Does jack of all trades necessarily mean being a master of none? Skills are varied and some are blessed with many. While some boast of their varied skills few others believe that they have none or would rather idealize a particular skill being the best one. Everyone is gifted but is its possession identified? “Learning isn’t a zero-sum activity” says David Cole. In this context one could start with ability to see an opportunity and end with filling that gap!
Some are jacks of many trades while some others are masters of one. There cannot be a right or a wrong skill and nor can it be biased to certain gender, age group or religion. An old man dancing, a blind girl singing or an underprivileged boy being the top scorer in the competitive exams; all these are great skills which attract admiration from many. What makes them great despite their setbacks? If art or learning was biased to age or physical fitness, success would not be defined the way it has been.
A Stanford university lecturer in one of her articles mentioned about a party she attended a couple of years back. She was in complete awe of the founders of billion dollar companies seeing them under one roof. It made her wonder what that one thing which distinguished them from others was! She learnt the answer though; after completing about 200 interviews with successful people and Eureka!!! “The skill” was to identify which is the winning skill of an individual.
‘Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life’ says Confucius. Skills give one the passion to work and success can never be far away. The so called downside of such a scenario is the opportunity cost but the upside can be more rewarding than you can even imagine!
Expert View: Nizamudheen Valliyattu, Co-founder and Business Head at SocialTiger.in talks about the necessity of skilling in today’s world.