Dear Friends,

It's good to end a year like this with good news.

As this very challenging year draws to an end, I am writing you from Hong Kong, where I am spending the first week of December on a coaching/consulting project with one of our global financial services clients. Over the past 2 years, the Asia region has been one of the biggest factors in our continued growth, as this region of the world represents the growth engine for so many multinational companies.

I am pleased to report that Hong Kong is one of the places signaling that a global recovery has indeed begun. Real economic growth began again in September and October, and the global recovery is gaining steam in the Asia region, led by China and Hong Kong.

While economists predict the recovery process will be a long, slow one, the message is still clear -- things are beginning to thaw and unfreeze and open up. This means there will indeed be opportunities early in 2010 for each of you to reposition your personal brands to capitalize on new opportunities that are steadily emerging.

The telephone has definitely begun ringing, with clients ready to lift hiring freezes and fill senior level positions critical to fueling the revenue growth cycle. EC is just beginning 2 new searches -- Marketing Director (CMO) in NYC and CMO-Life Marketing on the West Coast. These are positions that will support driving sales, and this is representative of the type of revenue-growth, talent-acquisition initiatives we are seeing on the near-term horizon.

So how do you position your personal brand to take advantage as the economic recovery continues to gain momentum? EC is sponsoring a complimentary 3-part series on Managing Your Personal Brand Through an Executive Transition - A Year in Review. The response and participation in this series has been very gratifying: more than 250 people have registered and participated in the first two sessions of the series. Whether you were able to participate or not, you can download the worksheets (PDF files) from our website. We invite each of you to join us for Part 3 on Wednesday, December 16, the final session in this series. The webinar -- "Define a Brand Course of Action - What Now?" -- will provide you the template for planning your 2010 actions.

Michael Porter (Harvard Business School and Monitor Group) wrote our featured article last month titled, "Sound Long-term Strategy is Key, Especially in a Crisis." In this article, Porter emphasized that leaders can become followers, and followers can become leaders, by avoiding the same old strategies in favor of seeking innovative approaches that resonates with your best customers and prospects. With the tools we provide in this complimentary Personal Branding series, you can identify a long-term personal brand vision and a strategic action plan for repositioning your brand. You'll find the "Blue Ocean" strategy that will create a sustainable competitive advantage for you over the next 5+ years.

We at EC are resolved to make 2010 our best year ever, by riding the wave of economic recovery and through continued innovation of our executive search, coaching and consulting services. We wish each of you the same personal and professional success, and we look forward to continuing to partner with you in the new year!

To a powerful 2010,

Jeff Gundersen, CEO jgundersen@executiveconnectionsllc.com
and Lorraine White, Chief Coaching Officer lwhite@executiveconnects.com
Executive Connections, LLC
Executive Search, Executive Coaching & Consulting for Top-Level Executives
Direct: 941-323-8300 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              941-323-8300      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
http://www.executiveconnectionsllc.com

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Get Your Personal Brand in Shape for an Improved 2010!

Don't miss the last of our 3-part complimentary webinar series, "Managing Your Personal Brand Through an Executive Transition" next Wednesday, December 16. In Part 3 (which stands on its own, in case you missed the first 2), you'll create a personal brand action plan for the year ahead of us that is aligned with your vision.

Due to an overwhelming response to the first 2 sessions, space is limited! Click here to register now.

Wednesday, December 16, 12 noon EST: "Define a Brand Course of Action -- What Now?"

If you missed the first two webinars, you may download the worksheets here.

COMING SOON from EC: An Innovative Approach to Reinventing Yourself

We've been working busily this Fall to put together a dynamite program for anyone seeking career clarity and career fulfillment. If you're dissatisfied with your present situation, or are just ready to move on to your "next act," this innovative, 13-week program will be for you.

Lorraine will be selecting only 10 people to work with in this structured program, so we wanted to give you a heads up now.

We'll send details in a few weeks. But if you want to raise your hand and be first in line for consideration, email Lorraine now.

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Connecting YOU and YOUR Personal Brand with OUR BRAND

The last few months, we've been hitting hard on the topic of personal branding. We believe that raising the level of your personal brand in preparation for 2010 is the single most crucial activity that you could be engaged in now through 2010.

Well, now we're upping the ante.

We normally use this space in our ezine to bring you an article that we find insightful, whether it's written by us or others. Today, we are pleased to offer YOU the opportunity to showcase your personal brand in 2010 in this spot, writing on the topic of (what else?) personal branding.

What does that mean?

Write an article on your experience of taking your personal brand to the next level. Tell us about your experience of doing so and the insights you gained. If you took our "Managing Your Personal Brand" webinar series and used the worksheets, what happened for you? What did you learn that you could teach others? If you have a topic other than personal branding that you think would equally serve our audience of high-level executives, you are welcome to contribute on that topic, as well.

We have a large list of connections who receive our monthly ezine, and we are eager to share your experiences so that all may benefit -- and, naturally, doing so will spotlight you and your personal brand. Also, at the end of the article, you may briefly promote something of yours -- a book, a seminar, an article, a blog, etc.

Please email your submission to us. We will choose one article to highlight each quarter of 2010.

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Top leaders often face challenging and unexpected business and personal issues and need expect counsel on short notice. Ask Our Coach is a 24/7/365 hotline that clients and prospective clients alike can use to obtain coaching advice from one of EC's senior coach-consultants. EC's commitment is to respond to all Ask Our Coach inquiries within 24 hours, which makes us always accessible and available to our clients when you need us.

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"Thanks for taking the time to talk with me yesterday. I found your advice to be direct, thought provoking and most importantly actionable. I also listened in on the webinar today and found the information equally valuable. You have a very compelling business model and I will direct a few colleagues your way."

~Ken Marshall

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Online Marketing Summit 2010
Mon, Feb 22 - Thu, Feb 25

15th Annual Best Practices in Retail Financial Services Symposium
Sun, Mar 21 - Tue, Mar 23

The Power of eMarketing
Wed, Apr 21 - Thu, Apr 22