Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Great lineup for Wednesday's Transition Solutionz series


Thank you to Wednesday's sponsor of the Transition Solutionz series:









We have a great lineup on Wednesday morning. Join us live if you can, either online at www.blogtalkradio.com/cfitzgerald
or by phone 1-646-727-3553



10am Tierza Davis - owner Pura Vida Adventures in Costa Rica - from a dot com bomb in the late 90s to surfing coach for executive women, Tierza has a story you won't want to miss.

1030am Michelle Bersell - psychotherapist and life coach talks about "Weathering the Financial Storm". Whether you are unemployed, self-employed or afraid that you may not be employed for long, you need to hear what Michelle has to say.

11am Eli Davidson - author of Funky to Fabulous - If you are tired of all of the discouraging news in the marketplace, you should put aside whatever you are doing from 11am to noon tomorrow and tune in to Eli. She will make you laugh, make you think and will inspire you to reinvent yourself.

For more information, see www.solutionzlive.blogspot.com

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Transition Series begins Tuesday at 10am ET with Libby Gill

Everywhere you look there are companies laying off people. The numbers are staggering.

The Solutionz Group wants to be proactive and help those in our industry struggling with this issue.

The Transition Solutions series will be broadcast on BlogTalkRadio.com/cfitzgerald on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10am ET to Noon ET.

This inaugural show is sponsored by Travelport.

Tuesday's lineup begins from 10am to 11am with Libby Gill, former senior broadcasting and entertainment executive and the branding brains behind the launch of the Dr. Phil Show. For the first 30 minutes of the show, she will talk about creating your own personal brand, and then shift in the second half of her hour to what happens when traditional roles have to shift during troubled times. She has written several books, Traveling Hopefully and Stay at Home Dads. Libby will also be the featured speaker at TravelCom's Executive Women's Forum on March 31st in Atlanta.

From 11am - 1130am ET we will have co-authors, Andrea Waltz and Richard Fenton who wrote "Go for No". From 1130am - noon ET we will have the author of "Give your elevator speech a lift", Lorraine Howell.


The series will include interviews with top authors on various practical topics such as creating your own personal brand, honing your elevator speech, creating a winning resume and more. The series is suitable if you are a job seeker, if you are in a company or an industry where employment is tenuous at best or if you are an HR director or manager that is having to deal with laying off employees.




Join us live on Tuesday for the show (or have the system send you a reminder) or call in to the number provided on the show site. CLICK HERE

We will be posting the speaker schedule on Monday for the Wednesday and Thursday shows.

Please pass the word.

Chicke Fitzgerald

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Join us this Friday for Holly Green, author of "More than a Minute"



Holly is currently the CEO and Managing Director of THE HUMAN FACTOR, Inc. Ms. Green has more than 20 years of executive level and operations experience in FORTUNE 100, entrepreneurial, and management consulting organizations.

She was previously President of The Ken Blanchard Companies, a global consulting and training organization as well as LumMed, Inc. a biotech start up. She has a broad background in strategic planning, organization design and development, process improvement, leadership assessment and development, and the integration and alignment of business strategies.

Her current book, More Than a Minute: How to Be an Effective Leader & Manager in Today’s Changing World can be ordered by clicking on this link or on the book cover above.

If you are not a member of EGG, please come back next week to download the audio of the Vignette speaker portion of the call.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Need a helping hand or know a friend who does?


Flo Lugli received this resource from a colleague who used it when a close family friend’s husband died (with 2 small children and one on the way she was overwhelmed dealing with things).

The community kicked in and everyone went to this site to find out what the woman needed (childcare, meals, car pooling, etc.). thought you should all know in case you know of a situation where someone could use this.

Click on the web image to go to the Lotsa Helping Hands site.

Also, for those of you in transition, remember that focusing some of your energy on helping others is a great way to make your transition a really rewarding time. Check out their volunteer opportunities.

Chicke Fitzgerald

Lynne Sarikas vignette recording now available - Advancing your career in funky times


Mark your calendar for Friday's call with Lynn Sarikas, director of the MBA career center at Northeastern University’s College of Business Administration. She will be addressing the issue of advancing your career during these "funky" economic times.

