Would you drop out (or drop in) to think for a living? How about for $90,000 over 6 months? That would cover your stint as an “entrepreneur in residence” aka EIR. This job does exist. In fact a legion of companies with EIR positions compete for people who think of great ideas. Silicon Valley’s most prestigious venture capital companies and some large corporations as well sponsor this warm and nurturing – and highly connected – life.

What exactly does the job description specify? Apparently, just the commitment to think, meet and mingle with other thinkers and doers, and prior experience thinking and materializing great ideas. Not the lemonade stand type of idea – even if you sold peppermint and guava flavored choices, made from secret recipes you and your fellow third-grade classmates devised in your school’s young entrepreneur club.

Via Sunday’s New York Times, we discover that relatively mature great idea makers are courted and rewarded, including Michael Bauer at Foundation Capital. Mr. Bauer has previous experience thinking. In fact, prior to taking an EIR slot, he successfully envisioned and launched ventures in broadband technology and green businesses. For this he gets a villa, an assistant, fantastic lunches and even more fantastic lunch partners. Clearly his personal brand includes thinking, and he’s leveraging that.

Answer this:

• How much time do you spend thinking?
• How often do you record your great ideas – and review them?
• How much time do you spend connecting with people who can help you transform your ideas into a great ventures?

Are you too busy working or job-hunting to be thinking?

Really?

No matter how mature you are – and how much successful experience you have, really great ideas happen to people even before they finish college or have a day of real work experience. Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Steve Jobs…. you know the biggest names read Malcolm Gladwell’s work to discover much less vaulted stars in their respective industries, making a great deal of money.

Gladwell says all the greats pretty much have 10,000 hours at the one thing they eventually leveraged for fortune.

So, personal brands: if you have been you for about one and one-half years, you’ve had all the time you need if YOU are a great idea.

If you haven’t yet been the fantastic, elastic, bombastic personal brand you need be, in order to leverage yourself for a fortune (and fame): there’s time.

Pay for yourself with whatever work you are doing and more work you could bring in. Present a crisp, clear, compelling reason to be hired, and be relentless about leveraging your personal brand promise. As money rains in for what you may or may not want to spend your life doing, spend part of every day being an idea maker.

The lunch you provide yourself won’t rival what the Silicon Valley EIRs are eating. But, you should be making calls to people who would go Dutch with you to Subway, in order to engage in the kind of connectivity that doesn’t come from a router.

Personal Brands: Eat. Think. Connect.

• Personal Brands: Don’t Pack More Than You Can Carry
• Personal Brands: I Heart You

You can find Nance on
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter

Would you drop out (or drop in) to think for a living? How about for $90,000 over 6 months? That would cover your stint as an “entrepreneur in residence” aka EIR. This job does exist. In fact a legion of companies with EIR positions compete for people who think of great ideas. Silicon Valley’s most prestigious venture capital companies and some large corporations as well sponsor this warm and nurturing – and highly connected – life.

What exactly does the job description specify? Apparently, just the commitment to think, meet and mingle with other thinkers and doers, and prior experience thinking and materializing great ideas. Not the lemonade stand type of idea – even if you sold peppermint and guava flavored choices, made from secret recipes you and your fellow third-grade classmates devised in your school’s young entrepreneur club.

Via Sunday’s New York Times, we discover that relatively mature great idea makers are courted and rewarded, including Michael Bauer at Foundation Capital. Mr. Bauer has previous experience thinking. In fact, prior to taking an EIR slot, he successfully envisioned and launched ventures in broadband technology and green businesses. For this he gets a villa, an assistant, fantastic lunches and even more fantastic lunch partners. Clearly his personal brand includes thinking, and he’s leveraging that.

Answer this:

• How much time do you spend thinking?
• How often do you record your great ideas – and review them?
• How much time do you spend connecting with people who can help you transform your ideas into a great ventures?

Are you too busy working or job-hunting to be thinking?

Really?

No matter how mature you are – and how much successful experience you have, really great ideas happen to people even before they finish college or have a day of real work experience. Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Steve Jobs…. you know the biggest names read Malcolm Gladwell’s work to discover much less vaulted stars in their respective industries, making a great deal of money.

Gladwell says all the greats pretty much have 10,000 hours at the one thing they eventually leveraged for fortune.

So, personal brands: if you have been you for about one and one-half years, you’ve had all the time you need if YOU are a great idea.

If you haven’t yet been the fantastic, elastic, bombastic personal brand you need be, in order to leverage yourself for a fortune (and fame): there’s time.

Pay for yourself with whatever work you are doing and more work you could bring in. Present a crisp, clear, compelling reason to be hired, and be relentless about leveraging your personal brand promise. As money rains in for what you may or may not want to spend your life doing, spend part of every day being an idea maker.

The lunch you provide yourself won’t rival what the Silicon Valley EIRs are eating. But, you should be making calls to people who would go Dutch with you to Subway, in order to engage in the kind of connectivity that doesn’t come from a router.

Personal Brands: Eat. Think. Connect.

• Personal Brands: Don’t Pack More Than You Can Carry
• Personal Brands: I Heart You

You can find Nance on
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter

Would you drop out (or drop in) to think for a living? How about for $90,000 over 6 months? That would cover your stint as an “entrepreneur in residence” aka EIR. This job does exist. In fact a legion of companies with EIR positions compete for people who think of great ideas. Silicon Valley’s most prestigious venture capital companies and some large corporations as well sponsor this warm and nurturing – and highly connected – life.

What exactly does the job description specify? Apparently, just the commitment to think, meet and mingle with other thinkers and doers, and prior experience thinking and materializing great ideas. Not the lemonade stand type of idea – even if you sold peppermint and guava flavored choices, made from secret recipes you and your fellow third-grade classmates devised in your school’s young entrepreneur club.

