I am a life-long  Z-lister, no doubts about it.  But today I found myself on a much different Z-list: The Industry Standard’s Top 25 B-to-Z List Blogs:

These are the blogs you won’t see on the Techmeme Leaderboard, Technorati’s Top 100 blogs, or the CruchBase BloggerBoard … at least not yet. They include VCs, entrepreneurs, coders, experts, and observers, and they bring a delicious mix of insight, experience, and passion to their blogs. While they may not have the right amount of link love, they need to be on your radar screens.

I’m really-really humbled.  Last time I felt like this was when the Economist’s Business Intelligence Unit included me in their Thought Leadership list. Frankly, I had no idea what I was doing in such esteemed company, and I feel the same way now.

Writing “good” blog content is a tricky task.  My favorite posts, which I consider more thoughtful, analytical often get quoted, but generally don’t attract a lot of readers.  Then I have some of the quickies, like the Gmail import guide which become all time hits - at least in terms of traffic.  I also have ‘accidental’ traffic, like two days ago the tragic earthquake in China sent me over 10k readers - unfortunately, as they really did not find what they came for.  (more on this later).

Anyway, the part I really enjoy are the longer analytical pieces - which I don’t often have the time to afford.  But back to The Industry Standard list: thanks, guys, again, I am very-very humbled, and appreciate it.  And as a bonus, I am especially pleased to be featured together with fellow Enterprise Irregular Vinnie Mirchandani.

Wow, again… all I can say, I’ll try to keep up with the The Standard.

Tags: Blogging, blogs, economist, Industry Standard, Top 25, z-list

…when whatever you’re discussing the first thought that comes to your mind is “I’ve already blogged about this” and want to quote yourself - in an offline, verbal discussion.

Tags: Blogging, blogs

I haven’t updated my resume for at least 3-4 years now. (There must be some old versions floating around, as just a few days ago a recruiter solicited me for a SAP Implementation Project - she must be especially dumb, not noticing the decade-old timestamp on my SAP qualifications.) But back to resumes: I don’t need one, and neither do you.

Even in the “old days” of writing resumes any recruiter would confirm that the single best way of landing a job was through your personal network. Top Executives, genius engineers, star salesmen, well-published academics don’t ever need to look for a job: they get invited. It’s always better than knocking on the door. Or many doors.

But now Seth Godin sets the same rules even for applicants to his internship:

Having a resume begs for you to go into that big machine that looks for relevant keywords, and begs for you to get a job as a cog in a giant machine. Just more fodder for the corporate behemoth. That might be fine for average folks looking for an average job, but is that what you deserve?

If you don’t have a resume, what do you have?

How about three extraordinary letters of recommendation from people the employer knows or respects?
Or a sophisticated project they can see or touch?
Or a reputation that precedes you?
Or a blog that is so compelling and insightful that they have no choice but to follow up?

We’ve looked at the two extremes: the top 5% whose personal reputation and network carries them on, and those who can’t really have a meaningful resume, since - unlike Ben - they are barely starting their careers. But in between is the rest of us, average Johns ad Janes, who probably have some achievements, are remarkable in one way or another … if only the world knew about it! Well, that’s the point! Most of us don’t have an extensive enough personal network, or they may be geographically dispersed, or they may not be in the right position… so how to get the word out?

Blogging changes it all. If you’ve been blogging for years, you certainly did not do it with a particular job in mind; your blog is likely to be a true reflection of who you really are, what you are an expert in, your communication skills, your priorities … YOU as a whole person, not as a candidate for a specific job - the brand called You. That’s certainly better than a resume, which is likely tailored for a particular job, and let’s face it, often “cosmetically enhanced” - no wonder it ends in the waste-basket.

You don’t have a blog? Why? Don’t you know the best time to market yourself is when you don’t need it?

Tom Peters has been saying for years:

“Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You“

My friend and fellow Enterprise Irregular Roth Boothby argues:

“…hiring a blogger is a lower risk proposition because you have more information and a better idea of how they are going to perform.”

He should know - he got hired twice, based on his blog. By the way, I really envy Rod’s charting skills:

It’s never been easier to build that Brand Called You: if you’re still not doing it, what are you waiting for? Start your blog today!

(hat tip: BL Ochman)

Tags: Blogging, blogs, brand called you, brand you, branding, brands, career, career development, career management, innovation creators, personal brand, resume, rod boothby, seth godin, tom peters, tompeters

Traditional web sites are so 20th Century - Blogs and Wikis bring them to life, and they are easier to set up. Perhaps not surprisingly, a Web 2.0-focused VC, Union Square Ventures was one of the first to replace their entire Web site with a blog - read the rationale of the switch. Corporate web sites soon followed suit, just look at Architel and Return Path as examples. Now, for some shameless self-promotion, my earlier tips on the subject: Blogs To Replace Personal Web sites.

In Wikis are the Instant Intranet I also talked about how companies can set up a living-breathing Intranet, one that people can actually use, not just passively read by deploying a wiki: ” in the large corporate environment a wiki can be a lively collaborative addition to the Intranet (see the wiki effect by Socialtext CEO Ross Mayfield), but for smaller, nimble, less hierarchical business a wiki is The Intranet.” (note: I am not just speculating on this: been there, done that in my prior life).

Now Sydney-based Customware raised the bar:

The entire web site (not only the Intranet, but the customer-facing web) is built on a wiki - Confluence by Atlassian. (hat tip: Mike Cannon-Brookes)

Update (9/28): The Atlassian Blog points to several other wiki-powered sites that look-and-feel like traditional websites.

Update (9/22): Just as soon as I posted this article, I saw this pic on Rod Boothby’s blog:

Itensil, short for “Information Utensils” builds “a self-service technology that we’re calling Team Wikiflow that captures collective intelligence and delivers it as reusable team processes.”

I have to admit I haven’t heard of Itensil - it will be exciting to meet them, as well as Atlassian, Socialtext, Zoho, ConnectBeam, EchoSign and many other companies in the collaboration space at the Office 2.0 Conference.

Update (4/12/07): Here’s a list of corporate websites powered by CustomerVision’s BizWiki.

­

Tags: atlassian, blogs, cms, confluence, ConnectBeam, content+management, CustomerVision, EchoSign, instant+intranet, intranet, itensil, Office20con, socialtext, web+design, websites, wiki, wikis, zoho