Go Beyond the Obvious

4 Traits a Successful Professional Must Develop

In today’s information age, simply having an expert knowledge in a field is no longer enough. Nowadays, facts and figures are available to anyone at their fingertips. Call Siri and it will answer you. Ask ChatGPT and you will get a comprehensive compendium of the matter. Go to YouTube and you will find a video of someone explaining in detail what to do. Anyone can learn and be very knowledgeable in virtually any subject matter. It only takes a little digging and dedication.

Of course, experience is still very important and knowing how and when to apply the information is crucial to any trade. But not even experience is enough anymore. The world has become increasingly fast and new ways of doing any kind of job seem to be emerging virtually every day. What works today, may be already obsolete tomorrow.

Today, a professional needs to go beyond the action and develop skills that are above operational and a simple application. Here a few essential skills a successful person needs to acquire:

Communication

Whether you are an extrovert or introvert, we are social beings, and we all thrive when learning and sharing our experiences with each other. We are stronger when we come together and especially when we have the courage to listen. Stop talking. Pay attention. Reach out to the person next door and strike up a conversation, ask a question and be truly open to what the other has to say. More importantly, dare to go deeper. Be curious about the individual in front of you. Dare to share something that is more personal. Make a stronger connection.

Intuition

Once regarded as wishy-washy and senseless, intuition is getting a lot of attention in neuroscience these days. Some researchers have discovered that intuition may be a way for the brain to rapidly generate an understanding of a situation where concrete thinking may fail. The good news is that this is a skill we all can develop. Even better, this is an intrinsically human skill. No AI - at least for now - is able to offer this kind of insight. This is one thing that makes us unique and incredibly valuable.

Flexibility

Change is inevitable. New opportunities are popping up everywhere, every day. And with them, new challenges, new ways of seeing the world. The quicker we are at adapting, readjusting and becoming familiar with the new, the easier it is for us to thrive. This does not mean we have to accept it all, but being open to what initially may seem different, is today essential to our success. Getting stuck in our own ways is no longer acceptable and will only bring us to tumble.

Authenticity

Contrary to what we may hear elsewhere, I want to believe that we have gotten smarter and wiser. If we look closer, we are able to see past the BS, and clearly, we are sick of pretense and fake news. Learning how to be true to ourselves and to each other is an edge that has become more valuable than any degree or title. Mindfulness, like intuition, is no longer a subject for yogis only. It is an essential need for our organizational culture as a way to support our self-knowledge and self-awareness. It is when we truly show up and become really present that we are able to be at our best - and there is no competition to that.

Building a resume of degrees and experience alone will only open doors. To stay in the game and play it well, we need to acquire much more than what was written in textbooks and manuals. More than ever, it is imperative that we remember and connect with the human traits we may have buried for so long.