Create a Business Model for Your Career Reinvention

Anita Brick: Hi, this is Anita Brick and welcome to CareerCast at Chicago Booth. To help you advance in your career. Today, we're delighted to be speaking with Tim Clark. Tim is a teacher, author, and entrepreneur who leads the global personal business model movement at business model EW.com. After selling his startup to a Nasdaq listed entity in a multimillion dollar transaction, he completed doctoral research in international business model portability, his international bestsellers Business Model You and Business Model Generation Together have sold half a million copies in 26 languages.

Wow. That's amazing. Tim, thanks so much for making the time. So let's start off at a really basic level. You and I may agree or disagree about that, but tell me what career reinvention is versus just plain old career change.

Tim Clark: Career and reinvention is what we're all going to be doing for the rest of our lives. It might be something as simple as making a slight course correction, or maybe changing your employer, or even working in a completely different sector. The big payback is for something that you, you know, really changes what you want to do and goes for it.

Anita Brick: Well, how is that different from a career change? Because it sounds like it's exactly the same to me. But I know you talk about career reinvention. Is it just a fancy or a newer word for the same thing?

Tim Clark: I suppose you could say that what we're using is the metaphor of a business model. We're basically saying that all of us are essentially one person enterprises, just like any enterprise, we have to create value for specific customers. When taking a look at your personal business model, what value do you create and how do you deliver that to customers for compensation? And that often requires that we reconceive or reinvent how we work.

Anita Brick: Got it. There was Allen who asked a question. He says. I've been building business models for years in both corporate and startup worlds. For someone with more than 20 years of work experience, how do I reinvent my career using the business model from technologists to strategists?

Tim Clark: You know, embedded in that question is the answer itself. If you've been building business models for years, you've been working on strategy for years as well. So I think it's important to differentiate between the old definition of business model from the late 90s, which was just a sequence of tactical events which would create revenues of worth to the true definition of a business model, which is creating real value for customers.

So if you've already been building business models for years, then I think you may be like the shoemaker. These kids have no shoes of their own. What he needs to do is essentially consider his business model and then apply those same concepts to his own work life and reconceive how he can deliver value as a strategist as opposed to a technologist.

Anita Brick: What in practical terms, how does he do that? When you think about business models, it seems like such an onerous task. Yeah, you need to figure out, you know, who your key partner is in the activities and the resources and your value proposition and the relationships and on and on. It feels like just such a big thing. How do you implement that in a way that is not overwhelming?

Tim Clark: Good question. And 80% of the work involves two things. And what are your customers and what's the value proposition? If you can get those two things right, everything else is going to fall into place.

Anita Brick: But how do you know? Like someone asked a question, an evening student said, how do I use this business model approach if I don't know who's really going to buy this new career change I want to do, I know who I am. I know I've been an engineer, I know I want to now do something that is more in general management, but how do I know when employers are going to value that? I'm a little stymied. How do I select the best path with the highest probability of success?

Tim Clark: The key is to define the value that you create. If you can define it, then you can communicate it. If you can communicate it, you can sell it. If you can sell it, then of course you can get engaged or higher and you can start delivering it. The challenge that many of us have is if we've been employed for a long time, we've been employed in just delivering value over and over to the same customer for years on end. We tend to neglect defining what the value is, getting awareness of that value, communicating that value and then selling it.

Anita Brick: So let me stop you because it seems like if I don't know, someone asked this question, an exact MBA student said, what if I don't have the direct experience for the job I want and I can't demonstrate it on my resume? How do I show value if I've never actually done that job? But that's where I want to go.

Tim Clark: It's a great question, because organizations want somebody who has the experience of doing what they want to have done, and they want someone to come in and do that again. Employees, on the other hand, who have already done that successfully are more interested in moving on to doing new things. So you have a fundamental problem there. Most large organizations in the past had been divided into functional silos, and there were job descriptions.

Those were associated with certain skill sets and within a certain activity it was a question of skill matching. Do you have the skills? Yes I do. Can you do these activities? Yes I can't be okay. Well great. You'll do this job now. What's happened, of course, is that only a very few very large companies or very specialized companies can afford to operate in functional silos anymore.

We're now in a world of projects, and projects require discreet beginnings, discreet endings, and a very specific value that is delivered as a result. So instead of dealing with activities and skill sets, what we're really dealing with is value.

Anita Brick: But what if I want to go and work for Bain? I worked on projects. I'm a project manager. I really want to go work for Bain or McKinsey, and a lot of our students and even alumni are interested in that. They are looking for certain skills beyond the project focused skills, the interpersonal skills. How do you communicate if it is perceived that you have a gap?

