Page 398 - kf fyi for your improvement license eng 3-4-15

Factor: N/A
Cluster O: Too narrow
Career staller and stopper 109: Overdependence on a single skill
109. Overdependence on a single skill

We are comfort zone creatures. We build nests. We go where it feels safe and good. Most of us don’t like
taking chances. Most of us don’t venture onto alien ground comfortably. For those reasons, many of us
take the safe career track, we think, of learning one thing and doing that well. In our early careers, that
gets us good pay and promotions up the career ladder. We are promoted over people who are not as
deeply skilled as we are. We play the one skill, one technology, one business, one function or one talent
(e.g., selling) all the way. Trouble is, it doesn’t go all the way. All things change. One of the requirements
for higher-level management and career fulfillment is broadness and diversity. If you succeed long
enough, you’ll manage or work closely with new functions and businesses. A single skill is never enough.

“Jack of all trades, master of none,
certainly better than a master of one.”

− English folk couplet

A problem
• Relies too much on a single strength for performance and career progression.
• Uses the same core talent, function, or technology to leverage self.

• Acts as if they can make it all the way on one strength.

Not a problem
• Has a broad and varied background.
• Has moved around a lot.

• Relies on several different skills to get the job done.
• Has multiple functional exposures.
• Has worked in different business units.

• Always looking to learn more.
• Works on adding more skills.

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