Via Sunday’s New York Times, we discover that relatively mature great idea makers are courted and rewarded, including Michael Bauer at Foundation Capital. Mr. Bauer has previous experience thinking. In fact, prior to taking an EIR slot, he successfully envisioned and launched ventures in broadband technology and green businesses. For this he gets a villa, an assistant, fantastic lunches and even more fantastic lunch partners. Clearly his personal brand includes thinking, and he’s leveraging that.

Answer this:

• How much time do you spend thinking?
• How often do you record your great ideas – and review them?
• How much time do you spend connecting with people who can help you transform your ideas into a great ventures?

Are you too busy working or job-hunting to be thinking?

Really?

No matter how mature you are – and how much successful experience you have, really great ideas happen to people even before they finish college or have a day of real work experience. Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Steve Jobs…. you know the biggest names read Malcolm Gladwell’s work to discover much less vaulted stars in their respective industries, making a great deal of money.

Gladwell says all the greats pretty much have 10,000 hours at the one thing they eventually leveraged for fortune.

So, personal brands: if you have been you for about one and one-half years, you’ve had all the time you need if YOU are a great idea.

If you haven’t yet been the fantastic, elastic, bombastic personal brand you need be, in order to leverage yourself for a fortune (and fame): there’s time.

Pay for yourself with whatever work you are doing and more work you could bring in. Present a crisp, clear, compelling reason to be hired, and be relentless about leveraging your personal brand promise. As money rains in for what you may or may not want to spend your life doing, spend part of every day being an idea maker.

The lunch you provide yourself won’t rival what the Silicon Valley EIRs are eating. But, you should be making calls to people who would go Dutch with you to Subway, in order to engage in the kind of connectivity that doesn’t come from a router.

Personal Brands: Eat. Think. Connect.

• Personal Brands: Don’t Pack More Than You Can Carry
• Personal Brands: I Heart You

You can find Nance on
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter

Would you drop out (or drop in) to think for a living? How about for $90,000 over 6 months? That would cover your stint as an “entrepreneur in residence” aka EIR. This job does exist. In fact a legion of companies with EIR positions compete for people who think of great ideas. Silicon Valley’s most prestigious venture capital companies and some large corporations as well sponsor this warm and nurturing – and highly connected – life.

What exactly does the job description specify? Apparently, just the commitment to think, meet and mingle with other thinkers and doers, and prior experience thinking and materializing great ideas. Not the lemonade stand type of idea – even if you sold peppermint and guava flavored choices, made from secret recipes you and your fellow third-grade classmates devised in your school’s young entrepreneur club.

Via Sunday’s New York Times, we discover that relatively mature great idea makers are courted and rewarded, including Michael Bauer at Foundation Capital. Mr. Bauer has previous experience thinking. In fact, prior to taking an EIR slot, he successfully envisioned and launched ventures in broadband technology and green businesses. For this he gets a villa, an assistant, fantastic lunches and even more fantastic lunch partners. Clearly his personal brand includes thinking, and he’s leveraging that.

Answer this:

• How much time do you spend thinking?
• How often do you record your great ideas – and review them?
• How much time do you spend connecting with people who can help you transform your ideas into a great ventures?

Are you too busy working or job-hunting to be thinking?

Really?

No matter how mature you are – and how much successful experience you have, really great ideas happen to people even before they finish college or have a day of real work experience. Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Steve Jobs…. you know the biggest names read Malcolm Gladwell’s work to discover much less vaulted stars in their respective industries, making a great deal of money.

Gladwell says all the greats pretty much have 10,000 hours at the one thing they eventually leveraged for fortune.

So, personal brands: if you have been you for about one and one-half years, you’ve had all the time you need if YOU are a great idea.

If you haven’t yet been the fantastic, elastic, bombastic personal brand you need be, in order to leverage yourself for a fortune (and fame): there’s time.

Pay for yourself with whatever work you are doing and more work you could bring in. Present a crisp, clear, compelling reason to be hired, and be relentless about leveraging your personal brand promise. As money rains in for what you may or may not want to spend your life doing, spend part of every day being an idea maker.

The lunch you provide yourself won’t rival what the Silicon Valley EIRs are eating. But, you should be making calls to people who would go Dutch with you to Subway, in order to engage in the kind of connectivity that doesn’t come from a router.

Personal Brands: Eat. Think. Connect.

• Personal Brands: Don’t Pack More Than You Can Carry
• Personal Brands: I Heart You

You can find Nance on
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter

Would you drop out (or drop in) to think for a living? How about for $90,000 over 6 months? That would cover your stint as an “entrepreneur in residence” aka EIR. This job does exist. In fact a legion of companies with EIR positions compete for people who think of great ideas. Silicon Valley’s most prestigious venture capital companies and some large corporations as well sponsor this warm and nurturing – and highly connected – life.

What exactly does the job description specify? Apparently, just the commitment to think, meet and mingle with other thinkers and doers, and prior experience thinking and materializing great ideas. Not the lemonade stand type of idea – even if you sold peppermint and guava flavored choices, made from secret recipes you and your fellow third-grade classmates devised in your school’s young entrepreneur club.

Via Sunday’s New York Times, we discover that relatively mature great idea makers are courted and rewarded, including Michael Bauer at Foundation Capital. Mr. Bauer has previous experience thinking. In fact, prior to taking an EIR slot, he successfully envisioned and launched ventures in broadband technology and green businesses. For this he gets a villa, an assistant, fantastic lunches and even more fantastic lunch partners. Clearly his personal brand includes thinking, and he’s leveraging that.

Answer this:

• How much time do you spend thinking?
• How often do you record your great ideas – and review them?
• How much time do you spend connecting with people who can help you transform your ideas into a great ventures?

Are you too busy working or job-hunting to be thinking?

Really?

