LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.   I finally decided to do a blog, with Deb’s urging, and it has been the most enjoyable thing I’ve done this year.  It has allowed me to express myself and create something that people are actually interested in.   It took a long time to come up with the name, Disruptive Leadership, that fit my “brand”.  I fell into it as I started googling names like Disruptive Marketing, etc.   So 22 posts later, it’s growing and I’m meeting new and interesting people.   It has gotten me noticed by well-established sites in my space such as http://www.nextbillion.net where I’ve been brought on as one of a handful of staff writers.  One measure of how it has impacted my online brand is that if you google my name in quotes “Mark Beckford” my blog is the second result after my LinkedIn page.

I have been invited to moderate two panels on the role of computers for development.  One was at a conference two weeks ago called “Social Capital Markets 2008″ which brought together investors, nonprofits, and social entrepreneurs for which I wrote an article titled Pathological Collaboration about how necessity is forcing two previous “enemies” together: capitalists and nonprofits.  The second panel will be at the Net Impact conference (a global network of leaders trying to change the world through business) in Philadelphia next month on the role low cost computing in development in emerging markets.

I am now working on creating a professional network to complement my blog that will bring together like-minded professionals and executives in the technology business who are growing their businesses in emerging markets and looking to use their products to promote development.   Something like Technology for Development or something sexier.  Nothing out there combines technology, for-profit business principles and emerging markets.  I’m taking a slow approach on this as I think social networks are a tougher nut to crack than blogging.  For example, how do you create an active and vibrant community?  What’s the value proposition?  The technology is easy (Ning.com).

And finally, I just received a job offer with a startup called NComputing that sells low-cost computers to schools and other sectors in emerging markets.  I believe they offer a true “disruptive innovation” to the PC world and I am tremendously excited to make their vision a success.

So, in summary, I would say my “success” in creating my brand, online and otherwise, was due to my:

• Risk-taking – willing to quit my job which was draining me even though I was working in one of the most dynamic countries in the world.
• Introspection – willing to peel back the onion to see what makes me tick.
• Willingness to seek help – hiring an executive CEO coach to help me do that introspection (and taking the risk that the BIG investment would be pay later).
• Passion for networking – reaching out to people in my area of interest which has lead to great things.
• Being bold, brash and edgy – abandoning the first name I suggested to Deb Dib for my blog (”Digital Opportunity”) and accepting her criticism of it (”boooorrrrrinnnng!!!”)  which led me to come up with “Disruptive Leadership” and pushed me to be edgy in my writings that convey more powerful things that create interest.
• Giving more to your network then you receive – Volunteering for a ton of things and looking for ways to give back to my network vs. only take, which isn’t easy when you are looking for  a job, but I’ve seen how this pays off.

The result is I am better grounded in who I am, have built a solid online presence, have found the perfect job, and hopefully become a thought leader in this space.

Excellent! Inspiring! Great job Mark!  And congrats on being the Oct 2008 Winner of the Month!

I met Mario Lopez, CPA, over a year ago on the My Virtual Power Forum.  A financial professional looking for international work, Mario is a sharp, eloquent, giving, thoughtful professional.  He started a blog and asked me for my critique a number of times, and I finally got around to checking it out.

If you want me to review and analyze your blog, it’ll cost about $500 (I say that because I get lots of requests, and don’t necessarily have the time, even though I love to do it).

In short, Mario’s blog is great, it serves it’s purpose, and it has matured over time.  There is still much work to do, which Mario recognizes, but this blog shows Mario’s professional breadth and depth in a way his resume couldn’t.  Remeber, the personal branding award, You Get It, is all about recognizing professionals who use technology to help others understand their personal brand.

Let me dig right in to my analysis of his blog.  I’ve already sent this to Mario, and he has responded, but many of the points here might be helpful to you as you move your blogging strategy forward.  This is the email I sent to Mario:

Mario, que crees?  I finally got around to critiquing your blog (http://financialculture.blogspot.com).  I’m really impressed with how far it’s come.  Please know that I’m being honest, and might not be right, this is just a review off the top of my head while I hang out at an airport.  I’ll blog about this if you let me… let me know if you are cool with that.

