-
Know Thyself: Launch a Business Doing What You Love
June 18, 2010
-
“Julie and Julia” and your career -Part One
June 17, 2010
-
Know Thyself: and Then Forget What You Know
June 15, 2010
-
Know Thyself: Feeling Gracious? Or is It Something Else?
June 11, 2010
-
Know Thyself: Emotional Intelligence and Your Viability as a Job Candidate.
June 8, 2010
-
Know Thyself: Put Your Best You Forward.
June 4, 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
Why Watching Football Can Help You Get Ahead
January 12, 2009 | Author: Lisa Strand | Filed under: Career Change, Moving Up, The Networking Habit
What can we learn about workplace performance from professional football players?
A research team at Harvard Business School has done a case study titled When Stars Migrate, Do They Still Perform Like Stars?. The study looks at the careers of football players to determine the “portability” of performance and the possibility that some positions may improve or diminish one’s prospects for career advancement. Whether you love or hate football, you can learn some career moves from the pros.
In an article about the study, researcher Boris Groysberg talks about whether it’s wiser to cultivate portable skills vs. company-specific skills. Here’s a quote:
“In any climate, workers with portable skills are the least vulnerable when they switch firms. What our research suggests is that portability isn’t only determined by what industry you are in, or what particular company you work for, but it’s also a result of how collaborative your job is. This suggests that workers who have already developed extensive firm-specific human capital (in the form of relationships or mastery of the firm’s system and processes) should weigh the decision to change jobs carefully, because their major value is in the company they currently work for and the teammates they work with. If they do change jobs, they should make sure that the new employer is invested in their success and will give them the resources, and the time, to build the relationships that they need.”
UpMo’s Research Supports the Value of Portable Skills
In conducting our interviews with UpModels - successful professionals that we’ve identified as role models - a common theme is enthusiasm for acquiring new skills. Those lucky enough to pick up that training (formal or informal) within larger organizations are generally as well off as those who find training in other ways.
It may be general career training provided by their company, or training that applies mostly to that company. Either way, by quenching a thirst for skills development, these professionals learn and develop relationships with others that are likely to learn and develop. In many cases, this proactive learning has lead to relationships and opportunities that have surpassed those of their peers.
Although it makes sense that continual learning and networking help us move forward in our careers, the Harvard case study and our UpModels provide real-life defense.
Related Resources
Tracking the Habits of Elite Networkers
No comments yet.
feel free to leave a comment
Comment Guidelines: Basic XHTML is allowed (a href, strong, em, code). All line breaks and paragraphs are automatically generated. Off-topic or inappropriate comments will be edited or deleted. Email addresses will never be published. Keep it PG-13 people!
XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
All fields marked with " * " are required.
