Susan Colantuono’s book, No Ceilings, No Walls, is both inspirational and inspired. Practical exercises and tools offer valuable ways women can enhance their leadership skills ─ for example, using the language of power to communicate the value they bring.

But perhaps what makes this book so smart is the emphasis it puts on business acumen as the way for women to demonstrate that they have the “right stuff” to take on leadership roles. Aside from this being the absolute truth, it certainly makes climbing the corporate ladder more accessible.

If you can describe your organization in terms of what Colantuono calls the four “outcome” categories: cash, growth, return and customer, then you’re thinking like a CEO.  If you articulate your company’s strategy in terms of those same four outcomes, then you’ll be seen as a “big picture” person. And if you can read a balance sheet and income statement, then you’ll be able to understand the story the numbers tell and to retell it to others.

Be your own coach yourself using No Ceilings, No Walls as a guide.

TAGS: Books, business acumen, LinkedIn

If you are looking for a book to give to a woman this holiday season, consider After the Ball by Barb Greenberg. The tale of two familiar fairy tale princesses who have been disappointed by the reality that the lives they were living with their handsome princes was far from “happily ever after”, they rely on one another and a wise mentor to proactively change their situations. Reflective and thoughtful, the two princesses face their fears with courage.

The book made me think of the wonderful women in my life who have made me stronger. While there are many, here I’ll mention my mother who never wavered in her commitment to education as a way for women to advance. Her ongoing pride in my accomplishments — whether big or little, coupled with her drive for excellence continues to inspire me.

Last week I attended a “ladies” birthday lunch for a woman with whom I had worked for several years (let’s call her Denise). Because many of us did not know one another, Denise’s sister, the hostess, asked each guest to introduce herself and to then use one word to describe Denise. While I know Denise as a colleague and an accomplished businesswoman, the others know her personally. They included two women who had gone to middle school with her in Michigan and had flown to New York from the Mid-west for the occasion. One woman who’d met Denise because their children were at school together choked back tears when her turn came. She described Denise as “nurturing.” Then she went over the one word limit to tell about how painful divorce her had been — and how Denise had been there for her every step of the way. When she stopped talking because she was so emotional that she could no longer speak, there wasn’t a dry eye at the table.

Think about the women in your life. Don’t wait another moment — let them know how much you love and appreciate them.

TAGS: Books, LinkedIn

Suzanne Doyle-Morris, PhD. has written a book for women in fields steeped in testosterone (IT, Consulting, Science) but all career women will benefit from her practical tips.

After framing the issues to answer the question of why women should pay attention to career strategies, she addresses self-promotion (or “bragging” as some call it), risk-taking, communication, image creation, building a personal brand and mentoring.  While the topics aren’t new, Doyle-Morris’ experience as an executive coach affords her the opportunity to provide many interesting stories about how women can effectively and authentically deal with them.

Her writing style is clear, concise and accessible, making the book a quick read.  Because Doyle-Morris is an American who spent time in Australia but settled in the U.K. ,  the book is focused on women “across the pond”.  That makes it even more interesting for American women because we can compare the issues our British sisters face with the ones we confront in Corporate America.  Yes, indeed, we  have a lot in common.

The underlying theme of Beyond The Boys’ Club is that women must proactively manage their own careers – it’s unrealistic to expect that an employer will do so.  I couldn’t agree more.  In fact, we describe women who don’t recognize that reality as suffering from” The Tiara Syndrome” – symptoms include keeping one’s head down, delivering excellent work and hoping that someone will notice and place a tiara on your head!   I highly recommend reading Beyond the Boys’ Club for prescriptive advice about how to avoid this potentially fatal career condition.

TAGS: Beyond The Boys' Club, career issues, Doyle-Morrris, LinkedIn

This guest post is by Sandra Naiman, author of The High Achiever’s Secret Codebook: The Unwritten Rules for Success at Work.

