Personal Branding Update: Now Is The Time For Individual Employees To Shine!

All the news reports talk of layoffs and recession, lost value and "hard times ahead."  But I see a different picture.  Beacon Marketing has been developing and delivering a program to help people strengthen their personal brands in order to expand their career opportunities, make bigger contributions to their companies, their industries and organizations, and do more personally meaningful work.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: It's the individual employees that are going to pull America through these troubled times.  Everyone has unique skills and abilities to bring to bear, whether you work for a Fortune 500 company or a two-person accounting firm.  When people focus on what they're good at and what makes them unique, they get re-energized about what they do and they are inspired to innovate.  I've seen clients get a whole new perspective on their work, recommit and find fresh inspiration to tackle challenges with renewed energy.  That inspiration, that motivation and innovation, is what will reinvigorate this economy--on Main Street, on Wall Street, on whatever street you live on!

An example of this comes from one of our Signature for Success executive coaching clients, Betsy Didan.  As Assistant Vice President - Document Processing for COCC, a leading provider of technology services for financial institutions, Betsy has led the way in the 'Check 21' legislation-driven image processing revolution that allowed banks and other financial institutions to replace their paper checks with electronic images for payment.  Didan's expertise in this area soon became recognized industry-wide and helped COCC become the largest check image processor in Connecticut and one of the largest in New England.

As part of her work with Beacon Marketing's Executive Coaching program, Didan has identified areas that feed her drive to maximize efficiencies in a company's production areas.   "Having gone through this process, I see that my greatest accomplishments have come out of seeing innovation and wrapping a business model around that.  When you can put efficiencies into production, a company will save money.  I get really excited about 'seeing' the solution and then organizing great teams to tackle these big challenges.  Now, I'm consciously seeking opportunities to stay on the leading edge of technology to address these efficiency (and profitability) issues in a company's production areas."

Part of the Beacon Marketing program involves looking for ways to spotlight one's unique value in the marketplace.  Shortly after initiating the Beacon Marketing Signature for Success Program, Betsy was nominated and then named as a finalist in the Connecticut Technology Council's 2009 Women Of Innovation awards program in the Small Business Innovation and Leadership category for her work on the COCC's image processing implementation.

I'm so excited about the progress that Betsy has made in clarifying her talents and identifying the types of projects she can really impact.  She has always had these innate talents, but there has not been a focus on that talent.  Betsy's successes, and her nomination, are a great example of what happens when you bring focus to your work.

The Signature for Success program inspires and guides that focus, and when that happens, everybody wins.  Betsy wins because she knows that she is going to be excited about the contributions she's making every day.  Her company, COCC, is able to harness that passion for the betterment of its clients and COCC's service offerings, as well as earn its rightful reputation as a company that fosters innovative thinkers and industry game-changers.  And the industry benefits from the innovation that Didan and her COCC team is driving.

And that, in turn, will drive the economy.

With the proper focus, these kinds of dramatic results can be experienced in anyone's career, in anyone's business.  America's workforce has amazing untapped potential that just needs to be drawn out of people.  Tomorrow's innovators need to be nurtured, strengthened and developed today.  Those who invest in developing themselves, and those companies that prioritize training their staff on how to find their own Signature for Success, will be the winners who will shape our economy and our future.