I asked an interesting question today about myself that if
I get a chance to start everything again then what skills would I like to have.
I came up with 5 skills which I believe are most essential in career success.
Good news is that these all skills are learnable. No one is better or worse
than the other.
1. Public Speaking- I give huge importance to this
skill. Ability to face the crowd and say your thoughts boldly is something
which I always appreciate. Since beginning of our childhood our parents teach
us to be obedient. No one teaches us to be rebellious. We subconsciously start
presuming that whatever our elder say is true, and should be followed
diligently. You need to be assertive to be a good public speaker. You would
have to gather lots of courage to stand, and say what you want to say. That is
why, I always put Public Speaking skill on the top.
2. Good Memory- Every type of information is available
today within the range of one click. We have everything outside, but nothing
inside. We read a lot, but remember
nothing. We sometimes appear like empty vessels. Good memory helps in storing
the information in our head and then using it whenever we want to use it. Which
type of person would you praise, a person who has vague opinions or the one who
can support his thoughts from the evident historical data. Knowledge is the
best tool to influence anybody in this world.
3. Documentation- We all work, but how many of us keep a
record of the work which we do. Answer is- very few, and only those few people
put the mark on this world. Keeping a record of your work helps in self-motivation,
and gives you self-confidence about your own performance. Even a small testimonial,
from your senior officials, praising your work can bring a turning point in
your career. Nobody knows that how a small report prepared by you can bring how
much impact in your life.
4. Accept your mistake quickly- When you do some mistake
accept it quickly. Don’t delay it. Accepting your mistake proves that you have
learned from your mistake and you would not repeat the same mistake in the
future. This helps tremendously in developing trust between you, and your
team mates. They believe more in you because of your honesty.
5. Flinch- Flinch means to make a reaction of pain or fear
from your body movements. Flinch is an important tool in ‘emotional
blackmailing’. If you find that the other person has annoyed you or he’s not
buying in then, flinch. Show from your body or facial expressions that you are
not liking what the other person is saying or doing. 8 out of 10 times flinch
technique helps in converting your competitor into your client. Almost all the
good negotiators use this technique effectively.
6. Systematic Innovation- In simple words, innovation
means to create something new. It does not mean to make an old thing better,
but it means to make something new, something which did not exist before. As
per my experience, most of the innovations fail in the market due to different
known and unknown reasons. It is my advice that before launching any innovation
we should make a systematic plan of action with thorough research else we are
destined to fail. If you succeed make a list of factors which helped you in succeeding,
and if you fail then also make a list of factors which caused failure. Every
success and every failure can help in future planning.