Tim Clark: First of all, again, finding the value proposition and terms that are very clear and learning to tell a story, that's one thing. And for that, there's really nothing better than joining Toastmasters or volunteering in positions where you're really going to, you know, if up your, let's say, your interpersonal communication skills. The second thing, though, is if you're applying to work at Bain or another strategy consultancy, you really have to understand their business model. How could any of us apply for work in an organization where we don't really understand the business model of that organization?

Anita Brick: Let's get a little tactical. Let's use this example. Someone who has technical skills, they're really strong. They need to develop their interpersonal skills. How do they zero in? I mean they can go in and read and network with people in the firm. How do they then take what they understand to be the business model, the delivery model value that has to be perceived by the client? How do they take all that learning and translate it into understanding their own values? That then matches up with the value of the firm? I mean, let's get tactical. Tell us, how do you do that?

Tim Clark: Take the example of an engineer who has been working on a network, working equipment and so forth. He's got really strong skills in that area, and he knows how to implement advanced and networking solutions within organizations. In addition to understanding, let's say, Bain's business model, he has to have what we'd like to call a focus of inquiry.

In other words, for Bain's clients that want this kind of service, what problems, issues, needs or trends they're facing because these are the things that create work, all work in every market. And every organization is created by one of four things. If you've had problems, issues, needs or trends in the marketplace. So his job is to do some research in that area.

And by research I mean from some heavy research, the kind of things you learn at the University of Chicago business School industry journals, scholarly papers that are designed for practitioners to research the issues that those end customers are facing and then see where his skills, abilities, personality and knowledge and style can match those. That's what we call a focus of inquiry, and it's the key tool that will jumpstart conversations around work that will position him as someone and can get the job done on behalf of customers.

Anita Brick: What do I need to find out? Again, it sounds like a pretty onerous task to understand the problems and the needs and the trends and issues. How do I do that in a way that is practical for me to go in, you know, me as a student or to love to go in and actually then connect with the firm. How do I do it in a way that is cognizant of my limited amount of time?

Tim Clark: As a pre thought to that, I need a career reinvention. There's two things about it. First of all, it's very difficult. And second, it takes time. Creating a business model on paper is exciting. It's fun, it's very useful. But that's the introspective or the part that you can do by yourself. Testing that model in the marketplace is a social process and requires time, energy, and a big commitment.

These are not easy, quick fixes. Given that it's a pretty straightforward process, you need to diagram your own personal business model. Draw your personal canvas. Step one. Step two is to reflect and reflect with some feedback from trusted partners, not just your spouse or friends, but trusted others who can give you honest feedback as well as your own self reflection.

That's step two. Step three is to revise that model in response to not only the feedback you're getting in your introspection, but what it is you want to do. And then you get into phase four, which is art and that's personal development. Part of Steve Blank would put it at sea, testing this new model using a focus on inquiry, getting out of the building and actually testing this. There's a four step process. It's difficult emotional work and it's a lot of hard footwork. But the reward is, of course, that you have the potential to reinvent your career into something that you really want to do, as well as do something that will provide the revenue you need.

Anita Brick: Let's go back to step one. So step one is to map out the model. I know you have to understand your value. One of the questions that came in from an MBA student said in your book you talk about calculating your value. You know, I'm in an area that doesn't directly produce revenue for me. How do I calculate my value? I want to get to the point where we understand the elements that go into this personal business model, so that they can take it to step two, three and four. You've said that you've got to start with your own value. How do you calculate value when you aren't producing revenue? Right.

Tim Clark: What's an indirect rule rather than a direct rule? So I think that's a great point. Even in an indirect rule, you still create tremendous value. If you're in financial planning, for example, there's two things I can think of immediately. One is you mitigate risk. Value of mitigating risk could be, or millions of dollars. On the other hand, you might be reducing costs, you know, which is exactly the same as increasing revenue, exactly the same effect on earnings.

So it's really the same thing. And that's a good point. I think that someone who's in financial planning can articulate that value in dollar terms if they really need to. But we need to start with feedback from peers, from subordinates, from superiors, from colleagues, from vendors, suppliers or end users. What value am I really creating? Of course, we all hope that we have a feedback rich environment at work where you're getting this kind of feedback from peers and from your boss on a regular basis so that you can understand what your value is. But, you know, unfortunately, many of us don't get enough feedback at work, and so we need to really seek it out.

Anita Brick: If I go in and I seek out value, my concern is that and this came up in another question, the concern is if I start asking for a lot of feedback all of a sudden, especially if I'm going beyond my immediate manager and I'm talking to potentially vendors, etc., it feels like that could be risky in terms of people are going to like, why all of a sudden, why all of a sudden are you asking for all this feedback? What's a way to do that and not increase the risk of someone thinking, wow, this person wants to leave or they want to do something new? How do you do that? Discreetly?

Tim Clark: Yeah, well, that's a good question. If you're in an environment where any kind of request for honest feedback is seen as a political move or, you know, getting ready to jump ship, that's very unfortunate. And you may have to do that somewhere else. Doing this would jeopardize your position then. Yeah, you're going to have to, you're going to have to go somewhere else.

