Fast Company Magazine, today’s Brand U business magazine, identified six core personal business concerns: 1) leading, 2) changing, 3) learning, 4) pursuing personal success, 5) creating, and 6) finding new ways of working.[i]
Working It offers a structure for understanding and a framework for adapting to these core business and work concerns. Working It is not the total Brand U answer. Hopefully, it offers ah-has of what’s occurring around us whether we work for someone or for ourselves.
One of the powerful analytical tools in management theory is the systems approach that explains complex relationships in simple terms. Working It presents a systems approach to work. Elements of a system can be parts of a machine, actors in a play, or people at work. In this book, our 7P Brand U system of work consists of Paradigms, People, Principles, Practices, Products, Processes, and Projects. ®
Why did I use the 7Ps? It’s lucky seven. Yes, I know that’s a shallow answer. It’s alliterative. It’s mnemonic. It sounds good. It also explains many work changes and how our Brand U careers develop.
[i] “New Rules of Business,“ Fast Company, The Greatest Hits, Volume 1, p. i.