Expiring skills or Permanent skills? What are you focusing on?
When it comes to skills, there are two broad types — the Expiring kind and the Permanent kind. And in order to stay relevant and succeed, your upskilling strategy should include both of these.
What are Expiring skills?
I bet each of us could recollect atleast a couple of skills that we acquired in the past, which have now become obsolete.
Considering the exponential pace at which technology and science are evolving, majority of our domain skills will become obsolete soon. In fact, according to John Seely Denning and Prof. Peter Brown (Authors of the Book A new culture of Learning), The half-life a learned skill is 5-years. This means that much of what you learned 10 years ago is obsolete and half of what you learned 5 years ago is irrelevant.
So, if you want to retain your domain expertise, you will need to upskill and reskill on a frequent basis.
What are Permanent skills?
Permanent skills are those that never go out of style! These are skills that get ingrained and become part of your personality and mindset. Permanent skills are as important today, as they were decades ago, and as they will be a century from now.
Permanent skills are as important to acquire as Expiring skills (if not more). Such skills require significant time and persistent effort to master, but they remain with you for life.
Here are some examples of Permanent skills:
§ Out-of-box thinking, creativity and problem-solving skills
§ Self-confidence, the ability to take risks, face fears and move out of comfort zones
§ Effective communication skills and Executive presence
§ Leadership skills, the ability to handle failure, the ability to motivate oneself and others
§ Inter-personal skills, influencing and negotiation skills
§ Self-mastery, an understanding of our distinctive strengths and the ability to maneuver our attitude and mindset
And…you get the drift.
Most people go after the latest domain/technology certifications and ignore Permanent skills. Before you do that, remember that while domain skills can take you to a certain level on the career ladder, you need Permanent skills to get to the top. So, ensure that you maintain a healthy mix between the two.
