No matter the culture, religion, or philosophical tenet, the “Golden Rule” is a common thread that few will argue with. But when it comes to the work life merge, sometimes it goes the wayside. Sometimes the almighty dollar trumps such a human core value, when productivity and profit come before people. But I’m happy to say that slice of perennial wisdom was alive and well at #SobCon 2010 this year, a social media gathering which brings together people to boost their businesses on the web.

The design of the social media conference included mastermind sessions that leveled the playing field. Social media masters mingled with professionals from many sectors in a gracious way – sharing their knowledge. And there was also a “give back” session, where the entire group, en masse, joined forces to create marketing projects for non-profits. Might sound pollyannish, but the current flowing through this group of people could change the world, or at least their small piece of it.

There were lots of take-aways which I’ll get into in the coming weeks, but I wanted to start with that human core value of the “Golden Rule” and the work of leadership expert Steve Farber who is profiled in this week’s WorkLife Nation video.

This weekend NPR aired my feature on All Things Considered which gave a taste of the job hunt in the social media landscape. You can click here to listen to Socializing on Line can Get you a Job. Can you nail a job by playing your cards right on-line? There are numerous variables and far too many to get into in my three-minute time slot, so I wanted to share some fuel for thought here at WorkLife Nation. 

In the feature, I interviewed the author of the Personal Branding Blog and author of Me 2.0, Dan Schawbel. Also in the segment was Steve Rubel, author of Micropersuasion.com and SVP/Director of Insights at Edelman Digital. Rubel authored Edelman’s white paper on Digital Trends for 2009 which included a view on an emerging trend which he calls Corporate All-Stars (blogging company executives who are building their personal brand while marketing their company).

Rubel and Schawbel made some valid points about why the  job hunt in today’s 2.0 era is about more than just on-line eye candy. 

1. The personal brand on-line is a needed addendum to the paper resume:  Schawbel says the 21st Century practical need for one to create a personal brand on line ups the ante regarding competition.  ”Employers are using social networks as background checks. Personal brands are much more visible than before because of social media, so you have promote and protect yourself at the same time. You can use personal branding to maintain your on-line reputation as you develop and grow your career.”
2. Excellence in performance trumps anything: Rubel says you can be plastered across every social media site but unless you can deliver the goods – you’re dead in the water. “I think excellence will always prevail. You want to make sure you’re doing what you’re doing –  and doing it well.  But excellence and having a personal brand can help you , especially if that brand is being used to connect you to customers, partners and others who can help the company. In fields like in IT for example and marketing, that’s pivotal. Ultimately, if you perform, fill a role and have a track record of success, you’ll do well in your career.”
3. Accountability is crucial: Schawbel says beware of everything you put on line and your behavior at work. Both can equally influence your career path. “To be the commander of your career is to control your destiny.  The key is to be accountable for your career and to be the driver on-line and at work. Things are not going to happen for you – you have to make them happen. That means letting your managers and directors know what you are doing, and the value of your work. Keeping your on-line profile up to date is part of that.”
4. You don’t have to be Madonna to strike a pose at work or on-line to garner attention: Rubel says anyone can stand out in our web 2.o world. “ I think you have to be known in a niche. And that can be on a message board, LinkedIn, Facebook or a Facebook group , it doesn’t not have to be massive. You can have an influence on a small scale where ever there are people who are looking to you as a peer and a trusted source of Information.”
5. Being a digital native can help you in your career depending on the workplace culture: “If a company views social networking and social media as important to them they will target employees who they feel can help them build relationships –  while understanding their business. They are looking for those digital natives. Is it widespread?  Not necessarily. It depends on the industry, subject matter and the culture of the company. But I think it’s going to be much more widespread as companies recognize  they need a footprint in social media to build relationships.”

Oprah, Madonna, Hillary Clinton. These female icons carry immeasurable marketing weight. The voices of these women are written in stone, as their personal brands have permeated the Internet and beyond. Even as they have evolved, these brands have been concretized in the consciousness of society in general, let alone their contributions to the historic implications of the feminine brand – and the power of the female voice.

The web is the vehicle, but the portals and organizations working toward boosting the feminine brand and voice are exponentially growing. For example, The Women’s Media Center which is working toward making women more visible and powerful in the media. It’s backed by Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda and Carol Jenkins – solid brands. Certainly the Huffington Post, while offering up a mixture of male and female voices has put some heavy hitting female brands on the map. BlogHer.com was one of the first out of the gate making such contributions. Now look to Slate’s new venture The XX Factor: What Women Really Think to do the same.

