I'm skipping to the punchline, it's what people are asking for! Maybe I've drawn these writings out a bit much missing the actual point of the whole thing LOL.
Okay, the framework...as a commodity you perform a task for someone, operating as an individual contributor. We've talked about this.
As a product you create an output for someone, often leaning on cross-functional support group. We've already covered this too.
As a service you manage a process for someone, perhaps supervising a team of people (commodities and products). Typically you manage a department or a function and have internal or external customers.
Next, is an experience that you create and stage where you become a storyteller to draw from insights and connect the dots to drive a particular action.
Then lastly you are a transformer creating a vision for a company or industry, possibly becoming a recognized 'thought leader'. Spoiler alert: the magical but difficult part is crossing this chasm from service to experience.
Let's start with the difference between a service and an experience. A service is time well saved while an experience is time well spent. Case in point, I've been writing in coffee shops despite having a cappuccino-capable Keurig machine AND Nespresso machine at home. This is because it's not about saving me time but about savoring my time and absorbing background chatter (while critiquing) and conversations (often engaging in) and laugher (occasionally to myself). It's the smell of roasted beans and the worn and sometime completely busted leather sofas. And I pay dearly for this, sometimes not even drinking a single drop of coffee.
I once had a grumpy middle-aged rugby player for a manager called Alex. We traveled across the world together. Lost wallets in Mexico together. Spent nights in penthouses together - separate beds FYI. But he was done with travel, and his reasoning: "you know you're important when people come to see you". This resonates to this day.
To differentiate yourself in the workplace, stage an experience. Combine commodities, and products, and services and create a platform, physically or digitally - something that enables you to share a bold vision. Throughout my career I had no right to upset the apple cart and have Boards of Directors come down from their boardrooms for the first time ever and listen to some unknown. But it's happened four times. Important customers typically invite you to their turf for meetings, but an experience will bring them to yours. It's happened more than a hundred times. Capture their attention and share a story, of chaos, but hope. Set the stage for transformation.
Here's the catch. You have to put yourself out there and not just go beyond your comfort zone but far into your fear zone. There's always going to be fifty percent chance things will backfire and go horribly wrong and this is uncomfortable or even a non-starter for most. Me - I recently concluded that most things I consciously do are risky and it's the fifty percent chance of failure that actually energizes me. It's an addiction to tight-roping the fine line between catastrophic failure and wild success. And if I can fuel this adrenalin while helping the world (or my company) too then it's a win-win.
It was only recently I pieced together how to overcome fear and thrive in an environment at the verge of potential failure. And it comes down to one word...NOW. There only is now, infinite now's, so embrace the present. Not yesterday or tomorrow.
But that is a story for another day :-)