She shares how Law School Class of 2011 and 2012 J.D.’s from New York Law School, Florida Coastal School of Law, Hofstra Law, Cooley Law School, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, DePaul University College of Law, Widener University School of Law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, and others filed class action lawsuits against their their alma maters for consumer fraud.
These unhappy graduates claimed their law schools mislead them about their post-graduation employment prospects (direct article quotes):
Disgruntled law-school graduates who filed suits accusing their alma maters of deceiving them about their chances of landing a well-paying job haven’t had much success in court.
More than a dozen class actions were filed in 2011 and 2012, but courts across the country have knocked out the lawsuits one by one, including a recent dismissal in Florida. Only a few remain.
There’s Good News. I see opportunity for these unemployed attorneys. I see solo entrepreneurs with legal expertise to offer clients. Here are three (3) online platform ideas so unemployed lawyers as well as practicing ones can land their own clients and market themselves.
I hope you enjoyed a blessed and joyful Christmas Holiday with your family, friends, and loved ones! Here are your share-worthy links to enjoy during Sunday Brunch. Have a great Sunday!
2. Unreasonable.is: The 7 Emails You Need to Know How to Write. Email isn’t dead. It remains one of the first ways we build and establish relationships. If you want your emails noticed, read, and acted upon by important/busy people, read this great, how-to article. This one went straight into Evernote for frequent and easy reference.
Well-paying professions previously limited in opportunity for women opened up (e.g., corporate finance)
Other prestigious yet "conventional" professions provided relatively lower risks and higher success outcomes (e.g., medicine, law)
The decision to have children and the responsibilities of child rearing (versus their male counterparts who remained unencumbered with these commitments)
The most successful Stanford Class of 1994 female entrepreneur, Jessica DiLullo Herrin, executed a flanking strategy to build and grow Stella & Dot. She created a digital services company but shunned The Valley’s traditional route creating a product or using venture capital funding. In her words (direct quote from the article):
Writing to summarize results and convey information
Writing to communicate ideas or explain informaton clearly
Incorporating information to develop strategic insights
57 Resources to Land that First Marketing Job
There's Hope, If You're Willing to Put in the Work. These various resources are categorized to aid recent college graduates who majored in marketing and communications (or current students majoring in these fields) during their full-time job search (or an internship search for current students).
These resources (along with resources from previous posts in this series) can give recent graduates ideas, strategies, and tactics providing a competitive advantage not only in the job search but also in developing several of the requisite skills and knowledge employers say recent graduates lack.
The categories are listed below with a make-shift table of contents:
Resource 1: Your Online Portfolio, Evan Kirsch and FolioMatch.com
Resources 2 – 9: Resources / Ideas from Tom Peters, Seth Godin, Mitch Joel, and David Meerman Scott
Resources 10 – 18: Career Success Ideas from Dan Schawbel for Young People and Millenials
Resources 19 – 20: Job Search 101
Resources 21 – 28: Interviewing 101 (and Beyond)
Resources 29 – 30: Using Twitter's Real-Time Capabilities to Power Your Job Search
Resources 31 – 46: 21st Century Marketing and Communications: Walk-the-Walk and Talk-the-Talk
Resources 47 – 49: LinkedIn
Resources 50 – 51: Preparing Your Resume
Resources 52 – 57: Inspiration on Demand
Resources 2 – 57 are in no particular ranking or order. I included numbers to track the number of items and subsequently group them with some logic.
Addressing Unmet Needs. FolioMatch.com fulfills HUGE unmet needs for young people who may have recently graduated, will graduate in Spring 2014, or are current college students seeking internship opportunities while in school:
Providing a living/breathing, on-demand online portfolio capturing all relevant projects, class assigments, internship deliverables / work products, accomplishments, awards, etc. throughout a college student's four-year college career
Making it easy to manage and deploy this online portfolio in a one-screen world
Devoting a career-focused, portfolio-centric, social network for a narrow audience (college students AND ambitious high school students)
From the Video."We started FolioMatch to be a one-stop resource for a student to keep track of all the projects they've completed over the years. Since then we have started sponsoring educational challenges so that we could help boost the content of students' portfolios."
