Amidst ChatGPT here are 18 Keys to Stay Relevant

 

John Chambers former CEO of Cisco says "The ability to reinvent not only your company but yourself is the critical skill for every leader in the digital age." The future is exciting for many people but for others, it is also a cause for anxiety. With so much talk about Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, the Internet of Things, and Robots who may take over our jobs this is not an easy time. With a new version of AI coming nearly every day it is impossible to keep up with the change that is mind-boggling. The future irrespective of which era we live in is uncertain. It is important to remember that in times like these there have always been times like these. I still think the opportunities available to all of us are enormous provided we ride successfully in this era of uncertainty. I have identified the following 18 keys to thriving in the future of uncertainty and taking charge of your career.

Be abreast of the trends – With the explosion in data, information, technology, change, and competition it is absolutely imperative that you ride this wave of change by being well-informed on what the future looks like. What you are doing today may not work in another 5 years. One skill that will never become obsolete is the ability to move others and increasing your sales skills is vital in the new era. So be on the lookout for changes and disrupt yourself before you get disrupted. Look at Kodak which was thriving as a business in the mid-1990s and even had the first digital camera in their pockets. However, they refused to see the change and were left lurking in the dark. We don't know what is going to happen but one thing is sure if we don't thrive with changes survival is tough.

Find work that matters – Not all of us may follow our passion. However, considering the changes coming this is the time to love your work and bring your best self to ensure you are indispensable. If you love your work then it is not drudgery and your joy in life also increases. There is no way to have continuous happiness without loving your work. Take a deep look into yourself and find out how you can enjoy what you do while earning money. Rather than looking for doing things that are passionate to you switch it by bringing passion to the work you do currently. As Hubert Joly asks in "The Heart of Business" what cathedral do you want to build through your work? It is a question worth pondering. What is the masterpiece that people will speak about when you are done with your work?

Learn incessantly – Whether it is Thomas Edison or John Adams or any other successful person in my studies all of them were avid readers. To ride the wave of change which is approaching us we need to be consuming information every single day. The great news is all the information needed for us to thrive is available to us free of cost. Find the experts in your field, connect with them, read their blogs, listen to their podcasts, and document what you have learned. If you do this on a continuous basis you will succeed. At the same time, you also need to know what you need to ignore. While sometimes we can read just to stoke our intellectual curiosity it may be better to see if it helps your life in any way.

Be a leader – Leaders will always be in demand. Become proactive about your career. Attitude is contagious so as a leader you want to set an amazing example of optimism that can radiate throughout the organization you lead. Set an example by leading from the heart, taking calculated risks, treating people well, showing impeccable manners, and finally sharing credit with the team always.

Creative Abandonment– This is a wonderful principle that is applicable to our personal lives as well. Ask yourself if you would still be in this business knowing what you now know. I believe this is the principle that Jack Welch used to make the decision that GE will remain only in businesses where they can be number 1 or number 2. Even in your personal life, it is all about ignoring your sunk costs. If something is not working even if you invested a lot of money, time, and energy into it you should get out of it immediately. With the information you have now, you would have made a different decision make that decision now.

Manage yourself- Peter Drucker famously said it is not about time management, but it is all about how you manage yourself. This quote says it all “In a few hundred years, when the history of our time will be written from a long-term perspective, it is likely that the most important event historians will see is not technology, not the Internet, not e-commerce. It is an unprecedented change in the human condition. For the first time - literally - substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choices. For the first time, they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally unprepared for it.” Some of the ways to manage yourself are to know what your strengths are and focus on contribution. Determine where each of your 24 hours goes and then schedule your biggest priorities on your most important time.

Tap into your creativity– Exhaustive research shows that everyone has genius potential. We all have creative abilities latent within us and it is up to us to record every idea we get. Engage in design thinking and have a notebook to record all ideas you get. Some of the ways to be creative are to have some alone time, exercise vigorously, write down all your ideas, discuss with creatives, read about creative people, and finally take action on your ideas. Wired to Create is a wonderful book on this subject. 6 Ways to Supercharge your Creativity

Develop a Unique Selling Proposition and build your Brand – The only thing that will not be obsolete is the ability to learn new skills. If you want to retain your USP and prevent brain drain then it is imperative to keep developing the talent that you are bestowed with. The key is for you to be known for a specific niche. When someone talks about you they should be able to talk about your USP. With your USP you will be able to get job security.

Welcome feedback – No matter how good you are there are areas you can improve. The only way to learn about ourselves is when we get feedback from our boss or mentors. Be open to feedback and take action on making changes to your areas of weakness. Not all feedback may be accurate that's why great self-knowledge will help to understand yourself better. One of the books which I found useful in this subject is Marshall Goldsmith's What got you here won't get you there. He also has an interesting mechanism for feedforward which has helped many leaders become better.

