Integrity Matters Everywhere
By Tiffany Monhollon | June 30, 2009
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At Work
One thing I know right now about the world of work is this: it’s stressful.
No matter who you are or what you’re doing, I’m sure you can relate. There are certainly signs of hope in the economy, but reality is, not one of us is standing on completely solid ground.
And it’s hard in the face of uncertainty, change, and more uncertainty to focus anyway and keep pressing on, every day. Day in, day out.
But more and more, integrity at work boils down to just that. To keep pressing on. In the midst of everything. Anything.
Because change is nothing new.
Uncertainty is a promise we accept at the dawn of every day. It’s a bargain we strike each minute. No one ever said that was anything, fair or unfair.
It just is.
In a Social World
Sometimes, I think about this world I’m a part of. Not the great, blue planet we inhabit, though I think about that too, but this world. This one, right here, where I’m running like so many threads through so many others, a big, important tapestry of energy, ideas, passion. This vibrant, insightful community of thinkers and doers and learners and mentors and peers. Sometimes, because it’s easier to explain it this way, I call this “social media.”
Whatever we call it, I love this place, because of what it teaches me about things that are important to me. Work. Life. Leadership. Innovation. Collaboration. Integrity. Creativity. Dreams.
I love the ability to communicate and connect with every reader, Twitter friend, and connection I have in real life. I love how the lines of my thoughts and relationships blur against those of others. I love the challenge of new ideas, and the race to understand them, share them, build on them, put them into action and set them out into the world, a working, living thing.
I think about integrity and what that means in this space, too. About things like how important it is to be the true version of yourself everywhere, whether Google reads it or not.
Because integrity is one small, solid little word. But unpacking it is hard. Sure, what you do when no one’s looking is really important. But what you do when people are looking matters, too.
In an Evolving Reality
Here is something else I know about work right now. For me, at least, and maybe for you, the lines are blurring. Like it or not, work is no longer one, solid, concrete concept across the board. That space between work and life? Between personal and professional? Between my time and theirs? Between who I am and what I do?
It’s changing.
The most effective professionals have already accepted this as fact and are figuring out how to lead boldly into this new reality, where a business contact may also see the photos from your weekend (even if all you did was try out a new recipe).
Which is why integrity, today, matters everywhere, more than ever before.
In Every Moment, Every Day
This is not as daunting as it may seem.
Really, it’s a gift, if you choose to see it that way, of focus.
What should you post, omit, disclose? What should you say? What should you do?
Your integrity is there, holding up its shining answer.
The question is, what will you do with that answer? Wherever you are, and no matter who isn’t, or is, looking?
What’s your take? Does integrity matter? Should your professional “persona” be consistent with your personal self? Or do you draw a clear line between “work” and “life”? Come chat in the comments section or bring the conversation to Twitter.
Topics: Personal PR, Social Media, Twitter, Uncategorized, Work, Work Life Balance | 4 Comments »
Where’s the Line? Professional Gets Personal for Women
By Tiffany Monhollon | June 4, 2009
In the world of personal branding, the emphasis on branding your name is understandably strong. One of the first steps to branding yourself online is always to snag your name’s URL – or the closest substitute you can find. To market yourself, your brand name, online, your best bet is to write, and comment, under your name as often and as broadly as possible. Online identity calculators can determine how big your brand is, how effectively your name is representing you across a multitude of popular pages.
Name, name, name, of course, is synonymous with “brand” in the personal branding lexicon, so it makes great sense.
Until, of course, you decide to go do something crazy like, say – change your name.
When I started blogging and stumbled into the world of personal branding, I never dreamed all of this would make much difference to me whatsoever, much less impact my real life decision of whether or not to keep my maiden name when I got married nearly a year later. Then, I was struggling with whether or not just to blog under my full name.
But here I am, two years into this, looking back at the strange journey that’s led me to a place where I function under a somewhat lopsided identity, fully functioning under my maiden name for work and online and under my married name “at home” – which really means at church and on holiday cards, I guess, when I really think about it.
It may sound odd, but really, I can’t tell you I’d do anything differently.
It took a long, hard time getting used Monhollon, as a name. I’d finally come around to appreciating its uniqueness, as a writer, and there I was, contemplating leaving it behind.
And let me tell you. I thought about it. We talked about it. Hashed and rehashed it. The great debate. Should I change my name? Hyphenate? Leave it the same? Oh, so many thoughts and worries and unknowns. Concerned looks from confused friends. Awkward introductions.
When I think about it now, it’s when I’m counting syllables on my fingers on the drive home from work. No hyphenated guest expert on NPR has yet to tie my new nine syllables, and I think I’m coming to a place where I can embrace that, too.