- I like that this is in English.  Show’s your English proficiency.  I wonder, though, who your job search audience is, and if you should have this (or another one) in Spanish?  I think it’s great in English, but consider your audience (which I don’t know).

- I like your use of YouTube videos in your posts.  Relevant information to each post, on-brand, informational, etc.  Hearing from one blogger all the time (like me) is probably boring… you help diversify the information you put in, while staying on brand, with the videos.  Plus, it makes you look technologically cool, as not all bloggers have figured out how to put video in.

- this is a cultural thing, so take it with a grain of salt.  In the header you say “This blog intends to create discussions with…”  I would say “This blog creates discussions with”  You already know I think you are wordy (although I must say, your posts are more concise than what I was expecting to see), but it might help to get a native English speaker to do you a favor and spend an hour or two and proofread your blog, and help minimize cultural and language nuances in your messaging.  When I write, one of goals is to “tighten” my wording, which means cut out as much as I can and still keep the message.  Cut, then cut some more, and then cut again.

- I have to say it: I hate blogger.  Your blog needs to be hosted with a wordpress install on a server.  Until then, change the layout to make it look less like blogger (… the gray background - gag).

- I LOVE the image with all the dollars on the top right.  It is really, really, really big… taking up more real estate than I would want to give up, but it leaves NO question about your brand, expertise, and message.

- You have way too many widgets, links, images, and noise on the right side of your blog.  Just because you CAN doesn’t mean you SHOULD.  I would totally clean that up, and put those things in a Page, or multiple pages.  Get it off of the main blog page, as it really detracts from your messages, and your messaging.  Getting rid of all the widgets *might* make me like your blogroll, which is really great to reach out to other financial bloggers, but still very, very long.  Consider breaking it into categories, like I do on my JibberJobber blog.

- Post with more frequency.  3, 4 and 5 posts per month is NOT enough to build a community, readership, or get a lot of SEO benefits.  You have great content, a great voice, and really show your passion and expertise.  But It’s not frequent enough to engage me.

- does blogger allow you to put a “subscribe by email” widget on your blog?  This should be on the top right, and not having it is what I consider one of the sins of a blogger.

- I’m not good with colors and layout, but the red header and the blue sidebar don’t seem to go well together.  change one or the other, but make them match better, not clash. (Mario has since changed this)

- get rid of the snapshots widget.  It drives me nuts.

- link out to more blog posts, and blogs.  You need to market this blog more (you get 0 comments), and that’s a good start.

- Your email signature includes a link to the blog, but also links to other stuff… I got lost for a second, and I knew what I was looking for.

I also got some feedback from Twitter friends:

and

Mario, you are on the right track, I’m excited to see your blogging strategy move forward!

Congratulations! You join a special group of professionals and have earned a coveted link from my monthly winner’s blogroll area (on the left), six months of premium JibberJobber (you can transfer/award this to someone else ), and a cyber-high five! And, a new addition to the prize list is the two hour (!!) recording of Blog Marketing 201 - 501 (part of the CEO Training for Me, Inc. - listed at $49.95 (but much more valuable than that!).

Feel free to post the You Get It award on your site!

Click here to see past winners.

Last week I was in Nashville doing presentations at Vanderbilt’s Owen School of Management. I was seriously impressed with the building (one building dedicated to the MBA program - sweet!), campus (the trees and flowers and plants are AMAZING), career center staff (very, very competent and on first-name basis with many students; also, very involved with the student process… much more involved than I’ve seen in many other places), students (sharp, great questions, and determined) and faculty (who came to one of my workshops - extra credit for them!). 

I met Jared Degnan, owner of Marketing Diner, and twitterer at Twitter.com/marketingdiner.  Jared comes across as a pretty nice guy, and is well known by many of his Owen peers.  If I was going up against Jared for a marketing position, I’d be nervous.  Why?  Because his blog and tweets talking about marketing, and social marketing, would really set him apart from his competition.  Check out the tagline for Marketing Diner (below the logo):

I think it’s easy to get consumed with school, work, social life, etc. when you are in school… that’s what happened to me.  But Jared is developing his own job security by establishing a foundation to his personal brand RIGHT NOW.  His blog is smart, but beyond that, he’s helping future employers, clients, employees, and others in the marketing space know who he is - his professional breadth and depth.  He is giving you a window into his professional capacity, and could easily be seen as a thought leader in the marketing space.