Required Full Disclosure / Am I Receiving Any Money / Am I Receiving Any Equity / Am I an Advisory Board Member and other Boilerplate B.S. I Have to Write For Speaking So Highly of Evan and FolioMatch.com. I receive zero, nada, nothing, and any other cliche, etc. in financial compensation for talking up Evan and FolioMatch.com.
If you're a parent who's worried your son/daughter who graduates from college in Spring 2014 may face difficulty in this brutal job market (because the odds are he/she will), go to the FolioMatch.com site and register.
2.Tom Peters / Fast Company: The Brand Called YOU: This August 1997 article is the original classic highlighting the rising importance of personal branding. Mr. Peters was ahead of his time in publishing and describing these timeless career management principles.
Bonus.David Meerman Scott — Inbound Job Search: David published this video on December 2nd. He shares five (5) inspiring stories about people publishing creative and remarkable content to win dream jobs. One of the stories is how his daughter, Allison Meerman Scott, leveraged her personal blog to differentiate herself from thousands of outstanding Columbia University undergraduate applicants to win admission!
I do. And, even though he's 20 years younger, I believe his teachings apply to any age group or professional experience level. He's the epitome of entrepreneurial hustle
These Mashable articles do a great job in describing the basics AND the things to do to stand out. The common theme here is "put in the work." No magical formulas. Just get to work.
The common theme throughout these articles: Prepare. Prepare. Prepare. Do this and you'll eliminate 50% – 60% of your competition before walking in the room.
When it comes to real-time news and responsiveness, there's Twitter and then there's everybody else. Leverage its real-time capabilities to your advantage. Finding out about that open, entry-level position before other candidates is a competitive advantage.
You don't have to memorize vocabulary lists by rote. But, you have to credibly demonstrate your awareness of how marketing, communications, and public relations are constantly changing.
51. LinkedIn Labs Resume Builder: This handy app transforms your LinkedIn Profile into a PDF resume. Therefore, fill out your LinkedIn profile with as much detail as you can.
Inspiration On Demand
52. to 55. LinkedIn Influencers — My First Job Job Series: If you're getting down on yourself during the process, GO HERE IMMEDIATELY. Everyone had to start out somewhere. That includes some of the world's most influential movers & shakers in every industry.
My First Job. I started out as an unpaid, summer laboratory tech intern / dishwasher at The Washington University School of Medicine. Luckily for me, the department's head researcher paid me that fall because my boss said I was a good guy.
56. Jonathan Fields — The Good Life Project: Jonathan is an A-List entrepreneur and a person driven to help others succeed personally and professionally via entrepreneurship. His video interviews are inspiring.
57. Video: Best Day of My Life (Dog Version) by American Authors: Trust me, this video will make you feel soooooo good after watching it no matter how bad you feel. And, it's probably why American Authors are my new favorite band and why this song is now my all-time favorite.
Closing Thoughts
This is post five (and the final one) in a series to help new college graduates and current students land full-time jobs or internships.
If you're a college graduate looking for work, a concerned parent, a worried relative, or a current college student, please let me know in the comments if the content here helped (or if it didn't).
What should be kept on this list? What should be taken off? What resources did I miss? What should be added?
Please help me in continuously improving this page as a helpful resource to others.
Members of the Social Media ReInvention Blog Community know I'm a HUGE Mitch Joel Fan. I'm currently studying his latest book, CTRL ALT DELETE. I love this book because it's typical Mitch Joel:
Visionary / Forward Thinking
Entertaining / Great Writing
Thought-Provoking / Cites Tons of Other Great Books I Need to Read
I still need to finish Part 1 of the book describing five (5) current/future business drivers. As soon as I get the "story structure" better organized, I'll ship and publish the full book review. Until then, here's a glimpse of what I've learned from studying CTRL ALT DELETE:
CTRL ALT DELETE'S Seven (7) Reboot: You Triggers
1. A Digital First Posture (as defined by Mitch Joel, page 124 of CTRL ALT DELETE). "A digital-first posture means that the first place your consumers go when making a business decision is to their computers, smartphones, and/or tablets. This should be your default posture as well.
