By Caroline Ceniza-Levine For six weeks, I studied writing of a different kind – Karen Bergreen’s beginner comedy class at the Manhattan Comedy School. I always tell my job-seeking clients and column readers to be well-rounded and unique and to keep learning and stretching. So learning about things seemingly unrelated to my own day job is part of taking my own advice. Luckily, comedy is relevant to job search technique: Be specific. The funniest comedians give very specific details. The same can be said about compelling job candidates: the best candidates are specific in … [Read more...]
Business planning, delegating and the meaning of “independence”
July 8, 2011 By 1 Comment
Many of my clients just ended their fiscal year. Which means they are: a) trying to grab a little vacation time; b) knee-deep in planning for fiscal 2012; or most likely, c) doing both. A coaching client of mine reminded me yesterday of the real gift of planning time – a chance to do things differently/better over the upcoming year. She’s challenged herself to do that in a big way, so that she can better “scale up” her own time and resources. She is a leader of a large, diverse organization with huge revenue goals. She clearly knows that she cannot do it all. And she is deeply … [Read more...]
The Value of FOCUS in a Distracted Business World
June 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
We are all so distracted these days, in big ways and small. By worries about our businesses, our jobs and our families. By a gazillion emails in our inbox, endless meetings, and never-ending to-do lists that never seem to get completely to-done. The fear that we will miss something important drives us to keep paying attention to everything we can, 24/7. Fear is, in financial terms, a never-ending SPEND of time, attention and resources. It actually slows us down, increases our mistakes and undercuts our creativity. While a little anxiety is a healthy motivator in the short term, … [Read more...]
Blue Jean Manifesto #12 on Amazon Bestseller list for Work Life Balance in Business
April 15, 2011 By
The BJM hit a major milestone today – the book is #12 of all books on Amazon in the category of Work Life Balance. Thanks SO much to all the readers and early supporters who are putting the book on the map! This ranking is a testimony to one of the core messages of the BJM…one of the new secrets of success that I call “Work Life Balance 2.0”. In the Creative Economy, your brain is your most critical asset… and yet the one most neglected by most people. By neglected I mean over-stressed, over-worked and kept constantly “on”, 24/7. It is literally impossible to sustain … [Read more...]
The Blue Jean Manifesto now available on Amazon Kindle!!
April 1, 2011 By
Whether you are currently in or out of a job …. and before you buy any of the wonderful how-to books out there on social media, personal branding, career management, job hunting, and/or launching your own business…you need The Blue Jean Manifesto. The Blue Jean Manifesto is your introduction to a radically different, new world of work. It takes you through the critical, internal shift you must make FIRST, in order to find work and manage your career in today’s economy. A mindset change that faces reality head-on and yet brings into view the bright, new future possible, for … [Read more...]
On the Web, Casual Friday Every Day
March 24, 2011 By
Check out New York Times reporter Austin Considine’s great article On the Web, Every Day is Casual Friday. In this piece, Considine poses a powerful question: is Mark Zuckerberg’s standard dress (blue jeans, t-shirt & hoodie) simply the stereotype of IT- slacker-dudes-who-made-good? Or, in the Creative Economy, is there a deeper relationship between more-than-casual dress (blue jeans, plus) and business success (confidence and capital)? http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/fashion/20Noticed.html?_r=1&sq=on the web everyday is casual … [Read more...]
The Creative Economy
March 24, 2011 By
Several terms have been used to describe the post-Industrial age – this era that so many of us are slogging our way through right now, trying to figure out how to make a good living and live a good life when so many of the old rules we navigated by are changing rapidly. You may have heard it referred to as the Information Economy, or the Knowledge Economy, or the Service Economy, or the Innovation Economy, or any variation thereof. I think the term that best describes the realities AND the possibilities of this new age is the Creative Economy. As defined by the UNCTAD, the Creative … [Read more...]
Blue Jean Manifesto Dry Run on Kindle – So Cool!
February 11, 2011 By
As my mom likes to say when she’s happy, I am sooo excited! We just uploaded a sample of the Blue Jean Manifesto into Kindle. Here’s a picture of the cover of the book, downloaded onto the Kindle reader of my graphic design guru, Deanne Roberto . This technology is incredible! And I am learning it requires a rethinking of how to write for digital vs. print media. For example, we found out that the Table of Contents is WAY too long and complex. A good reminder to return again to one of my personal and professional mantras – find the simplicity in the complexity. Back to the … [Read more...]