Jared wins this month’s You Get It Personal Branding award, and becomes one of the very few winners that I’ve actually met in person!

Jared Degnan, congratulations! You join a special group of professionals and have earned a coveted link from my monthly winner’s blogroll area (on the left), six months of premium JibberJobber (you can transfer/award this to someone else ), and a cyber-high five! And, a new addition to the prize list is the two hour (!!) minute recording of Blog Marketing 201 - 501 (part of the CEO Training for Me, Inc. - listed at $49.95 (but much more valuable than that!).

Feel free to post the You Get It award on your site!

Here are the past winners:

• September 2006 - ClickDave - my review
• October 2006 - Kent Blumberg - my review
• November 2006 - Heather Henricks - my review
• December 2006 - Adelino de Almeida - my review
• January 2007 - Rob Humphrey - my review
• January 2007 - Ariel Meadow Stallings - my review
• February 2007 - Mike Schaffner - my review
• March 2007 - Susan Johnston - my review
• April 2007 - Thomas Clifford - my review
• May 2007 - Rob Frankel - my review
• June 2007 - Trent Hamm - my review
• July 2007 - Katie Konrath - my review
• August 2007 - Robb Hecht - my review
• September 2007 - OOPS! I took this month off and didn’t realize it! Lucky me
• October 2007 - Tanya Ferrill - my review
• November 2007 - Sean O’Donnovan - my review
• December 2007 - Andy Shaindlin - my review
• January 2008 - Kate Herrick - my review
• February 2008 - John Halamka - my review
• March 2008 - another OOPS!
• April 2008 - another OOPS!
• May 2008 - Morty Schiller - my review
• June 2008 - Heather Gardner - my review
• July 2008 - Norm Reiss - my review

This post is brought to you by Deb Dib, the CEO coach. Deb Dib helps CEOs (and rising stars heading for the C-suite) land faster, earn more, have fun, and change the world! C-level career services include executive branding, resume creation, executive coaching, and comprehensive on-line identity techniques focused on LinkedIn, Twitter, and other forms of social media. Deb Dib is a JibberJobber Career Expert Partner.

Norman Reiss is a non-profit professional.  Want to know how good he is?

Want to know how much he knows about and thinks about the non-profit space?

All you have to do is check out his blog.  You get a good sense of his depth (how well he knows certain topics), breadth (how many topics he knows about in this space), and professional passion.

Norman’s blog is excellent - it puts his brand out there as a subject matter expert and a though leader in the non-profit space.  His tagline is “Bridging Technology, Communications & Development to Implement ePhilanthropy Strategies for Nonprofit Organizations,” and all of his posts are so on-brand it’s awesome.  

Here are some recent posts, and my comments on how/why they really show Norman’s brand:

• Mistakes Nonprofits Can’t Afford to Make - shows he is a thought leader… and if he is YOUR nonprofit executive, you know he’s strategy-minded.
• More ePhilanthropy Ideas from Around the Web - keeps up with industry chatter and ideas - remains current.
• Examples of Nonprofit Excellence - in this post he has suggestions for the org that recognizes the excellence - he’s thinking about how to improve what’s already there.
• Integrated Fundraising - No Longer Optional - understands industry issues and transformations.
• Notes from Fundraising Day, ePhilanthropy Symposium - he works to stay current on industry trends, affairs, news, etc.
• Blackbaud to buy Kintera, but… - understanding of the technology issues in fundraising… 

Seriously, Norman gets it.  I’ve been impressed for a long time, and I’m happy to give him this award!

Norman Reiss, congratulations! You join a special group of professionals and have earned a coveted link from my monthly winner’s blogroll area (on the left), six months of premium JibberJobber (you can transfer/award this to someone else), and a cyber-high five! And, a new addition to the prize list is the two hour (!!) minute recording of Blog Marketing 201 - 501 (part of the CEO Training for Me, Inc. - listed at $49.95 (but much more valuable than that!).

Feel free to post the You Get It award on your site!

