Indian HR Blogs

Image by niallkennedy via Flickr

Have started to curate a list of blogs written by Indians (irrespective whether they reside in India or not !) in the areas of Human Resources, Careers and Work

You can find the list here: Indian HR Blogs 

If you know of any more Indian HR Blogs and bloggers who need to be on that list - post a comment here or there - or send me a mail

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Brand You is about Content and Community - Thoughts on Personal Branding and Social Media

Today I had a conversation with a journalist who's doing a story on how people can get career success by building their personal brand. I have earlier blogged on personal branding here and here

I believe that the essence of building your personal brand (whether internally in an organization or externally) is Content and Community.

1. Content - refers to the expertise you build - it is the sum of your intellectual and emotional quotient. It is not just what you know - but also how you do. To build a really distinct personal brand - answer this question "What do I want to be known for" In most cases you will find the answer in a T-shaped expertise - a broad expertise of an area - and a deep expertise of one specific niche. In your organization - are you the "go-to guy" for any aspect? If you are not - then build a niche that's purely your own. Remember deep expertise requires deliberate practice. There's no shortcut to it.
2. Community - refers to the relationship capital you build with people who know and trust your Content expertise. In an organization these would be seniors, supervisors, CXOs across functions. They will know and trust you if you demonstrate (a.) Visibility - being seen at group events, volunteering for cross functional projects, taking on "above and beyond" challenges that others are not - and (b.) Credibility - showcased in you keeping your commitments and delivering above and beyond. Remember, visibility or popularity alone will not be enough to develop your personal brand. Also, be sure that your community comprises of a diverse group of people (best explained in this article)

When you have a community and have built a trustworthy relationship with them - you will give insights that will feed your Content bucket - and the secret is to continually keep growing both of them - as and when your career evolves (an make no mistake - it will evolve) you will be poised to grab opportunities before others.

So what does this have to do with Social Media?

When you want to build your brand externally - social media is the tool you use to showcase your content and build your community. As Michael Brenner posts:

I am an advocate for social media marketing and personal branding which I believe can help to benefit both your company and your career. And so I am often asked why I tweet, why I blog and why I participate in both online and offline social communities and events.

Despite the huge press coverage around social media, I am still surprised at how many marketers and other market-facing professionals resist the call to participate in social media and to be brand ambassadors. To me, social media is all about personal branding. Grow your personal brand, with respect and proper attribution to your company as an ambassador, and the company benefits through the greater exposure of a positive voice out to the market it serves.

As a marketer, I feel compelled to participate as an individual voice in my company ecosystem. Companies are a collection of individuals with all the diversity that is inherent in its employees. A company brand is directly impacted by the voice of its employees, along with customers, partners and the larger community and ecosystem in which it participates. I actively and passionately participate in social media conversations with authenticity and I do it because I want to. But I also believe success in building my personal brand is direct evidence of my abilities to execute an overall marketing strategy for the company – in essence to build the company brand.

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Open Source Enterprise 2.0 by Lockheed Martin

Came across this interesting news item thanks to my twitter friend @ParamShobhit

This will be an interesting development to watch - and depends on how Lockheed Martin will choose to monetise this project. Would be exciting to check what functionalities it supports - and whether it'll be launched in a freemium model

Some excerpts from the article:

Lockheed Martin Launches Open-Source Social Networking Project

Lockheed Martin has launched a new open-source project for enterprise social networking called Eureka Streams.

The Eureka Streams technology, which looks and behaves much like existing commercial social networking software, is aimed at helping what Lockheed Martin refers to as knowledge workers make informed decisions by finding relevant colleagues and groups, following their streams of activity, and engaging in conversation.

Lockheed Martin is making the technology available to developers and inviting their feedback on Eureka Streams. Developers can learn more about the technology at www.eurekastreams.org.

Eureka Streams represents a new communication experience for knowledge workers, empowering them to pick and choose the channels of news, information and conversation that add the most value to their day-to-day work, Lockheed Martin officials said.

Lockheed Martin has released Eureka Streams as an open-source project—the Eureka Streams Community Edition is licensed to developers under the Apache 2.0 open-source license. However, in the future, Lockheed Martin plans to offer editions of Eureka Streams for use by enterprise customers, the company said in its release.

According to an independent Forrester Research report titled "Harnessing Social Networking to Drive Transformation" dated November 2009, "Smart organizations are looking to tap into the full power of the enterprise and beyond to drive better and faster decisions and to foster innovation that will keep them at the forefront of the changing economy. One approach that's top of mind for business technology leaders is the use of social networks to drive communities that span traditional organizational structures."

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Online MBA acceptance rising in the US

Interesting article by PayScale on the growing acceptance of online learning compared to traditional MBA learning programs.

However this is US specific, and I really don't see this reality being replicated in India soon. That's because the credits offered in online or "satellite" courses results not in a Post-Graduate Diploma (like IIMs and XLRI offer) but in a PG Certificate. Employers simply don't equate both these together - leading to salary differences between the two.

In fact - in one of my roles - I was looking after the Continuing Education Policy of an organization - and was amazed how even a course of full time employees who would visit the MBA college every few weeks or on weekends also ensured that the education given was a certificate!

Check more from the article PayScale - Online MBA Programs, Online Degrees Accepted

A Sloan Consortium study cites barriers to the widespread adoption of online distance learning. Topping the list is the concern that "students need more discipline to succeed in online courses"-64 percent of all institutions see it as a significant hurdle. The number-two concern is the extra time and effort that online faculty spend; 32 percent of schools think this is a problem.

Other disadvantages include lack of face-to-face feedback and in-person activities with peers, and loneliness, according to DETC's Lambert, who also said, "The few drawbacks are more than offset by the convenience features."

Experts say benefits of online distance learning include savings on time and money-no commuting, gas money or parking fees are required. And some students just function better online.

"Online there's anonymity, you can interact and participate, and you can be whoever you want to be. For some people it's a more comfortable environment for them to study in," said Walden's Sidler.

Another plus is the increased earning power an MBA brings. According to 2007 statistics from the Graduate Management Admission Council, a nonprofit group that owns the GMAT, MBA graduates who have gotten job offers typically earn 58 percent more than before they got their degrees.

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