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Life is unfair” , we all would have uttered these words at some point of time in our lives. In spite of being equally competent, many of us lose out at the workplace because we are/ were :-  not educated at a premier b-school or  educated in a small town or  gentle/ unassertive nature or  introvert or  from poor / middle class family with no connections or  are physically challenged or  suffer due to gender stereotypes and so on. Playing at a Level Playing Field Here is an empowerment tool, which will put you at par or may be ahead in the career race. A book which guides you how to share your KVP (knowledge, victories and passions) to create a brand which helps you overpower your weaknesses. Here are a few examples of the value of personal branding:- A CXO who was expecting to become a CEO was disappointed when his organisation recruited someone else. Thanks to his personal branding and frequent speaking assignments at conferences, ...

Your story is your brand . But which brand do you build and which story do you tell -organisation or people? Organisations want to build organisation brands, yet people prefer to read people stories. This is one of the greatest paradoxes of branding. It has no simple solutions and the answer varies from situation to situation. One point is common viz to align personal brand with organisation brand, to align people story with organization story and to find the delicate balance. A balance where organisation brand benefits due to the CEO or entrepreneur brand and vice versa. Organisational stories need to be interwoven with people stories to make them more effective and catchy to read.  Twitter and Personal Branding Social media is slightly biased towards people branding, because people want to converse and build relationships with people and not faceless organizations. Social media platforms are also social networking platforms after all.  While Twitter has a bias toward...

  Love...Deep. Intense. Unconditional. She traveled, traveled and traveled. May be when people want to discover the meaning of life, they start "Wondering". And when people feel restless to experience....deep, intense and unconditional love, they start "Wandering". Her parents had been affectionate yet there is a human longing for a deep connection with one person. One person who is special and makes us feel special. Traditional Indian fathers often start distancing themselves from their daughters when they grow young. They start preparing for their princesses to move on and don't want the father-daughter bond to become a barrier. Her travels took her to strange places and even stranger people. Her own life had been no less stranger than fiction. She also wanted to resolve a paradox of her life. While the Universe had usually gifted her what she deeply longed for, yet there was something still missing. Two desires make people extremely restless. Most of...

Personal Branding and Inspirational Storytelling for Journalists Journalists already know the power of media and storytelling. So building a personal brand is easy for them. In fact, it is the news anchors/journalists, which actually bring audience to the respective media, with their own personal reputation, credibility and brand. Audience is loyal to journalists more than media organisation Be it print or TV, people read / watch their favourite journalists and news anchors. In my view loyalty for media organisations is much lesser than the loyalty for journalists. Sweta Singh has reached such a celebrity status in a short span of time that she was invited to Kapil Sharma's comedy show recently. Many senior journalists have created their own media organisations.  The Power of Storytelling Storytelling is the easiest way to build a personal brand and journalists are great storytellers. In fact, news is actually called a news story. Inspirational storytelling is the ...

“Honesty and Ethics” are talk of the town (or India rather) these days after PM Modi’s surgical strike on black money. Corruption and dishonesty has gone into the roots of Indian systems and cleaning the system is not going to be an easy job. Yet PM Modi has demonstrated that when there is a strong will backed by action, nothing is impossible. The book ‘The Ethical Doctor’ (by Dr Kamal Kumar Mahawar) also talks about cleaning and improvising the Indian medical system. The book has a fine balance between diagnosis and treatment. It goes into the details of what ails the Indian medical system and what actions are required to treat the system of its ills. Right in the author’s note in the beginning, Dr Kamal points out, “Declining values and corrupt practices are eating the heart of Indian society and its institutions. Doctors subscribe to the same value systems.” Here are some of the key topics discussed in the book:- Cuts and Commissions - The book takes a detailed look into the cut...

(The story by Dr Nidhi Chaudhary won the 1st prize in "Social Entrepreneurship Storytelling Contest" organised at School for Social Entrepreneurs India , Gurgaon by AL Services) Guest Post by  Dr Nidhi Chaudhary- A Moving Story When Shakespeare wrote “What is in a name”, clearly he was blinded by Romeo and Juliet’s romance and did not have the Indian subcontinent in mind. Had he for a minute thought about it, knowing the genius he is, he would not have penned the famous lines and would have rather  agreed with me on this. In the scorching heat of May 2006, I had been visiting the villages around Lucknow as an enthusiastic Routine immunisation Officer posted by UNICEF. On one such typical morning, I happened to visit a village hardly 30 minutes drive from the city in my chauffeur driven Indica taxi. The purpose was to monitor the vaccination sessions that were to be organized by the area Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) in the village Anganwadi centre. Luckily, the A...

(The story by  Nageshwar Panchal  won the 2nd prize in "Social Entrepreneurship Storytelling Contest" organised at School for Social Entrepreneurs India, Gurgaon by AL Services) Guest Post by  Nageshwar Panchal- A Success Story Once upon a time, yes, every story I heard in my childhood started from this phrase and mine also. So once upon a time my niece came to my village from a city along with my sister. We were enjoying Rakhi festival and I was studying my last year of engineering at that time. It was time for her periods and she often forgets to carry Pads. I thought it would be easily available in the village so I went to a shop then another shop and then another. I found that there are no sanitary pads available in the village. Some women are selling cloth patches used during menstruation cycle. It was unbelievable for me initially. Yet I was so away from the truth.  I started Google search and community visits to understand the reality. Whatever...