The United State of Pop Personal Development
I love the concept of this video – taking the best parts of the 25 hottest pop songs from 2009 and create an audio and video mashup that provides a collective output that no single song can by itself offer the listener.
I’m a proponent of taking a similar approach to your personal development. If you really want to be a leader in your field of expertise – it takes more than the same skills that everyone else has. It takes learning the best of other associated fields and jobs, and wrapping those into your repertoire to consistently outperform your competition.
Are you a recruiter? Master the skills you need to find and attract candidates, and also understand your client’s business better than your peers. Know what the jobs you are hiring for actually do, and not just on paper. Really understand what it takes. Project Manager? Learn your system-development-life-cycle methodologies, but don’t ignore marketing tactics, or proficiency in technical areas required to deliver projects. Public Relations? Advertising? Find new ways to exploit technology to deploy more effective communication strategies and to get to your target markets in unique and innovative ways that your peers aren’t even thinking about.
I’m not suggesting to become the proverbial generalist “Jack of all trades and Master of None”. You ABSOLUTELY should have a core skill that defines what you can offer, but supplementing this core set of skills with some high-impact, strategic knowledge that sets you apart from your competition is a great idea. Make it a priority in 2010. I am.
Great topic, Jason! I can’t agree with you more about the importance of cross functional training. From a personal development perspective – the cross functional training I had early on in my career helped me really develop the ability to think multi-disciplined and is the skill set I see others lack the most. It’s unfortunate so many people choose to focus so heavily on their own discipline that they miss out on really gathering a strong perspective from other business units that can have a direct impact on their current (and future) role.
On the flip side, . If you disagree – please, feel free to stick with your tunnel-vision department only focused training and experience. It will make it way easier for someone like me to win that job you really wanted.
Love it. Take the best, leave the rest and create your own game. Thanks for sharing!
Sarah – It’s true, some people have blinders on and are passing up opportunities to become more informed to put them in a stronger position for career growth. Those that are well positioned will be there waiting for those jobs and will continue to outperform their peers (and competition).
Sharlyn – Love the one-liner “Take the best, leave the rest and create your own game”. So true!
Thank you both for stopping in and commenting.