Changing Fast

This video is from my speaking engagement at the LA2M event in Ann Arbor July 7 2010

I am amazed how many people, in general, are not aware of Google applications— "cloud computing"— and how integrated they are. I cannot work any longer without their apps at this point. Google right now has over one million businesses running Google apps.  Below is an overview showcasing some of Google’s applications.

Let me start with Add event invitation and this will go with the email and at the same time, put it into your Google calendar. When your party see’s the email, they will have the option to hit yes or no after you…

Many people have avoided being proactive in the development and branding concerning their careers. As I pointed out in my last post, we all have many excuses as to why we never get around to pulling together our brand! There is no wiggle room anymore folks to searching out the answers somewhere down the road. This economy has pushed us all to stretch, and if you are not stretching, you are feeling the effects of it. If it makes you feel better to call a friend about your frustration in…

I am amazed how twitter has grown, but not surprised when you think about what it’s potential could be based upon their simple idea! Twitter could be a game changer as far as I am concerned. They describe twitter as a realtime search engine - this to me was an ‘A HA’ moment when I first read it referenced this way. I realized how this could impact Google; Google is looking a little behind the times - did I just say that? Ha.

I do believe twitter could be a paradigm shift…

What is the upside to forecasting what could happen when it has not played out yet? Did you know 99 percent of what we worry about never comes true, yet we spend all this time anticipating it, letting our mind experience it as if it already happened.

Below is a list of questions to ask yourself:

Do you know your value when interviewing for a job?

Do you have a quantitative, qualitative, results-driven portfolio of work?

If you know you need to work on getting your online portfolio up, why are you waiting?

If you…

Do I have the right tools in my toolbox to keep me optimal in the marketplace?

Can I pull out the right tool for the right situation? When you get down to it, do you know what you even have or need in your career toolbox? I can tell you this: if you were a mechanic and you were putting in a transmission and did not use the right tools, you would suffer swift consequences, wasting your time and money, along with losing customers. Many professionals tend to procrastinate making the time to discover and acquire the updated career tools they need to move forward. What many people do not realize is, not acquiring the right tools will become costly and shrink your employment opportunities.

DigitalNomads.com is an informative site where users share experiences working away from the office; a growing workforce in the 21st century.  For a company to succeed with this option, being able to measure an employee’s performance is essential.

Many people in the workforce would love to have the option to telecommute or work with co-workers off site. Working as a headhunter, I have had candidates express the desire for flexible work hours for years. Let me ask you a question, if two companies offered you the same job and title, but only…

I want to break down an interview I sent a talented candidate on; the events that played out were completely avoidable. This was a new client, an agency of record for a couple of major brands. This would be the first candidate I sent to interview with this well-known agency. I was very confident that this was a match made in heaven for my client and candidate - until the day of the interview.

I was listening to a lecture from author/speaker Malcolm Gladwell, from his recent bestseller, Outliers: The Story of Success. Mr. Gladwell brought up a very interesting point. He took an in-depth look at many of our greats such as  Mozart, Rockefeller, and Bill Gates - he calls them "Outliers" - and proceeded to find a common thread as to why they all achieved greatness in their perspective fields of work. He brought up the Beatles, one the greatest bands of all time, and pointed out that the band had a lot of touring experience prior to coming to the States in 1964 and becoming an overnight sensation. An amazing fact that many people do not know is, the Beatles went to Hamburg, West Germany in 1959 for a long period of time, performing 8-hour sets, 7 days a week, for months at a stretch as the house band for a strip club. Many experts agree that this is where the Beatles perfected their craft. When the Beatles hit the United States they were well prepared, and went on to produce volumes of award-winning work in a short period of time. To date the Beatles have sold more than 1 billion records worldwide.

Definition: Case study

A systematic way of looking at events, collecting data, analyzing information, and reporting the results.

Ultimately, what does any employer want to see? Results, results, results in your past performance! Right? In general, people get overwhelmed when they start to write their resume or pull their work together. The first step is to break down your career in a case study format.

You are probably saying to yourself, "I cannot put this all in my resume," and this is true. What you do is, after a small introduction paragraph, layout your…

I cannot tell you how many times I could of kicked myself after running into a potential client or great contact I had been trying to connect with for the past year, now he’s standing 6 feet away from me in the grocery store, and I blow it!

I walked past him and said, "Hello, how are you tonight?" The only thing going through my head at that moment was, "I cannot believe I let that opportunity fall right through my hands!"

I was not prepared for any situation to present itself and…

 I am amazed when I talk to some traditional talent they tell me, “I don’t know flash so I am not sure I can make the jump into digital."  Huh?  Of course you do not need to learn programming skills to get on the digital side of advertising unless you are a programmer.  What you need to do is take a proactive role in learning about the digital side of things. “It’s not rocket science folks," all the information is out there. Trust me.  Wikipedia is a great start to understanding…

Article Thursday Feburary 5th 2009

I was asked to comment on the ex- Mayor’s situation and how it affected his staff now trying to gain employment elsewhere.

"This is the natural consequence of working for Kwame Kilpatrick and a response to his actions," said Collin LaLonde, an executive recruiter from Birmingham who also has a blog, www.changingfast.com, on finding new jobs.

Crisis Reactive mode:

When you have made no prior planning to an event that could possibly play out, and now it has.

Ok, if I get hit by lighting today this would be one of the most important posts I will ever write! As a headhunter this has been a consistent problem with talent. This situation can be avoided if the right steps are in place. Let me show you in dialog format an all too familiar scenario.