UK, USA, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, Shanghai, Beijing, New Zealand, Singapore - friends from far and wide came to Singapore recently to help me celebrate a special birthday. I feel truly blessed to have so many good friends who helped make sure my birthday was very special indeed.

One friend named the whole week 'The Festival of Shirley'. The Festival started at one of my favourite restaurants in Singapore - Original Sin in Holland Village - with a fabulous evening of good food, good wine, good friends, and a good laugh!

We then spent 4 days on one of my favourite islands in Malaysia, Rawa, where we enjoyed lots of fun and sun and my friends made sure I celebrated the actual day of my birthday in great style.

The 'closing ceremony' was a party at my place in Singapore, also a celebration of my good friend Rosehannah's birthday. Phew! What an end to a great week. I was so exhausted by the end of it that I don't want another birthday now until at least ... next year!!
Ha ha ha!!!

Alexandra Yung, an international expert on branding, was one of the speakers at ASSAP in May 2006 - the Asian Summit for Secretaries and Admin Professionals. At the end of the one-day conference, the audience had a chance to ask lots of questions. Here are some of the questions Alexandra was asked, with her answers. Many thanks to Alexandra for these wonderful insights. I think we can all learn a lot from them.

Is it possible to create different 'brandings' to different audiences? Are you able to project 'multiple brandings'?
We have different 'personas' but only one unique brand. We cannot have many brands as that will confuse people. For example, you may be 'Tough' at work with your staff, and 'Gentle' at home with your kids. However, you can still be aligned with your brand of 'Playful'. So whether you're being tough or gentle, you're doing it in a playful way.

How do we assess whether we have landed in the right job? Is there a way to assess?
There are different ways to assess this and will take some individual consultation to do this. However, you can do a simple exercise to check. Think of something that you love to do - eg dancing, cooking, swimming etc. Notice how you feel when you're doing that one thing. Identify 3 feelings and write them down. Now do the same with your work or job. Do you have the similar feelings or completely different? Ideally, you want to find a job/work that gives you the same feelings as when you're doing something that you love to do. When that happens, you know you have found the right job/work.

Can branding be deceiving? Hypocritical? ie putting up a different image for a different group of people for your own benefit?
Yes, politicians do it all the time. People can usually see when you are not being authentic and will not trust you. Sometimes people do that with a new lover and as we know, that does not last and the relationship falls apart as a result.

How do you tap into knowing your unknown self?
The easiest way is to work with someone else as it's difficult for us to see our unknown self. There are numerous seminars and workshops that deal with this area will help to expand our realm of awareness with ourselves. Some personal life coaches and spiritual consultants can also help with this.

How can we change people's perception of us, ie the 'brand' in their minds? (Those bad views they have?)
It is more difficult to change a brand than it is to create one. The only way is to BE different, ie, change your actions to reflect the new brand that you desire and through consistent actions, people will begin to relate to you differently. For example, If you are notorious for being late to meetings and you want to change that, then show up on time for meetings consistently for a period of time. In time, people will relate to you and trust you as being on time.

Is voice more important than looks?
Is trust and loyalty working hand and hand? It's all a total package and everything works together to create a complete experience. However, one must align and reinforce the other. In order to have loyalty, you need to have trust. However, you can trust someone without being loyal. That can depend on many external factors that may affect loyalty, including costs, appropriateness, relevance, and other conditions.

I'm so excited about Alison, Ricky and Shirley's Training Showcase with
Alison Lester, Ricky Lien and ... yes, me! It's being held at the Meritus Mandarin Hotel, Singapore, on Tuesday 26 September 2006.

As well as enjoying refreshments and breakfast snacks, Alison, Ricky and I will be taking the opportunity to introduce ourselves and our training programmes to you. The topics we will be presenting are:

Tools for the Creativity Toolbox with Alison Lester
Alison will highlight blunders that organisations often make when seeking to enhance employee creativity. She will describe simple, entertaining, successful approaches for improving the innovation environment at work.

Personal Leadership with Ricky Lien
Ricky will work with you to create your personal cohesive vision statement, which will make a significant difference in behaviour at work, as well as enhance your self-esteem and self-worth. He will help you to gain more clarity in your life, and calibrate your compass to your true North!

A-Z of Bloopers with Shirley Taylor
Shirley will take a fun look at some common errors being made in our writing today, and will show you how your writing skills can make a big difference to your corporate success. Come along and make sure you are using 21st Century writing instead of great-grandfather language!

Are you an HR/Training Director or Manager with responsibility for engaging external trainers/ consultants in your organisation? If so, Alison, Ricky
and I hope you will join us for this great morning of sharing and learning.

Don't miss this complimentary Training Showcase with Alison, Ricky and Shirley. E-mail Shamee now at shamee@shirleytaylor.com, and include your name, title, company name and contact telephone number.

As you will have seen from the photos earlier, I had a great birthday this year. It was made extra special by all the attention to detail that my good friend Rosehannah put into all the arrangements. Thanks so much Rosehannah, and let's keep close always, OK?!