Meet Carol Kaemmerer

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Carol Kaemmerer. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Carol, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
My home was one where achievement was actively role-modeled by both parents–and expected of me. Their high expectations were not burdensome but rather provided considerable advantages. My preschool and primary school years were filled with weekly trips to the library, abundant field trips to museums, farms, and the zoo, opportunities for acting and singing, and piano lessons.

From an early age, I learned list-making skills, efficient use of time, and how to break up overwhelming projects into discrete and doable tasks. I learned the importance of establishing personal relationships and presenting with poise and clarity as necessary precursors for leadership opportunities. I was taught that clear thinking begets clear writing and that anything worth doing is worth doing to the best of my abilities.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
In this chapter of my life, I am working to ensure that business people know how to use LinkedIn to communicate their value in the world of work. The seeds for my passion were planted when three of my 50+-year-old executive friends who lost their jobs in the economic downturn of 2008 shared about a year later that they “guess they had retired.” What?! They were not even close to retirement age and had kids who still needed to go through college. I couldn’t understand why they’d lost heart.

It took my job loss from a corporate downsizing in 2011 to understand what had happened to these capable people, causing them to give up on the world of work. They didn’t realize that executive recruiters had shifted their strategy for identifying candidates from reviewing submitted resumes to sourcing candidates via LinkedIn searches. My friends had been trying to gain traction in their search without the benefit of a LinkedIn profile that positioned them well. Having grasped the reason for their untimely career end, I vowed to be part of the solution for others so that the world of work did not lose access to the wisdom of leaders before they chose to retire.

I work one-on-one with senior-level executives to craft LinkedIn profiles that represent them effectively to achieve their business goals. In 2022, The American Reporter recognized me as among the TOP 6 personal branding experts. In addition to my executive consultations, I speak to industry groups, corporate staff, and associations to share strategies for using LinkedIn effectively, and I publish articles weekly.

Because I can’t work individually with everyone, I created a self-paced online course: “How to Be Found on LinkedIn: Key Strategies for Attracting Your Ideal Opportunities.” My course and my award-winning book, LinkedIn for the Savvy Executive: Promote Your Brand with Authenticity, Tact and Power-2nd Ed. are appropriate for any business person and can be purchased through my website, https://carolkaemmerer.com.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three skills that have helped me most in business are:

  • Active listening
  • Written and verbal communication skills
  • Ability to form warm relationships

Active listening shows respect for the person speaking and helps you understand the person and their message. It is an essential skill because it helps us acquire new knowledge and understand others’ perspectives more deeply. Active listening is not enduring what the other person says while waiting impatiently to deliver your retort. Instead, it is listening to learn and fully absorb what is being said. You have two ears and one mouth; use them in that proportion.

If active listening is a skill you’d like to acquire, practice listening to a friend talk about a subject matter you know little about. While they are speaking, concentrate on what they are saying. Then, without responding, write down what you understood and your questions. Share your notes with your friend and discuss what you missed or remembered incorrectly. Frequent use of this skill will help you use it comfortably.

Written and verbal communication skills are essential in business. The ability to write and speak clearly and powerfully stems from thinking clearly and deeply. You must understand the subject matter and the needs of the audience. Failure to assess what the audience needs to know and their current level of knowledge on the subject will result in communicating over their heads or insulting them by providing nothing that expands their knowledge.

To improve your communication skills, ask your boss or colleagues to help you understand your audience’s needs before you write or speak to them. If you will be asking them to take a specific action in response, make sure they will have the information required to act. Once you have determined what to communicate, review and revise several times to ensure that your presentation (whether written or verbal) is concise, clear, and well constructed.

Whether or not “sales” is part of your job, the ability to form warm relationships is crucial to your ability to influence others and advance in your career. To make friends you have to be one.

If you want to increase your ability to form warm relationships with colleagues, consider involving a mentor or coach who can observe your interaction with others and help you improve. Active listening, understanding others’ needs and interests, and going out of your way to be helpful are all steps toward making this a skill you trade on.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
Of all the opportunities and excellent role modeling provided by my parents, their most powerful gift was their belief that I could do anything I set my mind to. With backing like that, it is hard to fail.

Contact Info:

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Resilience
Where do you get your resilience from?

Resilience is often the x-factor that differentiates between mild and wild success. The stories of

Productivity
Beating Burnout

Often the key to having massive impact is the ability to keep going when others

Leadership Development
Finding Your Why

Not knowing why you are going wherever it is that you are going sounds silly,