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People like to buy from people who they know, like and trust—especially on non-transactional services. The advent of professional social media sites opened the possibility to showcase what we can do for our clients using an authentic, genuine personal brand. How can we disrupt the information overflow in the age of the well-informed buyer?

According to Los Ellis, Personal Branding is “the process of establishing a prescribed image or impression in the mind of others”. This is actually less about the individual, rather about the perception of prospects and customers.

Distilling the term further, “personal” stands for art and story of the professional while “brands” shows the packaging. As Nicolas Cole mentioned, “a long-lasting personal brand cannot exist without both parts: art and marketing, expression and distribution.”

Creating a personal brand for service professionals in smaller companies requires more detailed work and...

The title “Business from the Heart” perfectly describes the personal touch and mindset of Andrew Hoggard and his approach to good leadership and business. As such, this recent publication doesn’t fit into the categories of business or sales books, neither is it a management guide. Instead, it is a varied collection of snippets and anecdotes with a common mindset to reflect on and to use as guiding principles for both life and business.

New Zealand born Hoggard started his career in the healthcare industry in one of the companies his father once led. The book also tells the story of how his father rose to become an international success story through people leadership. After many years in leadership roles including relocating to Australia, Andrew was faced with redundancy as his position was eliminated after serving for 27 years. He describes the emotional journey of this period to assist readers who may be going through this journey with tools to come out even...

Within the numerous published business books about the sales profession, Cian McLoughlin’s “Rebirth of the Salesman” stands out being the only recent work covering the importance of thorough win and loss reviews as a core strategy to learn why we win and why not. In both cases this can help to improvements, actually also on the buying side. The world of sales is changing rapidly by adopting to the different purchasing behaviour in the disrupted age of the informed buyer. Therefore, Cian takes his readers on a broader journey to improve the essence of the sales arena.

During his corporate career in the software industry, Cian developed a passion about understanding the reasons behind won and lost deals which are rarely formally analysed in detail. He learnt from buyers and sellers examining both sides of the same coin. Born with a natural curiosity, he turned this hunger for information into building his own business, “Trinity Perspectives”. Today he...

From a modern buzzword to the most disruptive sales concept since the advent of “The Challenger Sales” methodology: Social Selling is a reality and works for many professionals around the world, not only on the sales side. When using social media started on the consumer side and Social Selling embraced in the corporate sector, it is time for Small Businesses to adopt and to lead in their niche.

Daniel Disney, one of the leading Social Selling experts in the UK, has recently been asked if this concept was just a fashion and would go away. In this video, he compared it with the wide adoption of smartphones with nearly nobody going back to feature phones like the good old Nokia & Co. No doubt, Social Selling is here to stay.

The other widely visible discussion is the question if it would replace other well-known instruments such as the phone. I see it as a complementing element in the sales repository. Similar as email never replaced the phone, Social Selling has been...

Can you imagine how it feels not knowing anyone after moving to a new place? Even when being surrounded by people at a new workplace, it can hurt and provide a feeling of being alienated.

What sounds exciting for a business trip or vacations, can be a scary experience at least in the beginning. There is no safety net if anything goes wrong, no advice from friends or neighbours, and you can feel totally lost and alone. In addition, things can worsen when language or culture are different from your home and a weekend trip to the loved ones is out of reach.

Mobility and travel opportunities enable your dream of moving to another location. Relocations can happen between two jobs, when a company sends their own employees as expats to another country or when planning a new life with the hope of better conditions. For many of us who dream, a move to another state within the same country or onto another continent may become a nightmare of social isolation.

The experience in a new place...

Many organisations moved over the last few years to lean structures with less hierarchies and reduced number of managers. Senior individual contributors are requested to take leadership functions without carrying a management title. How to move into a leading role without formal structure and education?

Famous statements differentiate between a manager and a leader. John Kotter, Leadership Professor at Harvard University, described leadership as “aligning people to the vision” while “Management is a set of processes that keep an organisation functioning”. Leadership pioneer Warren Bennis differentiated it by contrast: “The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing” and “The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why”. Quoting Simon Sinek for the mentioned types of individual leaders:

“A boss tells people what they can do to achieve a goal. A leader asks people what they can do to advance a...

Technical specialists are undoubtedly the essential cogs and gears of any successful organisation. From accountants to IT experts to data analysts, these skilled professionals earn promotions through years of dedication and proven results.

Often with little experience and training in management and leadership, these managers struggle with moving from daily technical tasks to long-term strategy. On the flip side, professional specialists looking to be promoted to managers are often disregarded by senior leaders who overlook their leadership potential.

The Institute of Managers and Leaders’ Masterclass explored the transition between staff member and manager, equipping the participants with the skills to take the next step in your career.

I enjoyed contributing to the panel session of this sold out Masterclass event about my leadership journey together with other experts in their fields. My highlights of this Masterclass:

• Vannessa McCamley presented the...

What is LinkedIn for you: a digital business card, just an online resume, a sales tool or even your most consumed daily newspaper? Without doubt, it is one of the best business engagement tools worldwide – if only all participants knew how to engage properly. 

Mobility and travel opportunities create a realistic dream of moving into another location. For some it means another state within the same country, others plan their new life on another continent. These movements can be independent of work between two jobs, or the company sends their own employee as an expat into another geography.

In these situations, building a local network requires creating a strategic networking plan well in advance. To a lesser extent this is also important for those working in international positions with regular business trips to show interest in a local experience.

There is a major difference between improving an existing network and finding net new contacts. Staying at the same place is all about fine tuning towards building relevant relationships. Quoting Mark Frauenfelder: “To be successful you have to have quantity of quality”. In the case of a new environment, the search should be executed more broadly to learn from others about life in...

Many famous statements differentiate between a manager and a leader. While the reality is never just black and white, most quotes are designed to show these as two different elements. Quoting Warren Bennis: “The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.” and “The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.”

John Kotter, Leadership Professor at Harvard University, described leadership as “aligning people to the vision, that means buy-in and communication, motivation and inspiration” while “Management is a set of processes that keep an organisation functioning”. The winning balance between “Managers handle processes” and “Leaders inspire people” is related to concrete situational requirements. The same company might need an innovative leader at their helm at one time and an operating manager in another circumstance.

Over the last couple of years, many companies moved to lean...