Here are the past winners:

• September 2006 - ClickDave - my review
• October 2006 - Kent Blumberg - my review
• November 2006 - Heather Henricks - my review
• December 2006 - Adelino de Almeida - my review
• January 2007 - Rob Humphrey - my review
• January 2007 - Ariel Meadow Stallings - my review
• February 2007 - Mike Schaffner - my review
• March 2007 - Susan Johnston - my review
• April 2007 - Thomas Clifford - my review
• May 2007 - Rob Frankel - my review
• June 2007 - Trent Hamm - my review
• July 2007 - Katie Konrath - my review
• August 2007 - Robb Hecht - my review
• September 2007 - OOPS! I took this month off and didn’t realize it! Lucky me 
• October 2007 - Tanya Ferrill - my review
• November 2007 - Sean O’Donnovan - my review
• December 2007 - Andy Shaindlin - my review
• January 2008 - Kate Herrick - my review
• February 2008 - John Halamka - my review
• March 2008 - another OOPS!
• April 2008 - another OOPS!
• May 2008 - Morty Schiller - my review
• June 2008 - Heather Gardner - my review

After almost two years and 19 Personal Branding winners of the month, it’s time to shift the emphasis a little.

I started this personal branding award for two reasons.  First, it was to recognize those who are showing, or growing, their personal brand through current technologies.  Most of the recipients are (or were) bloggers.  A handful only had static websites.  A few of them extend beyond their own blog or website, and I recognize that in the post I wrote about them (see bottom of this post for the list).

The second reason I started this personal branding award was to show YOU that YOU can do this too!  It’s not just for the elite, or the early adopters of blogging or other technologies.  The strategy of developing and portraying your personal brand is a strategy that you should seriously consider.

June’s winner is one of my favorite people.  I “met” Heather Gardner on the My LinkedIn PowerForum a number of months ago.  I found her to be brash (in a good way), passionate, and anxious to help people.

So how am I shifting emphasis?  I’m not going to talk about her blog.  And I don’t think she has a static website.  Even so, she is doing an excellent job sharing her brand all over the place.  I can sum it up in one word… Heather is:

Of course, she’s married with kids, but she is very engaged in discussions online.  She is active enough in various places that many people know who she is, what she does, and what value she brings. It’s not her full-time job, so she can’t do it 8 hours a day.  Nonetheless, she’s out there.  Here are some things she’s involved in:

My LinkedIn Power Forum - Heather is quick to share, ask, give advice, participate and encourage.  Many people have benefited from her involvement there, and I’m sure she has branded herself as a very helpful, knowledgeable and resourceful recruiter (and employment expert).

Recruiting Blogs Ning network for recruiters - Very active here, sharing with and learning from her peers.  When I created my I Just Got Fired slideshow done she asked if I was going to put it on RecruitingBlogs.com, which is something I hadn’t thought of.  It showed me that it is on her mind, and she’s involved there, and guess what… there are over 9,000 recruiters on that little social network!  Powerful, and a great place to be involved.

Twitter - some think Twitter is bunk, and others like it when it isn’t down (which is too often).  Nonetheless, it’s an amazing place to develop relationships, learn about other people, and share “who you are” with your followers.  Of course, Heather is there, active, with hundreds of people following her.

LinkedIn - of course she’s on LinkedIn.  She’s not just there - she is engaged.  She has asked three questions and answered 12. How many have you asked or answered??

Blog - Yep, she has a blog, too.  I find her style and perspective to be quite insightful and engaging.  And with titles like Honey does this blog make my “BUT” look big? and “I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours” Promiscuous Web 2.0, how could you not be interested?

She’s elsewhere, like Facebook.  I’m sure she’ll be other places, too.  But the point of this post, and the reason I’m recognizing her, is because it’s the next natural step to what I’ve recognized over the last almost two years of this personal branding award: being engaged.

Heather is definitely engaged.  And the relationships she’s building will benefit her for many years to come.

Heather Gardner, congratulations! You join a special group of professionals and have earned a coveted link from my monthly winner’s blogroll area (on the left), six months of premium JibberJobber (you can transfer/award this to someone else ), and a cyber-high five! And, a new addition to the prize list is the two hour (!!) minute recording of Blog Marketing 201 - 501 (part of the CEO Training for Me, Inc. - listed at $49.95 (but much more valuable than that!).

