The Start-Up of You

1. SXSW

2. Changing World of Work

3. So what do we do about it?

4. Mindset: Permanent Beta

5. Skill set

6. 1. Plan to Adapt

9. ABZ Planning

10. Plan to Adapt in 140
• Engage in career planning, but don’t set firm plans.
• Plan A is what you’re doing right now, your
current implementation of your competitive
advantage.
• Always think about Plan B’s: parameters of
motion, possible pivots.
• Always have a Plan Z: a certain fallback option
where you can re-set.

11. 2. Strengthen your network

15. Network Building in 140
• Entrepreneurs build networks to build companies.
You need a virtual company around you in your
career.
• Be explicit about who your professional allies are;
help them and let yourself be helped.
• Weaker ties tend to introduce diverse streams of
intelligence, and alert you to different sorts of
opportunities.
• You are the average of the five people you spend
the most time around. You are your network.

16. 3. Take intelligent risk

19. Risk in 140
• Many think you get career stability by minimizing all
risk. Ironically, in a changing world, that’s one of the
riskiest things you can do
• Volunteer for extra work, run experiments, change
jobs, freelance.
• By introducing regular volatility into your career,
you make surprise survivable.You learn to “absorb
shocks gracefully.”
• If you don’t find risk, risk finds you.

21. Questions / Discussion