How to discover your core competencies and take a leap of faith in life.
One sure thing we know about the future is that everything changes in the future. Whether or not you like it, we must adapt to this change. We have to reinvent our life and business. More likely, many times!
I studied business.
I was a professional athlete playing basketball at the national league — playmaker position in my early career!
I started as a stockbroker in the corporate world. As an early adapter in the Turkish Capital Markets, it took me a year to be handpicked by Mr Atilla Yesilada as an equity analyst. Year after year, we had many episodes together.
I practised investment management in one of Istanbul's first startups in the asset management industry. To be precise, the company had been incorporated as the second largest money manager in the asset management industry, an Interbank affiliate. I was a team head at the age of 27. Since then, I have always held executive roles in various investment managers and banks.
In my early thirties, I joined a new media venture, CNBC, launching the local network in Turkey as the director of programming. Soon after, it was a mutual on-screen and behind-the-scenes role; I enjoyed the celebrity effect as a trusted advisor on a network.
The most effective transition of my life was when I married Pinar, my wife, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. After our marriage, I chose to stay and spend time in South East Asia. I was walking away from the celebrity effect and leaving the media searching for new ventures.
In my senior corporate career, my North Star shined with the acquisition of Finansbank by NBG, National Bank of Greece. I was in the leadership team of the investment banking affiliate in Istanbul, head of retail. As a team, we started a full-fledged investment services business with tough pivots and change management. This was the place I sharpened my people skills. And learned about my ego-self, too! This journey was almost ten years. Before this experience and afterwards, I hopped in and hop-out with Unlu & Co two times in my career — both were heading the new startups within the company.
I sidelined media by a monthly op-ed contribution to Forbes as a columnist from day one; they published the first issue in Turkey until the end of the publication — almost thirteen years. This was an excellent opportunity to sharpen my pencil. This experience took me to my first published book, “Ortak Ol Zengin Ol” — or Collaborate and Grow Rich in English.
The book was a milestone, a leap of faith for my paid working career (the first s-curve) and a fresh start to my self-employed journey (the second s-curve). On purpose! Of course, this transformation is the content of my book. I will not go into more detail here.
I have some other fresh ideas to discuss.
Adapt to change
One sure thing we know about the future is that everything changes in the future. Whether or not you like it, we must adapt to this change. We have to reinvent our life and business. More likely, many times!
To do so, we must understand our core competencies and the competencies that we will need to adapt to change — to jump on the second s-curve.
In business, it is relatively more straightforward.
In our personal lives, we better understand our core competency first and build on it.
With full disclosure, I share my career story to reflect on my strengths and weaknesses in my career. Thus, I will leverage it for my future personal growth.
Discover your core
I am very good at startups and new ventures. For many years I had a limiting belief that I was a good starter but not a good finisher!
Now, I think differently after my postgraduate study at MIT, coupled with my recent learning journey as a self-employed business owner.
I realised that I am an entrepreneur at heart, and I am competent at executing innovation! I am not a C-type person with skills in day-to-day management practice for performance. I am a living example in my career.
I am more into creating opportunities than managing the efficiency of any business.
My core competence is leading the design, validation and growth stages of any business model with lots of data and financials in it. I am good at product design and development!
What is a core competence?
Core competence can never be a single skill. If you link one skill to another, you create competence!
Let me introduce a framework for core competence:
- It is always about know-how,
- It is always an intangible asset,
- It has to have a verb in it — “you do something,”
- It can never be a single skill.
Think about yours. And write it by using the cheat sheet above. This is your core! If you feel that your core is different than your current s-curve, you will dare to take a leap of faith in life! Jump on to the second s-curve.
This is a step-by-step approach. It needs to build new skills.
Build new skills on your core competence
If you are lucky enough to realise your core competence, it is easier to leverage it with new skills that will help you adapt to change. (take you the second s-curve.)
Once I realised my core competence, it became easier to identify the skill set I had to develop to survive on the second s-curve (I also ditched some of the old ones.) And selectively forget the ones from the first s-curve.
Yes, there will always be a gap in between. In my experience, it is not less than three years.
Future-proof new skills beyond 2020: AUTO-MATE
Nonlinear shifts — AUTO mode
Can you argue about the data-driven future? Can you imagine an entrepreneur neglecting big tech ecosystems in any venture? Well, there may still be some, but they are very limited in number. Data, coding, and automation skills are beneficial for inevitable digital transformation.
Automation is the hard skill set that I put all my resources into learning deeply beyond 2020 if I want to stay relevant into an ever evolving economy and new order.
And data and tech awareness support my core competence in my business fully!
Collaboration needs— MATE culture
For the last three years, I have been practising my coaching skills. I needed to ditch my “command and control mindset” and build a brand new awareness and responsibility-driven “growth mindset”. The world is shifting to a new Order, and collaborative creativity will be a much-needed virtue in the post-globalisation era.
I am not talking about establishing a coaching business. The skill set is more important than the external accountability business. It is a soft skill essential for clear communication.
In my practice, it is essential to communicate as equals. Coaching is a soft skill that will support your communication and leadership.
It seems to be there is less space left for lecturing and commanding. If you push this on, you will realise that you will always preach to the choir. Good luck with the millennials, Gen Z, and native-digital-born youth.
Supporting substacks of your own
Once you go digital, you can never come back! AUTO-MATE is given. I would not argue about these two.
If this is the case, you will need an equaliser(s) for your chosen core competence. This is how it works. On-demand!
In my practice, I need to balance my left and right brain digitally over 50 years of age. On one side, we have the power of automation, machine learning and data-driven mindset and skills, on the other side, I choose to add an equaliser on digital more colourful skills.
I call this a “supporting substack.”
My artistic and design thinker mind has a drive for Adobe Creative Cloud.
Design and digital creativity skills are my supporting substack for 2023 and beyond.
And they are adding colour to my life.
All in all, this is what I leave you with.
- What is your personal core competence in life?
- What one breakthrough skill will shine on it? (Remember AUTO-MATE is given!)
- That one skill may be the deliberate learning target for you in 2023. You may build and grow your new core competence on them.
