Volume 4, No. 6 
Dear Reader,
Last month’s column talked about the distinction between “business operations” and “business development” skills, i.e., what a person does to make a living belongs to the category of business operations, while what he or she does to make those business operations possible comes under the heading of business development.
This month’s issue focuses on the foremost of these “business development” skills, self-leadership.
Self-Leadership
by Beverly Ryle
The Center for Career and Business Development
| I |
was catching up with a dear friend, talking about all that had happened in her life since she was laid off from a company where she’d worked for many years. Although she had been restless long before the layoff, she had postponed taking action (despite my urging), hoping that seniority, a track record of glowing reviews, and being well-liked in the company would allow her to hang on for a few more years, long enough to cross the retirement “finish line”.
Unfortunately for her, the race ended three years short of her goal. She went into a panic and deeply regretted not being better prepared, but with guidance and support she was able get back on her feet quickly. She set out to learn about herself and what she had to offer in the marketplace, and soon landed a consulting position that both energized her and paid her bills. In other words, she found meaningful work that met her financial needs.
Yet she kept telling me how stressful it was no longer to have a “guaranteed income”. She spoke as if her situation was some kind of anomaly, and finally I had to interject, “A lot of us live that way all the time—it’s called self-employment!”
My friend had become self-employed by necessity, not by choice, and as a result her thinking hadn’t changed. She was still thinking, “Job, job, job,” neither calling her new form of work by its right name, nor claiming its full potential. She was looking at her new role as a temporary inconvenience, and had not yet embraced its opportunities for self-leadership.
Practical Reality
Keeping your head down and doing your job well won't protect your paycheck, and sticking our head in the sand and pretending that the “rules of engagement” in the world of work haven’t changed won't protect your career. As Cliff Hakim warns in We Are All Self Employed (see book review): “The belief that any job is safe is unrealistic”. He goes on to say that “habitual responses are not going to work," and that "a leap of thinking, trying new things and living in the world a new way” is required.
It’s no longer enough just to do what you do. You have to be able to articulate how it makes the organization you work for more productive, how it benefits those around you. You have to be able to market “You & Co.” in ways that connect what you have to offer with the needs of the workplace, and you have to be able to do it as effectively as any CEO.
Self-Discovery
No one but you can be the author of your story. Although others can help you to articulate it, you are the only one who can dig through your professional history and identify those parts of it that you want to build upon. This is very hard work. Most people are so focused on keeping a job, even one they are not happy with, that they neglect this critical step in building their career infrastructure
Often it takes a crisis to propel a person toward self-discovery. Only after she had lost her job did my friend begin to think about the things she had done in her life that had the deepest personal meaning for her. When she did, she discovered an interest in social services, and with it the realization that she possessed interpersonal skills that were underutilized in the work she had been doing. She began volunteering for hospice and learning more about non-profit organizations.
Hakim foresees “wasted energies and needless frustration” for anyone who hasn’t looked deep enough inside to know “what they want and what they bring to today’s workplace.” Self-leaders embrace an ongoing process of learning about themselves and others so that they can speak clearly and specifically to their strengths.
Moonlighting
Frequently when someone is starting a business, they will continue working their “day job” until the business generates enough to support them. In other words they “moonlight” as a business owner.
Shortly after I spoke with my friend, I heard from her that she had been hired as a full-time employee by the same company that had contracted her for consulting work, yet rather than revert to her old pattern of settling into the false security of a job, she has continued to “moonlight” as a hospice volunteer and has expanded her involvement to include speaking at fundraising events. Now, instead of counting the days to retirement, she is actively positioning herself for paid work as a fundraiser—work she would love to be doing for years to come.
“Successful people are working two jobs: one is the position they hold in their daily lives, and the other is self leadership of their work life,” Hakim observes. This doesn’t mean that every thing they attempt to accomplish as a self-leader is successful. It does mean that as self-leaders they consciously seek to develop the “mental perspectives, practices and systems” to keep moving forward.
Book Review:
We Are All Self-Employed
by Cliff Hakim
Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc
San Francisco, 2003
ISBN:1576752674
There is general agreement among career professionals that in order to thrive (or even survive) in the new business climate, professionals of every ilk need to think more like entrepreneurs. This is true whether they strike out on their own and become free agents, or remain within an organizational structure as employees. Yet despite all the chatter on this subject, there is little specific guidance on how to go about it, beyond what I would call a “just do it” approach.
