The Business of You

As individuals, we typically don’t think in terms of charting out a career objective and building a strategy on how to obtain it—but that’s a big mistake. These types of exercises are commonplace for high-achieving businesses to align efforts and track progress. Since you are in the Business of You, why wouldn’t you take cues from other top-performing businesses?

Most of us do not have a clear idea of what we want to get out of our careers, so we aimlessly drift and take whatever jobs and opportunities are presented. How do you expect to get where you want to go if you don’t have a desired destination? Are you just hoping that you’ll stumble into your dream scenario? Good luck. Like any journey, it pays to chart out a path for how you are going to get there.

Once a year (typically in the fall), business leaders across the globe start to frame their plans for the upcoming year. They each seek to chart out a strategy and identify measurable objectives for their business. These annual plans are often designed to bring the business closer to accomplishing its vision statement. During these planning sessions, leaders must strike a delicate balance between the use of finite resources (financial and operational) and their strategic ambitions for the business within the competitive environment.

As the CEO of the Business of You, you must also chart out your annual plan and determine how to balance your available time and resources.

But before you establish your personal plan, you must develop a clear definition of where you want to end up. Your personal vision statement can serve as a guiding force to optimize your usage of your time and resources.

What do highly successful businesses like Google and Ikea have in common? A clearly defined vision. This vision guides their efforts and brings their team’s focus to their aspirational purpose for the business’s existence.

Google and Ikea, like the most successful nations, businesses, leaders, and individuals, have looked inward to understand their values, beliefs, and vision, and then striven to live by them. A clear personal vision statement is a great place to start when looking to enhance your career prospects. With this in place, you are able to focus on what is necessary to achieve your definition of success.

Google’s vision is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

When you read this vision statement, it is clear where Google wants to dedicate most of its time and energy. The organization has stayed disciplined and true to its vision. This focus has been one of the many driving forces behind its rapid ascension and success.

Take control of your destiny by developing a personal vision statement. Your personal vision statement distills your lofty objectives into a clear and concise statement. It will set the tone for you and your pursuits. Having a well-defined purpose and destination will focus your efforts and accelerate the pursuit of your objectives.

When crafting your personal vision statement, there are two keys you need to define: personal values and core purpose.

The answer to this question defines your personal brand. It’s what you are promising yourself. It shows you what differentiates you from other employees. And it should guide your behavior and pursuits. Personal values can incorporate a wide range of elements. One may value personal beliefs like honesty, integrity, or kindness. Personal values also may include organizational or environmental elements, like giving back to the community or preserving the environment. It is important to understand where you stand with your strongly held values. Awareness here will help you to find opportunities that are congruent with your beliefs and fuel your efforts instead of battling internal conflicts.

This answer reflects what your motivation for being is—and it should transcend making money. Your core purpose defines idealistically why you exist. What drives each of us is different. Here are a few examples:

When you are creating your personal vision statement, you must look deep inside yourself to understand what you enjoy and what you don’t. Refer back to your completed exercises from chapter 1 to identify the types of activities that make you feel energized, and the things that zap your energy or make you feel bored. These exercises will help you find the position and work environments that are ideal and the ones to avoid at all cost.

Finding roles that integrate well with your values and core purpose is key to sustaining your efforts and enthusiasm in your career pursuits.

Your vision statement should be grounded in practical elements; however, the challenge of the vision statement is balancing this practicality with bold ambition. So even if you’re early in your career, you should be aiming very high.

Remember that this is a goal that can be measured. The goal may change over time as you evolve and gain a better grasp of yourself. Since it should be big and bold, there should be only a fifty-fifty chance that you can achieve your vision statement.

For Steve Jobs, his goal was a computer in every home. Early in my career, in my vision statement I aspired to be the president of a small-to-midsize company that drove change in creating a more enjoyable and sustainable way of life on this planet.

When developing your vision statement, think deeply about what it is you want to accomplish. Keep in mind that the more well-defined your vision statement is, the more efficient your pursuit of it will be. The most important thing to know is where you want to go. But at this stage in your career, you may not have a clear understanding of that destination or what your dream job looks like. That’s OK. Just keep chipping away at it, and your end goal will become clearer over time as you better understand yourself.

Like great businesses, those people who are successful in managing their careers have a strong grasp of their skills and clearly outline what they want to accomplish. In the upcoming chapters we will help you construct a game plan for pursuing your vision statement.

