Career Warfare - A Book Summary

It is a tough and competitive business environment you
live and it is getting more and more difficult to achieve
your goals. You have to stand out among your colleagues
and competitors. You have to work hard for career
advancement, and better compensation.

Whether you are a senior executive, an entrepreneur or
an employee, this book will show you the best way to
succeed, accomplish your personal and career goals,
outshine your competition and differentiate yourself
from the pack. David F. D'Alessandro shows you how to
stand out from the crowd by developing your own
"personal brand"; and provides valuable lessons in
the etiquette of reputation building.

What is Personal Brand?

You need to realize that success does not only come
from hard work and appropriately playing the part.
To be successful in business and in your career, you
must be able to distinguish yourself from the rest of
the pack - you need to develop, build and defend your
reputation.

Personal branding is a way you manage your career or
business. It is a way of communicating that makes you
different and special. By using these qualities you
can distinguish yourself from your peers so that you
can expand your success.

There are 10 rules you can follow for building a
successful personal brand and keeping it:

Rule 1: Try to Look Beyond Your Own Navel - The biggest
obstacle in building a positive personal brand is your
own ego. In order to develop an attractive personal
brand, you need to have self-respect and you need
to respect the people around you.

Rule 2: Like It or Not, Your Boss is the Coauthor of
Your Brand - You must realize and accept the fact that
early on in your career, your boss will reap most of
the rewards for ideas you give, money that you brought
in, etc. This is how the corporate world operates. Do
not fight the power structure. Instead learn how to
play and live by it.

Rule 3: Put Your Boss on the Couch - Not all bosses
will help you. It is best that you recognize what type
of personality your boss has so that you would realize
what advantages and disadvantages this person can
cause to your brand.

Rule 4: Learn Which One is the Pickle Fork - Good manners
are crucial in developing and enhancing your personal
brand. Manners are about consideration and respect,
knowledge and patience. Practice good business etiquette.

Rule 5: Kenny Rogers is Right - While it is important
for you to seize the opportunity to build your brand,
it is equally crucial to know what battles to take. Know
when to keep on fighting and when to move fold.

Rule 6: It's Always Show Time - You must realize that
reputations are not usually made by big events -
sometimes it is those big events that smear your brand.
What builds your reputation is your day-to-day
behavior in the business setting, such as how you deal
with people, how you make decisions, your work habits,
etc.

Rule 7: Make the Right Enemies - The best personal brands
include courtesy, fairness, tolerance, self-respect and
having good and proper manners. However, a small amount
of ruthlessness is good for your brand. Your reputation
will not suffer much if you fight your enemies,
but it will suffer if you lose your self-respect.

Rule 8: Try Not To Be Swallowed By the Bubble - Once you
are successful in building your brand and is rising in the
ranks, do not lose sight of the forest. Do not be too
full of yourself that you will be swallowed by success.
It is bad for your humanity, and bad for your career.

Rule 9: The Higher You Fly, the More You Will Be Shot
At - Everybody makes mistakes. The higher you are in the
ladder of success, the more likely that your mistakes
will be highlighted. Accept the fact that bad press comes
with prominence in any field.

Rule 10: Everybody Coulda Been a Contender; Make Sure You
Stay One - Set yourself to be distinct from your peers.
Since you are constantly being compared to your peers,
don't be afraid to offer something unique or distinctive.
Don't give up easily. Don't throw in the towel immediately
because of a setback or two. Learn from your mistakes and
turn it into an opportunity. Don't lie, cheat or
steal. Be cautious of the reputation you are building.

By: Regine P. Azurin

Regine Azurin is the President of BusinessSummaries.com, a company that provides business book summaries of the latest bestsellers for busy executives and entrepreneurs.

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Things To Take Care Of During CNA Training

A job in nursing has and constantly can be a worthwhile career. There's always a requirement for further nurses and even physicians to tend to individuals and work at different hospitals around the country as well as around the world. Folks are regularly registering for courses and academies in this field. One of the best things that they can become is often a CNA or a licensed nursing assistant.

