Duane's Dartboard

Classic Countdown — In the month leading up to the fourth anniversary of this blog’s launch, I am sharing my favorite posts. This was published on Jan. 17, 2012.

In a job search, if you are not relevant you are obsolete.

Technology, ideas and even workers lose their relevance when they fail to provide value to the end user.

As a job seeker, you become relevant to prospective employers when you remember it’s all about them, not you. You may be proud of your degree, your experience or your community activities. Potential employers, however, will not share your enthusiasm unless they can somehow see how your credentials will make them more successful in their jobs.

Assume that a potential employer is selfish. He or she is not looking to do you a favor by rescuing you from the vast sea of unemployed swimmers. No, your next employer will only be interested in hiring you if you can contribute to his success.

Being relevant means that your resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profile, interview answers and all communications focus on what you can do for THEM, not what they can do for you. Like it or not, it’s all about them, not you.

Three ways to be more relevant are:

1. Know your brand. You must thoroughly understand yourself—the “product” you are trying to sell.
2. Convert features into benefits. Remember, it’s all about them, so phrase everything in the context of why they should care about the information you share.
3. Focus on your cover letter. This is your “sales brochure” where you talk to potential employers about their world, their success and how you you can help them win.

These ideas on personal branding were originally presented during two workshops I conducted for the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance. The sessions were attended by current and aspiring nonprofit leaders who came from across the nation for the annual Alliance Management/Leadership Institute, the nation’s largest leadership development and networking symposium for students, faculty and nonprofit professionals. —DH

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Classic Countdown — In the month leading up to the fourth anniversary of this blog’s launch, I am sharing my favorite posts. This was published on May 23, 2012.

I‘m hiring for a communications person to join my team here at the American Red Cross. With one week until we close the applications process, I’ve already received nearly 150 online resumes.

I am surprised and impressed with the quality of most of these individuals. Some I’ve known for years. In fact, I’ve hired some as interns or freelance writers. Some are people I’ve gotten to know through local professional organizations or clubs. They are all good people and very qualified professionals. The hard part will be narrowing the list and then selecting the final individual.

Then, there are the other applicants. (Sigh!)

These are the ones who will not be working for me. Unless their luck changes, they won’t be working soon for anyone else, either. I have gone through the entire listing of online applications just to get a feel for each candidate. In most cases, I have Googled the person’s name. Unbelievably, some people have no digital footprint, but I’ll save those rantings for another blog post. I shouldn’t judge invisible people. Perhaps they are part of the Federal Witness Protection Program and don’t want to be found. Read the rest of this entry »

Classic Countdown — In the month leading up to the fourth anniversary of this blog’s launch, I am sharing my favorite posts. This was published on Jan. 21, 2013.

“I choose not to be a victim!” Those powerful words were shared with me last week by a friend who has had lots of bad things happen to her.

She is currently between jobs, which is why she came to my office to talk over coffee. Because I’ve known her for several years, I also know she is divorced, she’s been bullied at work and, since childhood, she has been preyed upon (and I use that term in its ugliest connotation).

Yet her bold statement—I choose not to be a victim!—got me to thinking.

Does someone really choose to be a victim? Is that a decision one actually makes? Or is a victim created as the result of something bad that happens? Or from the selfish actions of others? Read the rest of this entry »

Classic Countdown — In the month leading up to the fourth anniversary of this blog’s launch, I am sharing my favorite posts. This was published on Dec. 12, 1012.

This summer while on vacation, my wife and I were driving towards the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. Suddenly, it dawned on me that I’d once hitchhiked along those same roads.

That realization opened a flood of long-forgotten hitchhiking memories.

I recalled the time I thumbed a series of rides to Ohio to surprise my girlfriend. Neither she nor her family were impressed that I’d traveled so far—all alone—using such an unpredictable form of transportation. (Sometimes I’m still amazed that she eventually agreed to marry me!)

Then there was the time my buddy Steve and I hitchhiked overnight to Florida. The most memorable part of that trip came after we unfolded our sleeping bags and tried to sleep in the tall grass along the shoulder of southbound Interstate 75. Believe me, it’s impossible to rest while 18-wheelers thunder by at 80 miles an hour only a few feet from your head. Read the rest of this entry »

Classic Countdown — In the month leading up to the fourth anniversary of this blog’s launch, I am sharing my favorite posts. This was published on May 13, 2013.