At best, looking for a job can feel like a roller coaster ride. For many people, the longer they search, the more they get discouraged. This is especially true in a flailing economy where there’s more competition for fewer jobs.

So how does a job seeker remain positive throughout the job hunt? While this certainly is a challenging time, there are steps that can help people stay upbeat:

1. Engage in activities that make you feel good about yourself. Identify the skills and aptitudes that make you good at your work and also make a list of what you like about yourself, such as sense of humor or empathy. Then find a way to demonstrate those skills and characteristics. For example, if you are good at planning, organize the book drive at your child’s school. If you pride yourself for your ability to put people at ease, volunteer to work in the waiting room for families of surgery patients.

2. Achieve tangible results. Many job search related activities do not provide an immediate tangible outcome. To maintain a sense of control, do something every day that does afford concrete results. It can be as simple as cleaning out a closet, organizing the garage or waxing the car. It can also be related to volunteer or family activities, such as writing a neighborhood watch newsletter or making cookies with the kids. Make sure, that at the end of each day, you can point to something you accomplished.

3. Surround yourself with positive, supportive people. Identify those people who have confidence in you and build your own confidence in yourself. Avoid the people who always see the glass as half empty or those who drain your energy.

4. Keep promises to yourself. Now is a good time to end a bad habit, take a class that you’ve wanted to pursue, or learn a new skill.

5. Reward yourself. At the end of each day, chronicle the things you did well and reward yourself with a good book, a soak in the tub, or some other activity that says to you “job well done.” As far as job searching goes, pride yourself on the things you accomplished that day, rather than waiting for results before you celebrate what you’ve done. The latter usually doesn’t come as quickly as you would wish.

6. Follow a healthy routine. Eat well, exercise and take good care of your body.

7. Allow yourself some down time. You can’t be up and optimistic all the time, so give yourself permission to have a bad day. If you diligently follow the above suggestions, you can count on tomorrow to be better.

This post originally appeared on the Lindsey Pollak Career Blog.

TAGS: Books, career advice, Job hunting

Another summer weekend, another article about the tough job market for recent college grads. This week’s installment appeared in The New York Times Style section in the form of “Say Hello to Underachieving” by Alex Williams.

I’m very glad this topic is still on the radar screens of major media reporters. I just wish the articles would include some helpful suggestions for young people who find themselves in the tough position of facing the longest recession period since the 1930s. The Comments section of the Times article certainly included a lot of — ahem — suggestions, but I’m not a big fan of snark. So, I thought I’d share my three cents on how college students and recent grads can still improve their resumes without a traditionally “good” summer job or internship.

1. Volunteer. In fairness, in addition to the snarky remarks, the Comments section of the Times piece was filled with the suggestion to volunteer, and that advice is spot-on. I’ve written many times about the value of volunteering and it’s even more important this summer.

Although future employers will understand why you might not have a superstar internship on your resume for the infamous summer of 2009, they won’t understand why you don’t have any volunteer experience during that time period. Volunteer for Meals on Wheels, a political candidate, a soup kitchen, a Little League team, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, an animal shelter, anything. Search for thousands of opportunities at Idealist.org.

2. Take on a Project. I just finished reading the memoir Julie and Julia, which has been made into an upcoming movie starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. The book is about a young woman with a boring temp job and dreams of becoming an actress who decides on a whim to spend a year cooking every recipe in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking and writing a blog about it. A little weird? Yes. A challenging, unique project that takes commitment, determination, creativity and confidence? Also check. If I were a recruiter for a cookbook publisher, restaurant chain or the Food Network, I’d call Julie in for an interview.

Can you spend the summer taking on a project related to your area of career interest? A business major could read through every book on the summer’s Wall Street Journal business best seller list and review each book on Amazon.com. An aspiring film industry worker could watch every film on the American Film Institute’s lit of 100 best films of all time. An aspiring curator could tour every museum in a 200 mile radius. If you choose a worthwhile, valuable project, it could lead to a job (or a book deal).

