Is Analytics the way to Future-Proof your career?

I was asked this question during a 1:1 mentoring chat yesterday. My answer may surprise you, it was no. When I share about My 5 Secrets to Success Analytics isn't a main focus. Yes, I've had a successful career in Analytics, and yes, it's quite on-trend right now. But that doesn't mean I think it's the way for everyone to future-proof their career. My #1 secret is: Do Something You Love.

It's been a while since I focused on a bird or bird analogy in one of my articles, so please allow this brief tangent about Emperor Penguins and how these birds have future-proofed their species. (Yes, wiki has confirmed Penguins are birds - they're aquatic flightless birds).  Note this is not an article about gender stereotypes. Consider each of these birds is just following their job description.

Photo by Ian Parker / Unsplash

I ran a search on the "Top resilient animals" and found this article by blogger Kevin Muldoon where the 7th is a bird, the Emperor Penguin. Most obvious is, as Kevin shares, they live in extremely harsh conditions - the level of cold that most other animals can't survive.

But, what I love about them is how they work together as units and community teams to persevere. Emperor Penguins form partnerships for breeding. They only have one partner. After making a 60+ mile journey, the female lays the egg and passes on the responsibility to care for that egg to the male. The female then needs to recharge her energy and returns to the sea for food to gain back her lost weight. To me, this is the unit "future-proofing", by relying on each other. While the females are away, the males come together as a community team to provide warmth and safe keeping. They take turns bearing the worst of the severe winds to protect the eggs underneath them. When the female partners return they take back care for the child and the males head to the sea for their own replenishment. How wonderful is that? Units and Community Teams taking care of each other to achieve their goal: survival of their species.

Photo by Jeshoots.com / Unsplash

Back to my mentoring discussion. What do I really think will future-proof a career in 2021? Having a Diverse Skillset, including hard and soft skills. Being the invidivual in the unit or the unit in greater community team that can pitch in and help when others need a break gives you a clear advantage and can pave a path for advancement. Here's an article I found from SBBCollege on The Benefits to a Diverse Skillset and another from Work180. Both were written pre-covid, but they still hold.

The virtual work reality we are living in isn't going away anytime soon. Sorry, but it's true. As a result of eliminated or reduced commuting times and massively blurred lines between personal and professional time we remain at risk for more burn-outs and bow-outs in 2021. It's been an entire year of living & working through the pandemic and I'm still hearing from most individuals in my own network - moms, dads, singles, emptynesters... - all of them say the same thing: "I am SO busy, I need a break." If you are ambitious and looking to future-proof and use the pandemic as an opportunity to grow, then look for ways to expand the diversity in your skillset to be the MVP when others need you.

Be the individual in the unit, or the unit in the overall community team that can pitch in and help when others need it.

Now, back to the original question about the role of Analytics. Yes, this field can become part of that diversity. Analytics, AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) are all secret sauces that can help get to meaningful insights faster, leading to actionable business recommendations. But, if you don't love numbers, trends and ANALYSIS, as in Merriam-Webster's definition, "separating something into component parts or constituent elements", then don't throw all of your Easter Eggs in this basket. A fake interest in Analytics is a tough thing to hide in room full of Analytics people, so it's probably not the way to future-proof your career (wink-wink).

Photo by KalVisuals / Unsplash

Rather, as you expand your corporate knowledge and experience, look to do it in areas you enjoy. For the individual I was chatting with, they get the most joy from is being outside, climbing and exploring (not being immersed in data). So I suggested they start with that and approach their manager for ways they can help their team while also creating out more joyful time in their workday. Perhaps there's a stakeholder they already know who would be comfortable with having them contribute to a new project, or, there's a virtual industry event coming up where they can represent the company (most are either free or at low cost right now) to stretch their networking skills. At the end of the day, it's up to you as the individual to ideate these opportunities and present them to your leadership in the form of a win-win to achieve your goal. Many managers are going to be looking for a break in Q2-Q3, so figure out what skills you need to be their backup and work on those.

Now, perhaps you actually do love Analytics and would one day like to be a CAO or CDAO (read here for more on these titles). That's great. Yes, further and deeper study in Analytics is something you should be doing to continue to upskill and get to your destination. Continue to challenge yourself to learn and grow in new ways in this field you are passionate about. For hard skills, self study in programming languages like R and Python, and data viz tools like PBI, Tableau and Google's Data Studio is important because these are becoming table stakes. For soft skills, refine your storytelling technique, practice your public speaking skills (Toastmasters is great), and build your confidence as ways to future-proof your leadership journey within Analytics.

To all the graduates finishing up their final term and entering the workforce: I send you my sincerest best wishes!

To those mid-career feeling like they're in a trench and wondering what is next: YOU are in the driver seat of your career, and from the trenches we find out best growth moments. Best of luck to you!

~ Hilary

ps. I'd love to hear from you - what do you agree or disagree with?