No matter how mature you are – and how much successful experience you have, really great ideas happen to people even before they finish college or have a day of real work experience. Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Steve Jobs…. you know the biggest names read Malcolm Gladwell’s work to discover much less vaulted stars in their respective industries, making a great deal of money.

Gladwell says all the greats pretty much have 10,000 hours at the one thing they eventually leveraged for fortune.

So, personal brands: if you have been you for about one and one-half years, you’ve had all the time you need if YOU are a great idea.

If you haven’t yet been the fantastic, elastic, bombastic personal brand you need be, in order to leverage yourself for a fortune (and fame): there’s time.

Pay for yourself with whatever work you are doing and more work you could bring in. Present a crisp, clear, compelling reason to be hired, and be relentless about leveraging your personal brand promise. As money rains in for what you may or may not want to spend your life doing, spend part of every day being an idea maker.

The lunch you provide yourself won’t rival what the Silicon Valley EIRs are eating. But, you should be making calls to people who would go Dutch with you to Subway, in order to engage in the kind of connectivity that doesn’t come from a router.

Personal Brands: Eat. Think. Connect.

• Personal Brands: Don’t Pack More Than You Can Carry
• Personal Brands: I Heart You

You can find Nance on
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter

Would you drop out (or drop in) to think for a living? How about for $90,000 over 6 months? That would cover your stint as an “entrepreneur in residence” aka EIR. This job does exist. In fact a legion of companies with EIR positions compete for people who think of great ideas. Silicon Valley’s most prestigious venture capital companies and some large corporations as well sponsor this warm and nurturing – and highly connected – life.

What exactly does the job description specify? Apparently, just the commitment to think, meet and mingle with other thinkers and doers, and prior experience thinking and materializing great ideas. Not the lemonade stand type of idea – even if you sold peppermint and guava flavored choices, made from secret recipes you and your fellow third-grade classmates devised in your school’s young entrepreneur club.

Via Sunday’s New York Times, we discover that relatively mature great idea makers are courted and rewarded, including Michael Bauer at Foundation Capital. Mr. Bauer has previous experience thinking. In fact, prior to taking an EIR slot, he successfully envisioned and launched ventures in broadband technology and green businesses. For this he gets a villa, an assistant, fantastic lunches and even more fantastic lunch partners. Clearly his personal brand includes thinking, and he’s leveraging that.

Answer this:

• How much time do you spend thinking?
• How often do you record your great ideas – and review them?
• How much time do you spend connecting with people who can help you transform your ideas into a great ventures?

Are you too busy working or job-hunting to be thinking?

Really?

No matter how mature you are – and how much successful experience you have, really great ideas happen to people even before they finish college or have a day of real work experience. Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Steve Jobs…. you know the biggest names read Malcolm Gladwell’s work to discover much less vaulted stars in their respective industries, making a great deal of money.

Gladwell says all the greats pretty much have 10,000 hours at the one thing they eventually leveraged for fortune.

So, personal brands: if you have been you for about one and one-half years, you’ve had all the time you need if YOU are a great idea.

If you haven’t yet been the fantastic, elastic, bombastic personal brand you need be, in order to leverage yourself for a fortune (and fame): there’s time.

Pay for yourself with whatever work you are doing and more work you could bring in. Present a crisp, clear, compelling reason to be hired, and be relentless about leveraging your personal brand promise. As money rains in for what you may or may not want to spend your life doing, spend part of every day being an idea maker.

The lunch you provide yourself won’t rival what the Silicon Valley EIRs are eating. But, you should be making calls to people who would go Dutch with you to Subway, in order to engage in the kind of connectivity that doesn’t come from a router.

Personal Brands: Eat. Think. Connect.

• Personal Brands: Don’t Pack More Than You Can Carry
• Personal Brands: I Heart You

You can find Nance on
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter

Would you drop out (or drop in) to think for a living? How about for $90,000 over 6 months? That would cover your stint as an “entrepreneur in residence” aka EIR. This job does exist. In fact a legion of companies with EIR positions compete for people who think of great ideas. Silicon Valley’s most prestigious venture capital companies and some large corporations as well sponsor this warm and nurturing – and highly connected – life.

What exactly does the job description specify? Apparently, just the commitment to think, meet and mingle with other thinkers and doers, and prior experience thinking and materializing great ideas. Not the lemonade stand type of idea – even if you sold peppermint and guava flavored choices, made from secret recipes you and your fellow third-grade classmates devised in your school’s young entrepreneur club.

Via Sunday’s New York Times, we discover that relatively mature great idea makers are courted and rewarded, including Michael Bauer at Foundation Capital. Mr. Bauer has previous experience thinking. In fact, prior to taking an EIR slot, he successfully envisioned and launched ventures in broadband technology and green businesses. For this he gets a villa, an assistant, fantastic lunches and even more fantastic lunch partners. Clearly his personal brand includes thinking, and he’s leveraging that.

Answer this:

• How much time do you spend thinking?
• How often do you record your great ideas – and review them?
• How much time do you spend connecting with people who can help you transform your ideas into a great ventures?

Are you too busy working or job-hunting to be thinking?

Really?

No matter how mature you are – and how much successful experience you have, really great ideas happen to people even before they finish college or have a day of real work experience. Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Steve Jobs…. you know the biggest names read Malcolm Gladwell’s work to discover much less vaulted stars in their respective industries, making a great deal of money.

Gladwell says all the greats pretty much have 10,000 hours at the one thing they eventually leveraged for fortune.

So, personal brands: if you have been you for about one and one-half years, you’ve had all the time you need if YOU are a great idea.

If you haven’t yet been the fantastic, elastic, bombastic personal brand you need be, in order to leverage yourself for a fortune (and fame): there’s time.

Pay for yourself with whatever work you are doing and more work you could bring in. Present a crisp, clear, compelling reason to be hired, and be relentless about leveraging your personal brand promise. As money rains in for what you may or may not want to spend your life doing, spend part of every day being an idea maker.