Businesses use their core competencies (a defining capability or advantage) to distinguish themselves from their competitors. These skills and strengths are at the forefront in shaping a business’s strategy. A perfect example is how Southwest Airlines utilized its core competencies to out-compete other airlines when it came to cost. Southwest was poised to compete on price because it had more efficient operations and a lower cost structure (no advanced seat reservations, no meals, flying only one type of plane, flying out of secondary airports and gates, etc.). This structure allowed Southwest to thrive in the marketplace with its identity as the low-cost airline, while other imitators without the same competencies floundered.

Similarly, for the Business of You, your success hinges on your ability to build your infrastructure or core competencies around your vision statement. A competency is a strength, capability, or advantage that you have in relation to others. Some examples of core competencies are strong interpersonal and social skills for sales, and creativity for marketing or design. These will serve as the foundation for success as you craft your vision statement. Playing to your strengths will lead to stronger performances and distinguishing yourself from other candidates vying for the same position.

The first step in this process is to identify the core competencies necessary to thrive in your ideal position. Secondly, conduct a gap analysis isolating the differences between where you stand today and where you need to be. The third step is to lay out your strategic game plan to develop your core competencies.

Shifting from long-term planning to practical day-to-day execution can be challenging. This stage of the process is that pivot point of moving from planning your long-term vision to charting out a tactical plan to get there. Converting your aspirational vision into an executable plan starts with identifying what core competencies are necessary for the role.

Look practically at your ideal role—contained in your vision statement— and isolate the key abilities required to be successful. What are the day-to-day responsibilities and demands that come with it? What are some of the skills you observe in people who excel in this role? Build a list of these key responsibilities and the skills required to thrive.

For example, let’s say you aspire to be in a general manager–type role for a consulting firm. What are some of the core competencies required to successfully execute this role?

CORE COMPETENCIES FOR A GENERAL MANAGER ROLE

•Leadership Skills
Clearly communicate and inspire teams toward the company’s mission

•Management Skills
The ability to handle the personnel challenges, professional development, and coaching, and to drive consistent performance

•Presentation Skills
The ability to present internally (to teams and a board of directors) and pitch to customers for business development

ALSO:

•Having a well-rounded understanding of all the different parts of the business (marketing, sales, operations, accounting, and legal)

•Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to relate and work with a wide variety of team members and customers

•Being thick-skinned and comfortable with making the tough and unpopular decisions

Most likely you will not be in a place where you are intimately familiar with the role and what it requires. Conduct your initial research by visiting job-posting sites (such as CareerBuilder, Monster, Ladders) and search for a job that best fits your vision. Take notes on what recruiters require—skills, qualifications, years and type of experience, and education. After visiting a dozen or so of these postings you should have a solid baseline understanding of what the marketplace is looking for when recruiting for this role.

With this initial research complete, you will be prepared for a sit-down with someone who currently serves in this role. This one-on-one interview will allow you to get a much better understanding of all the elements of the position that you can’t get from basic research. When trying to find a person serving in your “dream” role, start out by looking in your company. It is a great starting point, because you’re able to subtly demonstrate your ambitions and create greater awareness of you and your aspirations to the higher-ups in your organization. If that doesn’t work or make sense for any reason, then move on to looking in your network. Given how small the world is now, reaching out to your friends, family, and social network acquaintances (LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.) should do the trick.

When making the request to sit down with this person, use flattery to your advantage. Ask to take them out to lunch or coffee and tell them that you admire their role and would like to learn more about what it takes from someone who has been successful in it.

When you meet with this expert, your goal is to pick their brain and gain insights that only those who have sat in that chair would know. Here are the basic objectives for the interview:

Take good notes at your meeting and make sure to thank them for their time and knowledge. A nice touch is to send a thank-you email (bonus points for a handwritten note) the next day. If things go really well with your interviewee, see if they would be willing to let you shadow them for a short time. Be respectful with your request, because this is a big ask and could be a disruption to their responsibilities.

By conducting your job-description research online and meeting with a person or two in the role, you are ready to assess how your skills compare today with those necessary to achieve your vision.

To effectively pursue your vision statement, it is necessary to gain a clear understanding of how your current competencies stack up against those of your desired state. The gap analysis framework has been a valuable tool for charting out my career ambitions. It has been equally valuable when looking to improve processes or organizational outputs in the business world. A gap analysis is used to identify the difference between the current state (in this case your current skill set) and a desired future state (in this case your vision statement).

Start reviewing the list of core competencies identified from your earlier research. Go competency by competency and assess where you are today versus where you need to be. Be brutally honest when you chart out the differences between the two. Don’t let the delta between your current skills and the skills you must possess for the role discourage you. With a laser focus and consistent hard work, you will surprise yourself with how far you can progress.

