Your Digital Reputation – Where Personal Meets Professional

I recently read an article by PEW researchers on managing your online identity that got me thinking about what I share with the people in my online world. The article reported that, contrary to the conventional wisdom of Baby Boomers in business, young adults are most likely to customize what they share and who they share it with – meaning not only who they allow into their network but what types of content they have associated with their profile. As a user of several social networking sites, I use each of these to show various dimensions of my personality, both personally and professionally.

But the question that is on both the minds of people and the organizations they work for – where are the boundaries between personal and professional? How does the information shared define the person as an individual, as part of a greater community, or as part of the organization they work for or contribute to?

For starters, people generally choose one of following approaches when managing the information they publish online:

1. Carefree – Choosing to share in an uncensored/monitored way
2. Thoughtful – Choosing to share relevant or targeted information
3. Guarded – Choosing to withhold or remove information
4. Uninvolved – Choosing not to participate at all or very minimally

When considering the impact of these individual choices on an organization, this brings greater transparency and reality to word-of-mouth marketing. Because most users include a place of employment as part of their profile, another layer of complexity is added because the employee becomes a representative of the company brand. As online networking continues to emerge, organizations will chose to embrace the idea, avoid or maybe even forbid it all together because of the speed and reach of social media. A word of warning to employers: Eliminating this channel will not stop the conversation from taking place. People – employees and customers – will talk about your brand regardless.

Whatever your online approach in the social media world, or through any other channel, organizations should be encouraging positive, open communication about their brand altogether. To benchmark, Xerox made their Social Media Guidelines publically available on their corporate website. What I found most interesting about them is that they have several overarching principles to promote “responsible engagement.” They also go on to give a description of the various channels, and best practices to keep in mind when contributing to the conversations in each. “Emerging online collaboration platforms are changing the way companies work and engage with each other, customers and partners. Individual interactions represent a new model, not mass communications, but masses of communicators.”

Though social media may not fit neatly into one company policy, my overarching principle is to act online as if I would in person – and at work. Listen, learn, converse and be respectful. In this time of an “identity crisis” where the lines are blurred between work space, home or play through our online environments, NY Times author, Jeffrey Rosen, reminds us through his unique perspective that “we have the ability to control our identities and to preserve the option of reinventing ourselves.”

“Dear Rob”

Another observation from pop culture...

This time, Robert Pattinson, Millennial actor in ‘Eclipse,’ appears on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno to promote the latest of the Twilight series phenomena – which just recently reached almost $176 million in box office sales domestically in the two weeks it has been in the theater. In his interview which was quite captivating of the audience’s attention, Rob pulled out his cell phone to read off a few text messages of advice from his father. “Dear Rob,” he continues to read with each one – poking fun at how formal his dad and the advice are in each message. Though it all was in good fun, there was a generational ring of truth as the camera zoomed to the red-faced father in the audience.

Millennials communicate and work differently than former generations – bringing a unique set of attitudes and expectations to the workplace. For most who manage or continue to study their work behaviors, this is not a new discovery. Commited to continuous learning in organizations, Versant reached out to our own group of young, driven professionals in the Millennial age demographic (ages 18 to 30) to hear from them how to best engage and motivate them in their careers.

Stay tuned to the Versant Knowledge Center as we continue to share our Millennial findings; but in the mean time, check out our ongoing conversation about the changing generations in the workplace from our recent webinar with Manpower or our Connecting to a Changing Workforce white paper in Versant's Shared Learning Center.

A Lesson From the MTV 2010 Movie Awards

The other night, I caught a glimpse of the 2010 MTV Movie Awards with my 17-year-old daughter and some of her friends. I had quite the learning and viewing experience as moments in the show reflected the impact of personal branding. The stars stretch and try to connect with a global young audience, Millennials – a generation that buys a lot of movie tickets and promotes what they like through many new media channels.

To recap, a soon-to-be-divorced Sandra Bullock stirred up the audience not only with her appearance – but also a brief kiss with Scarlett Johansson. In an attempt to clear up some rumors and create new buzz, Sandra said, “I may be old, but I’m not going anywhere.” Tom Cruise also took this time to redefine his earlier “show-me-the-money” brand (yelled out by audience member) as fellow awards announcer and costar in Knight and Day, Cameron Diaz, cheered him on upon taking the stage.

The various award presenters weaved in a unique generational statement and an insight into our changing society as defined by one powerful media source. Though a stretch to connect, it’s interesting to observe pop culture take note of the size and buying power of the emerging generation. Millennials are commanding attention everywhere – from the entertainment industry to the workforce.

Thinking differently. Working differently. Leading differently.

As my graduation from UWM approaches, my focus has shifted to starting a career, so I was pleased to attend the recent Women Leadership Conference 2010 hosted by UWM’s School of Continuing Education. Several key thoughts resonated with me as I prepare to enter the full-time business world and build my career.

Chief HR Officer at Xerox and keynote speaker, Pat Nazemetz spoke of the paradigm shift in characteristics required for leadership in the new workplace, the new workforce and the new economy. “Workforce 2020 will be driven by agile, “right brain,” big-picture types who will use these characteristics to lead and inspire a more diverse and complex workforce in a dynamic economy.” Pat asked the audience of 300 plus women what they thought was the most important quality in a leader: intelligence, teamwork, vision, courage or empathy. Surprisingly, intelligence was the least chosen response. With intelligence deemed a given, courage and vision were chosen as the most important qualities of a successful leader. As the workforce changes, the qualities needed to lead will change.

Pat’s key next generation leadership characteristic, courage, is in line with the theme I heard throughout the conference – dare to do things differently. Here are some other points I heard:

• Take smart, calculated risks. Step out from the rest of the pack.
• Continually seek ways to re-invent yourself as an on-going life management skill.
• Look for more answers from more people (mentor and be mentored).
• Find a leadership style that you feel comfortable in.

As a leader at every level in my career, these are all valuable points to remember whether treading new waters or covering familiar ground. We look forward to hearing the powerful stories and insights of next year’s speakers at the Women Leaders Conference 2011. You can follow the leadership conversation and conference updates on the UWM SCE website or WIWomenLeaders Twitter, Linked In or Facebook pages.

Versant Recognized for Health Care Communications

Versant has a history of excellence in health care communications. The Medingo Solo Demo Kit was awarded the 2010 Gold Aster award, honoring excellence in medical marketing. “With the product demo kit, brochures, PR and booth graphics, Medingo definitely made our mark. We couldn’t have done it without Versant’s constant diligence and communication, tremendous creative and PR team. It has been a joy to work with them and nice to have peace of mind knowing they will always get the job done.” Kim Stebbings, EVP Marketing & Sales, Medingo. See what else Kim says about working with Versant and more on our other award-winning work in health care.