The lunch you provide yourself won’t rival what the Silicon Valley EIRs are eating. But, you should be making calls to people who would go Dutch with you to Subway, in order to engage in the kind of connectivity that doesn’t come from a router.

Personal Brands: Eat. Think. Connect.

• Personal Brands: Don’t Pack More Than You Can Carry
• Personal Brands: I Heart You

You can find Nance on
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter

Would you drop out (or drop in) to think for a living? How about for $90,000 over 6 months? That would cover your stint as an “entrepreneur in residence” aka EIR. This job does exist. In fact a legion of companies with EIR positions compete for people who think of great ideas. Silicon Valley’s most prestigious venture capital companies and some large corporations as well sponsor this warm and nurturing – and highly connected – life.

What exactly does the job description specify? Apparently, just the commitment to think, meet and mingle with other thinkers and doers, and prior experience thinking and materializing great ideas. Not the lemonade stand type of idea – even if you sold peppermint and guava flavored choices, made from secret recipes you and your fellow third-grade classmates devised in your school’s young entrepreneur club.

Via Sunday’s New York Times, we discover that relatively mature great idea makers are courted and rewarded, including Michael Bauer at Foundation Capital. Mr. Bauer has previous experience thinking. In fact, prior to taking an EIR slot, he successfully envisioned and launched ventures in broadband technology and green businesses. For this he gets a villa, an assistant, fantastic lunches and even more fantastic lunch partners. Clearly his personal brand includes thinking, and he’s leveraging that.

Answer this:

• How much time do you spend thinking?
• How often do you record your great ideas – and review them?
• How much time do you spend connecting with people who can help you transform your ideas into a great ventures?

Are you too busy working or job-hunting to be thinking?

Really?

No matter how mature you are – and how much successful experience you have, really great ideas happen to people even before they finish college or have a day of real work experience. Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Steve Jobs…. you know the biggest names read Malcolm Gladwell’s work to discover much less vaulted stars in their respective industries, making a great deal of money.

Gladwell says all the greats pretty much have 10,000 hours at the one thing they eventually leveraged for fortune.

So, personal brands: if you have been you for about one and one-half years, you’ve had all the time you need if YOU are a great idea.

If you haven’t yet been the fantastic, elastic, bombastic personal brand you need be, in order to leverage yourself for a fortune (and fame): there’s time.

Pay for yourself with whatever work you are doing and more work you could bring in. Present a crisp, clear, compelling reason to be hired, and be relentless about leveraging your personal brand promise. As money rains in for what you may or may not want to spend your life doing, spend part of every day being an idea maker.

The lunch you provide yourself won’t rival what the Silicon Valley EIRs are eating. But, you should be making calls to people who would go Dutch with you to Subway, in order to engage in the kind of connectivity that doesn’t come from a router.

Personal Brands: Eat. Think. Connect.

• Personal Brands: Don’t Pack More Than You Can Carry
• Personal Brands: I Heart You

You can find Nance on
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter

Would you drop out (or drop in) to think for a living? How about for $90,000 over 6 months? That would cover your stint as an “entrepreneur in residence” aka EIR. This job does exist. In fact a legion of companies with EIR positions compete for people who think of great ideas. Silicon Valley’s most prestigious venture capital companies and some large corporations as well sponsor this warm and nurturing – and highly connected – life.

What exactly does the job description specify? Apparently, just the commitment to think, meet and mingle with other thinkers and doers, and prior experience thinking and materializing great ideas. Not the lemonade stand type of idea – even if you sold peppermint and guava flavored choices, made from secret recipes you and your fellow third-grade classmates devised in your school’s young entrepreneur club.

Via Sunday’s New York Times, we discover that relatively mature great idea makers are courted and rewarded, including Michael Bauer at Foundation Capital. Mr. Bauer has previous experience thinking. In fact, prior to taking an EIR slot, he successfully envisioned and launched ventures in broadband technology and green businesses. For this he gets a villa, an assistant, fantastic lunches and even more fantastic lunch partners. Clearly his personal brand includes thinking, and he’s leveraging that.

Answer this:

• How much time do you spend thinking?
• How often do you record your great ideas – and review them?
• How much time do you spend connecting with people who can help you transform your ideas into a great ventures?

Are you too busy working or job-hunting to be thinking?

Really?

No matter how mature you are – and how much successful experience you have, really great ideas happen to people even before they finish college or have a day of real work experience. Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Steve Jobs…. you know the biggest names read Malcolm Gladwell’s work to discover much less vaulted stars in their respective industries, making a great deal of money.

Gladwell says all the greats pretty much have 10,000 hours at the one thing they eventually leveraged for fortune.

So, personal brands: if you have been you for about one and one-half years, you’ve had all the time you need if YOU are a great idea.

If you haven’t yet been the fantastic, elastic, bombastic personal brand you need be, in order to leverage yourself for a fortune (and fame): there’s time.

Pay for yourself with whatever work you are doing and more work you could bring in. Present a crisp, clear, compelling reason to be hired, and be relentless about leveraging your personal brand promise. As money rains in for what you may or may not want to spend your life doing, spend part of every day being an idea maker.

The lunch you provide yourself won’t rival what the Silicon Valley EIRs are eating. But, you should be making calls to people who would go Dutch with you to Subway, in order to engage in the kind of connectivity that doesn’t come from a router.

Personal Brands: Eat. Think. Connect.

• Personal Brands: Don’t Pack More Than You Can Carry
• Personal Brands: I Heart You

You can find Nance on
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter

Would you drop out (or drop in) to think for a living? How about for $90,000 over 6 months? That would cover your stint as an “entrepreneur in residence” aka EIR. This job does exist. In fact a legion of companies with EIR positions compete for people who think of great ideas. Silicon Valley’s most prestigious venture capital companies and some large corporations as well sponsor this warm and nurturing – and highly connected – life.