Telling someone with a long history as an employee and no sense of himself or herself as a business owner to “think like an entrepreneur” without giving them a substantive understanding of all that is involved in making such a huge transformation leads nowhere, except perhaps to a state of frustration. It’s like hearing a news bulletin for a breaking story that concerns you and tuning into the ten o’clock news only to discover that the story has been given only thirty seconds at the end of the program. If it’s so important, what happened to the coverage?
In We Are All Self Employed, Cliff Hakim makes the mental transformation needed to transition from employed to self-employed thinking his number one priority, and he covers it exhaustively. His 250 page text looks head on at the full scope of shifting mindset through well thought-out dichotomies of the two different worlds of working for a company and working with a company, of being dependent and of being independent and interdependent, of taking a survival (adaptive) stance or a creative one based on continuous learning.
What I value most about this book is that it honors the depth of the change involved and how difficult it is to bring it about. This book tells the truth about how hard it is to challenge old ways of seeing yourself at work. Superficial, quick-fix answers, may have more “sizzle” and appeal, but they have no more staying power than the latest diet craze. Regardless of what diet you’re on, it still comes down to changing your thinking about what you put into your mouth, and no matter what your professional growth goal is, achieving it still comes down to changing how you think!
Readers Write: Feedback on Last Month’s Column
“I enjoy receiving and reading your newsletter, but since I am presently journeying through a pleasant transition involving freelancing, i.e. writing, I read, assimilated, and then passed on your eloquently presented ‘business development skill pack’. It is excellent advice written in realistic narrative, relative to practically everyone. I think you should package it as a course and pass it on to high school counselors as life skills for preparedness in (and out of) college and/or the world of business. Kudos to you.”
—Sitka, Alaska
“I love this one—the message is so clearly written, so helpful and targeted to a very needy group!”
“Was your last newsletter written specifically to me???? It was so familiar. I am printing it out and will use it as a guide as I try and build in my ’branding‘ work on a weekly basis.”
—Huntersville, NC
“I loved your article this month. It so true. What you have taught me is to recognize and develop this separate set of business skills.”
—Brewster, MA
In this issue ...
Self-Leadership
Book Review: We Are All Self-Employed
As we move forward into the 21st century it’s pretty obvious to just about everyone that work isn’t what it used to be. Whether we work for ourselves, or for someone else, or are in transition, things are changing rapidly and we’re caught in a shift of seismic proportions. Many things are being demanded of us, and it’s going to require more than just new skills to survive and thrive. We’re going to need to learn how to get serious about taking care of the business of our professional lives.
Taking Care of Business was created to focus on issues related to this re-education process. If you find it helpful, please pass it on to others you know who are trying to find their way through the new realities of the world of work. We invite you to share your thoughts by emailing us at:
A “self-employed” attitude requires worklife leadership, the ongoing examination of your skills and values and the practice of using them to address the needs of different customers.
A “self employed” attitude requires curiosity—a means to extend your personal and professional boundaries and update your career or business choices.
If you’re looking for just a “job”—a put-food-on-the-table type of job—selling your title and a list of your skills may work. But if you want more, to uncover your authentic self and live your passion, then telling your story and examining what you do and how you do it is essential.
To enhance your career and attract new customers, you must know yourself and be able to articulate how what you offer meets another’s needs. Most professionals have never had to tell their story or present themselves as service providers. In the past job market, skills and products were accepted at face value. [Now you need to be] bold and express your authentic self in such a way that you are servicing others and yourself. This is a new and challenging concept but one that is crucial for surviving now and thriving in the future.
We Are All Self-Employed
Cliff Hakim
40 Oak Leaf Rd
PO Box 156
North Eastham, Cape Cod, MA 02651-0156
508.240.3532
www.successonyourownterms.com
About Us
The Center for Career and Business Development specializes in teaching people how to manage their professional lives by providing customized counseling and educational programs which integrate conceptual thinking with practical training.
Our long-term relationships with clients, recognition by peers, and growing reputation as a community resource speak to the excellence of the services we provide and our commitment to making the world of work a better place for all.
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The stick illustrations in this issue are by Eloise Morley.
Her email address is eloisemorley@earthlink.net
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