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The Career Distinction Workbook
William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson
www.careerdistinction.com
www.reachcc.com
2007. Reach Communications Consulting, Inc (Reach). All rights reserved. No part of
this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic means, including
information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from Reach. The
Reach logo, where branding gets personal, and 360Reach are trademarks of Reach. All
other marks are owned by their respective companies.
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Table of Contents
page
Vision 6
Purpose 7
Goals 8
Values 11
Passions 15
Brand Attributes 16
Strengths 18
Motivated Skills 19
Putting it Together 22
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Communications Skills 29
Online Identity 33
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Using the Career Distinction Workbook
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STEP 1. EXTRACTUNEARTH YOUR UNIQUE
PROMISE OF VALUE
Think about one world problem you would like to see solved or one
area of life that you want to see transformed or improved. This is
your vision. Write it below.
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Defining Your Purpose
Now, imagine yourself at your own funeral. You are hovering above
the room and can hear what people are saying about you. What are
they saying about what you accomplished, how you touched their
lives, how you made a difference to them and to the world? Their
comments suggest your purpose. Write what you are hearing below.
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The Mother of all Goals Exercises
Step 1
Open up either a Microsoft Word or Excel document, and just go
crazy typing in every goal you have for your career or business (one
goal per line). You might type in items like I will be the head of our
IT department, or I will take an assignment in the New York
office. Type every single goal that you can think of into your
document. And when you think youve got them all out of your head,
go back and add some more, because we guarantee you that there are
some more in there. When you are done, you will have a long list that
details everything you want to accomplish in your career.
Step 2
Go back to your list, and to the left of every goal, put a 1, 2 or 3.
Mark an item with a 1 if its a goal you would like to accomplish in
the next year, a 2 for those you would like to accomplish in two to
five years, and a 3 next to every long-term goal (greater than 5
years).
Step 3
Sort the list (this why you do this exercise in Word or Excel). Youll
end up with all the 1s together, all the 2s together, and all the 3s
together. Then within each of the three subgroups, ask yourself, is
this one more important than this one, is this one more important
then this one, and so on. Then for each of the three categories, put
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them in priority order with the most important goals first. What you
will end up with is a complete list in chronological and prioritized
order.
Step 4
There are two things that you do with this. First, look at the links
among various goalsmilestones that together lead to achievement
of a major goal. And second, you will find that by prioritizing them,
you will see what is really important and will be able to focus your
energies instead of fracturing your efforts on too many disparate
goals.
Step 5
After looking at the list:
Step 6
Look over your complete list of goals and identify the most logical
next step in your career that will help you along the path toward your
ultimate goal. Then, describe the position in great detail.
Use the following to get clarity on the position(s) you are considering.
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Fill in the blank or circle the items that describe your ideal position:
Employees:
Revenue:
Circle One:
Small
Medium
Large
Location(s)
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Understanding Your Values
In the space below, document your top five values (the list on the
following pages will help). These are your guiding principles. Refer
to Identifying Your Values and Passions on page 40 of Career
Distinction to learn more about the roles of values and passions in
your career.
1. ______________________________
2. ______________________________
3. ______________________________
4. ______________________________
5. ______________________________
Now that you have identified your top five values, take a look at your
current companys values and see the connection and intersection of
those values. How can you become known for demonstrating these
values?
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As you determine your key values, here are some to consider; but
dont limit yourself to just this list. As you go through the list,
eliminate those values that dont really resonate with you. Then from
the remaining values select the five that are the most important to
you.
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Education Frugality Leadership
Efficiency Fun Learning
Elegance Generosity Logic
Empathy Grace Love
Encouragement Gratitude Loyalty
Endurance Growth Making a -
Energy Happiness difference
Entertainment Harmony Mastery
Enthusiasm Health Maturity
Excellence Heroism Mindfulness
Excitement Honesty Modesty
Experience Honor Motivation
Expertise Hopefulness Mystery
Extravagance Humor Obedience
Extroversion Imagination Open-
Exuberance Impact mindedness
Fairness Independence Optimism
Faith Ingenuity Order
Fame Inspiration Organization
Family Integrity Originality
Fascination Intelligence Passion
Fashion Intensity Peace
Fearlessness Intimacy Perfection
Fidelity Introversion Perseverance
Financial- Intuition Persistence
independence Inventiveness Persuasiveness
Fitness Investing Philanthropy
Flexibility Joy Piety
Focus Justice Playfulness
Freedom Kindness Pleasure
Friendliness Knowledge Popularity
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Potency Sacrifice Surprise
Power Satisfaction Sympathy
Practicality Security Teamwork
Pragmatism Self-control Timeliness
Precision Sensitivity Traditionalism
Preparedness Sensuality Tranquility
Privacy Serenity Truth
Pro-activity Sexuality Understanding
Professionalism Sharing Uniqueness
Prosperity Significance Usefulness
Punctuality Silence Variety
Purity Silliness Vigor
Realism Simplicity Virtue
Recognition Sincerity Vision
Recreation Solitude Vitality
Relaxation Sophistication Wealth
Reliability Speed Winning
Religion Spirituality Wisdom
Resilience Spontaneity Wit
Resolution Stability Youthfulness
Resourcefulness Strength Zeal
Respect Structure ____________
Rest Success ____________
Restraint Support __________
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Unearthing Your Passions
In the space below, document your top five passions. These are
activities, interests or conversational topics that fascinate or excite
you and make you feel energized. Your passions make you get out of
bed at 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning or get you talking
enthusiastically with other people.
