Tools

Calling Cards. This is a fun way to see where your personal calling lies, eventually providing clues to more satisfying work. A calling is defined as a combination of talents, passion, and values. The tool includes a deck of 52 cards, which reflect a variety of callings (i.e. Writing Things, Creating Dialogue, Seeing Possibilities, Repairing Things).

The cards were developed by Richard Leider, a long time career counselor turned popular author on career transitions (Repacking Your Bags is one of his books). Leider determined this set of callings by seeing the patterns of his work with clients over twenty years.

Get Unstuck and Get Going. This tool is well-designed to get your brain thinking in a new direction, even if you've been traveling the same grooved rut for years. Developed by Michael Bungay Stanier, a Rhodes scholar who was named Canadian Coach of the Year for 2005, this is a "flip" book-three sections that you can randomly turn to for inspiring stories, provocative quotes, and powerful models. The flips are the sizzle — fun to try out and see where your mind takes you. The steak comes in with the structures that Michael has put in place to apply new insights, including a nicely laid-out action planning worksheet.

Now, Discover Your Strengths. If you want to understand what you are naturally wired to do, this is the book for you. Written by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton, buying the book provides access to an on-line assessment of your top five "Themes of Talent". (Be sure to buy a new book. The assessment can only be used once so used books don't allow you access to the assessment.) After finding out my top five are Arranger, Achiever, Input, Focus, and Learner, I became keenly aware of when I was using a talent, and when I was climbing uphill and needed a partner (e.g., I'm terrible at seeing the consequences of my actions, several steps down the road and it's really easy for me to collect knowledge for later unknown uses). I've used this book extensively with coaching clients as well as teams to help uncover where to focus their energy.

360Reach Assessment. The assessment was developed by William Arruda,a heavy-weight in the personal branding arena and founder of the company, Reach. Arruda comes from the ad agency, Ogilvy, and has adapted the concepts of branding in the corporate arena to individuals.

For the price of a dinner out, you can get the real scoop on how others perceive you. Why is this important? Because perception is reality. Just as important is that it helps you understand the impact you have on others by way of what makes you distinct.

The assessment works like this: You choose as many people as you want to complete an online survey. The only catch is that you have just 30 days from the time you plunk down your money to the time you download survey responses. After that, all responses get wiped out. So be ready to move into action when you buy. The survey includes a list of attributes to choose from that most strongly describe you as well as questions that use metaphors to get at the essence of you.

For those of you in the corporate world, this is sort of like 360 feedback, but instead of the feedback being on your performance, it's feedback on your brand (or lack thereof....). Reach compiles the survey responses into a report for you. All responses are anonymous--you don't know who has responded to the survey or their answers. You fill out the same survey as a self-assessment.

I realized from doing the assessment that I've been pretty darn good about living my brand. My top three attributes (out of 60+ responses) were Intelligent, Creative, and Genuine. I also found out that something I do quite naturally--keep in close touch with email--is something that makes me distinctive.

To buy, click on this link.