What Are Your True Skills?

The team sat at the table and cast our votes on the interview candidate. I was the only one who picked her second on the list instead of first. She didn’t have enough experience. She didn’t answer the questions with enough confidence. Fortunately the rest of my team overruled me. This employee went on to become the anchor of the company and has become an incredibly good friend to my wife and me as well.

In a world where AI evaluates our resumes, we have grown used to acquiring our opportunities based on SEO-friendly skills. I call these temporary skills. These are skills that, however valuable, can often be acquired in months. They are usually knowledge-based and can be validated with a test. 

True skills are the ones you pick up when you see your grandfather strap on his knee pads and add another coat of polyurethane to the floor, even though it was already “almost good enough.” They’re the ones you learn when you storm out of the office, swearing never to go back and “work with him,” but the next day you do go back and repair the relationship.

True skills change the trajectory of organizations, but they don’t get represented on resumes, and rarely on LinkedIn. Yet these are the skills that define who you are and ultimately the success that you enjoy. Like magnets, they attract whatever temporary skills you need.

 Don’t forget to work on your true skills today.