Corporate Warriors

Thank-you letters are so boring.  But you feel compelled to write one because the career books, career counselors, and HR managers tell you that is what you are supposed to do.  If you don’t do it, then you failed to show professional courtesy.  If you do send one, the recipient will appreciate it, but it is rarely the defining factor that gets you the job.  Furthermore, they all sound alike. Yawn.

So here are a few thoughts on giving yourself a competitive edge by writing Thank You letters with pizzazz.

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I absolutely love this.  I just read a great article on how the Pope is telling his priests around the world to go forth and blog....become part of the contemporary generation and use social media to reach the masses with the messages from God.  Not only that, the Vatican has launched its own channel on You Tube.  So cool.  Way to go Pope.

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For many years, when an executive loses a job, in order to show that they are still engaged in business, they create a consulting firm...albeit a firm of one.  Nothing new here.  However, over the past several months, with the recession and huge number of senior level executives in the job market, industries are overrun with consultants.

Unfortunately, the word "consultant" has almost become a pejorative.  A common definition can be heard everywhere:  "A consultant is someone who steals your watch and tells you what time it is."

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WOW, I have gotten some great stories, feedback and questions on my last post titled:  Today’s Executive, Tomorrow’s Walmart Greeter. 

 Building a world class presence on the internet is not easy.  It embodies numerous elements that few people understand. 

 Developing an authority blog is just one small piece of the total puzzle, but it is a key component.  You can have a 12-year old build a blog for you, but driving traffic and building a community is an extraordinary challenge.  In subsequent posts, we will touch on other issues in building an internet presence, and why, too often, the efforts fail.  Today we will focus on building corporate or personal blogs.

 Probably only about a 1000 people in the nation understand the intricacies.  Almost all blogs are failures including personal blogs and corporate blogs.  Even blogs at Fortune 500 companies are failures.  World class webmasters, CTO’s, marketing leaders and SEO experts don’t understand the subtleties behind driving a successful blog.  It is a world unto itself…..

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Ok, perhaps my view into the future is a little harsh, but it got your attention.  And there is definitely a grain of truth in it.  This post is a continuation of my dialogue on the challenges that executives face.  The last three posts generated numerous personal emails from executives seeking new positions, as well as from recruiters, HR leaders and career strategists.

 What is fascinating, and at the same time unfortunate, is that the overwhelming number of executives in the market still “don’t get it.”  I am not certain why, but what has been true for decades is that mature executives are slow to adapt to changes and therefore are often perceived as out-of-date and out-of-touch.  Today’s warp speed changes make adaptation even more critical. Or perhaps they just don’t understand the new job search paradigm (or the emerging new business paradigms).  I will provide a quick overview on both concepts in this post as they are so relevant and connected.  The shifts in one impacts the shifts in the other.  You must understand both to succeed.

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