The theme of personal branding has been a consistent thread of discussion here at WorkLife Nation. In a time when many are struggling to keep their jobs, are looking for one, or are starting their own businesses, some career experts are touting the benefit of boosting one’s personal brand to stay competitive. 

Personal branding is not a new concept, but the Internet has changed the landscape. For women in particular, perhaps the web and social media in general have leveled the playing field.  That’s why I was happy to write the following article for Personal Branding Magazine. You can learn more about the on-line magazine by clicking here.

The Evolution of the Feminine Brand

Legendary gossip columnist Liz Smith fell victim to the budgetary ax at The New York Post in February. The 86-year old continues to write her nationally syndicated column and has a substantial web presence.  Smith has lent her name or “personal brand”  to  Women on the Web  (WoW) as one of its founders. The popular site tackles everything from fashion to politics through the female lens.

Smith is practically an institution. At WoW, she is joined by the likes (and brands) of Lesley Stahl, Whoopi Goldberg (also of ABC’s The View) and Miss Manners – Judith Martin. Their voices are respected and ideals transparent. There’s a page on the site entitled, Change the World. And that, says branding expert Elsie Maio, is just one illustration of how the power of the feminine brand has evolved through the Internet.

“The feminization of business is upon us. I don’t mean womanization, but the ascendance of values that our culture has associated with the Feminine,” says the Founder and President of Maio & Company, a business strategy and branding company which coined the term, “soulbranding.” “The Feminine’s natural impulse is to nurture, care for and include the collective,” says Maio, adding that women are no longer afraid to publically embrace those values, talk about them and associate them with their brand.  “Compartmentalizing our humanity is what got us into trouble, integration is the key and you see it in women’s branding trends.”

Eileen Tanne of WomensEducationCenter.com agrees that the strategic branding of women is evolving. Tanne has marketed to women for more than 16 years and has worked with Ms. Magazine and Gloria Steinem. “Generations ago, professional women had a very tough time branding themselves partly because they were uncomfortable with self-promotion,” Tanne says, adding that the male dominated media venues made it difficult to have a strong voice; not so any longer. “The internet offers women the opportunity  to control how we want to be perceived and how our voices are heard.”    

The female brand in particular, is getting a jolt from the increase in women owned businesses, says Barbara Litrell, former publisher of Working Mother magazine. “Women have been running businesses in great numbers since the 1970’s,  but they are branding themselves more confidently now, as they support one another in partnerships,  thus enhancing their own brands.”

Ultimately, branding is now about presence, platform and personality, says Kim Weiss, the Communications Director for book publisher Health Communications Inc. “Women tend to be personality driven and appeal to the personal part of their audience,” says Weiss who says women are taking their personal stories to the internet generating  more interaction. 

Case in point, the use of strategic social media fueled by a dynamic heart wrenching story lead to the successful branding of  HCI author Laurie Perri, who blogs at the highly popular CrazyAuntPurl.com. “Everyone is hanging their shingle out, but no ones going to click on you unless you give them a good reason to,” says Weiss.

I’ve been in what my good friends have come to know as “Judy Martin’s self induced boot camp.” That’s when projects seem to come of age at the same time, my work in tv, radio and blogging converge and my personal life is thrust into some sort of chaotic state. It’s actually a good time. Often quite creative, but it must be balanced with exercise and meditation to avoid burn out. This mode is likely to manifest when death comes knocking. It makes me think about work and life through a new lens. There’s a freedom in thoughts of : “what if it all ended tomorrow.”

The cream of significant, poignant and imperative concerns rise to the surface. My focus becomes laser-sharp and priorities make most other things irrelevant.  Death can do that. It’s not unusual as I’m Hospice trained and often find myself in the company of others who are somehow going through the experience. But when it’s a friend who is preparing to pass,  it’s a little different, and draws one into self-contemplation.

A friend who just turned sixty years old was just diagnosed with a brain tumor which is likely inoperable. She is a talented artist, a deeply spiritual person who despite her efforts, chose not to dive into the career she wanted. I’ll refrain from more details to keep confidentiality.

The point is that for years she spoke about wanting to take a different path.  Some days would be filled with research, and connecting with people in her field of interest – but she never took the necessary steps toward setting the foundation for radical change. Actually, she never chose to jump off the proverbial career cliff. It’s not a good or bad thing – it just is – was – her choice. She preferred to dabble in her passion instead of taking it to the next level. Again, not a good or bad thing. It just is – was – her choice.