3. Start a Small Business. My friends over at Gradspot.com just featured a great post outlining four businesses that are easy to start and manage, including dog walking, tutoring, computer programming and babysitting/nannying. These are all resume-worthy summer pursuits and can lead to great opportunities for networking, skill building and, of course, moneymaking. I’d add to this list jewelry making, graphic design, lawn mowing, gardening, house painting, social media consulting (you would not believe the number of people who ask me if I know of a college student who would teach them how to use Facebook or Twitter) and bartending (if you’re of legal age). Employers are often impressed by the hard work and leadership it takes to launch and run a business on your own, especially in hard times.

Do you have more suggestions for making the most of an jobless summer? Please share in the comments!

This post originally appeared on the Lindsey Pollak Career Blog.

TAGS: Generation Y, Job hunting, volunteering

Two weeks ago I moved into a new apartment and office, so life has been a bit chaotic. One of the areas where I’ve fallen behind is my reading. I currently have a stack of clipped articles, tagged magazines (so old media, I know) and a “favorites” file full of bookmarked articles I’ve come across online but haven’t had time to read.

Here is a chunk of my current “to-read” list. I hope this will guide you to some interesting content. And, if I never make it to the bottom of my stack, hopefully you can share your thoughts with me on what you’ve read…

“The Way We’ll Work”
Time magazine’s special report on the future of work and careers.

“Reinvent”
My 30/20 Vision radio show co-host and friend Alexandra Levit is writing a terrific syndicated column for the Wall Street Journal Careers website and I am way behind on her great articles.

“How to Give a Great Talk”
Barry Eisler’s blog post was recommended on Twitter recently and I’ve been eager to read it. Always looking for good tips on being a better presenter.

“An Executive Guide to Social Media”
In this special report, BusinessWeek provides a peek into how companies are using Facebook and Twitter. For anyone who wants to work for, sell to or understand corporate America, this sounds like a must read.

Who’s Got Your Back
If you’ve heard me speak about networking, you’ve probably heard me rave about Keith Ferrazzi’s first book, Never Eat Alone. This is his second book and it’s sitting on the top of my nightstand stack.

Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work
I loved Matthew Crawford’s recent article in The New York Times Magazine called “The Case for Working with Your Hands.” It made me realize how much I focus this blog and my speaking on advising young professionals how to get jobs in offices. In reality, “desk jobs” aren’t for everyone, nor should they be. I’m looking forward to read more about Crawford, a University of Chicago PhD who now runs a motorcycle repair shop.

What are you reading (or wanting to read) that you’d recommend? Please share with other readers of The Thin Pink Line!

This post originally appeared on the Lindsey Pollak Career Blog.

TAGS: Books

I’m happy to share a guest post by Julie Kraut, author of the new novel Slept Away and co-author of Hot Mess: Summer in the City, for which I interviewed her for this blog. Julie is a great young writer and generous in her advice to aspiring scribes.  Here are her top tips:

There aren’t any reality shows about finding America’s next top writer.  And I’m not saying there should be.  I know that my writing process—sitting in front of a computer silently willing myself to focus instead of Google ex-boyfriends from college—wouldn’t make scintillating television programming.  But still, without a Simon or Tyra barking directives from the television, an aspiring author might feel left in a lurch when it comes to launching a career.  So, Lindsey asked me to write some tips on starting a writing career.  And while this is a tough request as there’s no one path to follow to writing success or specific way to guarantee getting published, there are a few writerly must-do’s when you’re getting started.

1. Write. Writing is a pretty huge part of being a writer.  That sentence might read stupid obvious, but it’s a fact that writing’s easy to talk about and hard to do.  Having a book idea or writing aspirations is one thing, but churning out the pages to back those ambitions up is a completely different thing.  So put your fingers to the keyboard, pen to the page, or quill to the parchment, and get writing.

2. Share. As hard as writing is, sharing your writing can be even harder.  But you can’t get published if your work never leaves your hard drive.  So, don’t be afraid of other people’s eyes on your words or editorial feedback.  In fact, you should seek it out.