1. ______________________________
2. ______________________________
3. ______________________________
4. ______________________________
5. ______________________________
Your top values and passions will also become important later, when
you work on your personal brand communications plan in Step 2
Express (page 79).
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Brand Attributes
Use the 360Reach Personal Brand Assessment that comes with
your purchased copy of Career Distinction to determine your brand
attributes. You can find it at:
http://www.careerdistinction.com/360Reach
Once you have completed the assessment, you can refer to your
printed summary. To perform an analysis of the data and glean the
greatest insights from the feedback you received, refer to the ebook:
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The Complete 360View Making the Most of Your 360Reach Results
available for $14.95 at:
http://www.careerdistinction.com/360Reach/360view.html
(If you are a Reach Branding Club Job Search Edition member, this
PDF file is downloadable from your member area when you login to
http://ww.reachbrandingclub.com.)
1. ______________________________
2. ______________________________
3. ______________________________
4. ______________________________
5. ______________________________
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My Strengths
Analyze your 360Reach results to determine your strengths.
Document them here.
1. ______________________________
2. ______________________________
3. ______________________________
4. ______________________________
5. ______________________________
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Motivated Skills Exercise
This exercise also gives you great content for your resume and other career
marketing materials.
Example:
Pizza Hut
Challenge: Make cinema commercial for less than $5,000 to improve
sales in restaurants near movie theaters.
Actions: Reviewed all existing footage from several countries, and
edited together with "mock" Action Movie soundtrack and witty
credits.
Results: Budget and sales goals achieved.
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Chapter 6. Define Your Brand Community
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Describing Your Competitors or Peers - Differentiation
Now, list below the items that make you stand out from others who
are seeking the same position as you. These items can include
credentials, attributes, skills, etc. For example, you might list items
like: Chair the Committee at my local Boys and Girls Club, sarcastic
wit, certificate in international business.
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Putting it Together
Now think about your ideal job and determine which of the items
you identified in the exercises above (attributes, skills, and
differentiation) will be helpful in reaching your goal. Take a look at
the lists above and complete the following:
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Describing Your Target Audience
Demographics:
Age range
Gender
Career/job position/title(s)
Income
Location/geography
Education
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Psychographics:
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My PBS:
Vision:
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Purpose:
Values:
Passions:
Personal Attributes:
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STEP 2: EXPRESSCOMMUNICATE YOUR BRAND TO
YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
Heres a checklist that will help you as you develop your career-
marketing tools.
Distinction).
Distinction).
differentiation.
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Making On-Brand Career Decisions
successful.
my vision.
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Chapter 9: Express Yourself
One thing all strong brands have in common is that they are great
communicators. Assess your communications skills in the following
areas with 5 being the strongest and 1 needing most
improvement. Although branding is about using your strengths to
stand out, all strong brands are excellent at communicating. 62% of
CEOs say it was their communications skills that got them to the top
spot.
Writing 1 2 3 4 5
Email 1 2 3 4 5
Presentation 1 2 3 4 5
Telephone 1 2 3 4 5
In-person 1 2 3 4 5
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Refining Your Communications Skills
Review your responses to the above. Below, list three ways youre
going to improve your communications skills in the areas that you
identified need improvement. For instance, you may want to take a
writing class, join Toastmasters (the international public-speaking
training organization), or take advantage of some other resource to
hone your skills. Record your ideas:
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Write your comprehensive annual communications plan (organized
by month) and gauge its effectiveness with the checklist on page 112
of Career Distinction. To ensure that you implement your plan,
schedule daily activities in your to-do list.
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Chapter 10: Assess Your Online Identity
Look at the online identity matrix on page 121 (Figure 10.1) of Career
Distinction and read the descriptions on page 124. Then circle where
you currently are on the scale:
Digitally Disguised
Digitally Dissed
Digitally Disastrous
Digitally Dabbling
Digitally Distinct
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online identity.
page 137).
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articles.
1.
2.
3.
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STEP THREE: EXUDEMANAGE YOUR BRAND
ENVIRONMENT
Now, for each item in your list, identify whether that item is on-
brand or off-brand, and explain why.
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Finally, in the space below, write the changes you need to make to
your brand environment so that you can be more consistently on-
brand.
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Chapter 13: Get a Visual Identity
Color(s):
Based on the table on page 161 , circle the color that best
represents your brand
Font(s):
Refer to the Figure 13.1 on page 162 to select the font(s) that
best represents your brand. Also, search for fonts in
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Microsoft Word and printed publications, and share your
preferences with your designer.
Now think about the other elements that are appropriate for
your brand identity system. Refer to the examples on pages
163170 of Career Distinction.
Images:
Logo:
Textures:
Audio/music:
Tagline:
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Chapter 14: Increase Your Career Karma
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Additional Resources and Special Offers
When youve purchased Career Distinction, you can join the club for
half price. This innovative brand development and social networking
site will help you accelerate your career success. The benefits of this
annual membership include:
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