Any success I might claim as a marketing and communications professional would necessarily include a lengthy and sincere list of acknowledgements. The English poet John Donne observed, “No man is an island.” In other words, we are all interdependent. Other people always contribute to our success.

In my work, I am most productive when I am surrounded by people who are:

1. Grateful. They are glad to be alive and they find things to be thankful for. With an abundance mindset, they focus on what they have rather than obsessing on their deficits.
2. Strategic. They think before they act. Before succumbing to the gravitational pull of tactics, they think things through in a purposeful way. They wrestle with questions that begin with the word why?
3. Competent. Once they see the big picture and understand why something is important, they know what to do and how to do it.
4. Curious. Curiosity never killed anyone. I love interacting with those who think with a beginner’s mind. They are the antithesis of so-called experts who already know the right (and only) way to do something. Read the rest of this entry »

Classic Countdown — In the month leading up to the fourth anniversary of this blog’s launch, I am sharing my favorite posts. This was published on March 3, 2013.

The smartest, most creative people I know are those who can communicate a complex concept in simple, everyday terms. As Albert Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

Meandering, pompous words are often strung together to mask a person’s ignorance. How refreshing, though, when crisp words are used in succinct sentences to convey the depth of a person’s understanding!

You cannot have clarity without brevity. Practice subtraction. Next time you’re struggling to articulate a difficult message, try tweeting it. I love the discipline of Twitter that requires us to distill ideas into 140 characters or less.

Think about these examples where important ideas are best expressed in a simple way:

1. If you’re looking for a job, see if your mom understands what you’re saying in your resume and cover letter. If she doesn’t, odds are a prospective employer won’t either.
2. If you’re trying to revitalize your job description, explain to your child what you do for a living. In a simple conversation, can you describe how your job benefits society?
3. If you’re a graduate student, explain your research findings to your uncle at a family get-together. If he doesn’t understand what you’re saying, it’s likely others will not.
4. If you’re a company spokesperson, can you explain the benefits of a corporate policy to a complete stranger? If you can’t, then don’t try doing so in a TV sound bite.

Always remember that simple and simplistic are not synonyms. Simplistic ideas represent shallow thinking. Simple ideas, on the other hand, have had the dross burned off so that only the pure, essential elements remain.

Simple is best, don’t you think?

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Classic Countdown — In the month leading up to the fourth anniversary of this blog’s launch, I am sharing my favorite posts. This was published on May 2, 2012.

Once upon a time, I lived in Portland, Oregon where I did public relations for a local hospital.

The medical center was well-respected and almost always received positive news coverage. One day, however, a headline writer for The Oregonian newspaper hurriedly summarized a positive story with a less-than-positive choice of words. The story described how the hospital offered a signing bonus to recruit nurses during a severe nursing shortage. Instead of describing the bonus as an recruitment incentive, however, the headline writer used the word “bribe.” To his credit, he put quotes around the word to indicate its use as a colloquialism.

The hospital’s president (my boss) thought the newspaper was implying that he engaged in unethical, under-the-table transactions. He was enraged and immediately ordered me to write a letter to the editor expressing our indignation.

Though I disagreed with the newspaper’s use of the pejorative word, I thought a phone call would suffice. I believed we would be overreacting to send an official letter of reprimand. My boss, however, was not dissuaded and he insisted that a letter be written.

I tried to explain that the person who wrote the headline was neither the reporter nor the editor, and any perceived slight in the headline did not erode the positive relationship between our organizations. Again, my boss didn’t want to hear it. He still wanted me to write a letter.

Unable to persuade him otherwise, I wrote the draft of a venomous, hard-hitting letter. I even made the project bigger-than-usual by routing the letter to the members of our leadership team. Everyone found cathartic relief by allowing their red pens to flow freely as they edited my words. Each person seemed determined to outdo his or her teammate.

When everyone had weighed in, I took their collective comments and blended them into a second draft. Their rewriting fun continued for another round when I asked them to edit the revised version of the letter.

Finally, everyone seemed happy. We had a punchy letter that would let those darned journalists know they couldn’t kick sand in our face.

Years afterward as I reminisce about that project, two thoughts stand out in my mind. First, I remember how I followed my boss’s instructions very carefully. He directed me to write a letter to the editor, which I did. Second, I wonder if anyone ever realized that I was never instructed to actually mail the letter, which I did not.

