Personal Branding Weekly – Readers are Leaders

  • 3 min read

Relax Reading photo from ShutterstockIn 23 days, 2014 will arrive! Because my work is highly focused on small business owners, they are doing one or more of the following as 2013 comes to an end:

  1. Hustling like crazy – selling products and services.
  2. Reviewing 2013 and setting goals and strategies for 2014.
  3. Moaning that no one will make a decision until 2014.
  4. Deciding if they’re going to still be in business for 2014.
  5. Choosing to focus on family and what matters most to them as they’re deep in the midst of the holiday season.

Let me add a sixth choice in the mix – read.

I know we read status updates, texts, and sometimes even posts. In this post, what I’m referring to is books. Now, I’m the first one to tell you if a book seems promising and as you delve into it realize that it’s not all you thought it would be or wanted, then shelve it (put it up on the shelf).  Perhaps later it may mean more. Perhaps later after you’ve had a little bit more experiential knowledge, it will reveal more. Or, perhaps it’s an entire waste of time.  Shelve it and revisit it later to make the best decision on that.

What I’ve found provides the best possible book list that will be of value to me is to ask others. Other people’s experience (that valuable O.P.E.) lets you benefit from other people’s efforts and time without having to sacrifice your own.

With that focus, what are you currently reading? (share your list in the comment section below)

I learn from our fellow authors here and from your comments about resources that never ever show up on my radar. I’m looking forward to you sharing your list!

Here’s what I’m reading right now. Some are new, and some are old books that I’m re-reading. You’ll find lots of wisdom that you missed out on in old books after you have a little bit more experience under your belt.

  • You Get What You Give by Merlin U. Ward
  • Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk
  • Social PR Secrets by Lisa Buyer
  • Promote Yourself by Dan Schawbel
  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

What’s on your current reading list?  (share your list in the comment section below)

If you missed out last week, here are some great posts that will help you in focusing on your personal brand:

To make it easier for you to share with others (because when you are seen as a hub of helpfulness in any aspect of someone’s life – they turn to you for resources and assistance in all areas of their life), here are some tweetables:

This next week our Personal Branding Blog authors will share:

  • Behaviors of lackadaisical job seekers
  • How you can give back to boost your brand
  • Insights into how companies hire international candidates
  • What giving and gratitude mean to your personal brand

Thank you for your readership and comments! Looking forward to seeing what you’re reading!

Picture of Maria Elena Duron

Maria Elena Duron

Maria Elena Duron, is managing editor of the Personal Branding Blog, CEO (chief engagement officer) of buzz2bucks– a word of mouth marketing firm, and a professional speaker and trainer on developing social networks that work. She provides workshops, webinars, seminars and direct services that help create conversation, connection, credibility, community and commerce around your brand.  Maria Duron is founder and moderator of #brandchat- a weekly Twitter chat focused on every aspect of branding that is recognized by Mashable as one the 15 Essential Twitter Chats for Social Media Marketers.

TRENDING AROUND THE WEB

Psychologists did not coin emotional intelligence until 1990, and Goleman’s book did not popularize it until 1995, so people raised between 1945 and 1975 grew up with no shared vocabulary for feelings, many still improvising one from watching, guessing, and going quiet when intimacy calls for words.

Psychologists did not coin emotional intelligence until 1990, and Goleman’s book did not popularize it until 1995, so people raised between 1945 and 1975 grew up with no shared vocabulary for feelings, many still improvising one from watching, guessing, and going quiet when intimacy calls for words.

Global English Editing
MLive announced in September 2026 that it will end print production entirely for eight of its Michigan newspapers, shifting those communities to digital only coverage after years of steadily declining print subscriptions across the whole state

MLive announced in September 2026 that it will end print production entirely for eight of its Michigan newspapers, shifting those communities to digital only coverage after years of steadily declining print subscriptions across the whole state

The Blog Herald
Thomas Stanley and William Danko mailed 3,000 surveys to American households and found that among the 1,115 replies, 385 came from actual millionaires, half of whom said they had never spent more than 399 dollars on a suit, 140 on shoes, or 235 on a watch.

Thomas Stanley and William Danko mailed 3,000 surveys to American households and found that among the 1,115 replies, 385 came from actual millionaires, half of whom said they had never spent more than 399 dollars on a suit, 140 on shoes, or 235 on a watch.

Global English Editing
The more the women in one survey prized happiness, the lower their well-being, though only when life was less stressful, and reading that happiness pays made a gold-medal moment land flatter

The more the women in one survey prized happiness, the lower their well-being, though only when life was less stressful, and reading that happiness pays made a gold-medal moment land flatter

The Vessel
An AI company built specifically to replace vanishing local reporters in news deserts nationwide shut its entire operation down in 2026 after journalists discovered it had been copying, nearly word for word, stories those same reporters had already written

An AI company built specifically to replace vanishing local reporters in news deserts nationwide shut its entire operation down in 2026 after journalists discovered it had been copying, nearly word for word, stories those same reporters had already written

The Blog Herald
Many women in their seventies say the decade feels better than their thirties, forties, or fifties, not because there is more time now, but because they finally stopped needing a thesis defense to justify disappointing someone with a simple no.

Many women in their seventies say the decade feels better than their thirties, forties, or fifties, not because there is more time now, but because they finally stopped needing a thesis defense to justify disappointing someone with a simple no.

Global English Editing
Load more
CATEGORIES
Explore