In the previous column, the first in a series, we reviewed the importance in today’s work environment of aggressively building your intellectual capital. It is an important step to achieve career buoyancy, or continuously raising your professional value and opportunities in a turbulent work world. The next part of the dialog is to create a plan for action. A three part framework we use with our clients for strategic planning purposes works for this discussion, too:

1. Where am I today?
2. Where do I want to be tomorrow?
3. How do I get there?

This becomes the basis for charting your roadmap to build the intellectual capital you need.

Where am I today?

How do you determine what your current intellectual capital, or valued skills and experiences, are? This is different than patentable intellectual property. Think about what you known for now. If you are unsure of what it is, consider what people come to you for. They consider you a resource or expert on something if they keep coming to you for answers on a particular domain of expertise. And is this current expertise something that will be continued to be valued over time? The answer should not be assumed as yes. Whatever got you to where you are today, it won’t be enough for tomorrow.

Now think back to what you have been known for over time. Would this question have been answered differently a year ago? Or two? Are you continually building skills, keeping up to date in your profession and broadening your horizons? What new challenges have you overcome recently? What are you overcoming now? What skills did you build to do so?

At our firm we focused on cost reduction related consulting at the beginning of the 2001 recession (strategic sourcing, ERP related work and business process improvement, for example). There was a strong demand for it as times were very lean for many companies. As the economy began to pick up and companies were looking to expand, we continued in those earlier disciplines, but realized the market was shifting. We moved more heavily into international expansion strategies, market assessments and new product development. As companies became more willing to invest in their employees again, we offered leadership development and coaching. Are you aware of the trends - not fads - and moving with them? Are you investing in yourself to provide value that the market rewards now and in the future?