But, what about people? Who’ll look out for us in the ‘just in time’ work model? Tom Peters, always ahead of the curve, has the answer in his ‘reinventing work’ products. The following from the jacket of his Brand You 50 explains much:
“The fundamental unit in today’s economy is the individual, a.k.a. YOU! Jobs are performed by temporary networks that disband when the project is done. So to succeed, you have to think of yourself as a freelance contractor – Brand You. Someone who is savvy, informed, always learning and growing, who knows how to sell herself, and – most important – does work that matters.”[i]
Bottom Line: you walk this way but once (unless you’re a Buddhist and believe in reincarnation). Find and do your calling. Be responsible for your life/work/career future whether you work as an employee or as a freelance contractor.
Tom Peters has it right. So in this edition of Working It, we’ve moved beyond Tom Peters’s Brand You work rules to help you design your Brand U work vision using our template: Paradigms – People – Principles – Practices – Products – Processes – Projects.®
[i] Back cover copy from Peters, Tom, The Brand You 50, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999, p. 4.