Life skills are a key ingredient of every individual’s life. I am not talking about college degrees, job titles, salary packages or lifestyle. It is about how we Adopt, Apply & Achieve. With me being in the IT sector globally for more than 25 years plus, I have studied and learnt what it really takes to make yourself complete and successful.
This can be categorized into Two “S”s and Two “D”s. Let us call it “2-SD-2”. I believe these will provide the self-confidence and skills necessary to be successful.
Self-Management
Life might feel like an emotional roller coaster every day. We need to understand our strengths and weaknesses from both a professional and personal perspective. Entrepreneurs don’t achieve success overnight, but with resilience and conviction to manage themselves emotionally and financially, they persevere and work towards positive results every day. We need to be self-aware and leverage our interpersonal skills to strengthen communication as well as bridge the known and unknowns.
Skill-Upskilling
To aspire, one needs to dream. To achieve one needs to upskill. It must be designed, defined, and deployed on a continuous upskilling path. Growth gets stagnated when people settle down in a “safe” zone or lose their zeal. Identifying the growth path for each individual based on their aspirations and calibre is a vital step in this process. Using the upskilling process, it will help identify what is the right and timely skill that we need to learn, apply, and deliver based on industry trends.
Design Thinking
For any problem-solving technique, design thinking is the most effective and efficient method to analyze, identify and resolve. It is common to jump to solutions and conclusions before understanding the problems on-hand. Instead, the best approach is to step back, get the big picture and have a holistic approach towards the situation. It is always better to implement solutions that may fail early rather than delaying resolution. Thus, critical design thinking and prototyping reduces the risks and mitigates complexity.
Decision Management
Every individual needs to learn and master the art of decision-making. No decision is completely correct or incorrect, however the ability to decide is an important leadership quality. In any given situation, not all facts may be available or visible. It is up to the leader to decipher and decide on what is best not only for the organization, but also for the individuals within it. A crucial point to note is that a leader should never hesitate to own up to failure and must give credit to the team that has delivered success diligently and collaboratively.
Keep practicing ““2-SD-2” for success in all aspects of life.
About the Author
Abou Baker, a digital transformation Leader @ DXC Technology, with over 25 years of extensive IT exposure. Abou is passionate about “Giving-Back-To-Society” and “Making A Difference”. He plays active role as DXC-CSR Leadership @ Hyderabad. Also, he is part of Executive board of “Jagathi Foundation” NGO.