It's Business, Not Social™: STANDOUT. Develop and increase your Significance over Time with Authenticity, Networking, Dedication, Open-mindedness, Understanding, and Tenacity.

By Colleen McKenna

Business professionals worldwide need to pay close attention to how they craft their reputation and personal brand. They need an engaged community of peers, influencers, decision-makers, and mentors to create new opportunities. And they need to engage purposefully to stand out.

Woven together, your brand, community, and voice expand your c

• Language: English
• Publisher: Intero Advisory
• Release date: Jan 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9780578848761

Colleen McKenna

Colleen McKenna, Principal of lntero Advisory, is a practitioner, speaker, author, blogger, trainer, and coach. Recently celebrating 10 years in business, she and her team have trained and coached thousands of professionals and over 700 companies throughout North America with a practical, personal approach that has consistently performed for clients. lntero's clients have developed stronger presences online, increased their revenue, decreased their client acquisition costs, and hired talent previously unknown to them. Using the It's Business, Not Social™ method, Intero has become the leader in LinkedIn branding, sales, and recruiting enablement. Through Intero's membership site, in:side, and Colleen's recently published book, It's Business, Not Social™, individuals and companies are able to utilize the method to become a STANDOUT, jumpstart results on LinkedIn, and reach their business and career objectives. Individuals and companies that want to access Colleen and Intero's method can reach out, visit in:form, Intero's blog, or register to become a member of in:side, Intero's membership site, which contains exclusive content, tutorials, and a community that will enable you to master LinkedIn, once and for all.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Your time and attention are valuable. I recognize their worth and appreciate that you have many choices as to where to spend your time. Thank you for joining me.

I'm writing this introduction heading into the latter part of 2020.

So much is up in the air at this moment in history.

The books you may have planned to read now feel dated. Other books on distributed teams, WFH (working from home), diversity and inclusion are rushing to publication. It’s a brave new world.

Why this book now? Don't take this the wrong way. I think you're ready now.

When LinkedIn launched in 2004, they had a big plan and vision for connecting the world’s professionals. Their vision from the beginning has centered around economic opportunity. Their vision is:

To create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.

What an aspirational vision. There is no doubt they are on their way. Will they ever be done? Of course not.

I see new ways of working in the days, years, and decades ahead. How we work needs to work alongside all the roles we shoulder and embrace.

Have people across the globe benefitted from LinkedIn? I believe the answer is yes.

You can now more easily find and apply for a job down the street, across town, in another state, or on another continent. You can now more easily find and send a message to a CEO, leader, author, speaker, director, manager, recruiter, or anyone else that you might want to connect with in minutes.

You now have the power to push past traditional boundaries and showcase your talent, strengths, experiences, perspective, and vision to others who could benefit from knowing you.

You have the opportunity to advance your career and business initiatives by bringing your real self to the world's largest professional network.

You, CEO, emerging professional, and everyone in your organization are the face of your company by positioning yourself as an ambassador. This is how careers and business initiatives are advanced.

It's about you. Everything on these pages is about what you can do to best position yourself to create the future that aligns with your values and beliefs. Opportunity presents itself when you take action.

I believe that when you authentically develop your influence through your personal brand and network, you elevate your business and further your career. This is true for you, the CEO, or you, the emerging professional. You may have different resources, opportunities, and levels of experience. However, the playing field is different now and everyone needs to prepare for a time such as this.

Isn’t it time you claimed your economic opportunity?

If you've gained competitive advantage, how will you keep it?

This book is about opportunity. Your opportunity to propel your career and business forward by managing what is in your control.

I am reluctant to add too many statistics to this book as it often dates the book and the overarching message. However, I do think it’s important to benchmark where we are as it relates to employment.

In early October of 2020, the Wall Street Journal published several key stats from the September jobs report worth noting. These figures were provided by the U.S. Labor Department and it was the last report before the 2020 presidential election.

• Employers added 661,000 jobs in September.

• The U.S. has replaced 11.4 million of the 22 million jobs lost in March and April at the beginning of the pandemic.

• September’s job report marked the first time since April that net hiring was below one million.

• In the Opinion section, the Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. private economy added 877,000 new jobs and the government shed 216,000 jobs including 34,000 temporary Census workers.

• The National Federation of Independent Business said in early October that 36% of small businesses had job openings they couldn't fill.

• 60% of construction firms reported few or no qualified applicants and 30% cited a shortage of qualified labor as their top problem.

• Recently Disney, United Airlines, American Airlines and Allstate announced combined layoffs of 68,000 employees.

Companies are hiring and companies are laying off. As usual, both are true.

Applying what you read on these pages is more important than you may realize. Everyone must enhance, dust off, or energize their personal brand and community of connections to ensure your marketability.

As employers bring back, add on, or reconfigure their workforces, they should consider how candidates and current employees manage their personal brands and networks. Hire and retain for a 2021 and beyond economic landscape not a 2000 or worse, a 20th century mindset.

It's Business, Not SocialTM will prompt you to think differently, ask new questions, and reduce your learning curve. You need to think differently.

You don’t have to like it More on that later. I do, however, expect you to see the challenge and opportunity in front of you and recommend that you ask yourself, How will I embrace my professional future? You and your organization depend on it.

Maybe you need a fresh perspective, encouragement, a nudge, or a roadmap. Regardless, take what you need and get moving.

It's Business, Not SocialTM is straightforward and gives you best practices so that you show up more professionally, ready to engage and further your career.

This book is NOT about social media, digital transformation, automation, or selling. I won't espouse rhetoric or theory or promise crazy outcomes.

This book is about building you up professionally in the only way

that matters.

You being you.

You being real.

You bringing your best to the world.

If you're reading this and you’re the company Champion, you'll need to create the vision of why not just how and share that with everyone in your organization. Especially leadership.

Throughout these pages, we'll focus on telling your story, nurturing and expanding the people who are your influencers, evangelists, and raving fans so that your career and business opportunities thrive.

I will focus everything on our It's Business, Not SocialTM method for building a personal brand and a community of influence and influencers to further your career and business. I think it’s more than that, though.

The days ahead will be radically different than they were in early 2020. Those days are so far behind us. It’s why we're amping up our vision and thinking bigger than ever before.

While we're known for our LinkedIn expertise, we do so much more than maximize LinkedIn. We advance our clients' career and business initiatives. This is why we’re stepping out and expanding our business with certified Licensed Partners who will enhance their business using our training and coaching content.

Our Licensed Partners will further our collective vision so that people and companies across the globe can position themselves to stand out and create new career and business opportunities.

Each of us is responsible for our careers and businesses—the highs and lows. We need to be comfortable with being seen and known. We know how to impart the insight others need to accomplish this effectively.

Defining My