Thursday, May 30, 2013

A Reset Button for your Brand

We don’t have it, but I think this piece has a good idea in some ways. Perhaps we should have a reset button for children when they become adults. Often the things we might do at 15, or 17, are not the things we would do when we are 21 or 22 and entering the workforce. The things we might do before we enter military service are often not what we would do later.

We might, but in that case, does a brand reset matter? We’d just rebuild the same brand.

We don’t have those things, however, and in the technology world (and perhaps others soon), our brands, our reputations, and our history will follow us around. If that’s a good brand, we may have more, or better, opportunities. If it’s a poor brand, we may have few.

Do good work. Do professional work. Build a positive brand.

Friday, May 24, 2013

Learn Something Today

I saw this quote, and thought it was great.

“Go to bed smarter than when you woke up.” — Charlie Munger

Charlie Munger is the partner of Warren Buffet, and has worked in the financial industry for decades. Both men are billionaires, living late in life, and still working.

I think this advice is something all of us in technology can take to heart. We work with a variety of ever changing technologies, and we can’t know everything about the platforms on which we work.

However we can continue to get better.

I don’t know that I learn something every day, but I’m starting to think I should be making more of an effort to learn something small, something that makes me think or question the world around me. Something that makes me think differently about my career.

Read and learn something new today.

And write about it.

Friday, May 10, 2013

What Have You Learned?

I ran across an interesting link that relates to colleges and their goals, as well as measuring this goal: http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130509131339-17000124-congratulations-college-graduate-now-tell-us-what-did-you-learn

It’s disconcerting to see this as a parent of a college kid, but I think this also can apply to work. You ought to think about what you've learned at work on a regular basis. If you're not learning, then you're adding another year of the same experience.

At the end of five years, do you want five years of experience, or one year of experience five times? Employers, and especially technical interviewers, are getting better at separating these out.

Work on your career by learning more. Assess yourself, and try to determine if you’ve learned to actually do new things each year. Make a list, or keep documentation when you learn something new and can apply it to work.

You should ensure your branding reflects this.