What exactly does the job description specify? Apparently, just the commitment to think, meet and mingle with other thinkers and doers, and prior experience thinking and materializing great ideas. Not the lemonade stand type of idea – even if you sold peppermint and guava flavored choices, made from secret recipes you and your fellow third-grade classmates devised in your school’s young entrepreneur club.

Via Sunday’s New York Times, we discover that relatively mature great idea makers are courted and rewarded, including Michael Bauer at Foundation Capital. Mr. Bauer has previous experience thinking. In fact, prior to taking an EIR slot, he successfully envisioned and launched ventures in broadband technology and green businesses. For this he gets a villa, an assistant, fantastic lunches and even more fantastic lunch partners. Clearly his personal brand includes thinking, and he’s leveraging that.

Answer this:

• How much time do you spend thinking?
• How often do you record your great ideas – and review them?
• How much time do you spend connecting with people who can help you transform your ideas into a great ventures?

Are you too busy working or job-hunting to be thinking?

Really?

No matter how mature you are – and how much successful experience you have, really great ideas happen to people even before they finish college or have a day of real work experience. Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Steve Jobs…. you know the biggest names read Malcolm Gladwell’s work to discover much less vaulted stars in their respective industries, making a great deal of money.

Gladwell says all the greats pretty much have 10,000 hours at the one thing they eventually leveraged for fortune.

So, personal brands: if you have been you for about one and one-half years, you’ve had all the time you need if YOU are a great idea.

If you haven’t yet been the fantastic, elastic, bombastic personal brand you need be, in order to leverage yourself for a fortune (and fame): there’s time.

Pay for yourself with whatever work you are doing and more work you could bring in. Present a crisp, clear, compelling reason to be hired, and be relentless about leveraging your personal brand promise. As money rains in for what you may or may not want to spend your life doing, spend part of every day being an idea maker.

The lunch you provide yourself won’t rival what the Silicon Valley EIRs are eating. But, you should be making calls to people who would go Dutch with you to Subway, in order to engage in the kind of connectivity that doesn’t come from a router.

Personal Brands: Eat. Think. Connect.

• Personal Brands: Don’t Pack More Than You Can Carry
• Personal Brands: I Heart You

You can find Nance on
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter

According to Sunday’s New York Times, the new CEO at Xerox does her own grocery shopping and most of her own household chores. Ursula Burns flies on the corporate jet, but she parks her car in the parking lot and carries her own bags.

This is an extraordinary person. Reared by a single mother, along with her brother and sister, CEO Burns reports there was a lot of life learning to be had in their home.

Her mom took in laundry to pay the rent and cleaned doctors’ offices to barter for their medical care. Ms Burns recalls that her mother had many sayings; mostly blunt ones that she repeated over and over to ingrain their refrain in her children’s brains.

“Where you are is not who you are. Don’t act like you’re from the gutter, because you live in a place that’s really close to the gutter.” Wow.

Personal brands, answer these questions:

• So what baggage are you carrying around?
• Where does your behavior say you’re from?
• Have you gracefully risen above the shortcomings and scarcity, or indulgence and extravagance, of your childhood?
• When is the expiration date on the claim you’re a victim of whatever bad, even really bad happened, that you survived?

Among the best qualities CEO Burns appears to have is a brutal truth filter in her brain. On her climb up the ladder, she has listened to top management declare one new initiative after another (or again and again) while not holding anyone accountable. She calls the lack of productive conflict “terminal niceness.” Loosely translated that means people being so conflict averse that the culture kills the organization.  Her personal brand is characterized by honestly, ambition (for her company and herself) and cooperation.

Personal brands: how about you?

• Do you tell yourself the brutal truth?
• Are you holding yourself accountable for stating goals but straying from them?
• Is your behavior killing your chances for success?

Of course, CEO Burns didn’t leapfrog to her position. She studied mechanical engineering as both an undergrad and graduate student. She joined Xerox as a summer intern, three decades ago. Take heart: she proves that internships are a great way to the CEO sphere.

Oh, and one last thing. Contrary to what the other CEOs have been saying lately: CEO Burns doesn’t like failure. In fact, she doesn’t even allow for it, because if you do: it happens.

Personal brands: ask yourself the hard questions. Do the hard work. And, don’t pack more than you can carry. More from Nance…

• Personal Brands: I Heart You
• Personal Brands: Be Ready to Answer This

You can find Nance on
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter

In case no one else had time to tell you on Sunday: I love you.

That’s it. That’s the whole message.

Can you imagine if you felt loved everyday when you go to work? Think of what it would be like to know that pretty much EVERYONE loved you? That your clients loved you? That your vendors loved you? That your boss or investors loved you?

Can you imagine if you didn’t have to be paranoid about the double talk, the stalls, the lies, the back-stabbing, the infighting, the turf wars and the rest of life’s ridiculous, draining and energy-robbing moments?

I am pretty much lucky at work. People who are excited, passionate, good at what they do and strive to do more seem to gravitate my way. I outright love some of my clients. I had an author fly in to Palm Desert, California from icy cold Massachusetts last week. I drove two hours to have dinner with him and his wife. I don’t think we solved world conflict or did more than talk about our families.  Every moment was a joy. A hug fest.

I had another author fly in from Ohio to the TED conference last week. I drove more than an hour in rush hour traffic to meet him in Long Beach for dinner. He was filled with interesting news about the conference and excited about his upcoming speeches.  It was joyful noise at our table. Another hug and kiss exchanged with real affection and respect.

And, I had a great Valentine’s evening with five close friends at a very delicious and perhaps the most expensive restaurant I’d ever been in. One gal offered to pay half of the whole bill just to make it easier on the rest of us. But no one accepted, and everyone chipped in.