That’s the thing about it, I guess. A question that burned so strong in my mind, now seems so simple.
When it comes down to it, your name is your name. However much of it you want to use or keep or change. There’s nothing to fear in embracing it. Now, or ever.
I had to realize that having someone worth thinking about changing my name over also meant being lucky enough to have someone who already accepted all of me.
First name, last name, and whatever I chose to do with the rest.
Your Turn
What do you think about women, personal branding, and the name debate? Single gals, what do you think about the name change tradition in our culture? Guys, could you handle it if your wife didn’t change her name to yours? Anybody know examples of where this has gone well, or horribly wrong?
Men and women, please chime in and share your thoughts in the comments section! I’ll be waiting to talk it out.
This post was originally published in Personal Branding Magazine. You can snag a free sample of the latest edition here.
Topics: Blogging, Career Advancement, Life, Personal Branding, Personal PR, Transparency, Women, Work | 24 Comments »
The Trouble With Paying Dues
By Tiffany Monhollon | May 28, 2009
“It’s going to be at least a year, isn’t it?” His eyes are full of impatience, frustration, and maybe even a dose of fear. After all, it was just a year ago that he was spending every waking moment of our first few months as a married couple penciling, inking, lettering, printing, making the perfect pitch.
“Yeah. So what?” I say, realizing, in the back of my mind how harsh that probably sounds, since we’re only talking about his childhood dream here.
But I have my game face on with him, now. Reality is, we are on the same page with this struggle. He is an incredibly talented artist. Opportunities are aligning already for him. I’m impressed with not just his efforts but the skill and insight and success he’s already achieved just a few years out of college.
Being married to a creative person when you work, live, and dream in that world yourself is not without its challenges. Honestly, it’s hard enough dealing with my own crazy dreams and expectations sometimes. Knowing he deals with the same types of hopes and aspirations for himself can be overwhelming. All the energy, ideas, and drive pouring through our house means even on our days and hours off work, we’re still on duty. Building, dreaming, making.
It’s no wonder our dog has developed a chewing problem. Like right now. He’s chewing up his new bed because I’m sitting here, writing this post. [Oh, wait. Update. He's now destroyed a wooden meat tenderizer. Great.]
Luckily, Rob and I balance well. Whether it’s pure coincidence, sheer effort, or pure adoration, his creative good days tend to balance my not-so-great ones, and vice versa. And it helps to have your best friend get exactly where you’re coming from. Even if you have a hard time grasping it yourself sometimes.
But regardless, it’s still there, haunting us both and every day of our creative lives. The love affair our culture has for the youthful success story. Each day that passes adds to a year more of our lives, of our time, spent waiting. Watching. Working.
What are we waiting for?
Topics: Career Advancement, Career Development, Generations, Learning, Success, Work | 17 Comments »
What the Personal Branding Debate Can Teach Us about PR, Social Media & Ourselves
By Tiffany Monhollon | May 8, 2009
Every once in a while, I see some form of this debate roll around the social media sphere. It’s an interesting debate, carried through scholarly literature to the blogosphere to conversations I come across on Twitter.
The other night, I came across a group of my Twitter peers debating the relevance and authenticity of personal branding, particularly within the social media landscape. Is it just shameless self-promotion? What happens when you don’t put yourself out there? No one else will get publicity for you. Or will they? Can’t it be useful for promoting more than just you? How far is too far when it comes to self-promotion? What’s the point of it all, anyway?
The critique of the personal branding model is not new. I’ve questioned it myself hundreds of times. After all, if branding is a marketing function, and the goal of marketing is sales, then what does that say about applying the process to you as a person, employee, or expert? It seems to imply that the ultimate goal is sales – whether through acquiring employment, building a business, or selling your consulting services.
And that seemingly self-centered emphasis means that the concept of personal branding could have a bit of a problem. Especially in what appears to be an increasingly social, community-oriented media landscape. To many, it seems just a bit too narcissistic.
Topics: Authenticity, Business, Personal Branding, Personal PR, Social Media | 12 Comments »
What Defines You
By Tiffany Monhollon | April 7, 2009
A lot of things in life can define us. How we spend our time, the things we do for a living, who we surround ourselves with, our realized and unrealized dreams
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about exactly what it is that defines things. Me, for example. I think a lot about what it is that defines me.
Is it what I do? The words I speak? The look on my face? The things I didn’t say?
Not who am I — but who am I to you?
—
Today, a friend of mine is launching a book. A book about personal branding.