Certified nursing assistant training enables for each candidate to hunt the simplest of opportunities in hospitals, nursing homes or many institutions. These might be in almost all healthcare organizations and medical clinics. You might as well refer to them as health care technicians, nurse's aides, home care workers or orderlies. They work in hospitals, nursing homes, foster homes, health care services and personal home settings.

These training programs tend to be simple to discover. Most community instructive clinics offer programs which are offered on evenings and weekends, making them convenient for active adults to take. A variety of classes are even taught on the internet, making their particular needs even less complicated to fit into a busy timetable. Once you have accomplished the training, you can begin work quickly.

Working as a licensed assistant is a wonderful way by which to experience the medical field, and a few employers might even offer added tuition reimbursement for those wanting to earn their LPN or RN certifications. This is an amazing advantage for a job.

All CNA programs need to contain a minimum of seventy five long periods of class work and 16 hours of clinical work, working immediately with patients under an RN's supervision. After finishing these hours, which are usually in good condition into 3 weeks of full time teaching or 6 weeks of part-time training, the scholar takes the examination before becoming certified.

CNA Training is something that many people will go for. Learn how to find the best CNA Courses that will help.

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Life Coaches - Does The Daily Carrot Principle Have the Tools to Get Your Clients Unstuck?

As a life coach, I always have my eyes open for tools that I can use to help my clients grow. That comes in handy, since I'm addicted to self-help type books. I feel like I got a double bang for my buck, helpful hints to help me maximize my own potential along with great ideas for me to share with my life coaching clients.

I just started reading The Daily Carrot Principle and I like it. It's a quick read-crisp, clear and fun. The Daily Carrot Principle is organized to be read a page a day for one year. What do I like? Well, a page a day is not a big commitment, so I can do this even when I am crunched for time. What do really like? Each day there is a "carrot action" to complete. That's 365 ideas for action steps for me and my clients! Each action step is simple to undertake, yet has the potential to bring about change. Day One starts off with making a list of successes and setting goals for the year that build on that momentum. What a wonderful way to quick off a "do over!"

The Daily Carrot Principle has some great ideas to help your clients (or yourself) shake off that stuck feeling and get moving again. Examples? On April 21, the theme is quiet leadership and the carrot action is to keep it to yourself when you're tempted to tell people how honest you are. Why? "Actions speak louder than words." Honesty isn't yours to claim, it's a judgment made by the people around you.

With a carrot action for every day of the year, I'm sure to find some ideas to help my clients gain a new perspective and I'm looking forward to taking great strides myself by taking small steps everyday to improve myself and my business. I recommend The Daily Carrot Principle by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton to anyone who is committed to self-improvement but has limited time to make it happen. While the book is simple to understand and the action steps are easy to follow, it's more action oriented than theoretically based or scientifically proven. If you're looking for lots of theory and supporting evidence, this isn't the book for you. If you're looking for a tool that may help you kick start your life or some suggestions that might help your clients break out of a rut, take a look at this book.

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Choosing and Succeeding in a Career That's Right For You

Many of us, the working people of today, tread on the ever winding road of our career path in blindfolds. We work, because let's face it, we have to but a vast percentage of the 20 to 40 hour employee population that hold steady jobs are extremely unhappy with the careers they currently hold. This is a factor for a number of reasons and believe it or not the main reason derives simply from the fact that individuals sometimes don't really know what it is that they want to do for a living. It doesn't even matter if you have a college degree. Thousands of adults hold degrees in fields that they aren't absolutely head over hills for. The fact is still argued that doing what you love and getting paid for it, is still for some American's, an American Dream.

So, how do you find the dream? How do you ignore the voice in your mind that pulls you to your current job as a receptionist each day because you "have" to go, and begin to listen to the voice in your heart that really wants to open that daycare center. You may love your job as a receptionist, but may have a longing to contribute to the care of school aged children. Or you could possibly not have a clue about what you want to do and the only thing you are sure of is, it isn't what you are doing right now.

What some of us have to realize is choosing the career path that is right for ourselves is the first step in true success. When you love what you are doing, it doesn't feel like work. People who are in fields that fit them, are said to be happier and healthier in life. Do you know anyone who is stressed out because they are unhappy at work? Men and Women who choose careers that fit their personality seem to strive harder to be number one in their fields and hold the potential to make a great financial living. They are more willing to put in those extra hours because they enjoy what they do! They enjoy making the difference.

