In this Web 2.0 age, be proactive when managing your career

Let's face it, our careers as BDPs are no longer the responsibility of our employers or dependent on the whims of the market. It is now up to us to manage the success, and succession, of our career paths.

With advent of LinkedIn and other "profile"-based web sites, we more visible than ever before. Our references are available for anyone to contact, our job histories are judged every day by people we will never meet.  And we have more opportunity than ever before to build and maintain a vibrant, challenging career.

You may ask "who needs all that stuff?" You may think you're covered juts by hitting your numbers, shaking hands and making things happen at your current gig.

But none of those things really say much about you. In case you haven't heard, "personal brand" is how careers will be, are now being, evaluated and shaped. How does your career look when profiled on the social web? Do you you show an adequate number of relationships in your market? Does your career progression appears proactive and planned, or stale and opportunistic and choppy?

A 10-year stint at a single company these days is not necessarily viewed as a positive, and could even be interpreted by some as negative, that you were "stuck in a rut", or just too comfortable.

Bottom line? No one else will manage your career but you. Leverage your relationships and new technologies for the time you make a change. The key to career success in the future is squarely on your shoulders.