Bert Simonovich's Design Notes

So how can authorship advance your career and lead to becoming an industry influencer?

Well first of all, it offers a chance for deep learning of a subject matter. When you have to capture your thoughts on paper, you suddenly realize you may not know as much about the subject as you think you know. It forces you to do more research on the topic so that the information you are trying to covey is accurate.

It demonstrates thought leadership at your work and the industry. You become the subject matter expert on that topic. And over time, the path to your desk, is worn from all the traffic to your cubicle. If you are self employed as a consultant, it eventually leads to more business opportunities.

It inspires your coworkers and peers to become subject matter experts in their own right by leading by example. Being a subject matter expert offers opportunities to work with other subject matter experts in your company on leading edge projects.

It builds your personal brand. By writing papers and presenting at conferences you become known in the industry from the work you have accomplished and shared.

It gives you a chance to network, meet and collaborate with new people with like interests in the industry. It’s a snowball effect. I can’t even begin to count now many new people from around the world I have met since starting to publish and attend conferences.

It builds self confidence. Everyone at one time or another has had a fear of public speaking. By presenting your work in an audience of your peers, that fear of public speaking begins to dissipate.

Personal pride. Just like a “runner’s high”, you get a dopamine hit every time you see your work published or you present. There is no greater feeling, after spending an enormous amount of time writing your paper, making your slides perfect, continually practicing your presentation, to anyone who will listen, then finally delivering to an audience. It becomes addictive so you will want to continually publish and present your work.

It leaves a lasting legacy of part of your life’s work behind. Let’s face it, our time is limited on this earth. By publishing your work, it inspires future generations in their research, just like past generations of authors have inspired many of today’s authors, including myself.

You don’t have to start big. A personal blog, web site is a good place to begin. Trade journals, and online magazines in your industry are always looking for quality content that is relevant to their readers.

Formal societies, like IEEE, is a more recognized venue and is peer reviewed. Submitting a paper to industry conferences is another way and offers the opportunity to present your work. And finally, the ultimate, is publishing a book.

Once your work is published, then you need to self promote what you have done. Use social media like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or any other platform. You eventually will build a following, who will react and share your posts and soon become an industry influencer.

Finally, I’d like to leave you with this final thought. Being Canadian, our national pastime is Hockey. We usually have a hockey analogy for almost anything. Everyone who follows hockey knows Wayne Gretzky, the greatest hockey player of all time. One of his famous quotes was, “You always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” And likewise, if you do not take the shot of writing a paper, book or an article, you cannot become a subject matter expert or industry influencer.

Go for it!