On February 1st 2014, I went to Amsterdam to attend, once more, Tim Clark’s MasterClass on his Business Model You methodology and his adaption of the Business Model Canvas, the Personal Business Model Canvas. (Update: by the way in BigName, my company, we now included a special edition of that Canvas in our Professional Innovation Toolkit.
Tim Clark & Luigi CentenaroThe idea of using visual instruments has been a bit of a bee in my bonnet lately. In fact, I am convinced visual instruments help accelerate the generation of ideas by stimulating the use of the right side of our brains – the part that governs our creativity. It’s also the part of the brain that gives you an overview and thus helps you see the big picture.
LOTS LEARNED
Tim’s Masterclass was superb, even better than the last one I attended in Munich back in 2013. He gave us lots of very solid tips on teaching Business Model You © theory more effectively and on the best ways to use the method.
There were people from a number of different countries and backgrounds present at the masterclass and, for once, I wasn’t the only Italian.! Everyone there shared an interest in Personal Business Design: Design Thinking + traditional professional development approach.
What amazed me was how so many of those present focused in on the topic of career transition, especially when it related to transitioning from a company to a freelance work environment. That this is also a hot topic beyond Italy’s borders, did not escape my attention.
Like it or not, ever more 35-50 year olds who’ve passed their working lives in companies are finding themselves having to consider new careers. That their future career choices are often driven by the desire to do what they want, comes as no surprise. Interests and passions are one of the main drivers of professional and personal satisfaction and many, including me, have taken far too long to realize this.
The Masterclass allowed me to see firsthand how the Business Model You approach can facilitate the creation of logical connections that allow those considering career changes to understand what they did and what they will be able to do. Understanding this helps people position themselves coherently and credibly. It’s system thinking and it works!
THE THREE QUESTIONS
During his MasterClass, Tim introduced a topic from a career planning book by Bruce Hazen that he is excited about. I admit that I have not read the book yet, Answering The Three Career Questions: Your Lifetime Career Management System book, just yet.
The book along with its three key questions helps its readers understand where they are career-wise:
- Is it time to move up? Then it’s time for you to put a career development strategy in place.
- Is it time to move out? Your role / job / boss / organization is no longer a good fit for you. You need a transition strategy
- Is it time to adapt your style to achieve greater success? You’re not getting anything out of this project team / leader / team position. You have to do things differently, but which and how?
These are the exact questions anyone can or should be asking themselves before they start complaining about their current career situation. There’s more about this on Hazen’s website.
IN THE WORKS
I’ll admit to having another reason for going to Tim’s Amsterdam Masterclass: for a while now, I have been working on a new project which is based on Tim’s work
Towards the end of last year, I plucked up the courage to ask Tim what he thought of my idea. He must have found it interesting because he invited me to present it during his Amsterdam Masterclass. And so I ended up practicing my English for an hour in front of a group of Personal Business Designers from all over Europe.
(update: it was the Personal Branding Canvas, no included in the Professional Innovation Toolkit). Here the whole story)
And to cap it all, Tim organized a panel during which he interviewed yours truly about the use of the method in the contexts of personal consultancy and the use of Mercedes Hoss-Weis for organizing international events and courses.
Although the intervention required a significant investment in terms of energy on my part, it was more than worthwhile. My presentation and the Panel generated a lot of interest and discussion, as well as generating lots of international contacts for me.
I can now fully appreciate why in this video Tim’s so enthusiastic… and can understand just how exhausted he must have felt by end of the workshop!
Reflections on Business Model You® workshops and Master Class in Munich and Amsterdam, January 2014 from Tim Clark on Vimeo.
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