Happy New Year and welcome 2010!  As we enter a new decade, we hopefully look forward to new opportunities. I usually don’t make New Year’s resolutions because I’m constantly striving to do better on a daily basis and just because the calendar changes, doesn’t mean that I’ll change my daily mantra: “What can I do better today?”  But I can’t help breathing a sigh of relief that 2009 is behind us and that we hopefully have been through the worst. 

Jobs lost, college grads living off their parents, the housing crisis, retail sales way down etc… Yes, it’s good to move on and forward and I’m glad that we’re past the first decade of the new millennium! It was one tough decade!

However, if history repeats itself, things will turn for the better. Many of us are old enough to have been through the 80’s, and even if our memories are dim, we’ll recall that those were - in fact - tough economic times.   And then there were the 90’s, the Information Age.  Many of us made more money than our parents would have ever dreamed.  Now it’s time to get ready for another seismic economic shift.   

The Transformation Decade

David Houle, a futurist, strategist and speaker was recently quoted in MediaBizBloggers as saying, “This new decade, 2010-2020, will be known as the Transformation Decade. The definitions of transformation are several: the act or process of transforming, the state of being transformed, change in form, appearance, nature, or character.”

If we are entering the decade of “Shift” as Mr. Houle points out, what does that mean for us?   Obviously, the way we communicate has changed dramatically over the last ten years, and I would guess that more inventions and gadgets will find their way on to our desks, pockets and homes.  But I would also venture to state that good solid business practices will endure.  The clever, strategic thinkers will be the leaders and the winners will be the people who are relevant, focused and bring value to businesses. And just because our relationship to communication technology is rapidly changing doesn’t mean that our human needs have changed so much.  We still want good value for our money and client service will remain king.

The problem really resides in industry and job relevance - what reads on our resumes.  For instance, take the media industry - an industry that has already experienced remarkable change and which will probably be drastically different ten years from now than it is today.  Candidates who have been laid off from traditional media don’t understand how to transfer their skills. They will have to undergo personal makeovers and most importantly they will have to communicate and work differently.

What “Market Corrections” Look Like

I met a candidate today who has been a successful radio sales person for 25 years and she just got laid off.  She understands that Radio is not a growing industry and that she needs to “move her cheese.”  Yet her resume was presented in the “old” way of thinking; her networking skills were not honed and direct, even though she has a plethora of networking tools at her disposal.  It’s not terminal, but her case is a reminder that we need to think differently in order to move on with our careers.

The realization that entire industries are changing in dynamic ways, is difficult to navigate. Our relationships, our work place, will be transformed.  And the question we have is WHAT’S my VALUE PROPOSITION in this age of change and how am I RELEVENT?

So if I had a New Year’s resolution it would be optimism, prosperity, a belief in us and building our future with good old fashion values.  Maybe mine aren’t the values you would have expected.  But, refining your personal value proposition toward relevance is about as old fashioned - or classic - as today’s values can get.  If you’re entering an interview, your entire focus should be on how you will add value to the enterprise   In today’s market, despite all the new technology, the best ways to add value remain very old school.  Do the reading.  Know where the industry is going.  Know the enterprise.

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