The Most Essential Career Skill You Need to Succeed

Earlier this week I participated in a teleconference for PR professionals hosted by the Public Relations Society of America. During the session, the moderator, Peter Himler, asked me what three essential sites or tools that professionals should be using as they go out and navigate this crazy new media landscape. The answer might surprise you.

My gut reaction at first was to go to the usual answer - an RSS reader, etc. But then I thought about it. Of course there are a bunch of core technologies that any businessperson can pick up, install or sign up for that will certainly make "mastering" this whole Web 2.0 thing a lot easier. However, all too often we overlook the "soft tools" - that what makes up our character.

So as I thought about it, the most important "tool" you can have today in business is insatiable curiosity. The minute you lose it, you're dead.

I have been curious my entire career, going back to my salad days when I was in college. Back in 1990 when I was 20 years old I was lost. A perennial C+/B- student, I realized I wasn't going to have the grades to go to law school - my original intended path. So, I began to explore alternative majors and career options.

My journey lead me to the Hofstra University guidance office. The career counselor plopped me in front of a DOS program that, for several hours, quizzed me about my skills and interests. The software then churned out potential career paths. In my case it suggested two - union negotiator and public relations counselor. I am glad I didn't choose the former! :->

I had no idea what PR was at the time. It was a relatively nascent field. The school didn't even have a major, so I picked up the next closest thing - journalism. I changed majors in my junior year and graduated on time. While in my senior year I did three PR internships and worked my butt off to learn everything I could about the field. I haven't left it since.

Curiosity continues to serve me well today, except, it's no longer limited to just PR. I am constantly  reading about business, leadership, marketing, and of course, technology. Curiosity is what lead me to 2003 start dabbling with RSS readers and blogging software. It's also what drives me today to play with all of the latest social networks, rich Internet applications, IPTV systems and more. I am constantly thinking about what we can build or apply to make our PR services stronger for our clients.

If I ever get luck enough to be invited to give a commencement address one day, this will be my theme. Always invest in your curiosities. This isn't the only skill you need of course. So I am, er, curious: what character traits have helped you?

Comments

[Dan Schawbel]

It's hard to know where your career will take you. PR can be quite complicated and I believe it's more about having the right ideas at the right time (timing). You seem to have build your Personal Brand quite well with this blog.

[jimbrodhead]

I read a quote one time attributed to Dorothy Parker:

The cure for boredom is curiosity; alas, there is no cure for curiosity.

[Josh Bernoff]

The skills needed to be an analyst include writing, public speaking, interacting with clients, listening, clear thinking (analysis) etc. . . . and those can all be taught.

But more important than all of those is curiosity. And it can't be taught (at least not to adults already set in their ways.) Luckily, for analysts, attempting to satisfy one's curiosity IS the job. Yes, it's a great job.

The other unteachable skill analysts need: courage.

We're researchers. Other researchers (medical, scientists, sociologists, etc.) need curiousity too.

What other jobs need it? All of them?

[Phil Gomes]

My high school plopped me in front of the same program.

It recommended a career as "mortician."

Hmmm... Must've been during my Cure phase...

[Chris Clarke]

Great post, Steve. Thanks for sharing!

[Steve Woodruff]

Steve,

You're dead on about curiosity, which is inextricably linked to a drive to learn. So many people put their brains on a pilot light setting after a while, and never make progress.
For me, beside curiosity, a decisive trait has been a compulsion and willingness to fill empty spaces. To see a fallow field, envision what it could become, and then go out and "make it so." Call it creative initiative, I guess. I hope I never lose either...and better, can impart it to others.

[Mrinal]

I couldn't agree more Steve - I had a post a while ago on how one can make the letter 'L' silent in the word Learn
http://mrinal.vox.com/library/post/the-letter-l.html

[Susan (MarketingBlurb.com)]

Steve, as the new author of MarketingBlurb, I just found your blog. I am enjoying reading your posts and got a laugh from your story about your trip to the guidance office and your career assessment. It reminded me of my own struggle to choose a career path, and I included a post at MarketingBlurb about your story.

[Alan Weinkrantz]

Other skills:

1. Tenacity
2. Believe in yourself
3. Take risks - or take moderate risks
4. Be polite
5. Go with your gut
6. Have a firm handshake
7. Look people straight in the eye
8. Don't confuge growth with progress
9. Be humble when appropriate
10. Ask for the order

[Celal]

"Investing in your curiosities" is ok if you have the luxury of time and other resources to keep you going until your investment "pays off". In other words, the cure to curiosity just might be the hard reality of having to make a living.

[Chris]

Passion is a critical ingredient of success...

[Katherine]

I think curiosity is a tremendous asset in public relations because it keeps you passionate about your job and also about events going on in the world. I do, however, believe that succeeding in PR is more about what Mr. Schawbel said in the post below. It’s about having the right ideas at the right time. It’s also about providing value to your client (and being valuable to your client). You must have creative, sensible ideas that pay off for them and provide them with the outcome they are hoping for.

[Hal]

I work in a highly technical field. Unfortunately many mistake ambition for knowledge. Do not confuse schooling and years of experience in a field, for a business or finance degree and the desire to work on something "cool".

Hal

"Ambition is the last refuge of failure."

-- Author:Oscar Wilde

[Todd]

Great post! Whenever I hire candidates I ask several questions to gauge whether they are curious and have the personal drive to continue to learn new things.

[Manny]

One core competency that has helped me is reading. I am not alone: Hedge fund master Barton Biggs, billionaire Buffett sidekick Charley Munger, and Coke CEO Neville Isdell all have emphasized voluminous and constant reading as a main life skill. I don’t think people today realize what a huge risk they are taking by “making it up as they go along”. The quantity of knowledge that has emerged in our lifetimes, not just in our chosen fields, but in the areas of crucial life skills, such as personal finance, investing, health, human relationships, etc is so detailed, and so unobvious, that ,with rare exceptions, even the quickest mind, or the most confident personality simply cannot grasp the key success factors anymore. I have watched with great sadness as some dear friends and loved ones have encountered serious life obstacles because of their refusal to read. Books, especially. And their second tragic mistake was to undervalue the content of those books, believing that their narrow , one-person perspective had any hope of matching the combined efforts of legions and generations of experts in each and every field. Without reading, you are almost guaranteed to fail.