What's the "so what?"

So what does that mean?

When I was in the corporate world, I led many high level visibility projects, including employee recognition events and company trade shows.

And for each of these events, I’d ask what was the “so what?”

To put it another way, if I were to tell my boss or someone who might be expected to attend this event about it, and if they answered “So what – why do I care or want to be there?” I wanted to be able to answer it.

So – what IS the so what?

It’s the why behind the event or project. It’s the reason the event or project is important to do and in some cases, the reason it is appropriate at that time.

It’s the reason why someone wants to be there – not has to because their boss is expecting them to attend. It’s the reason why one project takes priority over another project.

The “so what” answers the question “What’s in it for me?”

It’s...

When you think about where you are in business or life, which word would you choose to describe it - surviving or thriving?

Let me share with you why I chose these two words and why one is where you would want your mindset to be as the CEO of your life. This was inspired by our youngest kitty, Cap'n Jack.

When we found him in 2016, he was between three and five weeks old, in a parking lot flower bed, limping for coverage under a large bush. Cap'n Jack would walk a couple of steps, then gingerly move his right back paw.

After some cajoling and help from a few other animal lovers, we got him and could see his right back paw was twice the size as the others and blue. We took him immediately to our vet who determined immediate surgery to amputate the wounded leg was necessary to save him.

Over the course of a few days, Cap'n Jack amazed me. The vet said within minutes of waking from surgery, he was up on all paws and moving. He seemed relieved and happy. Since then, he’s...

Let's set the stage a bit:  

It’s the start of the week, and you have a list a mile long full of tasks that need to be done.

You take a sip of your coffee (or in my case, tea) and wonder how you are going to get it all done.

Perhaps you start checking email, only to realize you need to make a phone call before you head to your first meeting – either virtual or in person.

After finishing the call, you realize you need to update a few notes to be ready for the meeting, but you still have to get this one email sent before you leave, so you switch gears again and finish the email.

Then with only a few minutes to spare, you scribble some thoughts on a sheet of paper and race to your meeting.

As the morning progresses and you are in another meeting, you realize there are some emails you want to check, so you decide that you can listen to the meeting and respond to a few emails, too.

Does this sound at all like something you’ve experienced?

If so, you probably...

You know your resume is a paper introduction to a potential employer.

You know its purpose is to enable you to stand out from the crowd of contenders and secure an interview.

So how can you improve the likelihood that YOUR resume is screened through?

You make it easy for the interviewer to get to know you by including a resume profile.

Ideally, the resume profile is created after you have clearly explained your work experience. It’s the equivalent of an abstract to a research paper or a book summary on the back or inside of the jacket.

The resume profile has three things:

• A summary statement brings all of your work experience together into a cohesive picture;
• Six to ten bullets that identify your overarching themes; and,
• Personality assessment results, if you have them.

Let’s break these down a little more.

The summary statement

The summary statement is a way to highlight your strongest skills and work experience, so that the hiring manager can get an...

Getting Started

Whether you are entering the workforce or changing jobs, there is one document that is your vehicle to being seen and getting your foot in the door for the interview, and that’s the resume.

There are so many styles and ways to display your skills, experience and extra activities, but if they are hard for the reader to digest or really understand what you did, then the resume is not working to your advantage.

So what can you do?

1) Make it easy to read

Although this may seem obvious, take some time to really look at how the information is laid out on the paper.
• Is the selected font a reasonable reading size and style?
• Is there enough white space to break up the text?
• Are there one or two words that could replace a phrase and still communicate clearly what you accomplished?

The easier the font, the use of white space to break up the text and streamlining words all enable your resume to be easier to read.

2) What's the “so what”?

...