Monday in the Omni, four back-to-back sessions featured work and career advice. The panels included topics of positive blind spots, individually in teamwork, leadership and autodidactic learning.
First, speaker Cameron Lord discussed the importance of owning our own skills and weaknesses. Instead of focusing on what we don’t do well and trying to improve those things, Lord said, “You can’t do everything. But you can do something really well.”
Next, Blaine Mathieu spoke about the significance of understanding other individuals who make up a team. He said there “has to be an “I” in team,” because understanding our own and others’ work typologies is important to being able to function well together.
Third, Brian Hawkins taught lessons on leadership as learned through World of Warcraft. He started by sharing the saying, “People leave managers, they don’t leave companies.” He shared four tips in being a better leader:
- Lose the ego – Admitting when you’re wrong is authentic and people will respect you for it.
- You can’t lead by doing – Sometimes you have to step back and just be the one watching to understand the big picture.
- Solve the parts and not the whole – “Sometimes, to solve many problems you must focus on only one at a time.”
- Make it epic – Make sure people feel that their tasks and projects matter.
Finally, Nicola Smith discussed the growing trend of self-learning, giving examples like Coursera and Udacity as platforms that provide education at no cost. She noted three factors driving this trend:
- Starting to question the value of a college degree – Many successful people today are college dropouts, so others are questioning the necessity of higher education.
- Connectivity and information – People have access to more tools and information at low or no cost.
- Human Nature – People are curious. She shared a few examples of young kids without formal education make amazing discoveries and technologies.
This was a great rapid-fire way to hear about several different, important workplace topics and left the audience with food for thought on what they’re best at, how to work best in teams or as a leader, and how they might take advantage of new learning opportunities.
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I would have definitely loved attending these sessions that had so much advise about the workplace. I like that Cameron Lord said, “You can’t do everything. But you can do something really well.” As I prepare to graduate and enter the job market, it’s easy to get caught up in thinking about all the skills I don’t have perfected. But what Lord reminded me of is that I should focus more on the things I do very well and continue to perfect them. Great post!
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I like Brian Hawkins lessons on leadership. They are all very true in the workplace. To be a leader, you don’t just tell people what to do, you have to also participate with the team. Basically you have to become a team member as well as a leader. I think too many people that are placed in leadership roles let the “title” go to their head and it gets in the way.