What is your unique combination of skills?

“I’m a poor artist. Through brute force I brought myself up to mediocre. I’ve never taken a writing class, but I can write okay. If I have a party at my house, I’m not the funniest person in the room. I’m a little bit funny, I can write a little bit, [and] I can draw a little bit…” (Scott Adams)

Scott Adams has an estimated net worth of $75 million.

You may not recognize his name, but you may recognize the name of his greatest creation.

Dilbert.

Dilbert has been running for over 30 years, has been published in over 2,000 newspapers in 65 countries, and translated into 25 languages.

Adams is not the “best” writer, artist, comedian, or businessman,  but found incredible success as one of the best writer/artist/comedian/businessman combinations.

Yes, you can find success as the 10,000 hour master wholly dedicated to the pursuit of one topic. But, you could also be successful as an interesting combination of averages.

This week’s question is, “what is your unique combination of skills?” 

Here’s a few things that came up as I was thinking about this:

“Soft” skills for the win

To celebrate his 80th birthday in 1930, parties were organized in Baltimore, Boston, New York, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Paris, London, Geneva, Tokyo, and Peking. These parties were attended by prominent scientists, Nobel laureates, and President Herbert Hoover.

William Henry Welch is recognized as “arguably the single most influential scientist in the world.” (Barry, The Great Influenza, p.80)

But you’ve likely never heard of him. And in fact Welch, “had been no great pioneer even in his own field of medical research. He had generated no brilliant insights, made no magnificent discoveries, asked no deep and original questions, and left no significant legacy in the laboratory.” (Barry, The Great Influenza, p.81)

So how does someone with no great laboratory contributions become the most influential person in his field?

Welch was intelligent, very intelligent. But so were many of his peers. In fact many of them were considered more intelligent.

Unlike many of his peers, Welch layered several additional skills on top of his intelligence. He was described by many as “the only one who kept cool” during heated discussions and high pressure situations. On top of that, he “charmed without effort. He inspired without effort.” (Barry, The Great Influenza, p.87)

It was the combination of his understanding of medicine, his ability to stay cool among chaos, and his effortless ability to inspire others that allowed him to change the course of medicine in the United States and be one of the most prominent contributors during the 1918 influenza pandemic.

We think the hard skills are the only ones necessary. If only you were a more skilled programmer, you would be more successful. Maybe. But Welch showed that the hard skill is just the foundation. When you can layer on “soft” skills, you create entirely new opportunities.

Skills worth pursuing

Are some skills more valuable than others? 

I’m biased but I think everyone should try to develop their ability to communicate effectively.

Maybe you’ve built an unparalleled product. Maybe it’s poised to change the course of history. But if you can’t effectively engage others, you’re going to struggle, or at the very least have a slower journey toward success. 

It doesn’t mean you need to be able to deliver great speeches or presentations, or even write great articles. It means you need to be able to connect with an audience (even an audience of one person) in a meaningful way to help them see what you see and feel what you feel about your product/service. When you combine that with a quality product or service, you’re going to fast track the path to success.

Everyone has different preferences for their style and the platforms they like to use. Those don’t matter as much as the connection with your audience. You can connect in a number of different ways—you just need to find the way that works best for you.

Be reflective

Have you set aside undistracted time to reflect on your skills? What are you naturally good at? What have you been able to develop through hard work? What do you enjoy? What do you want to get better at? What might be a potentially complementary skill worth pursuing? 

You will make a good list on your own.

But actually, you need to enlist the help of those around you. Friends. Family. Colleagues. These are all people who see you from an entirely different vantage point. They have had direct experiences that have caused them to say, “I’m so glad he did this,” or “she always handles situations like this well because she is…” Get a couple of other people to help you build out your list and then think about where you want to begin and what will have the biggest impact on who you are trying to become and what you are trying to accomplish.

You don’t have to be a master to succeed. Maybe your path to success is finding the perfect combination of averages for you.