Are You Marketable?
Nowadays, more then ever, it’s imperative to keep your knowledge and skills current. Yet it is the one thing we often say we don’t have time for, right?
What resources do you use to keep up? For me, I am a book-a-holic! When I do assessments, they always show my love of learning. When you walk in my home, I’m sure the first thing you notice, besides the eclectic feel, are the numerous book shelves. There is one in every room! Under sideboards, in the kitchen, even deep window sills–all are lined with books I love! This past week I gave away a huge TV so I could use the large cupboard housing it for more books! Yeah, I’m crazy about books, that’s for sure!
There are other ways to learn. What is your preferred method to keep your personal leadership skills honed?
Keeping Your Saw Sharp
Books
If you have the big bucks, it’s definitely worth the investment to buy FYI :For Your Improvement. I bought it from The Center For Creative Leadership here in Greensboro NC for use with my coaching clients. It has various competencies listed and how to improve them. Worth it!
I’m also drawn to authors Marshall Goldsmith (my favorite coach) and Patrick Lencioni (great fable books on culture and teams).
Blogs and Info Portals
I subscribe to many blogs and information portals such asHarvard Business Review. Some favorite blogs include:
GaryVaynerchuk.com
ChrisBrogan.com
Shankman.com
SocialTriggers.com
PersonalBrandingBlog.com
TanveerNaseer.com
To stimulate my thinking and get my marketing hat on, I love reading Seth Godin’s blog. You can subscribe HERE. Seth just isn’t about marketing but provides researched insights on people. He has quite a tribe following him!
Newsletters
I hope you enjoy my newsletter! It’s much shorter than it used to be. Who has time? I know your attention span! Others provide great synopsis of topics such as CashBox Coachesnewsletter. Check this one out about future focused leaders. Another blog I enjoy that is engaging is Chip Schlotz’s “Leader Snips“. Short and sweet and great pictures!
Audio Books
Maybe at the end of the day you’re just too tired to read? Well then listen up! Many autos enable your MP3 player to play through your speakers. I run my iPod through a cassette tape after my CD player malfunctioned. $15 did the trick! The time spent in your car can be productive too! NOT TEXTING but listening to a book or webinar ( you can usually get the recording even if you weren’t able to attend). You could just listen to tunes, but if you’re serious about continuous learning, make the most of all your time!
Conferences, Seminars and Webinars
It can be expensive to attend conferences to keep your knowledge up in your field. Now there are various groups that provide seminars that hone in on specific subjects. Check out professional organizations in your area. There are also many LinkedIn groups that hold lunch and learns. My favorite is Webinars, which are offered free by some pretty powerful people ( I wouldn’t miss Patricia Wheeler and Marshall Goldsmith’s). Often you can listen at a later time. And of course on-line learning is readily available now, too.
The Key
All this learning is well and good, but if you don’t APPLY the learning, you’re just filling your brain with more info. It has enough already to runneth over! To get a structure to make changes, take a look at the Vital Smarts (Crucial Conversation guys) and their new book, Change Anything. Just pick one vital behavior you want to change and apply their model of influence to assure you get results.
Now make it happen! You can do it.