Embrace vulnerability and let go of perfection – Of course, the foremost expert on the subject is Brene Brown whose books Dare to Lead and Daring greatly dive deep into these topics. The main takeaway is to let go of our need to get everything to perfection. The first drafts are always not good but we don't get any feedback unless we ship. This is why MVP (Minimal Viable Product) mentioned in The Lean Startup is an excellent tip for all of us in business. Vulnerability is all about handling tough conversations with ease and at the same time overcoming the impostor syndrome.

Self-reliance – Developing self-reliance means you are your own boss. Manage your career as the CEO of your life. It is your responsibility to keep upgrading your skills, taking certifications, being current, and reading books in your area of expertise. Once you see yourself as the path maker in your life you will become self-reliant and the organization will also benefit from your work. Being self-reliant is not a choice but a requirement to excel in your field. Actually, it has become a recent trend to talk about being the CEO of your career but Andy Grove wrote about this way back in his 1996 book Only the Paranoid Survive.

Stay resilient – Grit is the number one quality needed for success. Develop resilience by having a core set of beliefs that nothing can shake, looking for the good in every problem, replacing worry with purposeful action, having a mission statement, and always bouncing back from temporary setbacks. With the future uncertain there is no doubt you will face setbacks and it is important to stay resilient. Here is my article on 10 Tips to Develop Resilience. Another great book is "Grit" by Angela Duckworth.

Work in sprints – There is no point in going full out and exhausting ourselves. We all have a limited time when we can create an impact with what we do. It is imperative to take strategic time-outs in your life. Schedule a period of relaxation every week if you can. This can be any hobby that gets you out of your work. For me, it is reading, writing, and exercising. I also love to travel when I get a chance though tougher in these times. Finding time to renew ourselves is absolutely needed if we want to thrive well into the middle and later parts of the 21st Century.

Remove notifications– Technology is here to serve us. We can build a great following using social media to build our brand. However, if we are always inundated with notifications our attention will be fragmented and we will not be able to really thrive. So we can remove all the unnecessary apps from our phones and remove all notifications. Try to log in to all your social media channels through the browser. This will ensure you will check it fewer times and it improves your focus.

Manage energy – Energy is the currency of the 21st century. We need to have a lot of energy both mental and physical to really meet all the demands of our lives. We can maintain high energy by engaging in some form of movement. I know everybody's health situation is different so we should find a program that works specifically for our situation. Consistent exercise, a good diet, good sleep, and reduced stress levels all contribute to high levels of energy. On the mental side, we can work in journals to get our emotions out. This idea is not new and Benjamin Franklin was known to write in a journal often. Here is my article on tactics to maintain high energy. 11 Ways to Have High Energy

Be a generalist - If you truly want to be a leader who thrives in the 21st century you need to be a generalist. You can have a team of specialists but the leader needs to be a generalist. The book Range by David Epstein will get you thinking about your career in a unique way for sure. The book starts with the examples of Roger Federer and Tiger Woods. It is interesting that when he was a kid Roger Federer wanted to meet Boris Becker and reach 6 grand slams. However, Tiger Woods wanted to be the best of all time. The key learning here is that thriving in the 21st-century workforce requires us to be a generalist than just specialists. You may not be the best at something but if you have multiple things you are good at you will win bigger. It has a lot of examples across the spectrum.

Be flexible — In the current business environment all bets are off and what you think worked yesterday is no longer in play. To stick to something just because it worked yesterday is no longer viable. Being flexible and nimble is the name of the game. We should all be ready to change our decisions when we get new and better information. Leaders should keep their ears open to innovative ideas and accept that change is the only constant. I like this quote by General Eric Shinseki “If you dislike change, you’re going to dislike irrelevance even more.”

Be Optimistic— Amidst all the mayhem you need to be optimistic about the future while marrying it with reality. Without this twin mindset it would be difficult to show up every day at your best. We need to show up at our best every single day to not only count the days but make the days count. My optimists manifesto can share some ideas here..https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/optimists-manifesto-10-commandments-optimism-shyam/?trackingId=FGtixVfDQJmHDOqsOReVow%3D%3D

There you have it the 18 ways you can get the most out of yourself and thrive in the 21st Century. The ultimate throttle on the growth of yourself is the lack of knowledge so keep increasing your knowledge. In an era of change staying relevant is the key. This is not an easy ride but we need to take it to really thrive and perform.

I hope you enjoyed reading this article.

The views expressed here are my own and do not represent my organization.