I wish these were all the moments of my day and night. I wish they were for you, too, They aren’t. We’re lucky if half the time we feel what we do is respected, much less cherished. A lot of the time, and I don’t know why, there’s a crushing amount of insult and injury being slung, almost incomprehensively harsh ill will in business.

Here’s what I do understand. I have settled on part of my personal brand being “encouraging of others,” despite the madding crowds. I let my feelings border on love some of the time. I know it’s a risk to have faith in others if you’re in business or just in life. Mother Teresa says to realize the worst can happen but love, befriend, and extend yourself anyway.

Ask yourself if your personal brand could stand some humanizing. Is it appropriate for you to add kindness and generosity to your ambition?

Who should you say: “I heart you,” to today? More from Nance…

• Personal Brands: Be Ready to Answer This
• Personal Brands: These Are Your Lucky Numbers

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In Sunday’s New York Times, the least likely person in American business is interviewed in the Corner Office column.

She’s Susan Docherty, who “leads” General Motor’s US sales, service and marketing team. In case you don’t get the joke, GM is one of the more famous bankrupt companies in the US, based on its resistance to building cars that Americans want to drive. If it weren’t for their pesky rebuke of its target market, GM’s sales, service and marketing team would be doing just fine.

You might expect Ms. Docherty to be keeping a low profile, since GM has reported record sales in China, Europe, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Russia. That would be everywhere except the US and Antarctica.

In terms of a personal brand stance, Ms Doherty personifies the concept of “failing upward.” In fact, like so many business leaders, she loves to hire people who have failed because she wants to see how they recovered, grew and changed.

She also wants candidates who have a great answer to this question:

“If you could be in my shoes today, what would be the top three things you’d do?”

For whatever other value this interview might bring, it was worth the read just for that question. You must be able to answer that question –for anyone you meet in a leadership position, your boss, clients, prospects, investors – heck, the head of the CIA, President Obama and the owner of your favorite football team.

If you were asked that question by the people who play a role in your success or failure, what would you say? Think about the people you aspire to meet, those you certainly will meet, and those who are on your “must meet” list. Get to know their lives well enough, their past decisions and their future leanings, so you are prepared to help them.

It’s really preparation for your brand to be known as an informed, interested and trusted advisor.

TO DO: Make a list of the people you want to influence. Then go about researching the topics that matter to them. Be ready for your opinion to be asked – or the opportunity to weigh in on the issues that matter.

• Personal Brands: These Are Your Lucky Numbers
• Personal Brands: 3 ways to keep your brand identity alive

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There’s something magical about these numbers: 2, 3, 5, 7 and 10. They are magically memorable when you’re speaking – and your audience is listening.

Employ these numbers as a way organize your services, map out your presentations and help others’ retain in their brains what it is you offer.

You might say: “I offer two services for small companies. One is writing narratives for slide shows and videos. Two is producing multi-media presentations from start to finish.” Notice that you are leading with a small bite of the elephant of services you offer. It keeps your audience’s resistance down.

You might say: “Our clients consistently report we improve their performance in these three ways. One: peace of mind – they know they have a back up of their data offsite. Two: cost-sharing – they get the benefit of gang-run, because we batch them with others and give them the discount. Three: communication – a trained, live, employee is always just a phone call away.”

You might say: ‘We have five success stories in your industry.  They range from one-person consulting firms to a multi-national with 12,000 employees. Where do you think you fit on that spectrum?”

You might say: “As a communications consultant I can tell you the seven reasons why people buy. If you like, I’ll use your company’s products to illuminate those.”

You might say: “We have a ten point plan to optimize your presence on the web. Would you to like look at that map and see where you might be missing out on some key success factors?”

It’s almost as easy as 1-2-3 to keep your message organized in your mind – and retained in your audience’s brains. More from Nance…

• Personal Brands: 3 ways to keep your brand identity alive
• Personal Brands Never Rest

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1. Spend 30 minutes a day – maybe in 10-minute increments – on an aggregated news site to get Tweet fodder. I use the New York Times, Huffington Post and sometimes a mind stretcher like Science. Read the headlines with your brand identity in mind. Ask yourself: How does what I do or who I am connect with this story?

2. Use Hootsuite or another Twitter-oriented program to stock up your tweets and schedule their appearance on your followers’ pages. Ask yourself with each tweet: am I delivering valuable content from the perspective of my core brand message? Consider whether what you tweet is worth duplicating on your Facebook and LinkedIn profile.

3. Never underestimate the power of a branded magnet, pencil or booklet. When you get out and about – whether you’re with clients, prospects, your physician or hair stylist: ask yourself: how could what I do or who I am service to their goals? Before you leave the conversation: give them something easy to carry that puts your brand in their hand – or on their refrigerator. More from Nance…

• Personal Brands Never Rest
• Personal Brands: Be CEO of Something, Anything

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Don’t fear the wrath of anyone. If you are a big enough personal brand to attract a substantial number of friends and followers, someone will hate you. Welcome animosity as a badge of recognition. If no one hates you, you really haven’t accomplished anything.

The more important the hater is, the more important you are. The larger the group of haters, the more fiercely your tribe will advocate for you. The whole hubbub will be good for your personal reputation.

Remember, indifference is the opposite of love.

Why would anyone mock, revile, or talk about you behind your back? Because you are a competitor! Maybe you represent a new wave of thought in your industry. Perhaps you’re so inventive that your thinking could put someone else out of business. Could be: you are a larger presence, a bigger force or person of greater wisdom, courage, charisma, resources or resiliency. Rising stars make cash cows mad.

If IBM had been limber enough to do what Apple did, it would have. So instead, PC people hated MAC people. It’s a good kind of hate. It was the mother of invention, and eventually some collaboration.

There’s not a single woman who won Miss Congeniality in the Miss America pageant, who later became CEO of a Global 2000 company.

