Chapter 3 Strategy and Your Career The competitive advantage pyramid provides a way for you to quickly document and understand a company’s sources of competitive advantage, and it allows you to make some judgment about how durable and sustainable that advantage might be. As you approach decisions about where to work, you would be wise to invest the time and effort into creating a pyramid for each company you might like to work for. If you use the rigorous research methods described earlier in the chapter, you should be able to create an accurate and useful picture of the company. If you can do interviews or site visits, you may be able to create personal relationships that will give you good information and some positive recommenders within the company. The pyramid can help you prepare for interviews as well, as you’ll be able to couch your answers in terms the company will value, and the pyramid tells you where to focus your research so you learn more about the company. The real value of the competitive advantage pyramid model in your job search, however, comes when you create one for yourself, or You, Inc. There is an end-of-chapter exercise that describes how you can create a personal pyramid. Take the time to collect data on your own activities, strengths, and weaknesses. You may get some uncomfortable feedback, but it will help you identify where you can add value. Catalog your resources and capabilities and think deeply about your core values and priorities. This deep level of the pyramid should help you clarify what you care about most, in your work and throughout your career. With a thoughtful personal pyramid, you can compare yours with those of target companies. You can identify areas, and jobs, where you may be able to create value for a company, and see where you can add to their resource base as well as grow your own. Finally, and most importantly, you can make sure that potential employers share your priorities and align with your values. These pyramids, both company and personal, can help you make better choices about where to work. Chapter 5 Strategy in Your Career: What Is Your Unique Value? As you contemplate what career path is best for you, ask yourself: What is my unique value? Hopefully it’s clear that you don’t want to be a cost leader—you don’t want to convince a business to hire you because you will work for less money than anyone else. You want to be a differentiator. So what differentiates you? What skills (capabilities) do you have (or can you develop) that will convince a company that you are the best person for the job? Of course, the first step is to see if there is a fit between your skills and a particular career. For example, if you want to get a job in management consulting, with a focus in strategy, you will need to have strong critical thinking skills and be good at case analysis and structured problem solving. Most management consulting firms ask job candidates to solve a business problem during the i ...

1. Chapter 3
Strategy and Your Career
The competitive advantage pyramid provides a way for you to
quickly document and understand a company’s sources of
competitive advantage, and it allows you to make some
judgment about how durable and sustainable that advantage
might be. As you approach decisions about where to work, you
would be wise to invest the time and effort into creating a
pyramid for each company you might like to work for. If you
use the rigorous research methods described earlier in the
chapter, you should be able to create an accurate and useful
picture of the company. If you can do interviews or site visits,
you may be able to create personal relationships that will give
you good information and some positive recommenders within
the company. The pyramid can help you prepare for interviews
as well, as you’ll be able to couch your answers in terms the
company will value, and the pyramid tells you where to focus
your research so you learn more about the company.
The real value of the competitive advantage pyramid model in
your job search, however, comes when you create one for
yourself, or You, Inc. There is an end-of-chapter exercise that
describes how you can create a personal pyramid. Take the time
to collect data on your own activities, strengths, and
weaknesses. You may get some uncomfortable feedback, but it
will help you identify where you can add value. Catalog your
resources and capabilities and think deeply about your core
values and priorities. This deep level of the pyramid should help
you clarify what you care about most, in your work and
throughout your career.
With a thoughtful personal pyramid, you can compare yours
with those of target companies. You can identify areas, and
jobs, where you may be able to create value for a company, and

2. see where you can add to their resource base as well as grow
your own. Finally, and most importantly, you can make sure
that potential employers share your priorities and align with
your values. These pyramids, both company and personal, can
help you make better choices about where to work.
Chapter 5
Strategy in Your Career: What Is Your Unique Value?
As you contemplate what career path is best for you, ask
yourself: What is my unique value? Hopefully it’s clear that you
don’t want to be a cost leader—you don’t want to convince a
business to hire you because you will work for less money than
anyone else. You want to be a differentiator. So what
differentiates you? What skills (capabilities) do you have (or
can you develop) that will convince a company that you are the
best person for the job? Of course, the first step is to see if
there is a fit between your skills and a particular career. For
example, if you want to get a job in management consulting,
with a focus in strategy, you will need to have strong critical
thinking skills and be good at case analysis and structured
problem solving. Most management consulting firms ask job
candidates to solve a business problem during the interview.
Candidates who perform well on case interviews typically do a
lot of practice solving business problems before the interview.
Moreover, junior consultants are asked to do a lot of data
analysis. As a result, job applicants that are experts at Excel
and other data analysis software programs like Tableau, R,
Stata, or Sequel can use those capabilities as a differentiator in
an interview. In addition, management consultants must interact
with clients and give presentations —so interpersonal and
linguistic skills are also important for success. By
understanding the skills that are important for success in a
particular career (this is your choice of “where to compete” for
a job), you can determine whether your skill set will allow you
to differentiate yourself. Some business careers (such as in
Accounting and Finance) require you to be organized, good with

