The Business of You

There was a time that too much activity on one's resume would raise a red flag. Being a job hopper was a sign of instability. The preference was one who stuck around for the long haul.

But times have changed with the market, and that is especially true in Silicon Valley. According to the Society of Human Resources Management, the tech industry is one of the lowest in the country with an employee tenure average of three years in 2012-13. The emphasis is now on diverse skill sets and not company loyalty. Companies are looking for what an employee brings to the table much more than how long they survived at their last shop.

With that shift has come a new truism, perhaps most efficiently articulated by Jay-Z:

In this modern workforce, especially in our ever-important corner of the world, the commodity is the employee. His or her brains, ambition, ingenuity. Your combination of talent and wisdom and experience -- which often is specific to you -- is what companies want. Which means you are the business of you. Whether an employee, leader or entrepreneur, you should you view your work and career as a business entity. And any business must understand its unique talents, differentiated skills and effective services.

What differentiates you from your peers or competitors?

What impact would your departure have?

Are the services and activities you provide duplicative? If so, why are your services being chosen?

Understanding your value and marketing yourself begins with a diligent comprehension of your strengths and niche. Consider the knowledge, skills, perspective, performance, personality and relationships you have and how they establish you in your desired profession.

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Spend some time to truly figure out your key differentiators. Go back and read past performance reviews. Think about your favorite classes in school. Query your family friends about when they see you as most fulfilled. Assess your personality, spiritual gifts, repertoire of intangibles. Take inventory on your capacity, the total package a prospective employer gets in hiring you. That is how you best -- as written in the book, Now Discover Your Own Strengths -- determine how to develop and exploit your strengths. This process leads you to part two: finding a role and a company that matches. The ideal is to work in a place and space that is so connected to who you are that you'd consider doing it for free.

Counseling and coaching has always been near and dear to me, since I was a peer counselor in Junior High School in Oakland. The satisfaction of helping someone, especially one hungry enough for improvement to seek guidance, is compensation enough for me.

What type of work do you gravitate to naturally? What are you driven to do even if money isn't payment, or enough of a payment? What comes naturally to you? What activities produce a contentment you find hard to replicate?

The answer to such questions can guide you where to invest yourself and what arenas you are best employed.

Which leads to part three: make sure you are meeting a need. The optimal way to maximize your talent and establish the 'business of you' is to apply your expertise to a current or future demand. The work and service should fill a hole AND translate into earnings.

The key is taking what you are willing to do for free and executing it in a place that's willing to pay you for it. That's the sweet spot -- being highly productive in a situation where there is high demand for what you produce. But there is one key element often overlooked, a reality scarcely found in books and blogs offering such guidance. You must account for two important factors: time and change.

It is status quo in high tech for a good company to be disrupted by new competitors. We've seen talents get really good at an element, only to see that skill diminish in value. Engineers who flourished at writing code, only to find their niche become less relevant in the future tech ecosystem. Sales reps thrive on moving products, but can't transition to selling solutions that meet customer's business challenges.

Employees, leaders, and entrepreneurs need a healthy dose of paranoia. Not a paralyzing worry, but -- to borrow a term from San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich -- "appropriate fear." The kind of adrenaline-pumping suspicion that maintains the competitive edge and fuels the desire to improve.

Like any good business, you must anticipate and ready yourself for changes in your field of interest. What future trends could impact the viability of your unique offering? Most companies have market/industry research, customer data, and other forms of predictive analysis. What sources of information are you utilizing to ensure you not only survive, but thrive in a changing environment.

The reality is that being stagnate over time negatively impacts most businesses. The fluidity of technology, the economy and demand means other opportunities are likely to come and current situations will eventually go. But that's fine because you are your own business, not who you work for it with.

You have an excellent opportunity to be the commodity that doesn't go out of style.