2. The Long and Squiggly Road (e.g., Embrace the Squiggle) Career paths are forever-changing because the "career escalator is jammed up" especially in large, Fortune 500 companies. Careers no longer follow a linear trajectory. If you want to continue developing valuable and marketable skills, you have to embrace the squiggle and adapt to pursuing multiple careers (not just multiple jobs) during your lifetime. It's permanent beta personafied.
7. Embracing the Next. Longevity in a productive, rewarding career requires a continuous ability to adapt, iterate, and spot game-changing trends. Mitch lists and describes six (6) of these trends in this chapter. If you want to learn what they are, buy his book.
"A bachelor's degree on its own no longer conveys intelligence or capability."
Suggested Authors / Books to Help Undergraduate Marketing Majors Land that First Job After College
These suggested authors / books are not of the "cookie cutter" or "10 easy steps on how-to land your first job out of college / summer internship in a lousy economy" variety. They share creative ideas to show a potential employer "you're more than a resume and the grades on a college transcript". Their teachings maximize the Internet's global reach and leverage search engines to your advantage.
In my opinion, if you graduated with a marketing and/or communications degree (or are currently studying these undergraduate majors), the following authors and books are REQUIRED READING.
Note: I am not an Amazon Affiliate Program Member. I respect the following authors because of their invaluable advice on how to develop a credible and professional online presence.
David Meerman Scott is a marketing strategist, advisor to emerging companies, bestselling author of eight books including three international bestsellers, and a professional speaker on topics including marketing, leadership, and social media.
Why The New Rules of Marketing & PR Matters
The New Rules of Marketing & PR is in its 4th Edition, has sold 300,000+ copies, and is translated in 25 languages.
Marketing and communications students will learn from this book the value of:
Thinking Like a Publisher (e.g. managing and creating content as a valuable asset)
Tactfully and Skillfully Informing the World About Your Expertise
Creating Varieties of Content Demonstrating That Expertise
Building, Understanding, and Targeting Your Audience Via Buyer Persona Profiles
Commenting on Other Blogs to Build Online Credibility and Relationships
Giving Away Your Expertise by Publishing and Distributing Free E-Books
Here's David discussing the latest release of The New Rules of Marketing & PR:
"An e-book is a PDF-formatted document that identifies a market problem and supplies an answer to the problem. E-books have a bit of intrigue to them — like hip younger sibling to the nerdy white paper."
If you click on the image captions, the hyperlinks will take you to the respective, eBook PDF download pages.
If I've said it once, I've said it 43 other times. Ann Handley is the best writer and storyteller in the New Media Business. Her writing and storytelling makes you:
Ann and C.C. share clear, actionable advice built on two (2) governing principles:
Thinking and Acting Like a Publisher
Publishing Helpful, Remarkable Content
Content Defined. Words, images, videos comprise content and can take the form of:
Web Pages
Videos
Blogs
Photographs
Webinars
Whitepapers
eBooks
Podcasts
Presentations
Social Outposts (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, etc.)
Learning Through Great Storytelling and Writing. Great writing makes reading Content Rules enjoyable. And, studying it helps you ask the right questions about content strategy execution:
Goal Setting: Who is Your Audience? What Metrics Will Determine You're Succeeding (or Failing)?
Defining: What Content Type(s) Should You Publish?
Publishing: How Often to Publish (by content type)? What are the Platform Considerations (i.e., blog posts, tweets, Facebook updates, LinkedIn Group discussions, etc.)?
Promoting: How to Share Content (without the cologne of a used car salesman).
More importantly, they share practical advice for budget-constrained marketing teams wondering:
How Do We Start?
What's the RIGHT Content Strategy for US?