My friend often incorporates her artistic skills into her daily life. She paints, cooks, writes and creates beautiful pieces of art. She is able to live her passion daily  - albeit aggravated that she isn’t making enough cash. Her home is always open to those who want to just dish on life, creativity and spiritual pursuits.

Generally happy, this woman had never strived for relevance in the art world, but she mostly loves her artistic pursuits, work and life. That, I suppose, puts her in a better position that most people struggling in jobs that they hate.

Now,  faced with death, she’s making more time to do more of what makes her happy. She’ll create artwork that she wants to create -not what others want her to design. She’ll spend more time with her dog even when she might be on deadline to get a project completed. She’ll take the time to make soup from scratch, instead of a can.

Pressure to perform has been tossed aside in favor of just living one day at a time, in a new state of awareness. No regrets, though some thoughts of what might have been. But they are rare. Every moment counts, every second counts, every relationship counts, every new batch of homemade soup counts. 

What’s a legacy after you are gone? What meaning does it really have? Note to self for today: Be happy now and figure out a way to make the living and working experience journey, a more peaceful, creative and meaningful one. Enjoy the fruits of your passionate work now. Don’t wait till you’re on top to take a breath.

When you drive toward success on a raceway, be sure to stop in the gas pit. Refuel. Don’t keep doing donuts on the raceway of life. Talk to the fans along the way. Engage in life, in love, in relationships. What’s the point in making it to the finish line if it wasn’t fun along the way. Don’t waste a moment.

Thomas Clifford, aka Director Tom,  was just laid off from his job as a corporate video director. Having worked with this brilliant soul, I didn’t Tweet or e-mail to check on his fine being. Instead, I picked up the phone and called him. An “G, R U doin’ ok,” didn’t seem appropriate. 

Human contact is rapidly becoming a novelty in our digital age. But for job seekers like Tom, the human face-to-face networking and social media route is the one-two punch crucial on the path to employment or a new career.

Director Tom (who is totally cool with me gabbing about his dilemma, here’s his Hire Tom website) has been an avid social media wizard for some time. He cautions to “develop your on-line and off-line network now, so if the net gets yanked out from under you, you’ve got a good start.”

The yanking wasn’t immediately apparent to Tom, he told me. Nevertheless, he’d been building his on-line network for well over 3 years for marketing and branding purposes. Tom lost his job last Thursday. He shared his three-day step-by-step play, into his job hunt:

1.    Tom created a “Hire Tom” web page associated with his blog. “I wanted one place for people to go and within a few minutes, to decide, ‘Hey, I think we should talk to this guy.”

2.   Tom contacted close friends and associates via e-mail to alert them he was looking for work, and that the Hire Tom page was activated.

3.   LinkedIn was the next stop.

       a.    Tom changed his update status to, “seeking employment.”

       b.    He made the commitment to refresh his status update on a regular basis, to keep current.

       c.    He e-mailed his primary connections on LinkedIn, to let them know he was looking for work.

       d.    Next up, he changed his main URL to the Hire Tom page.

       e.    Finally, in bunches, he has begun to forward his “updated profile” to connections who might be able to                        spread word of Tom’s employment interests. (There is a button that says ‘forward your profile to a                                  connection’) “Instead of blasting everyone at once, I’m splitting it up so I can respond in a timely way.”

4.   Twitter is the next stop for Tom. “I intend to build momentum with LinkedIn then implement my Twitter strategy,” said Tom. He has about 2000 followers and is very active on Twitter. He’ll send DM’s or Direct Messages to the people he feels will help him best spread the word on his skills as a corporate film maker – to the right audience. Tom has already linked his Twitter feed –  to his Friend Feed (social media aggregator) account so it updates automatically.

The overnight strategy that Tom came up with was quite successful. He received wonderfully supportive responses. “It was actually interesting, one person sent links to networking events and industry events that related to my profession. It wasn’t just a blanket response – but specific action items.” All his work in just a few days lead to seven meetings  already scheduled for this week. Also in the pipeline, networking events and job fairs.

“You network within your individual industry all the time, the techniques might be different but the intention is the same whether you’re on-line or in person,” he said adding, “The intention is to meet, grow and connect with interesting people, creating new opportunities.”

Finding a job on-line requires an enormous amount of discipline, commitment and a bit o’ luck. Slate’s Farhod Manjoo deconstructs the process in his article, How to Find a Job: Forget Monster, Try Facebook. For more information on job hunting on-line  - head to SecretsoftheJobHunt.com and Jason Alba’s JibberJobber.com where you’ll find a link to a webinar designed to help job seekers use LinkedIn. It’s called, appropriately, LinkedIn For Job Seekers.