The truth behind most “Father of the Year” awards is that they are banquet fundraisers for do-good organizations that need money for good works. So, the board picks a really high profile guy who’s beaten his way to the top of the heap and along the way had a few kids.

He invites all his friends, intimidates them into buying tables at the event for $10,000 a piece, and gets his face plastered on the cover of his city’s business journal.

When Coke introduced New Coke, people HATED New Coke. Which proved how much they loved Coke. If the blue company that competes against Coke weren’t around, Coke would have to invent them.

No one hates you yet? Be bigger, bolder and more brilliant. Your time will come. More from Nance…

• Ten Commandments of Personal Branding – #10: It’s All About 30 Seconds
• Ten Commandments of Personal Branding – #9 Never Stop Learning: You Couldn’t If You Tried
• Ten Commandments of Personal Branding – #8: Don’t Fear Being Hated

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In Sunday’s New York Times, Zynga CEO Mark Pincus describes his method for swelling up his company with CEOs. Yes, he wants a company brimming with CEOs – people who are CEO of a plan, project, or program. On a wall, he tacks up a poster-sized white sheet for each employee – and puts the employee’s name at the top. Then, he gives everyone one week to commit to what they are CEO of, and it has to be “something meaningful” written in bold letters for everyone to see.

You’ve got to feel pretty stupid if your name is up there with nothing below it. And, it happens. Mark just doesn’t want people who don’t own their portion of the enterprise – or are afraid to take risks.

There are plenty of companies that recruit people because they are followers, have little imagination and want to put in an 8-hour day for 8-hour pay. Personal brands don’t have to long suffer those circumstances if you’re managing your life, work, reputation, output and relationships. But you might use the salary to become your own patron. In other words, keep your day job.

You still can be CEO of whatever ideal venture, book, website, or business you do away from your day job. With your own income funding you, you don’t have chase down venture capitalists and beg for money. You can self-fund. That means keeping your day job because it provides the resources for your new project.

Mark Pincus also likes people who have excelled at something – perhaps athletics – and then FAILED. He’s looking for resiliency – and people who are hungry to get back on top of something big. Hungry people have unmet goals (that’s why they’re hungry). Hungry people exceed their goals because they set a bigger goal each time they see they’re going to make the last one they set.

What are you CEO of? Do you have it written down somewhere? Everywhere?

Is someone or something holding you accountable?

Do you have a roadmap, milestones and clear signs laid out to prove you’re succeeding (or not) on the path to your success?

Do you know what EVIDENCE you’ll need to see – not feel – that proves you are making progress?

Do you have alternatives ready if you can’t clear an obstacle with your original plan?

Do you know the people who must say yes, support you, believe in you and provide the resources you need? Are you establishing relationships with them?

Do you have all the skills, experience, judgment, and work ethic you’ll need – or a plan to get them as you go along the road? Just-in-time skill building is perfect, since almost everything is so dynamic, you don’t want to train too early – or too late.

Venture capitalist John Doerr is one of Mark Pincus’ advisors. John has a simple system for keeping you on track with your goals and roadmap. Here’s how you can get started on your CEO status, once you’ve identified exactly what you own.

On Sunday night, you write down your top three priorities along with three measurable outcomes you’ll achieve by week’s end.

It’s put up or shut up time for personal brand builders. Put up that big white piece of paper with your name on it. Jumpstart your progress by filling in these blanks:

I am CEO of:

This week my top three priorities are:

The three measurable outcomes I’ll see this week are:

• Personal Brands Celebrate 2010 Before It Happens
• 3 Rs of Personal Branding

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I’m laying here injured. The worst of it isn’t the aches and pains. The real crime is that I did it myself.

Zach, a friend of mine, did it times three. After a late night drink with the guys, he did the right thing: he got his friend, who was sober, to drive him home. Unfortunately, Zach held on to the roof of the car as he was getting in and his friend slammed his hand hard enough to break Zach’s hand. After three days of getting used to the big purple bat that was the cast covering his hand, Zach felt strong enough to go out for a run. He ran along the railroad tracks near his house in Whittier and, in one innocent, heart healthy move, hit a spike and broke his foot. Finally taking off some time to recover, Zach was bit by a spider that blew up his uncasted arm. And so, that night, Zach sat for seven hours in the emergency room trying to find out if the bite was deadly. Though he went unseen by a doctor, after seven hours he figured that he’d live.

Zach’s injuries and mine are the worst kind because they are a result of our choices. Of course it’s easy to see what we’ve done when we are limping and achy because of it. They call these things “accidents.”

What have you done lately with your personal brand? Where have you made some unfortunate mistakes and really crummy first impressions? When were you introduced to someone, perhaps at an event, and didn’t have a business card with you? And when, online, have you asked someone to buy you a donkey or help you raise your imaginary barn?

Personal brands beware: our tendency as humans is to lay the blame for the loss of a job, a failed project, or a “personality conflict” on another person. But that doesn’t make sense.  Your personal brand, your reputation, your output, your input, your trajectory – even the people you go for a drink with – are all your own choice.

It’s going to take me another week before I can stand up and move around easily, but the end of this minor back injury is certain. Zach is already back to his new workout regime now that his hand and foot have healed, and he lived through the spider bite.

What you and I say, do, miss, forget, and engender negative regard for, is almost always, wholly, in our own minds, hearts, words, and deeds.

Think about where you’re going to take Your Next Step!

• Personal Brands Celebrate 2010 Before It Happens
• 3 Rs of Personal Branding

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Ouch! I keep reading about personal branding being a tool that sets you up to be tomorrow’s leaders. Why do old people always say this to young people? And, why do young people repeat it?

Does anyone wake up in the morning and say, “I hope I’ll be tomorrow’s leader.” When they wake up the next day, they a) discover that hope is not a strategy, and b) that tomorrow is yet another day away.

