Julian Lighton is one of Silicon Valley’s leading strategy practitioners and business coaches and the author of Navigating Your Next: Discover the Career You Want and the Path to Get There (out now, Advantage Books).
He has more than 30 years’ experience advising, hiring and developing talent and was a Chief Strategy Officer at four, billion-dollar revenue public companies. Julian is one of only four hundred coaches worldwide to be recognized as a senior professional coach at the individual and team level by both the ICF and EMCC, and is a chartered director from the UK’s Institute of Directors.
The rules of professional differentiation have changed fundamentally.
For decades, you stood out by knowing more, working faster, or executing technical skills better than your peers. AI has demolished those advantages almost overnight. How do you define which skills are most valuable in an AI-powered jobs market and how to articulate this?
A clear-eyed view of your skill set
The first step to clarity is to establish with confidence who you are and what you have to offer – what I call in my new book, building a value proposition. Our personal value proposition is a brand promise – a promise of trustworthiness made up of your credibility (competency, quality, consistency, and persistence), relevance, values, and motivation.
I have worked with nearly a thousand executives and leaders and out of those interactions, I’ve created a Four Axis FrameworkTM. to help you do this:
- Competency: Careers are built on competency, progress and mastery (employers hire for competency). What skills do you have? Are you distinctive at any of them? What do you enjoy?
- Context: Success is highly contextual. In what contexts have you built your skills and been successful? What organizations and teams have you worked in? Which did you like?
- Culture: Success in organizations over time is based on fit. What are your values? What is your ‘tribe’? What cultures have you worked in and liked?
- Mindset: What drives you and motivates you (your reward mechanism and impact on others)? What are your aspirations and goals – what do you want to achieve, over what time period? What are your limiting beliefs and biases? What is your decision-making style and process?
Your personal value proposition
By defining your current strengths, you should feel more distinctive and you can start to think about where and how you can leverage these. Whatever your role within the training space, think about which of your skills will your potential employer gain a competitive advantage? What do you offer here that is unique to you?
Start with:
- Who am I? What is your story, background and identity. What are you good at? Where do you come from? Where are you going?
- What do I want? Your desired goal, opportunity or next career move/promotion.
- Why me? The unique value you bring. Why are you the right person and the right fit of credibility and relevance? Why are you the hero of your own story?
Then:
- Frame your story: Think in terms of a beginning (your current situation), a middle (the complication you’re solving), and an end (the resolution or impact you intend to achieve).
- Practice and refine it: Tell your story to yourself, hearing yourself say it out loud, tweak and revise as needed.
- Expand your channels: Once your basic story is in pretty good shape, translate it to the various media in draft form – elevator pitch, resume, cover letter, social media profiles.
- Seek next-level feedback and conduct A/B testing: Present your story and digital documents to a small group of mentors or former managers who understand you and your work but can be candid. Ask specifically, ‘Does this resonate?’.
- Field-test your story: Expand your audience to increasingly important people who are closer to what you’re aiming for. Schedule informational chats with a few recruiters or head-hunters who specialize in your field.
- Iterate until polished: Consolidate feedback and revise your story – tighten phrasing, swap out vague claims for concrete examples, and fine-tune the “Why me?” section
Remember – talent development remains deeply human at its heart. Defining your own value proposition by articulating your core competencies and values will help you believe in (and communicate) your credibility and relevance in the market. It’s now up to you to take purposeful action to navigate your next steps, using AI as a tool to do so.
