An evening with Dr Lois Frankel...

I shared an evening with a wonderful group of women at the launch of the new book Women on Top lastnight. A book about the life journeys of 13 successful business women revealing their biggest challenges and strategies to overcome them. 

I'm very proud of my long term mentor and 'second mum' Kerry Azar, who features as one of the authors alongside Dr Lois Frankel. For more than 12 years, Kerry has supported me and pushed me to try things I never thought possible. We all need people in our lives to help us reach our full potential. For me, to have been fortunate enough to have met Kerry fairly early on in my career, has been an incredible blessing. Through her business New Duende, Kerry is now coaching local and international leaders reach their full potential.

The theme for the evening was connections. The idea that success is all about nourishing relationships, always remaining positive and giving freely. 

As a branding specialist, to hear Dr Frankel express the importance of building your own brand, really resonated. Quite often I speak to my clients about the brand of 'them'. Not the company or product's brand, but rather the brand of 'I'. Dr Frankel's concept of success lies in building, refining, and selling your brand. 

If you haven't already thought about yourself as a brand, try spending some time reflecting on how you would like to be seen in the world... you might even have fun refining brand YOU!

For further inspiration ensure you add these two books to your library

Women on Top & NICE GIRLS JUST DON'T GET IT.

Dr Lois Frankel & I with her new book

Now part of a global community of creative thinkers for social good...

After hearing from its founders from international design firm IDEO at the recent ideas festival in Brisbane, I was inspired to join the community of change makers at openIDEO. 

openIDEO is a a place where thinkers from all walks of life can contribute ideas and solutions, thoughts and reflections on a range of issues or challenges.  I'm looking forward to being a part of this great community and learning from thinkers from all over the world.

Do you see yourself as a creative thinker? Whether you're from a design or business background, or something else altogether and simply want to check out what's happening out there, you can read more about openIDEO at the website: http://www.openideo.com/

A worldwide community with a common goal - to contribute ideas and create solutions for a range of global issues.

Enabling employee excellence and inspiring innovation

Research shows that rewarding employees for tasks won't ensure great results... This interesting presentation challenges old thinking and shows how companies need to design new ways for their employees to excel. Can you see this way of thinking benefiting your business or venture?

It's never too early to make a statement...

This little girl isn't afraid to think differently and to get her message out to as many people as possible. Imagine what she'll be doing as an adult if she has the tenacity and courage to do this at the age of seven!

Spotlight on an amazing human being: Aimee Mullins

I first came across TED at the Design in Daba 2005 conference in Cape Town when it's creator spoke about his website ted.com. The great thing about this site is that it is filled with amazing people who are creating, questioning and pushing the boundaries.

A recently published talk by a Aimee Mullins is one I really wanted to share with you. She shows how she has embraced design to not only be a functional part of her life but also an outlet to create conversation to express her very unique self. Amy not only is a record breaking athlete, a model and activist, she's also one of the most joyous and inspiring people I've heard speak.

listen to her talk at http://www.ted.com/talks/aimee_mullins_prosthetic_aesthetics.html

Photography by Nick Knight sourced from Aimeemullins.com