Issue #111: On the Most Underrated Skill to Build, Avoiding the Dunning-Kruger Effect, and More

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INSIGHTS (on leadership/self-leadership)

If you search skills you’ll need to build in the coming decade, you’ll undoubtedly find that communication, strategic thinking, creativity, and the like, all scream back at you. But just as important, with far less fanfare, lies another absolutely essential, unheralded skill (inspired by this Harvard Business Review article ). ?

Compartmentalization.

In today’s ever increasingly overstuffed, unfocused, distraction-laden workplace, you’d benefit profoundly from compartmentalizing in 5 ways:

1. Compartmentalize what matters most, and stay focused on it, versus stuff that doesn’t. (It’s too easy to get sucked into someone else’s urgent)

2. Compartmentalize what new work you’ll take on, and what you’ll delegate (related to above, but worth separate consideration)

3. Compartmentalize problems you’ll attack, versus those you shouldn’t (i.e. avoid taking on too many of other people’s problems)

4. Compartmentalize what feedback matters, and what doesn’t. (Not all criticism is created equal – you choose who gets to criticize you)

5. Compartmentalize mistakes and past offenses. (Don’t live in the past, wall it off once it’s served its purpose for you, and move forward)

IMPERFECTIONS (a mistake many make)

There’s a bias known as the Dunning-Kruger effect that all too many make the mistake of falling into. This occurs when less competent people rate their competence higher than it actually is, while more competent people rate theirs lower than it really is. The point is, the bias shows that we’re generally terrible at judging our own skill levels, and as a result, unhelpful things happen. Specifically, inaccurate self-assessments cause us to:

a) go into an event underprepared or unjustifiably overconfident, or

b) we shy away from career-enhancing projects or risks because we think we won’t fare as well as we actually will

The solve is easy: be thoughtful and honest about self-assessing how good or bad you are at something, before you engage in it, or decide to engage in it. Accurate self-assessments lead directly to personal growth – either you work hard to improve your skills before taking on an endeavor you’re not yet equipped to handle well, or you stretch yourself into more space where your skillset will actually help you succeed.

IMPLEMENTATION (one research-backed strategy, tip, or tool)

With graduation season now past us, here’s the best tip I heard from the plethora of commencement speeches around the country. It came from my nephew, Troy Borkowski, at his eighth-grade graduation ceremony. Every student shared an inspirational tip as part of a rotating slide show - Troy’s advice was simply this:

Don’t follow your dreams. Follow me on Instagram at troyborkowski07

I have no lesson or wisdom for you in this. It just really made me laugh.

Let me know the best quote/tip/advice you heard this graduation season.

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Also check out my Soundview 2021 Best Business Book and Bulk Books bestseller, Leading from the Middle: a Playbook for Managers to Influence Up, Down, and Across the Organization.