It’s January 2020 and here I completed reading the first book of the year ‘Reinventing You’ by Dorie Clark. I think the book has come to me at the right time. “Are you where you want to be professionally? ” If the answer to this question is ‘No’ then you must read this book.
Each one of us has reinvented at some point in our lives, school to college, college to a professional career. Having said that we all get stuck almost every two years and try to find out our future way. Most of the time, we want to shift our careers, our roles and eventually our identity which is our BRAND. In this process, we face a challenge of acceptance of people.
Because we judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing while others judge us by what we have already done.
This book is intended to help executives at all stages of their careers who want something different and better in their professional life. The book is a guide taking control of your life and live strategically. This is a book about defining your goals, working hard and ethically to get there and then making sure that people notice once you do.
The author has given techniques like listening to what doors in the outside world are telling you. They are probably right so how do you get that feedback. The book has given are four major ways to get a read on how others perceive your personal brand.
- Conduct your own 360 interviews
- Hold your own focus group with friends and colleagues
- Examine your online presence
- Seek out battles in past performance evaluation or recommendation letters
The self-assessment worksheet at the end is very powerful which gives some glaring facts about what you are.
The book has mentioned very clearly that if three people are giving you similar kind of feedback then it is high time for you to take it seriously.
The author has also given tips on how to network and research your role models, mentors, etc. It is interesting to read with stories and interviews. It has given a systematic approach to developing your personal brand.
Whether you want to advance faster at your company, change jobs or make the jump to a new field entirely, Reinventing You, provides you step by step guide to help you assess your unique strengths, develop a completing personal brand, and ensure that others recognize the powerful contribution you can make.
I could relate to this book because I have seen the transition in my professional career of two decades. Starting with sales and marketing landing in HR job, working in manufacturing and then shifting to the service industry and then becoming a teacher and then becoming a corporate trainer and now an entrepreneur. The journey of changing identity all the time. I did it unconsciously in the same way that Dorie Clark has mentioned and never realize that there is a strategic way of doing. Clark has mentioned a systematic approach to developing a personal brand and managing the transition.
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