Feel free to post the You Get It award on your site!

Here are the past winners:

• September 2006 - ClickDave - my review
• October 2006 - Kent Blumberg - my review
• November 2006 - Heather Henricks - my review
• December 2006 - Adelino de Almeida - my review
• January 2007 - Rob Humphrey - my review
• January 2007 - Ariel Meadow Stallings - my review
• February 2007 - Mike Schaffner - my review
• March 2007 - Susan Johnston - my review
• April 2007 - Thomas Clifford - my review
• May 2007 - Rob Frankel - my review
• June 2007 - Trent Hamm - my review
• July 2007 - Katie Konrath - my review
• August 2007 - Robb Hecht - my review
• September 2007 - OOPS! I took this month off and didn’t realize it! Lucky me
• October 2007 - Tanya Ferrill - my review
• November 2007 - Sean O’Donnovan - my review
• December 2007 - Andy Shaindlin - my review
• January 2008 - Kate Herrick - my review
• February 2008 - John Halamka - my review
• March 2008 - another OOPS!
• April 2008 - another OOPS!
• May 2008 - Morty Schiller - my review

Congrats to wordsmith Morty Schiller for using online technology to enhance his personal brand and position himself in a way he can become more “findable!”

Morty is a professional writer. In fact, he writes junk mail. Lest you think that is bad, or he is evil, I point you to his Confessions of a Junk Mail Junkie article. This is a guy who understands his business, and the perception thereof, and is not afraid to address the perception.

Morty Schiller’s brand comes across as someone who is competent. And passionate about what he does. And credible. And if I had something that could benefit from a direct mail strategy, I would be compelled to talk with Morty.

Again, not that there aren’t other experts in the space… but Morty’s websites (the main site and his blog) help me (a) find him and (b) trust him. Here’s what I like:

The personality… and sense of humor. As you read through his stuff, he is simply a likeable guy… non-threatening, approachable, etc. This is not a cold, clinical sales pitch… you can actually feel like you know Morty.

The competency. Check out his blog posts… these are smart. They are on-brand… related to wordsmith stuff. For example, Don’t use these words and The death of words are two posts that let me feel his passion for his trade, and help me know that he deeply thinks and cares about current issues in his area. It makes me think subject matter expert, and/or though leader.

The simplicity. There isn’t noise here… no google ads, no widgets, etc. Well, a little noise on the right side of the blog, but really, it’s quite clean and not distracting.

Somehow, Morty puts his brand very assertively without being pushy… and that, he’s branding himself in a role that some might find unappealing! It’s very, very cool.

Of course, he’s doing a lot of other things right, too… you can see past winners and see a lot of consistency with each winner.

Morty Schiller, congratulations! You join a special group of professionals and have earned a coveted link from my monthly winner’s blogroll area (on the left), six months of premium JibberJobber (you can transfer/award this to someone else ), and a cyber-high five! And, a new addition to the prize list is the two hour (!!) minute recording of Blog Marketing 201 - 501 (part of the CEO Training for Me, Inc. - listed at $49.95 (but much more valuable than that!).

Feel free to post the You Get It award on your site!

Here are the past winners:

• September 2006 - ClickDave - my review
• October 2006 - Kent Blumberg - my review
• November 2006 - Heather Henricks - my review
• December 2006 - Adelino de Almeida - my review
• January 2007 - Rob Humphrey - my review
• January 2007 - Ariel Meadow Stallings - my review
• February 2007 - Mike Schaffner - my review
• March 2007 - Susan Johnston - my review
• April 2007 - Thomas Clifford - my review
• May 2007 - Rob Frankel - my review
• June 2007 - Trent Hamm - my review
• July 2007 - Katie Konrath - my review
• August 2007 - Robb Hecht - my review
• September 2007 - OOPS! I took this month off and didn’t realize it! Lucky me
• October 2007 - Tanya Ferrill - my review
• November 2007 - Sean O’Donnovan - my review
• December 2007 - Andy Shaindlin - my review
• January 2008 - Kate Herrick - my review
• February 2008 - John Halamka - my review

A bit of history about this You Get It Personal Branding Award. I started this in September, 2006. This is my 18th month doing it, where I recognize professionals who are using online technologies to “portray their personal brand.”

