One unique trait of us as humans is our resilience and creativity in the face of adversity. Our ability to think creatively towards a solution is challenged the most during extraordinary times. This ability comes from our instinctual survival techniques right from our Stone Age that has taught us to not just to survive but thrive over the centuries.

Different factors such as the environment, economy and society have gone through several cycles of change raising with it our stakes to discover, improvise and reinvent ourselves with the times. Changing times have given rise to changing needs – giving birth to new opportunities for growth and development, on a personal level as well as a sociological level.

Today, we live in a technology-driven society that dictates how we interact, communicate and do business with each other. We have all become creatures of modern comfort in a gadget-friendly world allowing us to fulfill our different needs and aimed at making our lives easier. However, on a fundamental level our primary needs have always been centered on survival and sustenance.

That got me thinking about what skills are needed to thrive and sustain in today’s modern workforce? I reached out to a few of the thought leaders while at SAS to seek their advice and opinion. I was looking forward to hearing what they had to say coming from different backgrounds, sensibilities and with over 140 years of collective experience! What I learnt in return was both surprising and delightful. Sharing their collective revelations below:

Adele Sweetwood – Vice President, Americas Marketing - The one skill would be communication – all forms, verbal, written, presentation… With the right communication, you will enable all aspects of growth and leadership. If you were to ask me about the one ‘trait’, I would say, authenticity. People respond positively when you are genuine.

Diana Levey – Marketing Director, JMP - You need to be flexible. Whether you’re at home or in the office, things seldom go as planned. So being able to change on a dime without getting flustered or having your nose out of joint is about as important a trait or skill as I know of.

Jenn Mann – Vice President, Human Resources - Regardless of your industry, it is important to not only be competent in your area, but to have the right attitude. Talent is not enough! Attitudes have the power to lift up or tear down a team. The right attitude also could refer to a “positive attitude”. What I mean by the right attitude is:

• Willingness to admit mistakes
• Seeing strengths in others and nurturing those strengths
• Not taking yourself too seriously
• Living life with some humility
• Having a “can do” attitude

Paul Kent – Vice President, Platform Research and Development - Be useful! You have to combine your technical skills with your sensory ones. Identify an area this is being underserved and apply yourself to it. (Cheerfully is always a good modifier). Your peers and hopefully your boss too, will recognize you for this. The harder question is how does one learn/practice/polish their “useful bone”…that’s usually called work-experience!

Radhika Kulkarni – Vice President, Advanced Analytics - Communication is a very important skill in all careers. Listen to all the input and be open to all the feedback given to you. Learn to articulate your message in a language that is understood by your audience. This is especially important when you work in a cross-functional team with diverse skills where everyone contributes one piece of a larger picture.

Scott VanValkenburgh – Senior Director, Alliances - Empathy. It may sound a bit strange, but empathy towards your own life, its limits and possibilities and empathy towards others. This helps bring perspective, balance and understanding in both your personal and professional relationships. Today, the need and positive effect of human interaction and connection is at an all-time high, and unless you have empathy, one’s career and life will fall short of its full potential.

Suzanne Gordon – Chief Information Officer and Vice President of IT - If you are a ‘manager’ I would say, it’s building an atmosphere of trust where collaboration can happen easily and swiftly. You need to listen to the people that work for you, you need to encourage them to work out issues amongst themselves and not run to you with problems. You need to support and trust them and hire good people! If you are an ‘individual contributor’ I would say its persistence, not giving up if you have a good idea.

Suzanne sums it best for us by sharing this quote, “Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.” – William Feather

Did their advice resonate with you? Can you think of any other skill you believe is vital to thrive and sustain in today’s economy? Let’s hear it.

Photo by country_boy_shane

I believe that no matter where you are in your career path – beginner, experienced or advanced – it’s important to stay on your toes and nurture the quality of being naturally curious. As humans we all are born with this innate capability of curiosity. As children this quality is further pronounced as we try to engage with and explore the world around us. It’s through this formative emotion that represents a drive to investigate, understand, and learn new things while we go through life and experience things for the first time.

At every stage of our life, we all experience moments that are new and novel to us that require sense making. We attempt to tread that and learn about it in many ways, one of which we’ve all done as children – ask questions! Asking questions and quenching that curiosity centered on a new thing has been an age old tradition that we’ve all graduated from one stage to another as children to adults. It has helped us discover, challenge and stimulate our intellectual curiosity as we mature through the years.

