Embrace Scalable Skills...

A couple years back my boss and I were at the hotel bar casually conducting some after-action-discussions after a couple of days working Pentagon and State Department connections.

A strapping young man with full-sleeve tats approached us and after some pleasant small talk asked us directly, “How do I get to be you?”

I asked him how old he was, he stated 23.

I then told him what he most likely didn’t want to hear.?I told him he needed to do good work for a couple decades so that his reputation with key decision makers put him in a trusted position at both the personal and professional levels.?

Seeing he was a bit deflated by the response I asked him what his profession was, he stated he was an electrician working for a major telecommunications corporation.

I then told him to make sure he also worked on his scalable skills beyond the direct technical skills.?Technical “hands-on” skills are satisfying and necessary as one evolves into their profession, but, relying on hands-on skills into your golden years can result in frustration as you see less-skilled people move up in the organization.

We had another drink and paid for his bar-tab (hey, a couple of silverback CEOs are good for something) while wishing him good luck in his journey.

So now, after a few more multi-million-dollar awards, I will expand a bit on that advice for other upcoming leaders on this LinkedIn platform on what I mean by “scalable skills”

In high-school we were required to take a minimum of one semester of typing.?I resented it, but it taught me the basic “QWERTY” keyboard and how to reset my fingers on the keyboard without looking by using my pointer digits to feel the little bumps on the “F” and “J” keys.?Now I can type a sustained 45-50 word per minute and amaze my daughters as I continue to type will looking at their iPad drawings.?Turns out the most important class I took in public school was typing and this simple skill was critical in my success during my multiple Directorship missions in the Army and now as a CEO.

As an example, I tailor my Company's capabilities documents and summaries to an organization and/or leader.?I learned in the Pentagon that anything over 1-3 pages probably won’t be read, so, I shoot for that number.?When that 1-3 pages turns into an award of $10M+ that comes out to several million-dollars per page.?That is what I mean by typing being a scalable skill…

I am a painful introvert (INTJ on Myers-Briggs).?Fortunately, I recognized the shortcomings of this state enough that I forced myself to take Interpersonal Communications in College and threw myself into the practical exercises (i.e., active listening, mnemonic presentation organization, hand, eye, body mannerisms, etc.) .?

After graduation I took every opportunity in requesting that the Army send me to communications courses to include Columbia University’s Dr. Vincent Covellos’ “Risk Communication” and Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People”.?Both of these week-long courses were life-changing in improving my verbal communication toolkit.?

I also asked my leadership to give me opportunities to speak in front of hundreds of peers over the course of my career.?By the time I was a Captain I was being asked to present at annual conferences since my presentations turned out to be as entertaining as they were informative.?I wasn’t comfortable, but I knew my verbal communications weakness and actively sought to improve this important scalable skill.?Being able to speak off-the-cuff effectively and being trained to do verbal combat-rolls as the conversation heads down an unexpected path are critical skills.?I’ve seen deals die over one misplaced sentence, really.

So, for those still growing in their careers, be sure to spend time on the scalable skills and seek out opportunities to improve your written and verbal communications.?Sounds basic, but I have seen many folks miss that simple step towards achieving careers and positions that allow one to become more effective and relevant as they get older in life.

Good luck on your journey!