The story of our careers, work and jobs continues to be written and told by all of us living it.
2008-2010 were tumultuous, paradigm shift years that most of us had never known, seen or experienced in our lifetime. We were all forced to deal with change on just about every level of our personal and professional lives. People were shocked and stunned with lay offs, downsizing, trying to find jobs with far smaller job pool and, technology and communication changes that most people were not skilled up to use. These years were some of the scariest times for small business and corporate America, but, we have come through and are the better for it.
2011-2012 were transitional years when things settled into what they are and where they are for now. Change will continue, but the processes, systems, media’s, platforms and best practices are in place for what we know is our new business terrain. The official transition from AOL to Google is complete, if you know what I mean.
Everyone’s career story has come through the past four years in different ways. I have seen amazing resilience, inspiring creativity, clever trends and innovation mostly driven by all the generations in the workplace but especially the looming Gen Y and Gen X, who are the key drivers of so much of it, but watch out for the up and coming GenZ.
From desktop to mobile, laptops to tablets, email to text, and 24/7 real-time, all the generations still in the workplace continue to be living in a technological and social marketing revolution.
I see 2013 as the start of another cycle and a pivotal year for using, harnessing and leveraging everything that we now have to create, communicate and move content and information. Sales and marketing are now married to technology and social media marketing in a way it never has been before.
Brian Solis is the benchmark voice for our new media generation. Solis has studied and influenced the effects of emerging media on business, marketing, and culture. His new book, The End of Business as Usual explores the emergence of GenerationC, a new generation of customers and how businesses must adapt to reach them. He has written The Little Blue Book of Social Transformation, An essential Guide for Executives, which can help all of us continue our personal and professional transformation in the age of content creation and engagement.
I see three emergent themes that will impact career success moving forward:
1) Career transition is not a period thing anymore, it’s a way of life.
2) We move our careers in the direction we want them to go and take personal responsibility for this now.
3) Expect change with an attitude of optimism and opportunity rather than doom and gloom.
Here are some common sense keys that will help you create your career success story , no matter where you are in your life or what you choose to do. Sometimes we need to be reminded of how important simple, common sense things can be.
- Be professional and relevant.
- Initiate solutions and solve problems.
- Care about others, so they will want to care about you.
- Use your smile, sense of humor and personality to connect.
- Be authentic, real and get more personal with people.
How the heck did we get to 2013 so fast?
Let go of any and all old ideas that don’t apply to today’s best practices and real world. Don’t fight where things are now and do not procrastinate on making essential changes in your personal branding, marketing and business. Always be in “skill up” and “learn new” mode on everything that applies to your career advancement and success. Seek out new people, ideas and approaches and be open-minded to taking some calculated thoughtful risks.
Don’t wait for things to happen and come to you, because they won’t. Things will drop in your path that are put there by design to assist your process. Don’t be like Haw, in Who Moved My Cheese and be waiting for things to change back or just show up. Hem went out looking for more cheese and he finally found it.
2013 holds so much potential and promise for all of us to have a wildly successful year.
There is an air of anxious anticipation for enjoying the rewards that come from the perseverance we have all had to have and show the past few years. We are ready for the rewards, that come from good energy, action and activity.
When you celebrate you and continue to create and live your career story, the right people always seem to find each other.
Author:
Deborah Shane is Top 100 Small Business Champion 2012, Career Author, branding/media strategist, writer and speaker. She hosts her Toolbox Blogand a popular weekly Business Radio Show that has over 108K downloads! She is a regular contributor to SmallBizTrends.com, Monster, Blogher, PersonalBrandingBlog.com, Forbes.com. Her book Career Transition-make the shift is available on Amazon.com and all major book sellers. Deborah delivers smart ideas and solutions, which make her a popular go-to resource for CNN, CBS, Fox and Forbes.
