A World Beyond Labels.

I recently read an insightful piece by the Qld and NT Branch of the Australian Institute of Management that focussed on people living with disabilities. There is a necessity to tap into the array of skills and experiences people who live with a disability or mental illness can bring to current and future business opportunities.

Numbered are the days of building relationships with people living with disabilities or mental illness based on compassion. The future is now focussing on tapping into a variety of unique and valuable skills that these cohorts are able to bring to areas such as new technologies and a rapidly ageing population. More on this important topic here.

Australia's CEO Challenge

One of the most enriching parts of my career is having the pleasure of working with people who inspire others to make a difference. Trevor-Roberts’ Executive Director – Client Development Deborah Wilson plays a key role in Australia’s CEO Challenge to help raise awareness through workplaces to end domestic violence in our society.

This year, Deborah is working with business owner of Ultimate Body Transformations David Richter. Dave is passionate about making a positive difference in the world and has teamed up with Australia’s CEO Challenge and Rowena McEvoy to help raise awareness for the issue of domestic violence in Australia.

David is hosting a breakfast with Rowena McEvoy as the key speaker. Australia’s CEO Challenge Executive Director Wendy Reid will also talk about ending domestic violence.

Don’t miss your chance to join the audience of what promises to be a great morning. More details and booking information here.

Supporting those affected by Government redundancies

The word redundancy increasingly resonates with Australians as it continues to feature prominently in the media cycle. You may be experiencing a redundancy personally or, more than likely, know of somebody who is.

Career transition can be a challenging time. Institutions such as the Queensland State Government provide Transition Support Services through their Enhanced Employee Assistance Scheme and the federal government has provided a small amount of funding for job expos.

Trevor-Roberts can also help you, your colleagues, friends and family members by providing career transition support. This may involve identifying their career direction, developing a targeted job search strategy, writing an effective resume or enhancing interview skills.

We have created a Government Redundancies Resource Pod to assist individuals during this challenging time.

Please share this information with anybody you think will benefit from additional support as they experience or are involved at any level with career transition. Feel free to Contact us anytime with questions about how we can support you and others.

Why your brand is as important as a company's brand

First, apologies to all my loyal readers for being quiet for the last few months. If you've been on our website, you'll see that we launched our new brand about two weeks ago. While very time consuming, it was incredibly rewarding to invest the time to analyse what we stand for how we want to position ourselves in the market. Have a look at www.trevor-roberts.com.au.

This process, of course, made me think about our own brand. It has been ten years since we have made conscious decisions about Trevor-Roberts' brand or made any changes. In fact in our 18 year history we have never undergone a formal branding process!

Every company, and every person needs a periodic reassessment of their brand and position in the market. When is the last time you've done this?

Here are a few questions to guide your thinking:

1. Where do you want to be in 5 years?
2. How do you want people to describe you in 5 years?
3. What visual cues do you need to change to achieve this? For example, online profiles such as LinkedIn, resume, associations you belong to
4. How do you need to behave differently?

I read an article last week that one of the top three ways to waste a company's marketing budget is to spend it on pure branding. The argument is that a brand is built by every small interaction with your product or service.

The same applies to us. Your personal brand is the sum total of every interaction you have with people. Make sure they are good!