Two ways to the top

Ok ok, I hear ya, I said I’d post once a week. Call this a freebie.

I was pondering the routes to becoming an ‘expert’ in your field, and it takes me back to my Woolworths days. If you don’t know, Woolworths was like a rubbish bin of all sorts of ‘stuff’ for sale, pilled high, sold cheap. We’re gonna refer to them as ‘Woolies’.

Back in my Woolies days, I was a part-time retail assistant (which teaches you a LOT about people and customer service), and in that time I met two types of middle manager. The first is the guy/gal who goes to uni and gets a qualification in management, and the other is the guy or gal who works their way up from the shop floor to an office, learning as they go. In my experience, the latter was a MUCH better manager. They’d really been there and understood what our jobs meant, and what the customers wanted. The other guy/gal, the one with the qualification, really struggled with the application of being a manager. They knew what it meant, but couldn't apply it.

I see the same thing in business, and have even come up against this in my own company! We hired a guy who believed he knew better than me cos he had a piece of paper to say he was a ‘marketing professional’, whereas I dragged my way up over 10+ years and gained experience and knowledge through action, not from a book. We really didn’t see eye to eye, and in fact, he left the company.

Don’t get me wrong, I value a good education and University has its place! BUT, real-world experience, especially in business, is far more important IMO. When we hire someone at MailNinja, I want to see that they’ve got a track record of doing the job. I also find it’s the same when companies are vetting MailNinja to see if we’re a good fit for them, they want to read case studies and ask lots of questions, but the thing I never get asked is… "do you have a marketing qualification!"

Just something to think about!