Now let's discuss a few of the factors associated with embarking on your personal career path.

• Your personality

No two personalities are alike. There are many test out there in the internet world that help you narrow down the types of jobs you may excel at and enjoy, based on your personality. Many colleges give these tests to help students when choosing their majors. If you are in college and unsure about your career path, ask your counselor. Some employers give these tests before hiring to ensure a proper fit with the company. There are also a few books with great advice and/or a few self analyzed tests you can take at home. Some of my favorites; Discover What You're Best At, by Linda Gale, Zen and the Art of Making a Living, by Laurence G. Boldt, and Career Solutions For Creative People, by Dr. Ronda Ormont.

• Motivation

You want to work for yourself. You want to quit your full time job and work part time so you can go back to school to get that Accounting degree you've always wanted. You know you need a business plan, a better resume, or you need to move to a bigger city to submit those Movie Scripts you finished years ago. Why don't you? Lack of motivation or maybe fear of the unknown. There is nothing to be ashamed of when feeling this way. These two obstacles are almost expected when beginning on a new career path. Sometimes having friends and family telling you that you can do it isn't enough. I recommend these self help books for getting you motivated not only in your career choice, but in life; The Practical Dreamers Handbook, by Paul & Sarah Edwards, and Life Without Limits, by Lucinda Bassett.

• Follow Through

You may already have the degree and funding to be able to apply for that new job or to begin your entrepreneurship. If so, great! Now you have to follow through. You need to be able to compete with the others in your field without fear and hesitation. The best way to do this is to be prepared. Have a great business plan written, or revamp the Resume you haven't updated in a few years. Whatever you need to feel prepared, do it! That way while walking on your newly found path, you can feel more confident in each and every step you take. Seven Steps to Getting a Job Fast, by Michael Farr is great for helping you prepare for those interviews, and Business Plan Writer Deluxe, by Nova Development is an efficient software choice when writing your business plan.

If the average adult works for 40 hours a week for 40 years, they will have worked for 76,800 hours. That is a lot of hours away from your family and friends. Wouldn't it be a little better if those hours were spent doing your dream job? The first true step to take- is you believing you can do it!

For the past five years I have been working in the Human Resources Field, and I strongly believe in doing what you love for a living. Also, I have happily been in the Writing Business for most of my life and have started a writing business The Writers Emporium.

[http://genesiscompanypensacola.com/TheWritersEmporium.aspx]

Take a personality test for fun at http://www.humanmetrics.com/

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Job Reviews: The Best Way To Ensure You Get A Good Job

From the time you had finished your studies, you were actually looking for a job that would give you immense job satisfaction at the same time would be monetarily very rewarding. You had also given it your best shot in order to ensure you ended up grabbing a job that can meet your both these parameters. One of the best ways to ensure this is through job reviews that will actually give you some kind of satisfaction that whatever job you land up in, will in fact be a good one.

There are many instances where people have believed in hearsay and half baked truths only to realize their mistake at a later stage. In addition, by the time they realize their mistake, it actually becomes very late for undertaking any corrective and remedial measures. Therefore, what starts as a good future prospect literally has a painful death to this celebration. If you do not want to face a similar fate and join list of those who have had a failure to bag a good job, you have an announcement for you. The article that you are actually reading right now goes to show few simple and effective ways in which you can collect all your information. Once you have read this article entirely, you will realize this aspect for yourself. Don't be surprised if you see questioning yourself with a question like, 'Is it that simple'?

Employee Job Reviews is one such topic where you may employ one tactic that many have done before. This tactic involves use of a newspaper in your pursuit to explore more information. Whenever you are done with your reading, you will need to devote some quality time to unearth these simple ways and means of collecting necessary information. After you have completed reading your share of news and events, you should focus on identifying those adverts that contains certain crucial information. This information might be like, a contact telephone number, website address, email address, postal address, communication address, etc

Be intelligent and do not hesitate, for instance, to call this telephone number. Most of the times, these numbers are actually dedicated telephone numbers that are especially designed for customers like you. Whenever you call at these numbers, recipient of your call will give a patient hearing to whatever you have to say. Once you have told your requirements and queries, they will appropriately guide you to arrive at a logical decision.