Let’s use the example of Scott to demonstrate how to conduct a gap analysis on one’s skills. Scott is early in his career and has ambitions to become a general manager or executive. During his assessments he realizes he needs to develop his presentation skills. Using the table below, Scott assesses his current state, desired future state, and several tactics to close the gap between the two.

Using the sample gap analysis outline, go through each of the core competencies uncovered during your research. This analysis will provide a clear idea of the development opportunities you will need to focus on to achieve your vision. From here you can begin to construct a strategy on how to develop those competencies and ultimately get the process rolling for closing in on your dream role.

Once you have a clear understanding of who you are and what competencies you need to develop further, it is time to craft your goals. As Stephen Covey outlined in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, “Begin with the end in mind.” This is great advice and can be applied in all aspects of your life. Strategy is something people don’t often think about when mapping out their careers. Developing an end goal and a plan on how to get to your vision statement will give you a leg up on everyone else out there competing with you.

DEVELOPING AN END GOAL AND A PLAN ON HOW TO GET TO YOUR VISION STATEMENT WILL GIVE YOU A LEG UP ON EVERYONE ELSE OUT THERE COMPETING WITH YOU.

When you evaluate your weaknesses, it is important to keep them in perspective. Some of these weaknesses you will need to build into strengths. Others may require you to only improve them to a point where they are not career limiters. Seek out opportunities to stretch yourself and work on these weaker areas. All too often we stick solely to our strengths and do everything we can to avoid areas where we are weak. By doing this, we are committing a disservice to ourselves. We fail to address a weak area and through avoidance can become even weaker. Don’t let the fear of stumbling through something scare you away from becoming a more well-rounded individual.

With that said, do not neglect your strengths. They should be continually honed to create towering attributes that will shine and help you thrive within your career. Practice strength development as often as you practice weakness mitigation.

Equipped with the knowledge of what you need to work on, you can now focus on refining and developing those core competencies. When forming your strategy for developing them, consider the following factors in your plan:

As an example of strategic considerations in action, let’s revisit Scott from earlier in the chapter. Scott has decided to prioritize developing his presentation skills because this is one of his glaring weaknesses, and in his industry, leaders make presentations often. Given that these skills are used daily to communicate to internal teams and to prospective customers, he will be able to put these skills to use right away. Additionally, Scott is relatively confident that this skill set will not become obsolete.

Unfortunately for Scott, he has very limited experience in this arena. That limited experience creates some anxiety, which manifests in nervousness and unnatural body language and hand gestures when he is presenting.

Given his limited experience and knowledge, it would be wise for Scott to start with the basics. Where could he go to build his foundational skills? With a little research online and by talking to other colleagues, Scott finds out that he has several options. His work offers reimbursement for many professional development courses, and Human Resources has provided him with a list of several that they recommend.

A strong presentation class will help Scott build the basic skills necessary to create and deliver effective presentations.

To be forward-looking, how can Scott continue to improve these skills and stay on top of different trends after his presentation course? He can accomplish this by practicing regularly and finding a source of information that specializes in this area, such as Toastmasters or other presentation organizations. He should also take advantage of every opportunity to present and polish his skills.

The last part of the strategy is being action-based. This is a great transition into how goal setting helps keep you on track as you head toward your dream job destination.

The old adage “What gets measured gets done” is a solid rule of thumb to apply when creating your clear and actionable plan for your development. That means precisely defining what you are looking to accomplish daily and weekly so you are able to monitor your progress every step of the way.

Using the tactics identified in your gap analysis, chart out what you are going to do in the next three, six, twelve, and thirty-six months. These goals should build upon each other. To assist with this process, I have included a goal-planning template in the appendix.

Whether using the template in the appendix or your own planning sheet, it is helpful to implement some of the common best practices when it comes to goal setting. Many of you may be familiar with the SMART method for developing goals, but how often do we actually apply these principles to goal setting? Here is my perspective on SMART goals.

S—Specific. Be as specific as you can with your goals. Use each one of your senses to envision the details. Create a mental picture of what your life is like when you achieve this goal:

Painting a detailed mental picture will help you to connect at a deeper level and emotionally buy into the goal.

M—Measurable. Make sure you can monitor and measure your progress toward your goal. Be very specific in what you want to accomplish so you can create a tangible set of milestones for your journey. Build a chart or visual that will help you reinforce your progress and encourage your competitive nature to update it.

A—Attainable. Your goals should be grounded in reality, but don’t be afraid to go big. Dare to dream. You are the last person who should limit yourself. We all are remarkable creatures capable of more than we imagine. Often, we restrict what is possible and don’t reach our full potential because we tell ourselves it is not possible. Stretch yourself.

R—Relevant. Make sure these goals are congruent with who you are, your beliefs, and your big-picture objectives. If these goals are in conflict with your cultural fabric, you will fail or tear yourself up trying to achieve this goal.