3. Read. Read as much as you can, and not just from the genre you’re writing.  Read everything from literary memoir to paranormal romance to the instructional poster about hand washing in your dermatologist’s office.  Inspiration and influence comes from everywhere and seeing how others are practicing the craft can be very motivational.

4. Toot. Toot your own horn because, to paraphrase someone famous and philosophical, if you’re not tooting your own horn, who is?  Let people know that you’re not just a writer, but an awesome writer.  Tell the world how funny/poignant/lyrical/thrilling your work is.  How else are they going to know?

5. Live. Writing is important, but so is having something to write about.  A story about a guy who stares at his QWERTY keyboard for eight hours a day and limits his social interaction to the pizza delivery guy and his cat isn’t going attract that many readers.  So get out there and learn and do and see, so you have a base of experiences from which to write.

Hope this helps and inspires writers out there.  And I’ll leave you with this insider secret: never underestimate the power of switching fonts to WingDings when you’re up again writer’s block.  Inspiration at its finest!

This post originally appeared on the Lindsey Pollak Career Blog.

TAGS: Books, Gen Y Women, writing

As the job market becomes more and more competitive, job seekers need to do everything they can to stand out from their peers. One great way to do this is by building your professional reputation, also known as your “personal brand.”

For advice on creating your personal brand – and using it to help you land a great job – I turned to Dan Schawbel, the leading personal branding expert for Generation Y. Dan is the author of the brand new book, Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success (Kaplan, April 09), as well as the publisher of the Personal Branding Blog and Personal Branding Magazine.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Dan. Here are excerpts of the interview:

Lindsey: How do you define personal branding?

Dan: Personal branding is the process by which we market ourselves to other people.  The process that I’ve developed in my new book, Me 2.0, is “discover, create, communicate and maintain (DCCM).”

The first step in this process is to discover what you’re passionate about and your area of expertise, while establishing goals and forming both a development plan and a personal marketing plan.

The second step is to create marketing materials, which could include a business card, portfolio, website, blog, social network profiles, a podcast, a video resume, as well as traditional documents like a resume and cover letter.

The third step is to become your own personal PR person and communicate your brand to others through speaking engagements, commenting on blogs, writing for magazines, pitching journalists and more.

The final step is to maintain your brand, which consists of online reputation management and keeping your profiles up-to-date and accurate with changes in your career.

Lindsey: You are in your 20s. How have you established yourself as a personal branding expert at such a young age?

Personal branding came naturally to me because I marketed myself extensively through college, including eight internships, seven leadership positions and straight A’s.  Instead of networking with other professionals, I applied and interviewed through job boards and corporate websites, which really forced me to differentiate myself.

I had never termed this to be personal branding until I read Tom Peter’s article in Fast Company magazine.  The second I read his article, I realized that personal branding was my passion and since I was blessed with entrepreneurship genes, and skills that I collected from middle school (graphic design and website development), I was able to execute on my dream and build a brand faster than most.

When I first branded myself, I considered myself a “personal branding spokesman,” because my theories weren’t proven and I was a prolific writer on this topic.  As I started to see results from my brand building, including being recruited for a new social media position at EMC Corporation, and press mentions in BusinessWeek and The Wall Street Journal, I transitioned my brand to “personal branding expert.”  Instead of being this general with my title, I decided that my audience would be Gen Y, because that niche was wide open and because I felt that the millennial generation required extensive help to prepare them for the real world.  As a millennial myself, it was easy to connect to this generation and thus my personal brand statement (who you are and who you serve) became “the leading personal branding expert for Gen Y.”

My genuine enthusiasm and knowledge in this field has allowed me to break through the clutter and establish myself as a top marketing blogger, magazine publisher, video producer, consultant, speaker and book author.  If I lost everything today, I’d still pursue my passion for personal branding.

Lindsey: Can you share 3 personal branding tips from your book that are most important for Gen Ys graduating from college this spring?