Pages 22 to 24 to the Rescue. The Content Rules of Why & Who (or Grab Your Colleagues, Tons of Sticky Notes, Lots of Paper, and Thrash Through the Following Questions):
Whom are you trying to reach (e.g., your audience, clients, customers)?
What does your audience crave (e.g., content that informs, entertains, something else)?
What do you want your audience to do (e.g., motivate it to do X, figure out the calls-to-action)?
What content do you already have (e.g. take a content inventory)?
Wake Up (because this is a long post, and I can hear you snoring)! How about re-imagining those boring bullets into something differentiating and remarkable:
Content Rules Video Update with C.C. Chapman and Ann Handley. C.C. and Ann made this September 2010 video before the book's release. It's a great example of practicing what they preach and seeing the human side of great content marketing.
Walk-the Walk and Talk-the-Talk.Inbound Marketing is the second book I studied about digital marketing strategy (The New Rules of Marketing & PR being the first). If you're a serious marketing and communications graduate (or current MAR-COMM undergraduate) and want to "rock it" in your interview, you have to study and learn Inbound Marketing's principles COLD. Published in 2010, Brian and Dharmesh's teachings preceded much of the current and future implications of marketing and digital strategy:
Foundation principles and relevance of inbound links, SEO, Google Authority, Page Rank so potential customers/clients find you (instead of you interrupting them)
The underlying principles behind “closed loop” marketing (CLM)
Inbound Marketing provides clues to what a genuine, 21st century digital-driven organization looks for in employees. Hubspot utilizes its DARC framework when evaluating potential hires:
D = Hire Digital Citizens
A = Hire for Analytical Chops
R = Hire for Web Reach
C = Hire Content Creators
If you can'tanswer the following HubSpot interview questions while simultaneously providing real-time "show-them-the-money" on-screen, digital evidence, YOU'RE HOSED. Here are example interview questions from pages 170-171 and page 173 of Inbound Marketing (within the context of your interviewer verifying your answers on her/his laptop, tablet, or smartphone):
Interview Questions Evalutating Depth of Digital Citizenship:
What RSS reader do you use? Can you show it to me?
What blogs do you read?
Do you rank first for your name in Google?
Do you have a blog? Can you show to me?
Do you use Facebook or LinkedIn? When was the last time you updated your profile?
Do you have a channel on YouTube? Can you show it to me?
Interview Questions Evaluating Web Reach:
How many subscribers to your blog? Do you talk about our industry on your blog or about personal stuff?
How many Facebook followers do you have? Do you talk about our industry at all on your Facebook account?
How many LinkedIn followers do you have?
How many Twitter followers do you have? Do you talk about our industry on you Twitter account?
Closing Thoughts
My apologies for not finishing / publishing this post by the originally stated timeline. My "day job" is crazy/hectic especially as the 2013 4Q ticks away. That's okay (because that's the job).
Please tune in for the this series's next post: a comprehensive list of online resources (i.e., websites, blogs, blog articles, etc) to help recent college graduates and current college students land full-time jobs or internships. The HUGE list will easily comprise "20+ Resources."
Please give me a couple weeks to consolidate this list, provide context, and hit "publish."
Your Turn: What is your opinion of the books listed here? Have you read any of them? If so, how did the book(s) content create an opportunity for differentiating yourself either before, during, or after the interview? What books did I leave off? What additional books would recommend?
Please let me know. It would be great to hear from you!
Note: This is post four in a series sharing resources to help new college graduates and current students land full-time jobs or internships. If interested, here are links to other posts in this series:
1. Grad school admissions officers and recruiters Google you before deciding to meet you in-person.
2. 70% of employers rejected a job candidate because of information they found on online.
3. 85% of employers say a candidate's positive online reputation influences their decisions.
4. "It's no longer enough to simply have a resume. Students now need a professional online presence." — Holly Paul, former US Recruiting Leader, PriceWaterHouse Coopers (now Chief Human Resources Officer, Vocus).