3. numbers, and skilled at paying attention to detail. Other
business careers (for example, in advertising, marketing, or
product development) require that you have creative ideas and a
flair for experimenting and trying new things. Still others (for
example, sales) place a premium on interpersonal skills,
extraversion, empathy, and persistence. If you apply the
strategy principles you are learning in this book to your career,
you are more likely to secure a job in a career that is a good fit
for you.
Chapter 9
Strategy in Your Career
Why should you develop a deep understanding of international
strategy? What good might it do you in your career? Some
points to consider:
1. Companies are looking to hire and promote those with a
global outlook.
2. It used to be that few employees spent time overseas. Now
being transferred abroad for a period of time is much more
likely to happen.
3. Understanding and supporting your company’s international
goals will help you further develop your skills and may also
generate a lot of goodwill from those above you if those goals
have to include transferring some company operations overseas.
4. Companies are increasingly likely to have a diverse,
international company culture. And if they don’t, they likely
deal with suppliers and/or buyers who do. Companies these days
are less hierarchical and accomplish a lot more with teams. If
you have a global outlook and can work with people from
different cultures, you will be more successful.
Chapter 12
Strategy and Your Career
How to Use Line of Sight to Advance Your Career
The main idea behind the line of sight concept is to create a

4. strong link between an individual’s behavior and organizational
goals. You can use line of sight to help you find and advance in
your first posting, as well as to manage your long-term career.
The line of sight principle, along with the Personal Diamond
you developed in Chapter 3, can contribute to your personal
competitive advantage.
As you look for jobs, and when you land that first position,
make a line of sight map that connects you with the company.
When most people begin working, they are overwhelmed with
the day-to-day work they have been assigned to do. It’s easy to
lose focus on which tasks are most important and focus on those
tasks that are most urgent. A line of sight map will help you
avoid this problem and be more productive. You should identify
the company’s competitive advantages and key resources (a
Company Diamond will prove quite helpful here). Then ask,
what activities in my division (and eventually work group)
contribute to that competitive advantage? Which activities build
and strengthen resources and capabilities? The next step is easy:
What activities should you focus on to contribute to competitive
advantage, or to deepen the firm’s resources and capabilities?
Once you have identified the three or four critical activities,
make sure these get attention every day you are at work. You
will find yourself on the road to improved performance and
you’ll be more valuable to your organization. They’ll pay you
more, promote you, and work to keep you employed.
As you think about your career, use the Personal Diamond
model to identify your personal competitive advantages, and the
resources and capabilities you have, or ones you need to
develop, in order to grow and sustain that competitive
advantage. Make a list of the key personal activities you need to
engage in to deepen your own resource-base. This will probably
include your work tasks, but it may suggest other projects or
jobs you ought to consider within your current organization to

5. enhance your skills. This list will almost certainly include
activities that occur outside of work, or outside your current
organization. This may be spending time learning spreadsheet or
data analytics skills, or it may involve volunteering at a local
non-profit.
When you identify these activities, make a plan to engage in
them every week, month, or quarter. These activities, when
engaged in consistently over time, will strengthen your personal
resources and capabilities in ways that are most important to
you. As time passes, you’ll find yourself qualified for your
“dream jobs,” the ones that allow you to leverage your strengths
and grow.
Dyer, Jeffrey, H. et al. Strategic Management: Concepts and
Cases. Available from: MBS Direct, (3rd Edition). Wiley Global
Education US, 2019.
For this assignment you should use the readings and works you
did for summer 1 - summer 6 it
is the same course work and no new readings are required. You
can also use the reading memo
template you helped me with.
The issue we will focus on is teacher retention, teacher burnout,
hiring issues/certification
issues in the Philadelphia School District the below link is to
hiring events they have coming
up. With covid and the ongoing issue in America of not having
enough teachers to teach

6. particularly in urban school districts philadelphia public school
district is experiencing even
larger hiring issues than before
https://www.philasd.org/blog/2022/07/22/district-to-host-hiring-
events-now-through-august
/
https://philadelphia.chalkbeat.org/2022/2/25/22951454/staff-
teacher-shortage-philadelphia-
district-pandemic
The culminating assignment for the course is a paper applying
concepts from organizational theory to a
practical setting or experience.
● The goal of the paper is to provide you with the opportunity
to synthesize your learning across
the various ideas that we have been studying
● Process
o Choose a particular problem/conundrum/dilemma/issue
currently being encountered
by your organization or another organization with which you are
very familiar
▪ You may focus on the organization that you studied for the
Civic Leadership
course
▪ The chosen problem must be complex enough and interesting
enough to engage

