The Business Growth Blog by Rob Cuesta

Schrodinger's Lunch - does business networking work?

At a recent workshop I ran, one of the attendees asked whether networking works.

I know people in business who swear by the power of networking meetings in growing their business. I also know people who swear just at the thought of going networking. The reality is that for some people it works, and for others it doesn't.

It's a little like Schrodinger's cat. Schrodinger imagined a thought experiment that goes as follows: imagine a cat in a sealed box. In the box there is also a piece of radioactive material that is decaying and will ultimately kill the cat (remember - this is an imaginary cat, not a real one!). How do you know the cat whether the cat is alive or dead? You can't know until you open the box¹.

Networking is much the same: you won't know if it works for you until you try it. And whether networking will work for a particular person is down to two things.

Personal Branding and the Accounting Profession

Even as far back as 2005, members of the UK's Institute of Chartered Accountants were being advised to work on their personal brand. Addressing that year's prizewinners and the Institute's annual awards, Steve Easterbrook (UK CEO of McDonalds) said: “Chartered Accountants are in such high demand due to their well-rounded flexibility. [Accountants] learn from and observe business management competencies, behaviours and soft skills - both good and bad. To be respected today you have to be authentic. You must understand who you are, your strengths, your weaknesses and your personal values. By being open about these and by being consistent you will be able to build and protect your own reputation.”

6 Steps for Creating a Social Media Marketing Roadmap & Plan

Social media can be a bit of a maze. It's no longer just about telling your friends what you've been up to: alongside blogs we have mashups, file sharing (the legitimate, business-useful kind like Slideshare.com), podcasts, wikis, video hosting, music sharing, bookmarking...

How do you make sense of all of those and use them to support your marketing efforts - personal or corporate? For one approach, take a look at this post by Lorna Li.

It's not just candidates who interview badly...

There's a temptation to think that how an interview goes is always down to the candidate, but I received a request today for funny interview stories that reminded me of one interview that went badly in a VERY unexpected way.

All the money you will ever earn...

Whether you're an employee or a business owner, all the money you will ever earn is currently in the hands of other people. So here's my challenge to you:

Why should they give it to you rather than to anyone else?

And how does your personal brand help to convey those reasons?

Networking through Meetup.com

I recently discovered meetup.com, a site that allows you to connect with people with similar interests in your area. As soon as I saw it I was struck by the fact that you could just as easily use it to connect with people who share your passions while you're travelling. And that's exactly what I did.

Managing your personal brand

Fellow brand strategist Hajj Flemings, author of "Brand Yu" has some great info on his blog, and is well worth following on Twitter. His blog post on reputation management is a great checklist of actions to take to track what's happening to your online reputation.

And the folks over at Jobmob have put a lot of time and effort into tracking down pretty much every tool you could want for managing your online reputation. For the most comprehensive list I've seen head on over to their site.

Putting back into the community - the Financial Services Career Bailout

We are living in "interesting times". Even with the many government-funded interventions around the world, with the collapse of so many old and respected financial institutions, I know many people on Wall Street and in The City who are still worried about their future. For those who have already been caught up in the turmoil, I - in common with many of the Reach Personal Brand Strategists - am taking part in a worldwide initiative called the "Career Bailout" programme.

If you are an employee of one of the failed banks or financial institutions and recently lost your job, you qualify for a free career services package that includes a CV review, 360°Reach personal brand assessment and an Online ID evaluation. This package will help you differentiate and position yourself in a crowded and competitive job market.

Whether you are in the UK, the US or any other country, if you are a former employee of Northern Rock, Alliance & Leicester, Bradford & Bingley, or other affected UK firms, or of one of the American banks (Bear Sterns, Wachovia, WaMu or Lehman Bros), and have lost your job as a result of the recent failure, you qualify for brandedLeader’s  career bailout package free of charge. This package is comprised of:

• a resume review;
• a 360°Reach personal brand assessment;
• an online ID evaluation.

In addition, affected financial service professionals will receive preferential rates on related products and coaching services. These services are limited, and will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis.

To get started, contact me by email. Please provide your former institution, position, date of separation, and the type of position you will be seeking. You can also expedite your access to your free consultation by making sure to include your CV in Word ro PDF format.

Want to know more?

Star of the small screen!

In September 2008, Dexter Moscow of the Entrepreneurs' Forum interviewed me on why organizations need to develop and leverage the power of the individuals in the company to survive the economic downturn. We discuss the idea that HR has become as much the custodian of the corporate brand as the Marketing Department, and HR managers now need to see themselves as brand champions.

I was also interviewed with fellow personal branding expert Tessa Hood on the subject of our forthcoming seminar in London for HR professionals.

The videos are all on www.robcuesta.com/video

Turning your people into Brand Ambassadors can recession-proof your company

That's the message that Tessa Hood, a fellow personal branding expert, and I are promoting at a forthcoming seminar in London.