5. Ask you professors, campus job managers, and internship supervisors for LinkedIn Recommendations.
8. A 4-Step Template for Asking Someone to Network with You
This template doesn't guarantee acceptance of your invitation. But, following these steps helps differentiate your LinkedIn invitation from the generic "I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn" requests.
Use the Subject Line Wisely. Mention your connection to the person in the subject line.
Write a Concise Intro. Keep your introduction to who you are and your reason for connecting.
Make Your Ask. Never directly ask someone for a job; Ask for general career advice on a particular industry or company.
Say Thank You. Politely thank the person for considering your request.
9. Ask Your "1st Degree Connections" for Introductions to "2nd Degree Connections"
Look for mutual connections to a job opening or a person within the targeted company. This is especially important when you don't have a direct link or "an in" with someone connected to an opportunity you're want interested in.
This MUST WATCH video is required preparation for informational interviews (e.g., someone who might not be directly connected to a job opportunity), and the all-important first, formal interview.
Why? Recruiters say knowledge about their company is one of the most important factors in landing a job.
10. The 4 Types of Information to Know When Preparing for a Job Interview
General Company and Employee Information: the company's mission, products, services, and markets
Industry / Competitive knowledge: the company's industry and its competition
Insider Secrets: knowledge about the company's culture / mindset that only "an insider" (usually a current or former employee) can provide
Ongoing Updates: keeping up-to-date on company news (and its relevant competitors)
11. LinkedIn's Company Pages Can Identify Potential Interviewers
LinkedIn's Company Page
Along with general company information (what the company does, number of global offices, available jobs that may interest you, etc.), Company Pages can identify important information about your potential interviewers:
Educational Backgrounds: the interviewer's college major(s) and alma mater
Company Career Paths
Common LinkedIn 1st Degree Connections Shared with the Employee
Social Media Participation (do any of your potential interviewers use Twitter or publish personal blogs)
Things You and the Interviewer Share in Common
Demonstrate you did your homework by not only researching the company but also by learning about the people participating in the interviewing process. Identifying things you and your interviewer(s) have in common (and tactfully discussing them at appropriate points during the interview) can positively differentiate you among other applicants.
12. LinkedIn Groups Can Help You Learn Important Industry Knowledge
The Start-Up of You LinkedIn Group
During the interview, you'll want to be conversant in a number of key topics about the company's industry such as:
The "industry lingo" used by people working in that line of work
Relevant news events affecting the company (and its competitors)
Key people within the industry
Demonstrating your industry knowledge is HUGE. Leverage LinkedIn Groups to your competitive advantage and further differentiate yourself!
13. You May Have a 1st Degree LinkedIn Connection (or a 2nd Degree LinkedIn Connection) Who Can Share Important Insider Secrets
My 1st & 2nd Degree Connections to LinkedIn
Remember, a 1st degree connection is someone you're already directly connected to in LinkedIn. A second degree connection is someone you are not directly connected to (but one of your 1st degree connections may be connected to this person).
2nd degree connections are vitally important because your 1st degree connections may be able to provide a "warm referral" to them. And, that provides you another competitive advantage over other interviewees competing for the same position.
More importantly, 1st and 2nd degree connections can reveal important "tribal knowledge" available only to current or former employees (e.g., valuable "insider secrets") like:
Company Culture
The Employee Traits the Company Values
Company Leaders You Should be Familiar With
Conclusion
Reviewing the six (6) videos in the LinkedIn Grad Guide Series can give you a competitive advantage. You'll learn how to fully leverage LinkedIn's features and content.
Remember, it requires a lot of people "to say yes" during the hiring process but only one "to say no."
Therefore, minimize your risk and maximize your opportunity by investing 30 minutes investment to study these videos.
Please stay tuned for post #3 in this series (around 2 weeks from this post's publication). I'll summarize books by marketing gurus that can help recent college graduates or current undergraduates build a professional online presence.
Your Turn: What do you think of the advice in the LinkedIn Grad Guide Videos? How well do you think the LinkedIn Grad Guide Videos can help recent college graduates (or current undergraduates) find full-time jobs and internships? Let me know in the comments.
