This Much We Know? You Will Know Me From This Blog

I have learned many things from writing the TMWK blog for a year, with more than 260 posts. Here are 10 revelations, so far. I want to separate out a key piece. Because the blog is me working out loud, sharing my knowledge, perspective, beliefs and opinions, it is the CLEAREST, most precise way you can know me (well, unless you KNOW me IRL). I say This Much We Know. I mean, this is who I am, how I move out into the world. If you read this blog, you know me, you know my motivations, my focus, my gift and … Continue reading This Much We Know? You Will Know Me From This Blog

The Future Of Work Is Not ‘Jobless’ – It Is ‘Jobfull’

Yesterday’s post about how networks support getting work done was reformatted from a post I did inside a walled garden ESN last year. It stirred up a few reflections from my network colleagues, and inspired today’s post. As mundane work is increasingly outsourced and automated, it does NOT mean the future of work is ‘jobless’ – au contraire, it is ‘jobfull’. Most knowledge workers will have (to have) multiple concurrent gigs. We will have to specialise further as the generic skills get automated and outsourced. Anyone sitting still and not upskilling iteratively and constantly will be lucky to survive. In … Continue reading The Future Of Work Is Not ‘Jobless’ – It Is ‘Jobfull’

Look Up! The Ceiling Is An Everywhere Metaphor For Insight.

Yesterday, I wrote about the value of staring at the ceiling. Today, a semi-cogent example of how others are doing it and prospering by it and bringing us with them. Jay Baer asked recently, did we just invent a new form of blogging? He was referring to the trend for SlideShare presentations of images and short form sentences / questions / reflections. No. But this is great #foodforthought. Did We Just Invent A New Form of Blogging? http://t.co/nhLnSRYDzX via @jaybaer — Jonathan Anthony (@ThisMuchWeKnow) February 25, 2014   I had an example of this new type of content on my … Continue reading Look Up! The Ceiling Is An Everywhere Metaphor For Insight.

Staring At The Ceiling Gets Me All Quantum Up On That Thing.

I am lying on my bed, looking up at my ceiling, listening to The Smiths. It is 1985, maybe. Meat is Murder is on repeat on the turntable, and hours go by. My ceiling has polystyrene tiles with random zigs and zags, lines at obtuse angles, a meaningless mélange of shapes. Yet within them, staring deeply for hours at a time, I can see many strange things: animals, narratives, emotions, thoughts scattered and now ordering. I am making sense of myself. It is 1998, I am living in Japan, and still staring at the cracked ceiling, lying on tatami. My … Continue reading Staring At The Ceiling Gets Me All Quantum Up On That Thing.

Using My Online Personal Brand To Discuss Personal Branding

I was recently asked to share some thoughts with young communicators in Vancouver on kick starting your career. The event is today. Upon gathering my notes / ideas together, a core one of which is working out loud, I realised that I might have already articulated my thoughts. In other words, if I work out loud, I probably have the content online, in the open, already. So, I perused just 4-5 weeks of tweets and voila! there it all was, in plain sight. This is called walking the talk. Phew. An hour in Storify later and I had a flow … Continue reading Using My Online Personal Brand To Discuss Personal Branding

#Unsquirrel 8: Linguistic Semiotician

I once attending film school – or video and TV production school to be precise. I met many people just like me – searching for a creative breakthrough. I was trying to determine how easy access video production and editing tools (aka Apple products)  could kick start a career change. Zapher Iqbal was probably trying to do something similar, but he had a way with him that was both intoxicating and bewildering at the same time. All you need to know about him is contained on his business card: Linguistic Semiotician “Media Specialist”   Oh, and: Scriptwriter Actor Director/Producer Around … Continue reading #Unsquirrel 8: Linguistic Semiotician

TMWK Best Of 2013 1: Corporate Disorganizer

This is the most viewed post of 2013: I Have Changed My Job Title To…Corporate Disorganizer.. It is an intriguing idea, one that has been woven through many posts on change management, organizational development, personal branding, career planning, and discussion on the future of work. I assume its popularity is due to its reference in many of these posts. Here’s to disorganizing some more in 2014! ←This Much We Know.→ Continue reading TMWK Best Of 2013 1: Corporate Disorganizer

Want To Know About Personal Branding? Step Right This Way…

I closed out 2013 with a series of posts on personal branding and the BrandBoard process we excel at here at TMWK. To welcome the new year, here is a quick review of the content. It’s Me > You Every Time It starts with you. How you define yourself is the most important thing – more important than how other people define you. You own your brand. More >> Do You Have A Head-Heart-Hand Brand? We cannot be all things to all people. Don’t try it. Focus on where you make the difference. We find that most people have a … Continue reading Want To Know About Personal Branding? Step Right This Way…

Dissecting Your Personal Brand: Synthesizing Your AwesomeSauce

This is where the hard work begins, and the pay-off too. You have a ton of data, and several interesting ideas to play with. Perhaps your brand has a theme to it. You have a beautiful BrandBoard to share! Now what? Well, now we synthesize. This means distilling down all the brand content into 2-3 core ideas around which you can build a story. Although you brand might skew in a particular direction – mine is a heavily head brand – it does not mean you have no skills in the other Head-Heart-Hand elements. When you meet people, generally you … Continue reading Dissecting Your Personal Brand: Synthesizing Your AwesomeSauce

Dissecting Your Personal Brand: 180 Degree Peer Review

I have received a 360 degree peer review – a very interesting process of understand the good, bad and ugly about myself. Illuminating. Personal branding is not 360 feedback. It is 180 degree feedback – it looks forward into the marketplace; it does not (generally) look behind the curtains at the malignancy and maleficence within us all. Save that for the psychologist’s couch, please. No, we want input from your cohort about how great you are, to drive your brand to new heights and to either agree or challenge your own thinking about how you show up. Seeing Eye To Eye. Generally, I … Continue reading Dissecting Your Personal Brand: 180 Degree Peer Review

Dissecting Your Personal Brand: Personality Tests

At TMWK, we do not pretend to be psychologists. We are marketeers! We want to develop a brand with you in the most powerful and meaningful way. We do not want to tell you who you are – that’s your job. We provide some inputs, and the stimulation. So, if you have “personality tests” from other sources, we can add those in – we like data, the more the merrier, because in much data we see patterns, themes emerge, and from that – your brand essence. So, I have nothing particular to add about these tests other than – it’s … Continue reading Dissecting Your Personal Brand: Personality Tests