For instance, if you want to know about home job reviews, all that you have to do is let this recipient of the call know which type of job is your first preference and what are the reasons for this. Once you receive clarifications of all your doubts, you can easily arrive at a logical conclusion to it. Whenever you adhere to this process of collecting data, you are saved from running pillar to post in deriving your information.

For more information on job reviews, check out the info available online; these will help you learn to find the career review!

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The Art of Managing People

Managing people has always been a challenge everywhere. This is because people are difficult to manage and most managers too lack the skill of effective people management. This is why we are X-raying this book entitled "The Art of Managing People". It is co-written by Dr. Phillip Hunsaker and Dr.Anthony Alessandra, two brilliant management experts.

Hunsaker is a professor of management and director of management programmes, School of Business Administration at the University of San Diego. He is a renowned consultant, speaker and author of many best-selling books on management. As for Alessandra, he is a highly-respected sales, marketing and management consultant as well as an award-winning public speaker. He has written more than 100 articles.

According to Hunsaker and Alessandra, the art of managing people productively and effectively is a dynamic process that is ever changing and evolving, and many of the managerial concepts proposed only a few years ago cannot and will not work in today's environment. These experts ascribe this development to the fact that people, business environment, government and world have changed, while scarcity of resources has worsened, especially the valuable resource of skilled labour.

Hunsaker and Alessandra submit that attracting, training, motivating and keeping employees have become much more difficult and expensive, adding that these will even get worse in the future. They submit that this text has been written to overcome many of the traditional manager-employee relationship problems. According to these authors, when a manager establishes a friendly yet productive working atmosphere, the benefits to the whole organisation are substantial.

These authors assert that the text offers you practical strategies, guidelines and techniques for developing interpersonal skills critical to the improvement of relations with employees; how to understand differences among people and behave accordingly; assessing and improving current working situations; creating trust between managers and employees, etc.

Hunsaker and Alessandra say person-to-person skills are central to the development of an effective team of satisfied and energetic workers. They educate that allowing your workers to express their own personalities and maximise their potential will reduce stress within the workforce, create a positive spirit throughout the company and increase the organisation's productivity and profitability.

This text is segmented into three parts of 19 chapters. Part one has a generic subject matter of building productive managerial relationships, and covers the first five chapters. Chapter one is entitled "Adjusting effectively to personal style differences". According to Hunsaker and Alessandra here, interactive management is a process of dealing with people as individuals in order to build trust, openness and honesty in the manager-employee relationship, thereby improving productivity in the organisational set-up. In their words, "To treat your employees as unique individuals, you as the manager must understand what makes them different from one another. With this knowledge, you can go about managing your employees as unique individuals with unique personalities, problems, and needs. This 'custom-tailored' approach to managing employees in an organisational setting is one of the major thrusts of interactive management."

Chapter two is entitled "Learning how to learn". These authors say here that successful managers in today's rapidly-changing world are distinguished not so much by a set of technical skills as by their ability to learn and adapt to the fluctuating demands of their careers. They stress that continuing success requires the ability to explore new opportunities and learn from past successes and failures.

Hunsaker and Alessandra say one purpose for studying the learning process is to understand how people go about generating concepts, rules and principles from their experiences as guides for their future behaviour, and how they modify these concepts to improve their effectiveness in new situations.

In chapters three to five, these authors discuss concepts such as doing unto others; deciding how to decide; and analysing transactional styles.

Part two is summarily woven together as "Interactive communication skills" and contains eight chapters, that is, chapters six to 13. Chapter six is entitled "The art of questioning". Here, Hunsaker and Alessandra educate that one of the most critical and valuable tools in the manager's arsenal of communication skills, is the art of questioning.

They add that the ability of the manager to ask the right questions at the right time to help his or her employees best is an essential and integral part of interactive management. "Skilful questioning simplifies the manager's job because it gets employees to 'open up'. The employee feels free to reveal inner feelings, motives, needs, current situations, goals, and desires. With this knowledge, the manager is in a much better position to guide the employee to the ultimate achievement of personal, professional, and organisational goals," assert Hunsaker and Alessandra.

