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Taking Charge of Your Professional Development

What are Your Core Skills?

Force yourself to answer this question: What am I really good at?

I say this because many people still don’t know what they’re good at – even after 20 years. And they insist on doing what they’re not good at.

They haven’t accepted that you can’t possibly be good at everything.


In my own case, I realized this early in my career. I put it down to luck. I clearly recognized those things I wasn’t good at. Over time, I have deliberately surrounded myself with a team who can do the stuff I’m not good at. I try to focus on my strengths.

By default or by mistake, this turned into one of my best decisions.

Realize, however, that early in your career, you might have to compromise with the first job(s). As time goes on, you really have to get into somewhere where you feel comfortable.

Be honest with yourself about assessing your true skills.

Be prepared if necessary to take a menial job to get started. I’m now CEO. To get started in the workforce, I did the following: parked cars, swept floors, burnt garbage, sold door to door, drove tractors, worked behind a bar.

I didn’t see any of the jobs as menial. I saw them all as experience. A stepping-stone to my future.

What have been some of your “stepping-stones” to get to where you are in your career?
What are some goals you hope to achieve to advance your career?

1 comment:

StephaniePumphrey said...

It was a level of nuanced discussion that can only be had once an institution has gotten used to assessing learning outcomes, so I was especially glad that we have been talking about that for the past year.

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