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Classic Countdown — In the month leading up to the fourth anniversary of this blog’s launch, I am sharing my favorite posts. This was published on May 21, 2012.

My eighth grade English teacher taught me an important lesson that profoundly affects how I communicate today, decades later.

The class assignment was simple. We had to stand in front of the class and tell a story.

We could select any story, but we had to tell the tale within five minutes. That can be a frightening experience, especially for most self-conscious eight graders like me. Fortunately, we were given several days to practice our storytelling in private before that dreadful moment when we had to stand before our peers.

Sounds simple, right? Well, hold on! The teacher had a surprise that made the storytelling in front of our classmates the easiest part of the assignment.

After we had each delivered our presentations, the teacher announced that we would be telling our stories again. Actually, he told us we were scheduled to make our presentations two more times—once in front of a classroom of innocent second graders, and then to a roomful of intimidating 10th graders.

Quite frankly, I’ve forgotten most of the details of my story but two things I vividly remember. First, I can still see the second graders as they sat there with wide-eyed anticipation looking up to me, a mature eighth grader. Second, I recall how too many of the 10th graders rolled their eyes in boredom and looked down on me, a puny underclassman.

That was not a fun experience. In retrospect, though, most of my best learning has come during times I would not classify as “fun.” Ultimately, the assignment taught me to speak with confidence, to practice in private before speaking in public and to focus on core messages to fit the most important items into a specified time slot.

The most valuable lesson, though, was this:  Every story must be told differently to different audiences.

I’m grateful that my English teacher helped me to realize that one size never fits all.

The best communication happens when the message is tailored to the unique interests of a targeted audience. Otherwise, it will completely miss the mark.

In my early days as a professional communicator, a mentor told me, “If you aim your message at no one in particular, don’t be surprised if no one in particular responds.”

A communicator who thinks he or she can communicate to everyone in the same way is naive and feckless. A PR professional who disseminates information without tailoring the message to a specific audience is a fool.

Contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as the “general public.”

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Classic Countdown — In the month leading up to the fourth anniversary of this blog’s launch, I am sharing my favorite posts. This was published on Nov. 23, 2012.

I spent the first half of November in New York City helping people affected by Superstorm Sandy. I was proud to be part of the impressive disaster public affairs team of the American Red Cross.

Since I’ve returned home, many people have asked what I actually did. They are curious about the role of public affairs and how it fit into the overall disaster relief efforts.

To answer those questions most completely, I like to talk about what our entire team did. Working together, we created a synergy greater than any of us individually.

Here is what we did, and why public affairs was an essential part of the disaster relief efforts in New York and beyond:

Role of Disaster Public Affairs

1. We shared information. We told people where Red Cross services were available and how they could receive help. We knew that some were individuals asking, “Where is the Red Cross?” so our role was to share inform and help them access our services.
2. We told stories. We were surrounded by thousands of stories illustrating how the Red Cross fed the hungry, sheltered the newly-homeless and gave hope to those in such dire circumstances. People genuinely care about other people, and the community likes to hear stories about how their friends, family and neighbors are being helping. Volunteers and donors also need to be shown how their contributions of time and money yield an impressive “return on investment.” Read the rest of this entry »

Classic Countdown — In the month leading up to the fourth anniversary of this blog’s launch, I am sharing my favorite posts. This was published on Oct. 3, 2012.

Those who know me best know I’m wired to begin any project by asking “Why?”

Before I launch a major initiative, I must first understand the objective. Why am I doing this? What is my mission?

Before I spend time and energy working on specific tasks, I must first understand why the project itself is important.  What are we trying to accomplish? What is our purpose?

Before I can effectively lead a communications team, I must first understand why my department exists. What is our mission? What purpose do we communicators serve? What is our raison d’être?

What is our mission?

Seriously, if we don’t have an answer, how we can’t expect others to value our work?

This summer I wrote a mission statement to serve as the cornerstone of our communications plan for the coming year. Here is the mission of the communications department of the Red Cross, Kansas City Region:

Mission of the Communications Department

We share information, tell stories and engage in conversations that inspire people to join the Red Cross in fulfilling its mission.

Mission of the American Red Cross

The American Red Cross prevents and alleviates human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.

The mission of the Red Cross inspires me to be part of something bigger than myself.

The mission of my communications team focuses me on the important work we do as a Red Cross communicators. Our mission statement helps us to make good choices about how we should spend our time. It guides us as we invest the precious resources entrusted to the communications department.

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