Note: This is post two in a series sharing resources to help new college graduates and current students land full-time jobs or internships. If interested, here are links to other posts in this series:
"a guide to the mindset you need to adopt if you want to make successful use of LinkedIn."
That's a Fair Statement.The Start-Up of You bridges the gap for customizing and optimizing your LinkedIn usage beyond copying/pasting your resume into the profile template.
A 100% complete LinkedIn Profile is the bare bones minimum for competing in today's job market.
12 Examples of Non-Technology, Non-Silicon Valley Success Stories From The Start-Up of You
Each of these examples provides several pages or a few sentences to explain a key principle. Either way, they demonstrate how the book's principles extend beyond Silicon Valley and the technology industry.
James R. Gaines (Chapter 3: When to Pivot – To Pursue Upside or Avoid Downside)
Mary Sue Milliken (Chapter 4: Professional Allies)
Susan Feniger (Chapter 4: Professional Allies)
Benjamin Franklin (Chapter 5: Connect to Human Networks – Groups and Associations of People)
Paul Harris (Chapter 5: Connect to Human Networks – Groups and Associations of People)
"Iris Wong" (Chapter 7: How to Pull Intelligence From Your Network)
Eric Barker (Chapter 5: Do The Hustle – Be Resilient: When the Naysayers are Loud Turn Up the Music)
Joi Ito (Chapter 2: Your Assets)
Howard Schultz (Chapter 2: The Market Realities)
Tony Blair (Chapter 3: Adaptive Careers, Adaptive Start-Ups)
Ron Howard and Brian Grazer (Chapter 4: Professional Allies)
George Clooney (Chapter 5: Introductory Section of Pursue Breakout Opportunities)
There's No Such Thing As Too Much Sheryl Sandberg
I'm The Father of Two Daughters. And, I think Sheryl Sandberg's a tremendous role model for young women. She's an influential Silicon Valley power player and important business leader. I love her personal mission to convince more women to pursue technology careers, target the C-Suite, and adopt the attitude to:
Sit at The Table (e.g., the Executive Table)
Make Your Partner a Real Partner
Don't Leave Before You Leave (e.g., starting a family doesn't equal ending your professional career)
What Father Wouldn't Want His Daughter(s) To Professionally Succeed? I admire how Sandberg "picked herself" to bring more attention to advancing women in business leadership. That takes guts because she's received criticism for taking on this role (see articles below).
But, she sticks with it. And, I crave to see more. Here's more inspiration about the brains, resourcefulness, and chutzpah of Sheryl Sandberg:
Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you. I’m here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE. Comments are open. So let’er rip!
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I'm a HUGE FAN of the career management concepts shared in this book. Its teachings and lessons will influence and impact my professional and career management choices forever.
I read / studied The Start-Up of You from cover-to-cover. If I could do it again, I would prioritize reading these five (5) chapters and their related concepts first (in the following suggested order):
* Chapter 6: Take Intelligent Risks — The Volatility Paradox: Small Fires Prevent the Big Burn
* Chapter 7: Who You Know is What You Know — Synthesize Information Into Actionable Intelligence
* Chapter 1: All Humans Are Entrepreneurs — The Start-Up of You Mindset: Permanent Beta
* Chapter 5: Pursue Breakout Opportunities — Court Serendipity and Good Randomness
* Chapter 3: Plan To Adapt — Maintain an Identity Separate from Specific Employers
You Might Want To Grab Some Coffee. The following chapters and their verbatim quotes are the concepts I found most inspiring. Sometimes, I provide only the quotes because the words alone inspired me. In other sections, I include my point-of-view.
Buy and Read This Book. Most of all, I hope sharing these five (5) game changer concepts from the book will motivate you to buy and read it.
If you're still here, I suggest grabbing that cup of coffee (or maybe two).
1. Chapter 6: Take Intelligent Risks
Read This Chapter First. Beginning with Chapter 6 is the only thing I would have done differently. I suggest starting with the section of the book titled, The Volatility Paradox: Small Fires Prevent the Big Burn.