Even through our vocational life, it’s equally important that we try to retain that quality that keeps the learning alive and informational interviews are a great way to achieve that. We all are gifted with the abundance of collective intelligence and knowledge bank gained from our existing network of smart, intelligent and experienced peers and seniors. Each one of us brings something unique to the table based on our background, skills and cultural sensibilities. So why not tap into that collective intelligence of your network to extend and strengthen your vocational learning?

Whether you are out there seeking your first break and trying to get a leg in after college, thinking of transitioning and making a complete career switch from one field to another or vying for the success ladder to get a promotion in your existing job, informational interviews can be a useful medium to help achieve that.

Important considerations – Although I address these types of meetings as ‘interviews’ there is a stark difference in these types of interviews with regular ‘job interviews’ and hence should be treated differently. The focus of this interview should be:

• Treat it as an opportunity for self-discovery and self-assessment
• Ask relevant questions centered on that person’s career, company and profession                          
• Explore the career opportunities that lie within
• Use it as an avenue to find your motivation and inspiration seeking advice from someone you admire
•  To network and build on a new contact
• Overall, really treat it as a learning ground to prepare, improve and build on your skills, qualifications and profession
• The most important differentiator being, do not treat this opportunity as a back-door entry to a job. Don’t go blatantly seeking a job, it can potentially put-off your interviewee and might result in cutting short your interview time, where you could’ve spent all that time asking great questions and getting to know your contact better!
• Keep an open mind, respect their time and always walk away thanking your contact for their time and advice.

If done right, you would’ve walked away not only having made a new contact, but someone who could potentially be your mentor down the road, with continued interaction

In addition to acquiring the standard job interviews, seeking the right informational interviews and having the ability to conduct these tactfully will in many ways catapult you and your career in the right direction. So don’t be afraid to ask questions and share that knowledge with your network. Wouldn’t you agree?

Photo by ankakay

As part of WIN, I was glad to attend and participate in both of the recent events. The first was a discussion panel made up of our very own SAS stars in February “How Agile is your Career?” A shout out to Jenn Mann, Suzanne Gordon, Adele Sweetwood, Jamie Robbins, and Nelle Schantz for making this an entertaining, engaging and informative panel for us with active audience participation! The one I attended yesterday via webcast was a talk on “How to Perform Like a Rock star & Still Have Time for Lunch” by author Orna Drawas. She used the art of storytelling and shared anecdotes from her own life to engage with the audience and offer secrets of her success in her career thus far.

I, for one, learn and remember better by writing things down, especially inspirational words and hand-me-down wisdoms. Here is a brief recap of what struck me as commonalities from our speakers to the road of success, be it your career or family life.

Being successful is a relative term and more importantly, a state of mind – Each one of us owns a different yard stick to measure our own accomplishments and a path that leads to our happiness. It’s like one of those fuzzy words that Orna spoke about that can be open to interpretation by different people. The goal to ‘being successful’ is not relative to another person’s success or ‘idea of success’ but an internal drive and zest to do better in our daily lives – all the little things that lead to a bigger milestone in our lives. So the trick is to not be afraid to carve your own path and take baby steps to achieve it at your own pace.

Treat your personality like putty – Play with it till you like the shape that emerges. I state this with a caveat that it does not literally mean swaying with the lightest breeze! Fact is there is always room for improvement and creativity, so don’t deprive yourself of what you can become by being closed-minded and rigid. The trick in that lies with truly listening to what others have to say about you and finding creative ways to improve upon that sense of self without feeling attacked or defensive. More importantly, it comes with a quiet sense of inner confidence and faith in yourself that will help you strive higher.

Don’t take yourself too hard or seriously – This was a repeated theme that jumped out to me, as much as it is important to be goal centric, purposeful and conscientious of how we lead our lives, it’s almost necessary that we don’t forget to have fun. The trick is to retain the ability to see the lighter side of things in life. There’s a great deal to learn from who we all were, as kids! Adventurous, unassuming, playful, creative and innocent. I’m sure life will throw us challenges at every turn and corner, winners are those who ‘sharpen their saw’ and the ability to cope with it all and emerge triumphant!

Just my two cents! Would love to hear your perspective on it.

Photo by FindYourSearch