With the nation’s unemployment rate at its highest point in five years, you might be surprised to hear Lynne’s thoughts:
  • Many think that a funky economy means it is not a good time to advance your career. While the answer may vary by industry, it can actually be the best time to make a change. More than ever, companies need skilled leaders to help their business address critical issues and challenges.
  • Obviously industries that are in the midst of major layoffs are not doing any significant hiring, only pursue opportunities in that industry if you have a very unique, marketable skill set that can add value in turbulent times. Investment industry is hard hit right now with many firms laying off staff. Do you have unique marketing, HR or finance/controller experience in the investment industry that could help them during these troubled times?
  • Other industries are actively seeking experienced talent. While most have no problem sourcing entry level positions, it can be more challenging to fill management level positions. Turnover including retirements can create key, strategic openings that must be filled with the right people.
  • Especially in this economy, not all positions are posted. It is not likely that senior level job seekers will find their position by searching job posting sites on the web. Use your job search time more strategically.
Audio recordings are free for Charter members and $10 for all others. Please pay online by selecting the Vignette Recording item under Executive Girlfriends' Group section.

Chicke Fitzgerald
Founder - Executive Girlfriend's Group

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Monday am 730 ET "Money for Breakfast" on Fox Business - check it out

Chris Dane and I are the experts on Fox's Money for Breakfast tomorrow. The subject is the rivalry between Carnival and RCL and how it has benefited the industry as a whole and consumers in particular.

If you miss it live, they have their shows online as well.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO FOX BUSINESS ARCHIVE

Chicke

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Great call with Captain Karen Kahn yesterday - largest participation ever!

Thanks to all who participated in the call yesterday with Continental Captain Karen Kahn. It was great. We had 31 people on the call! Whoo hoo!

Karen's book is available on the EGG Book Club carousel to the right. Just click on it and you can order from Amazon.

Watch for the EGG survey this week. Exciting things coming down the pike and we need your input.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

EGG featured on BlogTalk Radio Yesterday

I was interviewed yesterday on BlogTalk Radio. I talked about the Executive Girlfriend's Group, Solutionz Group and some of the companies that we are incubating (LeisureLogix RoadEscapes.com, HotelsbyHospitals, etc.).

I am the second interview on this one hour show hosted by Jason Crouch and Ken Cook.

VIEW THE SEGMENT

Click on the segment on the right that begins with TS Elliott (no, not the dead poet). I got tired of hearing the music from the show each time I opened this blog!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Thanks to all who participated in the Transition Call yesterday

We had 21 on the call yesterday! It was interesting to hear the various perspectives. We had some that have been job hunting for as much as 6 months, to those that just learned before the holidays that their job had been "made redundant", to those that are still employed, but have had to lay off team members and wanted to know how they could be of help.

I will be updating the site today to organize some of the resources that were recommended by various participants on the call.

If you would like to take the transition survey and were not on the call yesterday, please email me.

Chicke Fitzgerald
chicke@solutionz.com

Monday, January 5, 2009

Welcome to 2009! Don't forget the Transition Group call today!


As you get yourself organized on what I suspect is your first full day at work this year, please remember that we have the Transition Group call at 4pm today.

This call is for those that are in transition and those that want to ensure that they are ready with "Plan B". We have had a tremendous response for this call. If you haven't sent your RSVP, please do so now, as there are some preparation materials that I need to send to you.

Friday, January 2, 2009

January Speaker Roster - Executive Girlfriend's Group Calls

Today's call features Jaynie Smith - author of Creating Competitive Advantage.

January 9th - Captain Karen Kahn - author of Flight Guide for Success. Karen is one of the first female pilots.

January 16th - Lyn Sarikas - Advancing your Career during troubled times. Lynn is the
director of the MBA career center at Northeastern University’s College of Business Administration.

January 23rd - Holly Green - author of More than a Minute and former President of the Ken Blanchard Companies (author of One Minute Manager).

January 30th - Mary LoVerde - When you can't keep up - Connect! Mary is the author of three best selling books: "Stop Screaming at the Microwave", "Touching Tomorrow", and "I Used to Have a Handle on Life but It Broke".

As always, you can order their books by clicking on the links above.

Calls are by invitation only and are held at 4pm ET.

Chicke Fitzgerald
chicke@solutionz.com

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Job Opening - VP of Hotels, Cars and Cross Selling

Rapidly Expanding Top 3 Travel Company on the East Coast and Top 20 Agency in the US, both on-line and traditional with offices in US and Asia, is seeking to fill the position for VP of Hotels, Cars/Cross Selling Products and Services.

Contact Chicke for the complete description at chicke@solutionz.com.