I often get books to review from guests of my "Biz Growth Live" programme so it especially exciting to get a new book to read from a colleagues and friend as happened to me last weekend.
William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson, colleagues and friends who I have known and worked with for a couple of years are now officially authors with their launch this week of their book "Career Distinction".
"Career Distinction" is now on my list of recommended reading if you are an individual in an organisation looking to progress your career or if you are a career coach.
Personal branding is definitely a hot topic of the moment with everyone from coaches to image consultants, from web designers to bloggers talking about how to build your personal brand. Personal branding is one of the key areas I write, speak and teach - I recently covered how to build your personal leadership brand on of my recent podcasts at "Todays Women in Business".
Having spent almost 20 years in executive positions across the globe, what I was particularly struck by was one very important message in the book.
I have appointed many business leaders over my time in my corporate career, but few recognised the key message in "Career Distinction". Progressing in your career is not a start and stop approach - many people update their resume/CV and start networking when they are looking for a new job.
Instead, Arruda talks about considering your career management plan as something you work on continuously.
In summary, "Career Distinction" is a distinctive book about personal branding if you are looking to progress your career. I would recommend it for people in early career or middle management - there are some other elements I would want to see covered before recommending it to executives.
If you are a career coach I would recommend you read the book to give you a good overview of the subject of personal branding and current career management thinking - I am afraid to say there are many career coaches who are mis-guiding their clients in this area.
It would also make a great college graduation gift to help young graduates discover how to nurture their career right from the start.
If you would like to disover three key reasons why I recommend "Career Distinction" you can read my full review on "Todays Women In Business".
