As you advance through your career, there are seven questions that you need to answer time and again. The answers to these questions can shape the direction of your business, sometimes taking you along a whole new path that you weren’t expecting. They will lead you to set up new goals and set up new focal points for your future in your business and your career.
The first two strategic business questions that you need to ask yourself are:
- What business am I in?
- What business might I be in?
Clearly Define Your Business or Career
First, answer this question in terms of what you actually do for your company or your customers. Expand on your first answer to make it as broad as possible. You do not want to look at your business through the smallest possible viewfinder, but rather a wide-angle lens.
Many years ago, railroad companies simply identified themselves as being in the railroad business. That’s too narrow. If they were clearer about their definition and broadened it out more, they would’ve seen that theirs was the business of transporting people and goods. That means they were a part of an entire industry that offered the same service: airplanes, ships, trucks, buses. This narrow view led many in the “railroad business” to fail.
Without being able to clearly define your business, you run the risk of failing. Look at your business in the way that your products and services affect others, both at work and in life. How do you personally impact the people you are working with and for, both inside and outside of the company?
What Business Might You Be in Later?
If you make no changes in your career path, what will your future look like next year? In two years? Ten years? Does it make sense to continue as you are or should changes be made?
Ask yourself what business you could be in if you decided to make dramatic changes, like going back to school to learn a new skillset? Could you picture yourself in a different
industry, selling different products, offering new services?
Finally, you need to ask yourself what business you should be in. What are your talents? What are you ambitious about? What is it you really want to achieve? Is the business or career path you’re on going to help you get there? What changes do you need to make to reach that ideal picture of your future self?
Knowing where you want to be later on, whether it’s in another year or another five years helps you to be clear about what actions you need to take in your business in order to reach those goals. Start asking yourself today the questions that will help you clearly define your business.