T—Time-Based. Impose deadlines on yourself. Many of us are hardwired to wait until the very last minute before starting a project. That is why aggressive timelines are important for your progress. They will help to create urgency in the pursuit of your goals as well as push you. Understand going into this process that you won’t be able to control everything. Don’t be deterred if you miss a deadline. Set a new timeline and focus on what you can control, like your activities and behaviors.

In addition to the SMART method, I have found that when I break large goals or tasks into “micro” tasks, I am far more effective. It helps me on multiple levels. The project doesn’t seem as daunting (fighting off procrastination), and I’m able to focus in on the necessary task at hand (avoid getting distracted on a distant task or challenge).

One of the best operational books out there is Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Lawrence Bossidy and Ram Charan. The book provides a strong framework for building an organizational culture of execution. Follow-through is one of the cornerstones of execution covered in the book. One of their examples of follow-through in practice is to never finish a meeting without clarifying what the follow-through will be, who will do it, when and how they will do it, what resources they will use, and how and when and with whom the next review will take place.

When constructing your own personal feedback loop to aid in your follow-through, there are four elements or practices to incorporate to build a strong system: Publicizing, Self-Review, Visibility, and Rewards.

Making goals public helps build in accountability. In general, we are pain-avoidance creatures, and that tendency to steer away from pain can be leveraged when you share your goals with others. When we run into or talk to someone who knows our goals, it is likely they will ask how we are progressing with them. This helps to build the extra motivation needed for those days when it is scarce. You know the days I’m talking about. The ones where you get home from work and all you want to do is vegetate on the couch. When your goals are public, you have partners in helping you fight through that fatigue. You don’t want to have to admit to them that you failed or, even worse, failed to try. Make your goals public and tap into your pride as an energy source.

One formal way to make goals public is to have a friend or loved one become your accountability buddy. Give them your plan and have them ask you about your progress. This should be a regular event. My recommendation is to do this no less than once a month. Schedule it on both of your calendars to ensure follow-through.

Additionally, if your goals are related to your current organization, it may be a good idea to share them with your manager.

Even a great manager may not be completely in tune with your personal goals. Ask for feedback on your goals and what you need to do to get that next promotion or big project. See if he or she will help you with your plan to earn it and establish a timeline. This helps you on two fronts. First, it firmly establishes your ambitions with your supervisor. Second, it memorializes the necessary action steps and time horizon for your promotion. Many managers today are in survival mode, and your promotion may not be on their radar unless you bring it up.

One of the most common mistakes I see is people not taking the time to assess where they are in relation to achieving their goals. Building in checkpoints and milestones will provide insights and better help you to examine what is required to cross the finish line.

Just like you set up a monthly meeting with your accountability buddy, schedule a regular assessment of your progress. Evaluate if you are ahead of schedule, on schedule, or behind. Gauge whether or not you have invested the appropriate level of effort in pursuing your goal.

In today’s busy world, it is easy to get consumed or distracted with the flood of information and growing demands on our time and attention. It is helpful, therefore, to strategically place goal reminders in our everyday lives. These reminders center us and help avoid the potential to drift off to wherever the prevailing winds are blowing. Here are a couple of examples of how to effectively do this:

There are endless reams of research out there on the benefits of positive reinforcement. Most applications are aimed at motivating others, but the same principles can be applied to motivating ourselves.

REMEMBER, WE ARE NOT ROBOTS. EVEN SMALL REWARDS FOR SMALLER GOALS CAN HAVE A BIG IMPACT.

Think about something you have always wanted to do—maybe skydiving, or taking a trip. Make a pact with yourself that if you achieve a significant goal, you will reward yourself with this activity or experience.

Remember, we are not robots. Even small rewards for smaller goals can have a big impact.

Back to the book Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, where the authors theorize that the leaders who are good at executing are the ones who follow through and evaluate performance religiously. I have seen firsthand and experienced the same thing when it comes to chasing your own personal objectives. Using the tools outlined in this chapter will help you become more effective at planning and following through to achieve your goals.

▸Distill your broader career objectives into a clear, concise statement. This statement will help you focus your time and energy toward the most important things for you.

▸Identify the core competencies required for your desired dream role. This will help you prioritize what professional development skills to focus on.

▸Conduct a gap analysis to assess the difference between your current state and where you need to be in order to accomplish the goals of your vision statement.

▸When forming your plan to develop your skills, make sure it includes the strategic considerations of prioritization, being forward-looking, and being action-based.

▸The keys to a strong feedback loop are Publicizing, Self-Review, Visibility, and Rewards.