1.  Have a targeted approach to applying for jobs. Most college graduates will furiously apply to hundreds of jobs online, praying that they might get a few interviews and hopefully a job.  Regardless of what the economic situation is, a focused job search will always prevail.  Instead of getting a job that will pay your bills, try your hardest to create your own job at a company that you’d love to work for.  Write down the top five companies that you want to work for and the job description you would like to have.

2.  Conduct a people search, not just a job search. Job boards are fading away and aren’t as useful as they were a decade ago.  Now, everyone is on social networks and can be contacted, without having to go through chains of command.  The best way to navigate the recruitment process is to contact employers directly, instead of applying for a job that might not be available anyway.  Use search engines, including Twitter, Facebook, Technorati and Google to locate employees who work at companies you’re interested in and reach out to them.  By doing this, you’ll appear genuine and have a better chance of getting the job you actually want.

3.  Protect and promote your brand as much as possible. Protecting your personal brand is extremely important because there are other people in the world with your name and if you fail to register your name on social networks and your domain name, someone else will.  Also, you’ll want to command your Google results because employers will be searching for you.  Promoting your brand is required to gain the necessary visibility to be recruited based on your expertise.  By using social media tools to get your name out there, you have a better chance at obtaining a great opportunity.

A version of this post appeared on the Lindsey Pollak Career Blog.

TAGS: Job Search, personal branding

Our fellow author and colleague, Suzanne Bates, has written a new book you’ll be interested in.  The title is Motivate Like a CEO.  For those of you who supervise, manage, or lead others you’ll find lots of good suggestions for how to motivate and inspire others to take action. Like her last book, Speak Like a CEO, this one is practical and filled with the same kinds of coaching tips we provide to you on The Thin Pink Line. 

Here are a few gems:

• To motivate and inspire people you need a theme or mission or value that resonates, and then you have to overcommunicate again and again and again. 
• You have to communicate not only through words but also by living the values — walking and talking what is important to the organization’s success.
• Setting expectations and measuring progress create positive feelings. You accelerate progress as people get more and more enthused about the milestones. 
• Accountability starts at the top.  When people see that you are accountable, they feel a stronger commitment to you.

For today only Suzanne is giving everyone who purchases the book access to white papers, audioprograms, tip sheets and other discounts on products of interest to professionals.  Check out the book and the special offer at  http://www.bates-communications.com/motivate-bonusoffer.php 

TAGS: Free Offers, Motivate Like a CEO, Motivating Others, Speak Like a CEO, Suzanne Bates

You’ve heard me say it before, and no doubt you will hear me say it again, if ever there was a time in history that cried out for women’s leadership that time is now.  The financial crisis facing not only the U.S. but the entire world is yet another example of how an industry led almost exclusively by men, and having a well-documented history of bias against women, has proven men to be poor stewards of our resources. 

Was it only men who got us into this mess?  Of course not.  But the numbers speak for themselves.  Female financial professionals earn an average of 22% less than their male counterparts, with even female senior partners earning 25% less.  Not one of the bailed out or failed firms had a woman at the helm.  Not AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, IndyMac Bank, Lehman Brothers, nor Bear Sterns.   

In her new book, The Hour Glass Effect, Dr. Tammy Wong makes a strong business case for instituting programs aimed at developing and retaining female leaders.  She points out that for every two baby boomers leaving the workforce, only one Gen Xer is available to fill those spots.  Yet as recently as 2005 only half of Fortune 500 companies had more than one female officer.  Dr. Wong’s premise is that women’s initiatives are an untapped tool that help companies remain competitive and her book provides a blueprint for effective implementation. 

Kudos to financial and professional services firms like Goldman Sachs, KPMG, Morgan Stanley, and Ernst & Young — all leaders in the establishment of affinity groups and gender equity initiatives AND, you’ve noticed, still standing.

TAGS: affinity groups, Dr. Tammy Wong, Ernst and Young, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, The Hour Glass Effect