Anita Brick: But let's go back to the getting the feedback part, because don't you kind of need it from I mean, I know it's risky, but don't you need some of it from the environment? Because I could give you feedback based on what I know, but I don't know your specific circumstances, so wouldn't you have to get some of it from your immediate environment?

Tim Clark: Well, absolutely. And again, I hope that you are getting that kind of feedback. Healthy career development depends on it. You know, you first need to really maximize what you can get at work without jeopardizing, you know, whatever, you know, relationships you may have there. But then, you know, professional association may be a very good place to go. The unspoken truth about these associations is that most of them are essentially career development forms. Exactly the reason we were just discussing.

Anita Brick: Good point. What if your value is from something you don't want to do anymore? There is an exact MBA student, he said. I'm trying to figure out what I really want to do with my career. I am branded with strong technical accounting skills, a marquee accounting firm, and you see the University of Chicago on my resume. However, I do not have the passion for the technical accounting skills that are really where my value is.

A lot of the things I want to do do not require these strong technical skills that people don't see me that way, and I don't want to take these positions and find myself even more entrenched in this. How do I make sure I follow up on my own career model, as opposed to getting stuck doing work? Other people want me to do that. I don't want to do it anymore, because that's where my value is.

Tim Clark: Is inherent in the question. I think it's really the answer you chose. I believe what makes me successful in my job is my passion for making the team better, simplifying processes and focusing on what's important as opposed to what I'm asked to do. He's just basically stated his value proposition that he's good at helping other people do better, simplifying processes and then focusing on what's really important as opposed to what I'm asked to do.

So in other words, what's important is what's making the business model work. That's what we call key activities, or the things that are essential to making things work. They're not just tasks that are done, they're essential tasks to make the model work. I think what he needs to do is just refine that statement and put it in the context of your specific stories about how he does that in an accounting environment, and then to build on that, to show how he can use those same skills in either another environment or in managing or training or developing other technical accountants who can who can do that kind of work that he doesn't want to do, but then let him move up in the organization or sideways or out of the organization, depending on what makes the most sense.

Anita Brick: Got it. All right. So we know what the value is, which I know is a big thing. I mean, knowing your value is no easy thing. It takes time. But once you know, because of your value and the messaging around that, what other elements do we need to put in this personal business model to make it effective when we finally test it out and actually implement it so we have value, what else do we need?

Tim Clark: You need customers. In other words, you need to know who you want to deliver this value to. It's not enough to say, well, I want to be in a consultancy. I think you need to be very specific because although it sounds like you're reducing your market opportunities by being specific, you're actually increasing it. So I would say getting very specific about who the customer is.

You know, most of us manage our careers by getting one job in a row. Career management does not mean getting one job in a row. You know, we all need a bigger theory of the game. The bigger theory of the game involves a purpose behind what you do. A purpose really just comes down to your value proposition. It sounds like your column is really passionate, and he says he's passionate about making teams effective in helping other people improve.

So that could be a really powerful purpose. And, you know, in the end, organizations where we all want to work care more about purpose than they do about skills or activity skills or something we can pick up on the job.

Anita Brick: Well, of course, because there's that extra energy, there's that extra, dare I say, passion around it, where that person's going to work harder. So they're going to come up with more creative ideas if you're absolutely right, a one off job. Without that, it lacks the star quality and you can't really be sure without having that. I mean, that kind of tying value to the underlying interests, purpose, passion makes someone so much more powerful.

But what will that purpose be? And yet, for some reason, your communication is not connecting with your audience, with this employer, as you were calling customers. There's an evening student who said, I've been working on a career change or, as you would call it, Tim, a career reinvention into more senior management roles. I have an initial successful conversation when I reach out to others to network and then the conversation stops.

How do I create a business model that resonates with them and gets the right type of positive attention? So he's making that initial contact, but something is missing. What do you think could be I mean, I know he's not here to talk with two of the two of us, but when someone has, they feel that they know the value and yet it's not resonating with the audience. What can they do?

Tim Clark: Two things. One is that his focus of inquiry may or may not be deep enough. He may not understand the problems, issues, needs, or trends of the end customer well enough to ask questions that point to his understanding of the issues and not just point with understanding, but those questions themselves. Speak to what he could do to solve those problems.

So it may be that the focus of inquiry is not sharp enough or not well researched. The other possibilities? It may be his style, and it sounds like he's a senior guy, not very competent. But you know, many of us, when we're talking in our heads, it sounds great, but when we're actually faced with telling it to someone else, it comes out of the mess. And so you really have to practice those success stories and not in, you know, mechanical way, being able to recite them, but to practice them with a coach or counselor or someone who's actually skilled in eliciting the way that you talk about your strengths and positioning them.