7. the readers’ attention throughout
▪ This problem may not have a resolution, it may just be the
way things are
currently
▪ If there is an interest in addressing the problem, the strategy
should not be
readily apparent, and of course any approach will have trade-
offs
● You can describe potential means of addressing the problem,
though
you need not actually enact them
o Select a range of resources to assist you in understanding the
problem from an
organizational perspective
▪ Review the literature that we have studied, as well as our
notes and your Reading
Guides
▪ You can draw on other resources and your experience as well,
but there is no
requirement to seek out additional resources
▪ You should not use every article that we read, but be
judicious, based on what
helps you best explain the problem
1
https://www.philasd.org/blog/2022/07/22/district-to-host-hiring-
events-now-through-august/

8. https://www.philasd.org/blog/2022/07/22/district-to-host-hiring-
events-now-through-august/
o Provide an understanding of the problem and its context from
a range of theoretical
perspectives, across the various traditions we have studied
▪ If the problem lends itself to resolution, again use multiple
perspectives to
interpret the potential consequences (intended and unintended)
o Organization
▪ The problem that you describe should provide a thread
throughout the paper
▪ Include, inasmuch as possible, unbiased observations and
quotes
● Avoid inferences and comments not connected to the problem,
except
where necessary to provide context
▪ Vignettes are useful, but not too many
▪ Charts and diagrams—always a plus ☺
▪ Format
● Length: 25 pages maximum, exclusive of the references and
any figures
● Double-spaced, 1” margins
● References as per APA 7
2
3

9. SMART GOALS
The basic concept of SMART goals is based on the work of
Doran (1981). The concept has been modified and reused many
times in literature about strategic planning, self-improvement,
team processes, etc. “Checking” your goals against the SMART
criteria can help develop goals that have a higher potential for
success!
SMART =
· Specific – target a specific area for improvement.
What exactly do I want to accomplish?
· Measurable – quantify or at least suggest an indicator of
progress.
If a goal is not measurable it is not possible to know whether
there is progress toward reaching the goal. A measurable goal
is one that indicates when it is accomplished.
· Attainable – can it be reached within reasonable constraints?
The goal should be realistic; not out of reach or so easy that it
is meaningless. Are there some attitudes, abilities, skills and
financial capacity you need to reach the goals?
· Relevant – does it matter?
Goals that are relevant will tend to generate support from your
family, workplace, mentors, and peers. A relevant goal will be
worthwhile and will “fit” with other goals.
· Time-related or Time-bound – specify when the result(s) can
be achieved.
Goals need target dates. A time-bound goal not only establishes
a sense of urgency but also helps define what can be done
today, next week, within the next few months or the next year.
Doran, G. T. (1981). There's a S.M.A.R.T. way to write
management's goals and
objectives. Management Review, 70 (11): 35–36.

10. Unit 8: Personal Strategic PlanDirections
(Goal is to open a small business with skating rink with an
arcade room.)
This assignment is a final program paper to apply strategic goal
setting to your ongoing professional growth. The paper will
have a title page, abstract page, 3-5 pages of body and a
reference page (in addition to the Rimm book, you may have a
few other references). The Dyer et al (2020) text (Chapters 3, 5,
9 and 12) contains a boxed feature called “Strategy and Your
Career" (some are "Strategy in your Career") that may also be
helpful, especially the one in Chapter 12.
1. Do a SWOT analysis for yourself that relates to your goals.
2. List three SMART goals you have for your professional
growth/personal life (see handout in a link in Unit 8 or read
more about “SMART goals” on the internet). Note that SMART
goals include timelines; some goals may have several
steps/subgoals to be met on the way to major goal.
a. For each goal, describe the importance of the goal, such as
how meeting the goal will impact your career.
b. Write a detailed action plan including resources needed,
networking, funding, etc. to meet the goals. The “Creating Line
of Sight Measures” in Chapt 12, p. 228 of Dyer et al (2020) may
be helpful.
c. Describe internal and external factors that may impact
(positively and/or negatively) the achievement of your goals
d. Describe how you will measure progress toward meeting each
of the goals.
3. Include at least one professional organization that you can
join (many have student memberships at reduced prices; you
may want to join now!). Explain the benefits of belonging and
when you will join the organization.