“If you want to excel, then you better start learning all that you have to learn to your field and start sharing your knowledge with the ones follow!“, I hear my grandfather say when I told him, a long time ago, what I would like to do with my life.
My grandfather was a simple man, and he cannot understand concepts such as IT, communications, human development, and such. He was only focused on 2 things:
- to be excellent on what you choose to do (i.e. a dedicated professional with a growth mindset) and
- to be able (and intentional and willfully) to pave the way for all those want to follow the same path with you (i.e. a person of value)
These 2 criteria were all that makes for him a trustworthy professional and person!
[Tweet “How do you select your associates & clients?”]The same criteria, I have caught myself, applying in every person I meet or work with, in the business area.
In my mind, there is no distinction between a professional try to be improved in his/her area of expertise and a person of value!
Being a Professional
Today the business and market are far from complicated than it used to be and the adequacy (if not mastery) of the required skills, competencies and knowledge are more demanding than never before!
You face every day a batch of business problems you have to handle and to provide the necessary solutions/answers not just for your team or your company but for your partners in business as well.
[Tweet “You need to be a pro and a person of value to make a difference!”]In business decisions take their toll (time, money, resources, labor, etc.) and it is important for you to be able to navigate safely among the alternatives and select the most suitable ones! People depend on these decisions and you hope you have chosen right for everybody shakes.
A valuable partner is not only valuable for his/her expertise but for the capabilities and the decisions he/she can bring to the table!
But the decisions are not on autopilot (or shouldn’t be). In an environment constantly changing, as today interconnected business are, your capability of taking good (and sometimes, hard) decisions depends on the investment you have done on yourself and on your personal development.
You cannot be a good professional, entrepreneur or manager (even if the only resource you are handling is yourself) if you cannot spend time on yourself for learning more of the processes, the technologies, the methodologies and the tools of your trade!
Good, fast and efficient decisions are the output of detailed preparing planning and deliberation accompanied with the suitable action plans. You need to know for instance how to prioritize, to triage your tasks and obligations, in your work in order to be more effective and efficient, while you would have the time to help other people as well.
This cannot be done without detail searching, trials-and-errors, application of new procedures and tools. And it cannot be done at all if you do not have a growth mindset, which would apply equally to your work and to yourself.
In order to develop a mindset as that you need to: assume full ownership,
- assume full ownership, accountability, and responsibility for all your actions and their results
- focus on the aspects of your work needs improvement and decide how to do that
- maintain a healthy curiosity about everything new in your field and take some time on how you can apply in your particular niche market
- invest on yourself by keep on learning new things, feedback them in your field and test if or how they can be exploited and bring results
- take the time to listen carefully to people (clients, associates, partners, members on your team, etc.) and help them to solve their business problems (if you can)
- improve your products, services, and solutions
among many other things, you can do to improve yourself within your business field!
A Person of Value
Being a pro does not mean anything if it is not accompanied, supported and amplified by your personal traits. Character, personality, core values, personal strategies, life direction, etc. would further your business goals or would derail you from your life scope and mission.
The personal features are as important as the professional ones because the imbalance between the personal and professional elements and features would create with any mathematical certainty “problematic” business and personal situations and relationships.
The name of the game is trust, both in business as in personal level. The people would “invest” in you and at your ideas, approaches, products, solutions, and services if they know they can trust you! In a highly complex and digital social and business ecosystem, trust is the only currency, can make you go a far distance!
Trust is a difficult gained commodity and easily lost resources if you are not investing in keeping your edge and cultivating yourself and your relationships!
To do this, you should: be the person that makes a
- be the person that makes a difference
- provides constant value to the people he/she interacts with (team members, clients, etc.)
- pay attention to details and acknowledge the people and situations contribute to your success
- improve yourself by investing time, energy and resources to yourself capable to make you a better person (as testing new tools, eat healthy, exercising frequently, reading inspiring books, writing, etc.) and associate with the right kind of persons (either by participating to or developing a mastermind group, hiring a coach, communicate with experts in your field, etc.)
- be the “gate-keeper” protecting the people you serve from bad influences or/and bad services
- design your life according to your values, priorities, and strategies you have selected for servicing your goals (btw, for an integrated approach to life planning you can check the new book of Michael Hyatt & Daniel Harkavy “Living Forward“)
- employ win-win strategies in every situation (if possible, of course)
- maintain a growth mindset and a curiosity about all the things can improve you
- tweak procedures, tools, applications to meet your requirements and help you be a better person
- keep up your word at all situation (even, and especially, when it seems impossible)
among the many venues, you can select for being a better person and become a person of value!
These are the reasons why being a pro is tightly interwoven with you being as well and a person of value!
What’s your opinion!