You, Inc. SWOT analysis

- Whether your company, industry, or country is in a recession, you have options and those options are fundamentally similar to the options that a company has. Think of yourself as a business, you, Inc. You have your revenue, which is your income, your assets, your house, your car, your overhead, all your living expenses, your human resources, for education and skills, and your all important stakeholders to whom you must deliver value, your spouse, kids, yourself, maybe even your parents. So the same tools that businesses use to understand their situations are ones that you can use too. One way to look at your situation is to use a very common business analytical tool called a SWOT Analysis, SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It's become a standard exercise for big companies and small, and even for government agencies and charities. All of these organizations use it because it's a comprehensive way of looking at everything good, and everything bad or risky in a situation. The great thing about a SWOT Analysis is it's balanced. It includes both positive aspects, strengths and opportunities, as well as negative aspects, weaknesses and threats. And it includes both internal factors, the strengths and weaknesses, and the external factors, the opportunities and threats that come from outside. This balance is what makes it so good at uncovering aspects of your situation that you might not initially think of. Let me give you an example, this is what my SWOT Analysis looked like in 2001, this was right after I finished my Master's degree in German literature and I had only limited professional work experience. I've included a template with questions to fill out in the exercise file so that you can make your own SWOT Analysis. This is important to do because only when you know what you have going for you and working against you can you make the best decisions possible. Let's briefly look at the four parts of the SWOT. Strengths, when trying to think about strengths consider the question you always get asked at a job interview, what are your biggest strengths. Your hard skills like certifications and technical competencies like knowing Excel or SAS obviously count. But don't forget to include soft skills too, things like working well in teams, being approachable and reading people well. Strengths also include the financial benefits of your household, for instance, having a spouse with a steady income. Weakness, now let's talk about the other question you always get asked at a job interview. The question you dread, what are your biggest weaknesses? What are you not so good at? Does the idea of giving a presentation in front of hundreds of people make you weak in the knees? Are you hopeless at math and computers? These would be weaknesses. Now about opportunities, this could be a professional opportunity, an education opportunity, a skill building opportunity. Is there and an industry, region, or country that's heating up right now? Are there training opportunities at your job that you could take advantage of. Could you stay in school while funding your further education and building your skills? These are all great examples of opportunities. And then there's threats. What could come along and make your job go the way of the Dodo? Is there national recession on the horizon? Are you in a recession prone industry, like hotels? Maybe your boss dislikes you, or robots are doing your job at your company, or at your competitor's. These are all threats, when you're done with your SWOT, look at the whole picture. You'll need to play to your strengths and opportunities to find upside in a downturn.