In chapters seven to 13, they beam their analytical searchlight on concepts such as the power of listening; projecting the appropriate image; communicating through voice tones; using body language effectively; spatial arrangements saying things; how your use of time talks; and making sure with feedback.

Part three, the last part has a general subject matter of interactive problem-solving and covers the last six chapters, that is, chapters 14 to 19. Chapter 14 is entitled "Problem-solving together". Hunsaker and Alessandra educate that when managers are asked how they make decisions and solve problems, the typical response is usually something like "I don't know. I just do what has to be done". In the words of these authors, "Although they may not be able to specify what steps they take or what rules they apply, all would probably agree that making 'good' decisions and effectively solving problems are the essence of good management."

In chapters 15 to 19, Hunsaker and Alessandra discuss concepts such as defining the problem; developing action plans; implementing action; following through; and what to do with what you have learnt.

As far as style is concerned, this text is on the high rung of the ladder. For instance, the language of the text is simple while the organisation of concepts is okay. The authors use graphical embroidery for visual reinforcement of readers' understanding. What's more, the title is short but assertive.

However, grammatical errors are noticed in the text. One of these is, "Letting your workers express their own personalities and maximise their potentials..." (outside back cover), instead of "Letting your workers express their own personalities and maximise their potential..." Note that "Potential" is an uncountable noun and therefore does not structurally take an "S"). Another error is that of structural redundancy, that is, "Much more difficult and much more expensive" (page xi) instead of the elliptical version "Much more difficult and expensive".

In spite of these errors, this text still passes for a masterpiece. It is a must-read and the tips must-apply for anybody that wants to become well educated in the art of management in the New Year.

GOKE ILESANMI, Editor-in-Chief/CEO of http://www.gokeilesanmi.com/ and Managing Consultant/CEO of Gokmar Communication Consulting, is a Certified Public Speaker/Emcee, (Business) Communication Specialist, Motivational Speaker, Career Management Coach, Renowned Book Reviewer, Corporate Leadership Expert and Editorial Consultant.
Tel: +234(0)8055068773; +234(0)8056030424
Email: info@gokeilesanmi.com; gokeiles2010@gmail.com

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Review - The Job Hunter's Survival Guide

The Job-Hunter's Survival Guide, Richard N. Bolles, 2009, ISBN 9781580080262

Here is a basic job-hunting guide for the growing number of people who are unemployed, and don't have the time, or desire, to read a lot of details.

Among the first things you should do is to do a Google search of your name, to see what the Internet says about you. If there are any drunken, or racy, photos of you on Facebook, for instance, restrict their availability or delete them, now. You can plan on a potential employer doing the same search.

After that, take some time and do a through self-inventory of what you do best and enjoy most, and your skills that are most transferable. What did you like most about your last job? What would be your dream job? (Please don't say "A job with high pay and no responsibilities.") That way, you can be absolutely detailed about the type of job you are seeking, and use that to focus your job search.

Most people want to limit their job-searching to replying to online job vacancies, mailing resumes, answering newspaper ads or using private employment agencies. Their rate of success is small, so don't make them your only job-search methods. Much more effective job-search methods include asking your network for job leads, knocking on the door of any employer that interests you (whether or not they have a vacancy), and using the Yellow Pages, alone or with others in a job club, looking for fields of interest.

Before you get on the Internet, know what kind of job you are seeking. There are a seemingly infinite number of sites to visit, including omnibus search engines, sites with jobs in specific fields, and social networking sites. Pick just a few sites, and monitor them (jobs are frequently cross-posted to multiple sites). If a site allows you to fill out a profile, or post your resume, do it. You never know who will read it. Employers prefer to fill vacancies from within, before they advertise for the opening, and deal with a bunch of semi-qualified candidates. If they already have your resume, or have seen you work as a temp or contract employee, your chances have greatly increased.

This book is short, and excellent. To those who bemoan the total lack of available jobs, the author asks "Have you done anything more than rely on the Internet or Sunday want ads for your job searching?" It is very much recommended for all job seekers.

Paul Lappen is a freelance book reviewer whose website, http://www.deadtreesreview.com/, has over 800 reviews on all subjects, with an emphasis on small press books.

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