What does that mean? I am looking for people who are doing an excellent job showing me (as a hiring manager or recruiter, partner, customer, vendor, employee, etc.) what their professional breadth and depth is, and what their passions and opinions are.

If I end up with your resume, and it sits on my desk with four others, they are all probably going to look pretty much the same (to some degree). I’ll know you are all smart, achievers, volunteers, accomplished, etc. By this point in my process, all five resumes look like commodities (or, they make you look like a commodity). If I can go to your professional blog (not your personal/cheerio blog) and get to know your breadth, depth, passions, etc., I’m going to get sucked in. Are you smart? Do you think about things in a way that will add value to my company? Are you abrasive? Have you build a following, or are you becoming a thought-leader/SME in the space? All of these things are going to come out better in your blog than in an interview or a resume (not a replacement, but a strong complement).

At the bottom of this post you can see the others that I have awarded over the last 1.5 years. It’s been an exciting run, and I know the award winners have benefited from their excellent online presence. Now, let’s get to John Halamka!

I came across John Halamka’s blog from a simple Google search. I think I was looking for CIO blogger, or something like that. John’s blog stood out, significantly, beyond the others that came up. Here’s what I like:

1. His content is king for the reader. John’s content is amazing, it’s so right-on. If I was an IT person in the healthcare space this would be required reading. If I were a CIO (or an aspiring CIO) this would be required reading. He’s really able to hit both the industry and the profession in a way that doesn’t exclude one another.
2. The content is great for Google. I’m not sure John did this on purpose, but his posts have enough industry/profession specific terminology (aka, jargon) that he should come up for a number of terms that other IT, CIO or executives should be searching for. His vendors will probably come up in top search results based on his blog. I tell people to make sure their LinkedIn profile has all the right jargon to come up in searches - John’s blog is an excellent example of this.
3. The blog is clean. This is very uncluttered, leaving the content for the readers. I applaud John for not putting all kinds of widgetry on his blog, which usually does nothing but distract the reader.
4. The URL is good (enough). I am a big fan of getting your own URL, but I’d say his is fine. “Geek Doctor”… has a ring to it. And it is descriptive. I have to admit, I do like the main header on his blog: Life as a Healthcare CIO, instead of putting GeekDoctor there, also.
5. I LOVE the header and personal descriptions. They are well-written, informative, and authoritative. Very good job.

That’s it! I don’t want to overwhelm you, and make you think that YOU can’t do this. Like John, YOU are a Subject Matter Expert in your space, aren’t you? You can do this!Let me share just a few things that I’d recommend John do. Even if he doesn’t do this (I’m sure he’s busy, as the CIO and all that ;)) he’ll still have a great blog. But here’s what I suggest:

• Get off of blogger. I wouldn’t recommend blogger to anyone, at least John chose the white background (instead of the gray one). The main reason to get off of blogger is because they could delete his blog. I favor getting the blog software from wordpress.org and putting it on your own server - then you get all the control you want.
• Add to the blogroll. John is not the only CIO blogger out there. He can really extend his virtual relationships to other healthcare professionals, and other CxO’s if he were to look for and link to some of them. Not sure if that’s a goal, but hey, it never hurts to strengthen your online brand and network, right?

John Halamka, congratulations! You join a special group of professionals and have earned a coveted link from my monthly winner’s blogroll area (on the left), six months of premium JibberJobber (you can transfer/award this to someone else ), and a cyber-high five! And, a new addition to the prize list is the 90 minute recording of Blog Marketing 201 - 501 (part of the CEO Training for Me, Inc. - listed at $49.95 (but much more valuable than that!).

Feel free to post the You Get It award on your site!