I’ll tell you right now that I haven’t read the book. So if you’re looking for a review, try here instead. But I promised Dan that I’d be writing a post about his launch, so what I can tell you is that Dan knows a thing or two about how persistence, dedication, and pluck can help you create a solid personal image. And I can tell you first-hand that Dan’s pretty much proven over the last few years that, at the very least, he practices what he preaches. And he preaches about personal branding. So, you do the math.
But here’s what’s interesting about Dan, other than his extreme dedication and relentless effort: I’m not the only one who will tell you the exact same story about his hard work and expertise. Because everything Dan does is focused on defining exactly what he wants to be.
—
Sometimes, what we don’t do defines us.
I think about this a lot. About the projects I didn’t pursue. About the class I didn’t take. About the relationships I let fade away.
I’ve always been a person who has a hard time saying no. Letting go is not one of my strong suits.
But it never ceases to amaze me how important saying no and letting go can be, in the end.
The guy I didn’t marry. The job I didn’t take.
—
What you choose not to do creates the space that remains.
What will you build, in those places?
Topics: Blogging, Life, Personal Branding, Personal Development, Work | 9 Comments »
Say it Anyway
By Tiffany Monhollon | March 31, 2009
Sometimes, nothing’s what you want to say.
I’m sitting here now, listening to hail tap onto concrete outside, to thunder passing into the distance, as the rain fades, wondering why that worries me.
Growing up, I used to write. Was it a passion or an obsession? I don’t remember.
I do remember that I had no audience. But I wrote to one anyway.
What did I say?
—
I had an Emily Dickinson phase. Instead of punctuation, dashes. Now I punctuate obsessively. Edit, revise, erase. When did that happen?
I remember that the dashes came first, the Emily Dickinson later. I was relieved that someone else had written that way before me, then upset that I didn’t think of it first. How unoriginal.
—
Words. I wrote words. I tested their sounds, filled sentences full of airy assonance, tacked consonants into tight parades across my screen. Snap. It was paper then. Do I remember?
Sometimes, I still put pen to paper. Test it. Wait to see what it could be.
Ideas now are my currency. And I wonder why I never stop to wonder when they became my master. When ideas became a thing to capture, instead of something that could capture me.
Is it wisdom when we stop looking at words for what they are and start molding them into what we want them to be? Or something less impressive?
—
Once, my greatest fear was that my words were written where they’d stay: tucked away in notebooks, hidden away, forgotten.
Now it’s that I worry too much about what I say. That I’ll lose the courage to say it anyway.
Topics: Authenticity, Blogging, Learning, Writing | 13 Comments »
It’s Never Too Late (Or, It’s Always Too Late, So Stop Worrying About it Already)
By Tiffany Monhollon | March 18, 2009
Here’s the thing: That guy over there already wrote the post you were thinking about. Someone applied for that job, registered that domain, reached out to that influencer, entered that contest, landed that client, invented that product, wrote that book.
Revelation
I have just realized that, for some reason, I am always having the same revelations.
About consistency. About discipline. About pushing past obstacles.
For a long time, that bothered me.
But finally, I am realizing that maybe, that’s because I keep letting the same thing stop me.
Quantitatively, I can tell this is true. For example, there are 90 unfinished posts in my drafts folder, deemed not good enough to publish. Qualitatively, I can tell it’s true from the way I feel when I sit down to blog. Fear, mostly, with a good dose of doubt. Even though I know that doesn’t make sense, objectively, since I write as a professional, for a living, and plenty of people read this blog. It also happens to be the truth.
Confession
My husband comes in to check on me, just like he has been doing every night the past few weeks. To see if I’ve finally posted. Or at least written something. This time, I tell him I’m doing okay. And finally, it’s the truth.
He says, “I’m excited about this one,” because I brainstormed the title for this post with him at lunch today. I say, well, I’m not sure it’s going to be as great as you are thinking. And he says, “Well, isn’t that the point of this post?” And then he gives me a kiss that says to me, “They won’t all be the best, but who cares. I’m still looking forward to it.”
He walks away, and I think about that.
Then, from the kitchen, he says, “One weird thing was that after lunch today, I was on StumbleUpon, and one of your posts came up randomly. The Lost one.”
And I don’t know why, but something about that was exactly what I needed in this moment to finally push past the dip.
People are reading. You are listening. Someone is sharing what I have to say.
Movement
So, this may not be the most eloquent thing I’ve ever written. It might not be the most strategic. But it’s something I need to tell myself, and maybe something you need to hear.
It’s never too late.
To write that post, to launch that site, to land that client, to develop that idea, to take that risk, to give that pitch, to write that book.
Or, maybe it’s always too late.
The trick is to stop worrying about that part and move anyway.
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Topics: Authenticity, Blogging, Business, Communicating, Motivation, Success, Work | 26 Comments »
