Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand

As a professional, your reputation is your most valuable career asset. Whether you're climbing the ladder at your current company or seeking a new job, in today's fast-paced work environment, you must proactively and continuously position yourself for success. Your credibility, visibility, personality, and personal style all make up your brand. Build and nurture your personal brand and you'll make yourself a must-have, can't-fail professional—and you'll do it without having to be someone you're not.

Career Distinction outlines the proven personal branding process and provides case studies of successful professionals that will help you not only survive, but thrive, in today's dynamic and ultracompetitive workplace. you'll learn to manage your brand with innovative tools that enable you to differentiate yourself and stand out from your peers.

In this definitive step-by-step guide, career and personal brand management experts Arruda and Dixson show you how to:

• Brand yourself for career success
• Determine how others perceive you
• Develop your unique value proposition
• Define your target audience
• Tell your brand story
• Express yourself clearly and consistently
• Build and manage your online identity
• Stay on-message and on-brand every day
• Increase your "career karma"

The increasing pace of change in the business world gives you less time than ever to make your professional mark. Career Distinction demonstrates how to express who you are and the value you bring to your organization—branding you as an indispensable, memorable, and unique professional. Success takes more than just hard work; brand yourself and watch your career soar.

About the Authors

William Arruda is an executive coach, public speaker, and author. He combines his 20 years’ corporate branding experience, passion for human potential, and avid pursuit of innovation to help professionals stand out and expand their success. He is the founder of Reach, the global leader in personal branding and cofounder of the Reach Branding Club. JPMorgan, Disney, Adobe, Microsoft, Warner Bros, British Telecom, Electronic Arts, and Starwood Hotels are just a few of the corporate clients for whom he’s delivered presentations and workshops on the transformative power of personal branding. William has appeared on BBC TV, the Discovery Channel, and Fox News Live. A sought-after spokesperson on career advancement, he has been featured in and written for the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Time, Forbes, and many other publications throughout the world. He holds a master’s degree in education.

Kirsten Dixson is an authority on building credible online identities for career success. She founded Brandego and is a partner in Reach. Kirsten is a contributor to more than 15 career books, serves on the board of The Career Management Alliance, appears nationally as a speaker, and is frequently quoted in articles about career-related technology. As one of the world’s first Reach-Certified Personal Branding Strategists and a Certified Job and Career Transition Coach, she has successfully helped hundreds of professionals market themselves for new careers. Kirsten earned a BA degree from Vassar College and a Certificate in Adult Career Planning and Development from New York University.