These passages represent my "eureka moment."
"Without frequent, contained risk taking, you are setting yourself up for a major dislocation at some point in the future. Inoculating yourself to big risks is like inoculating yourself to big risks is like inoculating yourself against the flu virus. By injecting a small bit of flu into your body in the form of a vaccination, you make a big flu outbreak survivable. By introducing regular volatility into your career, you make surprise survivable. You gain the ability to absorb shocks gracefully." "Opportunity and risk are two sides of the same coin, after all: join and create groups, be in motion, take on side projects, hustle. In a phrase, say 'yes' more." "Pretending you can avoid risk causes you to miss opportunities that can change your life. It also lulls you into a dangerously fragile life pattern, leaving you exposed to a huge blow-up in the future." "When you're resilient, you can play for big opportunities with less worry about the possible consequences of unanticipated hiccups. For the start-up of you, the only long-term answer to risk is resilience." "Remember: If you don't find risk, risk will find you."
Companies and Individuals Who Don't Take Intelligent Risks Marginalize Themselves Over Time. Here's a video of Reid discussing the importance of intelligent risk taking:
Previously, I Said "No" More. I said no to additional career-related opportunities because of the additional time commitments. I'm not talking about the "traditional" internal company, career-related opportunities (i.e., accepting high profile internal projects to increase exposure to senior management, etc.).
I'm referring to externally focused opportunities beyond the significant time already devoted to this personal blog. These opportunities will consume additional time next to an already consuming and stressful full-time job and family duties.
Focus On The Upside. But, Chapter 6 convinced me to start focusing on the upside. These are investments in my "soft assets" (i.e., cultivating new contacts, learning new skills, expanding the reach of my network intelligence, acquiring actionable knowledge). Dwelling on the potential downside is counter-productive (e.g., the time demands).
A Counter-Intuitive Approach. For someone in their mid-forties balancing demands of a young family and a full-time job involving travel, "taking on more" seems counter-intuitive. But, The Start-Up of You makes the case for constant investment in activities building our "soft assets."
Investing in yourself requires significant time and commitment. Plus, it's especially important to make those investments while gainfully employed.
Safe is Risky. Seth Godin says it best and simply from his classic book, Purple Cow:
(page 30) "My goal in Purple Cow is to make it clear that it's safer to be risky–to fortify your desire to do truly amazing things." (page 64) "Safe is risky."
2. Chapter 7: Who You Know Is What You Know
Synthesize Information Into Actionable Intelligence. It's not enough to have great connections with a diverse set of skills, industries, and professions. Your network must inform your decision making with excellent data. But, "what do I do next with that data" is a determining factor in driving your success:
Here are my favorite book passages describing the importance of synthesizing information or "connecting the dots:"
"So far we've talked about the first step — pulling information from multiple people from multiple people in your network. Once you have gathered information, the next step is to analze the validity, helpfulness, and relevance of what each person has said. Remember, that everyone has biases — even your parents or best friend. It's not that they are trying to manipulate you. It's just the nature of being a human with personal experiences and self-interests. Bias can be obvious or nonobvious." "As you pull information and advice from various sources, think about how the person's personal goals, ambitions, and experience might have colored their position. Bias is not reason to dismiss information or advice altogether; just account for it in your analysis." "Synthesis is the important final step. If you don't step back and take in the big picture of all you've learned, it will feel like you're worming your way through a cocktail party hearing bits and pieces of several different conversations but not able to make out anything of substance." "Synthesizing what you learn involves reconciling contradictory advice and information (which is inevitable if you're pulling multiple streams from diverse people), ignoring information you believe is completely off base, and weighing each person's information differently. This is a complex cognitive process." "For now, we'll just say that when it comes to intelligence, good synthesis is what makes the whole worth more than the sum of the parts." "Network intelligence is the advanced game: if you do it well, it'll give you a competitive edge." "IWe means your network can help you decide on a direction and then help you move quickly, but only YOU can drive the process forward."