Anita Brick: You're absolutely right. We see it all the time. On paper, it looks great. And in fact, I will have people send me their story on paper and I'm like, okay, put the paper away and just tell me, because it is partly the facts and some of it is certainly the delivery. So if the person who submitted the question, if you're listening right now, please, please give us a call because we're happy to help you with that.

Now, how do you add one more layer to this? You know what the value is. You understand how to articulate that value. Your stories are pretty good if you're in your local community. But this exec MBA student says, how do I find international career opportunities? I've worked outside of my home country. I've been in the U.S for eight years.

I'm ready to move on again. I am currently responsible for all international business for mid-size manufacturers, so my skill set is current and valid. But how do I do that? So now how do you overlay that other factor? And now you want to make a geographic change. So part of your reinvention is the geographic reinvention. How do you overlay that on that. Because there's so many other factors that now come into play.

Tim Clark: I love this question. And because I worked outside the U.S. for 11 years, I would say the three things, first of all, define specifically where you want to go and then go there. There's nothing like being on the ground to really make things happen. The last thing I would suggest is to look not just at customers in the industry, but look at partners, current partners, vendors, suppliers, stakeholders for the current organization.

Is there a way to make a lateral move leveraging the existing position? There may be an opportunity for this person to to really leverage the current organization.

Anita Brick: Got it. Do you have time for like two more questions?

Tim Clark: Yeah, of course.

Anita Brick: Okay. So the first question is and this is a more general question, but how can a person who had a career setback. So they took time off not because they wanted to. They're coming off a failure of some kind. They're not on an upswing. What are some things that you would advise that person to do to reinvent themselves?

Tim Clark: It's a good question. I think a career setback is a really important message to you, and you need to understand whether that career setback was the market talking to you, or was it related to your own skills, abilities, or your or your style? Bruce and I like to say there's only three questions that you need to ask yourself to manage your career, and they're mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive.

Question number one is when is it time to move out? Number two is one of the times to move up. Meaning staying with the same organization may not be up in the sense of a higher level of responsibility, maybe sideways, or maybe down in the sense of responsible dipping in a better place for you personally. And the third is, you know, when is it time to change your style?

You've maxed out and things are not working, but you do want to stay where you are. I would advise this person to first of all do some work with those three questions. There's a whole book devoted to this written by Bruce Hazen, and to figure out whether this is the market speaking, and they need to find a new place to work, or even a new sector, or whether they need to change their roles in the current organization. Or finally, do they need to do some personal work with respect to their style?

Anita Brick: That sounds good. Final question. And now if we can get really tactical, okay. Really tactical. And so let's just say people are listening and they want to jump in in the next 24 hours. They want to at least start three things to propel them forward. What are three things that you would advise someone to do straightaway to move toward career reinvention?

Tim Clark: Just to preface that, I think we all need to move away from this focus on career management as a series of transactions and getting one job in a row, and move towards career management as a series of relationships that are ongoing and that are based on strategy and not on tactics. And strategy means that there's a purpose behind what you're doing, but it has to recommend three things to do today.

It would be to go and download the Person Business Model canvas. You can do that for free and to diagram the canvas so you can see where you are today and start thinking about yourself in terms of a personal business model. That's a very discreet action, and it's the most important single thing that you can do, in my view the second thing would be to after you've filled that out, to try to really look and distinguish between the key activities that you do, how do you define those activities in terms of the value they produce? And the third thing I would say is to redo that canvas with that sharpened value proposition. See if you can't articulate that in a more powerful way, that one that really resonates with you, one where you say, well, you know this.

Yeah, this is really what I do. If this is valuable, this is good. And I and I like to find some trusted others to talk about this with. Get it out of your mind and put it into words and get some feedback on again, you know, career development means creating a feedback rich environment for yourself.

Anita Brick: Well, absolutely. And I believe it takes great courage to ask for the feedback, not get defensive when people give you the feedback, and then take, as you said, that initial business model and refine it, because like you said, you do that and you increase the chances exponentially that you will be successful and and happy at the same time. So great idea. And then the business model canvas, you can find it at business model. You dotcom. It's really easy to find. I found it and downloaded it too. And we actually have copies of this model.

Tim Clark: You listeners can download the 79 pages of the book for free if they go to business model. EW.com oh.

Anita Brick: That's very generous. So if you want to read a lot of the book, it is a big chunk of the book. A business model. EW.com and ten. Thank you so much for making the time. I know that you have an extremely hectic schedule, and the work that you're doing is very important, so we're really glad that you're doing it and that you were willing and able to share some really great insights with us today.

Tim Clark: It's been my pleasure. And you. Thank you.

Anita Brick: Thank you very, very much. Again, it's business model.EW.com and thank you all for listening. This is Anita Brick with CareerCast at Chicago Booth. Keep advancing.