4 Ways to Hire a Professional Writer
Professional writers are invaluable partners. By partnering with a pro, your business can rise up the Google rankings, establish thought leadership...
3 min read
Ross Henderson
:
Apr 11, 2023 7:44:04 AM
In any walk of life, it’s great to know a little about a lot of things. At the same time, it’s great to truly master a single craft. Balancing these two approaches is a winning philosophy for developing your career.
If you were to map out this approach to professional development for a marketing or sales professional, it would look something like this:
Display this visually, and you see where the name T-Shaped professional comes from.
In the years I’ve followed this approach, it’s served me well. And if you’re a little lost or at a crossroads in your career, maybe it could serve you well too. So, what are the benefits of following this approach, and what’s the best way to get started?
Listen, you don’t know me. And I’m certainly not some fancy leadership development coach with a ton of experience. So why should you take this approach to developing your career?
First of all, it’s an approach used by some of the top companies in the world. McKinsey uses this strategy to identify and develop talent. So does IDEO. It’s not just me. Anyway, here are a few of the benefits:
These are just a few of the benefits––the reality is that they’ll be different for every person. So, how can you get started on this journey to becoming a T-shaped professional? Let’s take a closer look.
If you’re early in your career, you might not yet have found particular skills that you’re either really good at or enjoy working on. That’s fine––take some time to explore different areas before choosing one craft to dive deeper into.
Building knowledge of a lot of different areas makes it important for you to be committed to constantly learning and improving on a wide range of different skills. There are a few ways you can do this:
Once you’ve experienced a wide range of skills, you need to start thinking about identifying the one area where you want to go deep. This is a big decision, and you shouldn’t take it lightly––it’s literally what you’re going to spend the rest of your career doing.
Here are a few tests your chosen skill should pass:
If the answer to all three of these questions is yes, go ahead and start down the long road to becoming a master of your craft.
It’s a long journey, one that will take years or even decades to complete. But along the way, you’ll level up, getting better week by week and taking your career to new heights.
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