Sparking - Moving you forward

Do you want to show up more creatively for your clients and your colleagues, your family, and your friends?

Do you want to default to thinking about opportunity versus focusing just on problems?

Discovering Hope is full of proactive steps you can take right now, to achieve a more positive mindset or to help maintain the positivity you already have

Getting Positive reveals that more optimism is close at hand

Buy Books by Stuart Parkin at Amazon
email facebook twitter linkedin youtube

AccountPlanning

On Getting Your Ideal Next Job

Some thoughts resonate more than others from conversations with account planners/creative strategists.
Don’t wait for others to bring you a job – Know what you want from your next job and why you want or need it, learning/growth opportunity to the fore of your calculus.
Don’t take any job or a job for the wrong reasons
– You can never outrun the frying pan! If things don’t work out where you are, stop, reflect, conceive a plan and then have a concrete reasoning for the next job you accept.
Know why you will be a success in the new job
– If you don’t know with some confidence why you should better still will succeed, don’t pursue the job.
Know why you could fail in the new job
– Perhaps the culture gives you pause for thought or your potential new boss? Key is to have mandatory things aspects of the job you’re considering , such as an employer that values the role of strategy! Or perhaps a client known for buying great work, or a place with high quality creative output. Know what’s key for you and where the trade-offs are.
Know who can help make you a success as well as who could prevent it
– Meet those people the interviewing agency/consultancy want you to meet   ; Also, ask to meet anyone else you feel that our key to your success and know having met them you are making a truly informed decision.
Know that you never have enough information about your future job
– The clients you will be working with, the personalities of all key stakeholders, the hidden skeletons relating to the relationship with the client. You can never ask enough questions, so ask away. And even when you ask all the questions, you will never have perfect information as things constantly change, but you should still ask away!
Accept change as an inevitable factor and that it is your choice to accept and embrace it or to try and obstruct it. If the latter approach, ensure your stance is on the side of current if not future revenue.

2018 VCU Parkin ‘Empathy’ Award Winner

The ability to understand someone else’s perspective doesn’t necessarily make you the smartest or the nicest person in the room (although empathetic souls are usually high on both counts) but empathy is an increasingly important skill to have particularly for a strategic planner, but actually for anyone!
A huge congratulations to Chorong Kim, this years VCU winner of the Parkin ‘Empathy Award,’ which goes to the most empathetic MSc Branding graduate. The award is judged by the students on the course as well as the strategists that teach the course; (Not the school; Not SPARKIN)
It was also a great pleasure to have lunch with Chorong and two other graduates, who always inspire me.

#VCUParkinPrizeWinner #Empathy #LifeSkills #EmotionalIntelligence #UberTeamPlayer #ParticipantsDecide #DerekParkinAward #Winner #Passionate #CareerOptimisation #Advertising #SparkinCoaching #Careers #KnowYourAudience #ConnectWithPeople #BetterLife #SparkinSearch #CreativeStrategy #AccountPlanning #StrategicRelationships #CoreSkills #Diversity #Inclusive

d