Connect the Dots, Commit to a Personal Strategy, and Have the Courage to Ship: Connect. Commit. Ship. Any action answers "what do I do next." That's why I altered the final quote to emphasize YOU.
Don't listen to your lizard brain (e.g., don't give into the fear of failure)
Start something (e.g., commit to your decision)
Pick yourself (e.g., be the initiator)
Ship (e.g., get it out the door, finish)
3. Chapter 1: All Humans Are Entrepreneurs
The Start-Up of You Mind-set: Permanent Beta. Permanent beta is a lifelong commitment to continuous personal growth. This concept is analogous to how technology companies keep iterating and testing software after the official launch so the software can be continuously improved.
Our careers are much the same way:
"For entrepreneurs, finished is an F-word. They know that great companies are always evolving." "Finished ought to be an F-word for all of us. We are all works in progress. Each day presents an opportunity to learn more, do more, be more, grow more in our lives and careers. "Keeping your career in permanent beta forces you to acknowledge that you have bugs, that there's new development to do on yourself, that you will need to adapt and evolve." "But, it's still a mind-set brimming with optimism because it celebrates the fact that you have the power to improve yourself and, as important, improve the world around you."
Reid Describes Permanent Beta and Learning To Improve Every Month. In the first video, he explains the concept of permanent beta. In the second video, he talks about when he interviews people. During those interviews, he wants to understand how people grow their capabilities on a monthly basis.
4. Chapter 5: Pursue Breakout Opportunities
Court Serendipity and Good Randomness. What I enjoy most about this concept is "proactively making our own luck." And, the best way to achieve serendipity (e.g., accidental good fortune) is to be doing something.You have to be in motion.
"Serendipity involves being alert to potential opportunity and acting on it." "You won't encounter accidental good fortune–you won't stumble upon opportunities that rocket career forward–if you're lying in bed. When you do something, you stir the pot and introduce the possibility that random ideas, people, and places will collide and form new combinations and opportunities." "By being in motion, you are spinning a web as wide and tall as possible in order to catch any interesting opportunities that come your way." "As entrepreneur Bo Peabody says, "The best way to ensure that lucky things happen is to make sure a lot of things happen." Make things happen, and in the long run, you'll design your own serendipity, and make your own opportunities."
You Have to Be Playing in the Game. You can't make your own luck or court serendipity and good randomness while sitting on the couch watching tv. Here's a short video with Reid talking about how sitting on the sidelines means missing out on breakout opportunities:
5. Chapter 3: Plan to Adapt
Maintain an Identity Separate from Specific Employers. This book section focuses on personal branding. Here are some important direct quotes:
"Establish an identity independent of your employer, city, and industry. For example, make the headline of your LinkedIn profile not a specific job title (e.g., "VP of Marketing at Company X") but personal-brand or asset-focused (e.g., "Entrepreneur. Product Strategist. Investor.")" "Start a personal blog and begin developing a public reputation and public portfolio of work that's not tied to your employer. This way you'll have a professional identity that you can carry with you as you shift jobs." "You own yourself. It's the start-up of you."
1. Showing how you think 2. Demonstrating your individual creativity 3. Making it easy for a potential employer / great connection to find you (e.g., SEO benefits) 4. Giving you practice in an important and portable business skill set — writing 5. Proving you're technology and Internet savvy 6. Informing people first-hand how you're driven to learn new skills
Seth Godin and Tom Peters Says A Personal Blog Matters. In this video, they both discuss how a personal blog is the best personal marketing tool.
And, Remember The Brand of You is Just One Part of the Start-Up of You. Here's Reid Hoffman's take on personal branding. Pay close attention to his point that a brand must be backed by substance if you want it to be relevant.
Closing Thoughts
What Were Your Favorite Concepts From The Start-Up of You? Have you read this important book? Take time to invest in yourself by reading it.
Reading The Start-Up of You will make a significant difference in your life. It's already changed mine.
And, it will have a lasting personal impact and influence for many future years.
Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you. I’m here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE. Comments are open. So let’er rip!
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