Here are the past winners:

• September 2006 - ClickDave - my review
• October 2006 - Kent Blumberg - my review
• November 2006 - Heather Henricks - my review
• December 2006 - Adelino de Almeida - my review
• January 2007 - Rob Humphrey - my review
• January 2007 - Ariel Meadow Stallings - my review
• February 2007 - Mike Schaffner - my review
• March 2007 - Susan Johnston - my review
• April 2007 - Thomas Clifford - my review
• May 2007 - Rob Frankel - my review
• June 2007 - Trent Hamm - my review
• July 2007 - Katie Konrath - my review
• August 2007 - Robb Hecht - my review
• September 2007 - OOPS! I took this month off and didn’t realize it! Lucky me
• October 2007 - Tanya Ferrill - my review
• November 2007 - Sean O’Donnovan - my review
• December 2007 - Andy Shaindlin - my review
• January 2008 - Kate Herrick - my review

I’ve blogged about Kate Herrick before, and I’ve blogged a bunch of time about her husband’s stuff, Scot Herrick (create of CubeRules).

I have a list of people in the queue to consider for the You Get It awards, and Kate has been in there for about a month, but last night I got Scot’s monthly e-mail and it had some stuff in there that sealed the deal:

Interestingly, the last four interviews have been for positions she has not applied for; rather, recruiters actually recruiting her for positions from her resume on a few job boards and her web site at http://kateherrick.com. It is very unusual in today’s market to have your own career web site and the proof is in the pudding with recruiters calling wanting to find out about this person who has her own site.

The idea behind having a brand online is to get results, right? Kate had four interviews because of her website? Recruiters are knocking on her door?? Geesh, I had none of this in my job search. I’m not sure I even interviewed at four companies total!

I’ll do a quick run-down of my thoughts and observations, from a technical/design/content perspective. But I want to start 2008 off right, and recognize Kate’s efforts for the RESULTS! Here are miscellaneous thoughts on what went into getting this far:

1. NO LONG TERM COMMITMENT. Kate is NOT a blogger, at least, this site doesn’t have the long-term commitment that a blog has. I like bloggers, and think it’s a great tool, but Kate is getting the results without a blog. I bet YOU could put something together like this for yourself in a few hours.
2. KateHerrick.com. She owns her own domain name. Do you?
3. The Menu is all signal, no noise. Check out the image on the right - this is all the navigation that she gives. You can spend all of 10 minutes on her website, if you have that much time, and get a good idea what she has to offer.
4. Her writing is personal, familiar, comfortable. When you are done reading her profile, and the information about her accomplishments, you walk away feeling that she is a very nice person, but also extremely professionally competent.
5. Her profile pictures reinforce her tone and message. She has two different profile pictures, both of them reinforce my impression that she’s a very nice person. Even so, her professionalism jumps out at me, as she has the right information (jargon, etc.) on her website.
6. Her message and strengths are front-and-center. Want to know what she brings to your organization? It’s right on the front page, spelled out pretty clear. Here are two images showing that:

and

Again, it’s about results. And Kate is getting them.

Kate Herrick, congratulations! You join a special group of professionals and have earned a coveted link from my monthly winner’s blogroll area (on the left), six months of premium JibberJobber (you can transfer/award this to someone else ), and a cyber-high five! Feel free to post the You Get It award on your site!

Here are the past winners:

• September 2006 - ClickDave - my review
• October 2006 - Kent Blumberg - my review
• November 2006 - Heather Henricks - my review
• December 2006 - Adelino de Almeida - my review
• January 2007 - Rob Humphrey - my review
• January 2007 - Ariel Meadow Stallings - my review
• February 2007 - Mike Schaffner - my review
• March 2007 - Susan Johnston - my review
• April 2007 - Thomas Clifford - my review
• May 2007 - Rob Frankel - my review
• June 2007 - Trent Hamm - my review
• July 2007 - Katie Konrath - my review
• August 2007 - Robb Hecht - my review
• September 2007 - OOPS! I took this month off and didn’t realize it! Lucky me
• October 2007 - Tanya Ferrill - my review
• November 2007 - Sean O’Donnovan - my review
• December 2007 - Andy Shaindlin - my review

Let’s wrap the year up with an excellent example of a professional who is a Subject Matter Expert (SME) and Thought Leader in his space.

Andy Shaindlin is the Executive Director of the Caltech Alumni Association at the California Institute of Technology, a role he’s had since 1999. He has been at Brown University, and the University of Michigan, and has been very active in the alumni space. Is he the smartest, most active alumni professional out there? Probably not (I only say that because there are a lot of very smart, very active alumni professionals). But his blog, Alumni Futures, sure makes him look like he is one of the smartest, most active.

