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Assets and Capabilities

Several years ago I developed a personal career strategy that I call The Assets and Capabilities Model.  For the purposes of this model, an asset is something which you control and a capability is something which you can get done.  Notice that this is different than “things you own” and “skills” – that’s intentional and to clarify, here are some examples before moving on:

Some of my assets:

  • My AWS account
  • My company’s reputation on Upwork
  • My computers (note that some assets are, actually, “things you own”)
  • Software I’ve purchased
  • My blog
  • My Zoom account (previously my WebEx account)
  • My relationship with my kick-ass designer in Ukraine
  • etc.

Some of my capabilities:

  • I can design large-scale distributed systems
  • I can implement a business or development process, train people on it, and monitor it instantly
  • I can perform code analysis and technical due diligence (in part because of experience and in part because of some of the software I own)
  • I can build remote teams quickly
  • I can schedule an online meeting at the drop of a hat
  • etc.

Take notice of some of the overlap – I can build remote teams quickly in part due to my experience and my company’s reputation on Upwork.  I can schedule an online meeting at the drop of a hat because of my Zoom account and because I’ve done it many times before.  I have long lists of assets and capabilities which took years of conscious effort to develop and several times a year I ask myself a few questions:

  1. What assets aren’t being fully capitalized upon? (I’m looking at you, list of domain names)
  2. What capabilities aren’t being used frequently enough?
  3. What are some assets I can acquire/develop?
  4. What are some assets I can divest? (domain names, old computer gear, and books are common)
  5. What are some capabilities I’m missing?
  6. What are some capabilities which need to be improved or refreshed?

I recommend the exercise to anyone who is interested in actively managing their value – pretty much anyone who isn’t retired.  The exercise starts simply enough: grab your note-taking tool of choice (I have a thing for Canson Sketch Pads) and start listing things you have/control which can be used to solve problems and things that you can get done, either yourself or via your network of strong relationships.  I find it’s helpful to link things together to find self-reinforcing constellations of value – things like AWS, Upwork, large-scale system design, building remote teams, and development process implementation all fit together to form a higher-level capability of “I can start a software company in an hour with nothing but an idea, a credit card, and an internet connection”.  As you perform your asset and capability cataloging exercise, you’ll naturally identify some of these higher-level capabilities yourself.  After you do, then you can follow on with questions about how to make that capability stronger, how to capitalize on it, etc.

What’s the point of doing all of this?  Right now you’re probably sitting on a gold mine of value, but it’s not being actively managed.  Once you have your catalog, you’ll see what you need to read, what kind of training you should seek out, which things you need to practice, and gaps which need to be filled – this is internal management.  Next, your eyes will be opened to opportunities.  You’ll find yourself coming across people who need something that you can can do or a chance to deploy an asset – this is external management.

As a final example, I remember some time around the end of 2009 I decided that I lacked public speaking experience.  I had no problem speaking to groups in meetings, but I had very little experience presenting to an audience who was there specifically to listen to me.  I developed an idea for a talk about the future of work and how it affected recruiter, contacted a few recruiters, and said, “I have this talk and I’m trying to get better at speaking – may I present to your team sometime in the next month?” Not everyone responded, but a couple did and I got to practice.  Public speaking is now on my list of capabilities because I’ve actually done it and so I know I can do it again.

What’s on your list?  What are you missing? How are you going to capitalize on the unique collection of assets and capabilities that you possess?

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