Chapter 12
What's Your Personal Business Model?
Sometimes tweaks aren't enough. Sometimes nothing short of reinventing yourself is called for. As individuals we have business models too. Each of us has a personal story that develops over time about how as individuals we create, deliver, and capture value. Our personal business model stories are informed by the world around us. Personal business model stories are shaped by input from our environment, families, friends, teachers, coaches, and experiences.
The same patterns we see with organizational business models can also be seen with personal business models. They get stale over time. And in the twenty-first century they get stale faster. Just like all organizations get set in their ways, so do we as individuals get locked into a personal business model. And just like organizations become vulnerable to being disrupted and displaced by new business models, the same thing is true for individuals. If we don't learn how to reinvent ourselves we are at risk of being disrupted. If we don't learn new personal capabilities and new ways to create, deliver, and capture value we risk becoming less relevant over time.
How many people do you know that have been devastated by the current economic downturn? New jobs will be created eventually, but those jobs will require a different set of skills than those that were lost. We will have to get better at changing our personal business models to be ready for the new jobs of the twenty-first century. ...
