This week I want to focus on my post titled Are You Building a Resume or a Reputation?
The blog explores putting priority on growing our resume, your reputation, or both. Some years we may prioritize one over the other and that’s OK. The key is knowing which is your focus. This post helps you figure out what your strategy should be for the year ahead.
While this is a question we don’t typically consider, asking it may surface some surprising goals for the year ahead.
My Blog Posts This Week
What Do You Need? This post provides a work twist on the idea of needing a “Hug, Help, or Heard”. My framework changes to the “S” and adds a fourth option – Silence, Support, Suggestions, or Solutions.
Lower the Stakes. This post suggests that when the stakes feel too high, we should consider ways we could lower the bar. What is the smallest (and least scary) step we could take?
Taxonomy of Work. This post highlights the challenges we face in trying to organize our career history over time. There are 7 steps to getting your information structured and findable.
Book Review – Burn the Playbook. For anyone who is feeling restless in their career, this summary is for you. This book by Joe Pulizzi questioning the old definitions of success and provides a guide for those looking to travel a new path.
Podcasts/Books That Caught My Attention
My January has been much more focused on fiction reading than podcast listening. Below are 2 podcasts that caught my attention and links to all the books I’ve been enjoying.
Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life. 27 minutes. The Next Big Idea Daily. This episode highlights two books. The first is Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life by Ezekiel Emanuel. The second is What’s Eating Us: Women, Food, and the Epidemic of Body Anxiety by Cole Kazdin.
List Low Energy Intentions. 5 minutes. Before Breakfast. This episode provides an idea to create a list of what to do when you want to do nothing.
My January Reading List
With the holidays and a January vacation, I’ve read more books this month than any other month in my history! I was going to put these in order of my most to least favorite and I quickly realized I couldn’t do it. They were all solid reads and had such different storylines. I would recommend checking them all out and seeing what resonates with you right now.
- The Fourth Daughter – A granddaughter helps her grandmother in Taiwan search for her 4th daughter that was taken from her when she was an infant.
- The Last of the Moon Girls – This book combines an interesting family history, a murder that was never solved, and a bit of romance.
- American Housewife – Set in New York in the 1950’s this is all about the rise of television and the expectations of a TV star on and off screen.
- Land of Dreams – Set in 1930’s Hollywood, this one follows some of the actors and the PR teams who work to keep their reputations and public personas intact.
- The Heart of Everything – This is an interesting story of a father and son going on a journey “together” after the father has passed.
- Famous Once (Short Story) – Estranged mother and daughter come together to unravel some secrets from the past.
- The Wonderous Life and Loves of Nella Carter – A pact between Nella and Death has her traveling across centuries and continents celebrating life and loves.
- The Moonflowers (Currently Reading) – Still in process on this one. It centers on conversations between a young woman and the woman who killed her grandfather.
What Do You Think?
Are you focused on your resume, your reputation, or both in 2026?
Do you think the idea of noting if you are looking for silence, support, suggestions, or solutions in a conversation at work would help you get what you need in the moment?
What ideas did the posts & podcasts spark that you could implement in the week ahead?