Take your career public and face the truth!
Here's a secret that is really, really powerful, but that not many people know:
Take your career public. That is, issue shares of My Career Inc. and see how much money you can raise.
This exercise will allow you to see the true worth of your career, that is, the discounted cashflows that investors can expect for the remainder of your career.
There are two extreme scenarios: a lot of investors will buy shares of your Career Inc., and you will have a lot of cash on hand which you can inject into career development projects.
Or, nobody will invest in your Career Inc. because they see the glaring holes and weaknesses of your professional capabilities and career plan.
Please note that I'm not talking about "pretending" to take your career public. I mean, do it for real. Approach real investors and sell them $100 shares in your Career Inc. Try with friends and family first.
What will happen is that investors (the good ones, those who think rationally) will grill you with questions. At first, you won't know how to respond. But as you hear the same questions come back over and over, you will eventually come up with an answer. And it will be the wrong answer.
But with practice and guidance, you will ultimately come up with the right answer.
For instance, here are some common questions you will be asked:
Who is your client? How many of them are there? What is the size of the market you're serving? Is that market growing or shrinking? What makes you different from your career competitors? Are you leveraging Google? What technologies are you using to deploy your core competencies? What are the substitutes for your services? How do you manage the finances for your career? How do you plan and execute professional development activities? Who are your partners? What career processes do you use and why? What are the risks in your industry or profession, and how do you face and mitigate those risks (derisking strategies)?
In the end, a career is really a business concern. So it must be run like a business, and you must assume the role of CEO.
A good little book to read is What The CEO Wants You To Know, by Ram Charan. It's the best book for non-business people, to know and master the fundamentals of how a CEO thinks and decides.
The important thing to understand is that "managing a career" essentially means "managing the business aspects of a career." A career, indeed, is worth more than 2 million dollars over the course of some 40 years (do the math yourself, it's really true!).
To properly manage a career, therefore, requires sharp business thinking. It may take some time before you truly master the business aspects of your career, but trust me, business is really not hard to understand.
The hardest part is to begin to treat yourself as the CEO of your career, and courageously begin to make decisions yourself, and not rely on your employer (who absolutely doesn't care about your career, only about your productivity on the job while you're on their payroll).
Take your career public. That is, issue shares of My Career Inc. and see how much money you can raise.
This exercise will allow you to see the true worth of your career, that is, the discounted cashflows that investors can expect for the remainder of your career.
There are two extreme scenarios: a lot of investors will buy shares of your Career Inc., and you will have a lot of cash on hand which you can inject into career development projects.
Or, nobody will invest in your Career Inc. because they see the glaring holes and weaknesses of your professional capabilities and career plan.
Please note that I'm not talking about "pretending" to take your career public. I mean, do it for real. Approach real investors and sell them $100 shares in your Career Inc. Try with friends and family first.
What will happen is that investors (the good ones, those who think rationally) will grill you with questions. At first, you won't know how to respond. But as you hear the same questions come back over and over, you will eventually come up with an answer. And it will be the wrong answer.
But with practice and guidance, you will ultimately come up with the right answer.
For instance, here are some common questions you will be asked:
Who is your client? How many of them are there? What is the size of the market you're serving? Is that market growing or shrinking? What makes you different from your career competitors? Are you leveraging Google? What technologies are you using to deploy your core competencies? What are the substitutes for your services? How do you manage the finances for your career? How do you plan and execute professional development activities? Who are your partners? What career processes do you use and why? What are the risks in your industry or profession, and how do you face and mitigate those risks (derisking strategies)?
In the end, a career is really a business concern. So it must be run like a business, and you must assume the role of CEO.
A good little book to read is What The CEO Wants You To Know, by Ram Charan. It's the best book for non-business people, to know and master the fundamentals of how a CEO thinks and decides.
The important thing to understand is that "managing a career" essentially means "managing the business aspects of a career." A career, indeed, is worth more than 2 million dollars over the course of some 40 years (do the math yourself, it's really true!).
To properly manage a career, therefore, requires sharp business thinking. It may take some time before you truly master the business aspects of your career, but trust me, business is really not hard to understand.
The hardest part is to begin to treat yourself as the CEO of your career, and courageously begin to make decisions yourself, and not rely on your employer (who absolutely doesn't care about your career, only about your productivity on the job while you're on their payroll).
posted by Super Peter at 11:44 AM
<< Home