Don’t be fooled by anyone who says you can’t lead today. Truth is: if you’re not leading something today, someone else is. And, they aren’t waiting for you to wake up and say, “Thanks for keeping my spot warm, move over, I’m leading now.”

They will lookdown at you from their perch of leadership (no matter how minor) and kick you back down among the crowd of followers. (They probably won’t actually kick you. What they will do is more covert: steal your ideas, not pass along a great concept you offered up or just talk you down to their leader.)

Personal brands of earth: wake up. It’s today. Lead today. Whenever it turns out to be tomorrow, you just keep on leading. Don’t be fooled by that “tomorrow’s leader” ambition killer Kool Aid, even if it they say it’s good for you. It’s not. It’s good for them.

Seth Godin famously says that you belong to a tribe (maybe several) and within that tribe you can step up and lead it. Maybe you’ll lead a particular sub-group or lead on a particular project.

I’m sure you can think of something in every segment of your life, where you can initiate a plan, project or program and lead. Consider your work, social life, community, worship group, family, sports club, hobby… the places where you can exercise leadership is almost infinite.

When leaders above you and around you see you leading by virtue of your own initiative, you’ll be promoted as a leader of greater and greater authority. Your sphere of influence and control will widen. You’ll meet other leaders. You’ll recommend each other for choice assignments. You’ll invent. Become CEO of your life and probably others.

Study leadership, and make that part of your personal brand. Remember you take on responsibility for the people you lead, just as much as the outcome from their actions.

The sooner you take leadership roles, the better.

Right now would be good. More from Nance…

• Ten Commandments of Personal Branding – #7: Think Themes Not Words
• Ten Commandments of Personal Branding – #6: You Must be Consumed by your Tribe and Tribe Watchers, and Seen as a Servant-Leader.

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By now you’ve probably amazed yourself with your ability to stick to your resolutions! LOL.

Don’t worry. Now is NOT the right time to assess how 2010 is going – or how you’re doing. The only thing to judge during week two of the year is this:

Do you have a clear, crisp, compelling focus for your personal brand in 2010 – and are you planning to relentlessly pursue your goals?

Have you taken THE PLEDGE?

Before your brain hears the refrain of anyone else’s plans, commands or demands: pledge allegiance to yourself, every morning.

That’s all you need to deserve a celebration, every day.  Celebrate that you have vowed to overcome any obstacle. Take pride and joy, you’ve joined an elite corps of people living on purpose. Everyday, take the pledge to honor yourself, your goals, and your sense of purpose. With this ritual, you earn the badge of personal branding, and the cascade of success and happiness that comes when you decide how to live your life to its peak.

Intention + Affirmation + Determination = Celebration

What’s the point of personal branding? It’s to be widely known, appreciated and paid for the talent, quality, service or accomplishment you decide is authentically who you are and what you want to do.

Before you become famous, you’d better decide who you are. Otherwise, you’re going to be known for what other people think of you – and what they want from you.

There’s an old expression that uses the word “famous” in a way that applies to all of us. The host at a party would use the term, when you were being introduced to a stranger. In hopes of quickly helping the two of you find something to chat about, the host would announce something like, “You’ll be interested to learn that Ellie is famous for her chocolate chip cookies!” Wow. Ellie is writing a novel based on her travels to Sri Lanka and seeking a publisher.  But now – because someone else decided what is interesting about her – she is about to spend a precious half-hour with a new contact, answering questions about semi-sweet versus milk chocolate chips, and how long to cream butter and sugar before sifting in flour.

What worse: because you never get a second chance to make a first impression, she will be known forever as the chocolate chip cookie lady. She could be standing face to face with the executive publisher of Pegasus Media World, and completely miss the biggest opportunity she’d ever have to be a published author. Plus, the publisher misses out on a best-selling author.

What are YOU missing, if you fail to hone and convey a crisp, clear and compelling message of how you would like to be introduced, known and celebrated? You risk being famous for something that OTHER people like about you or want from you. That could be staying in your position as an assistant, when you really are ready to be a director. Being seen as a new college graduate looking for work, rather than a chef deciding on how to best channel your culinary prowess.

What are you famous for now? When others talk about you or think about you, is it for what you want known about you? Have you known some people for quite a while – and they don’t know what you want to do, where you want to go, and what opportunities you are looking for?

That’s where the pledge is your greatest asset in creating the life you want. You train your brain to not let a minute go by without helping you find the right opportunities, and stay on your path – no matter what distractions there are. Without conscious effort, you won’t let anything come between you and what you visualize as the big juicy prize. You see yourself taking the victory lap with a stadium full of screaming fans who can’t believe their good fortune. They’re celebrating your success. They got to pay you to do what you most want to do in the world.

Before you shut your eyes tonight, crisp up an ideal image of what your personal brand is – what you are doing that you want to do more of, or want to do that will actualize the ideal you. Then, wake up in the morning and take the pledge. Put it up on your bulletin board.

Tweet it to people who need to know: this is your year and it can be theirs, too! THE PLEDGE:

This is my year.

I’m fighting for it.

Fighting to keep the big, juicy prize in mind so it lands in my hands by the end of this year.

Fighting to see and stay on the road, high or low.

No stopping for distractions, no matter how attractive.

I have no respect for roadblocks: inadvertently or purposely cast in my path.

I’m fighting to obliterate my own inclination to please, appease or do anything less than seize the day; every day this year.

I’m exploding with energy, but conserving it, too.

I vow to plow through walls that surround me and beat anything that threatens to defeat me.

I own my ideas, my process, my results and my truth.

I own the rights. I own the turf. I own this fight, from round one.

I will make it to the big dance with a performance that’s bigger than a personal best.

I will cross the line in record time, with a valedictory lap on the track, flashing the victory sign.

This is my year.

I’m fighting for it!
More from Nance…

• 3 Rs of Personal Branding
• The Baseball Rule of Personal Branding

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