Andy’s blog helps shape him as the SME. He’s clearly a thought leader.

It reminds me of something I heard Phil Windley say last year in a presentation about blogging (major paraphrase here):

I’m the same person as I was a few years ago, before I started blogging. Only now, I get paid to speak at events, present, keynote. I have the same ideas and opinions, but now I’m perceived as a SME.

See, that’s the thing. You may be a SME, but are you perceived as an SME in your industry? Check out Andy’s blog as an excellent example of how to develop that perception, that brand, even the personal brand! My comments about his blog:

Relevant Information - Andy is definitely not a “cheerios for breakfast” blogger - he brings relevant information to the alumni director’s attention. Alumni directors are extremely overworked (I used to sell software to them and was always amazed at how many hats they have to wear), so the last thing they have time to do is read a bunch of blogs. Andy keeps it short and relevant.

Job Postings - I almost put it with relevant information but decided to break it out - when he learns of a job posting he puts it on his blog. Why is this important? Because some (most?) alumni directors are on a contract, usually pretty short, and knowing who’s hiring is always a topic of interest.

Guest blogger(s) - okay, he’s only had one guest blogger, but it was an excellent post, and the fact that the guest was from Princeton adds credibility to the blog. I’d like to see more guest bloggers on Andy’s blog in the future, I think it adds great perspective and each blogger is like a vote of confidence in the overall blog.

The layout - it’s simple and nice… nothing special but it’s clean and not distracting from THE MESSAGE

Links out - Andy is the master of linking out (I recommend linking to more BLOGS and BLOG POSTS), which is great for page rank, but more important, it adds more value to readers

Additional information - Andy hit the mark with his Additional Information section, including information about himself (and his CV (resume)), consulting services, recent presentations (shows he is a thought leader in other places, aside from his blog), and upcoming presentations (means he’s still an active thought leader)

Other useful sites - bloggers can’t horde, they have to share. And we share information. Don’t like what I write? Here are alternatives! Andy does a great job putting important resources together (he doesn’t share hundreds, which is overwhelming, he shares his favorites)

Bottom line? This blog is doable … you can do it, you should do it, and Andy’s blog is the perfect model, and I know you can mimic some of this stuff!

Andy Shaindlin, congratulations! You join a special group of professionals and have earned a coveted link from my monthly winner’s blogroll area (on the left), six months of premium JibberJobber (you can transfer/award this to someone else ), and a cyber-high five! Feel free to post the You Get It award on your site!

Here are the past winners:

• September 2006 - ClickDave - my review
• October 2006 - Kent Blumberg - my review
• November 2006 - Heather Henricks - my review
• December 2006 - Adelino de Almeida - my review
• January 2007 - Rob Humphrey - my review
• January 2007 - Ariel Meadow Stallings - my review
• February 2007 - Mike Schaffner - my review
• March 2007 - Susan Johnston - my review
• April 2007 - Thomas Clifford - my review
• May 2007 - Rob Frankel - my review
• June 2007 - Trent Hamm - my review
• July 2007 - Katie Konrath - my review
• August 2007 - Robb Hecht - my review
• September 2007 - OOPS! I took this month off and didn’t realize it! Lucky me
• October 2007 - Tanya Ferrill - my review
• November 2007 - Sean O’Donnovan - my review

This month’s Personal Branding You Get It winner of the month award goes to Sean O’Donnovan.

And for the second time in the history of this award, you’ll notice it’s a non-blogger.

The purpose of this award is to showcase examples with you so that you can start to take control of your own personal brand online. I know many of you are intimidated and don’t want to blog, and think that many of my past winners are doing way more than you can commit to.

Sean’s website is an example that you can and should do certain things to own your personal brand in search results. In fact, when I searched for Sean O’Donovan (even without quotes) his page was third (only following a .gov city website and the imdb website, which Google loves):

Here’s what I like about Sean O’Donovan’s website, which I think portrays who he is nicely:

Sean owns his name - can I stress this enough? It’s huge for branding, makes you look more professional (and serious), and search engines love it!

Sean has his picture (which looks nice and professional) and a rotating quote from someone on every page of his website - see image at right –>

Sean has all of the stuff I’d expect to see on a resume, and he took advantage of the