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The concept of “craftsmanship” or being a craftsman (or an “artist”) has been a strong recurring theme for me this year. Godin talks about it in Linchpin. Pressfield talks about being a “professional” or “artist”. Graeme pointed me to an article from Robin Sharma (“60 Tips for a Stunningly Great Life”) where number 3 is [...]

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Over the last week, our intern and our receptionist left to go back to school. MBA and undergrad respectively. Neither school was teaching either of these smart, high upside, people the skills that they need to be developing and nurturing TODAY. To me, those skills are: Networking. Personal Marketing. Skill Evolution and Development. Networking – Its [...]

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I started writing “a” blog on this day in 2004. I cannot believe it has been six years. I’ve been through a lot in that time.  I was running a telemarketing operation at the time. Then I had back surgery. I tried to launch an outsourcing business with some partners. That failed. I went to [...]

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Caught a post on Personal Branding Blog re: the essential skills we need to have in order to succeed in this “new world”. Very critical, very forward thinking. Here’s the list (hit the link to see the post in full): Social media and web 2.0 know how. (Aren’t we past 2.0 yet?) The ability to [...]

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My friend, Hannah, sent me a link to a posting from Cathy Kraft at CFO-Coach.com. Kraft provides an excellent summary the kool aid that I am handing out these days. Kraft strongly advises that you should be taking over the management of your career and not leaving it up to your boss or HR or [...]

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[Originally posted in the old blog.] It has been ten years since Tom Peters first interjected the concept of personal branding into the workplace lexicon. Very few people get it. I think I am just beginning to get it. I keep learning. I evolve. Someday I too will be a beautiful and unique snowflake. Today [...]

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[Originally posted on the old blog.] From Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist comes another post on being better at self-promotion. She also dives into why it is important to be an expert in whatever it is that you do. Differentiate yourself. Own a niche. Back in November, she had a great post about taking the risk [...]

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For the last year or so, I have been working at a startup customer management outsourcer. Emphasis on the startup aspects. Today, I agreed to an offer from a local telecom company. This decision was largely a financial one. In short, I needed the money. My family just could not survive at the salary I [...]

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Raj Setty of 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself fame touches on boxing in a post from earlier this week. (I posted a comment – but you have to register.) Earlier, I wrote about our tendency to fit people in neat and tidy boxes. I talked about hiring managers but Raj talks to the fact that [...]

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[Originally posted on the old blog.] Great link from Lifehacker today on how to apply for a job. It is really a link from craigslist. But I have to credit where I first saw it. Good article on resume and cover letter writing and a general approach. This is relevant to diligentia because I am [...]

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