Latest news with #technicalskills
Forbes
31-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
When Your Strengths Become Liabilities That Hold You Back
A successful transition from a technical contributor to leadership requires recognizing that yesterday's strengths can become tomorrow's limitations. A common complaint found in career-related comment sections is, "I'm much better at my technical job than my coworkers, yet I didn't receive the promotion. It must be all politics and a rigged game." While there are some cases where this may be true, more often it is because the skills you excel at and continue to showcase in your role are not the ones needed for promotion. To put it more bluntly, what got you here is not what will take you to the next level. The very skills you excel at might become an unexpected liability for upward progression, and the ability to recognize this transition is crucial for sustained advancement. Below are three instances when your excellent technical skills become a liability, how to identify the switch, and what to do to make sure you continue to advance your career. 1. Technical Mastery Holds You Back The first uncomfortable truth is that the skills that make you indispensable in your current role may be precisely what prevent your promotion. Consider the brilliant software engineer who can debug any system but struggles with strategic thinking. Or the meticulous accountant whose analytical prowess overshadows their leadership potential. You might continue to hone your technical skills and become better for your current role, but you neglect to recognize the importance of a whole new category of skills you need to move into a more senior role. The traditional career progression from junior developer to developer to senior developer to principal developer to architect illustrates this trap perfectly. Each promotion demands fundamentally different skills, yet many professionals remain anchored to their technical foundations without developing further business acumen or "soft skills", falsely assuming that the best technical or specialists would be the obvious choice to lead a team. When your performance reviews only highlight your glowing technical prowess, it's unlikely that you are developing new ones that will move you up. Ideally, a growth-oriented manager will proactively provide you with a low-risk learning environment to retain top talent, as studies show that up to 63% of employees leave their jobs due to a lack of growth opportunities. Nonetheless, it is ultimately your career and therefore your responsibility to communicate to your manager and leadership that you are ready for a new type of challenge and therefore, skillsets. 2. The Complacency Trap: The World is Advancing Without You The second liability emerges from complacency and reluctance to embrace change. Skills that once set you apart have a limited shelf life, especially in today's rapidly evolving business environment. Think of the marketing professional who mastered traditional advertising but ignored digital and now AI transformation, or the IT manager who specializes in legacy systems and is critical only to a decreasing number of companies, while cloud computing revolutionized the industry. They assumed their proven competencies would remain relevant indefinitely or at least in the near term, failing to recognize that competitive advantage requires constant evolution. Additionally, complacency leads some to believe that their experience in the industry and legacy knowledge of the company will be sufficient for them to maintain their position. Despite lacking some industry-specific experience, a newcomer with new skills can still become more valuable to a company striving to be competitive. Consider Kodak's technical staff, who possessed world-class expertise in film photography. Their specialized knowledge became not just irrelevant but actively harmful as they resisted the digital revolution they pioneered internally. 3. The Visibility Problem: Excellence Hidden in Plain Sight The third liability is perhaps the most frustrating. You possess valuable skills that remain invisible to decision-makers because you assume great skills don't require great marketing, and should be self-apparent. Many talented professionals excel at behind-the-scenes work. They optimize processes, mentor team members, and solve complex problems, but struggle to communicate their impact effectively. They assume their work speaks for itself, not realizing that career advancement requires active self-advocacy and strategic positioning. Consider hypothetically, a hospital operations manager who increased critical supply restock efficiency by 10% through process improvements, awaiting promotion and recognition that never comes. While great leaders strive to recognize talent, the operations manager should make the recognition process easier: contextualize the significance of a 10% accomplishment with industry comparators, collect examples of impact on clients, patients, or colleagues, or translate the efficiency gains to the metrics outlined in the company goals, such as productivity or cost savings. Help them help you get the recognition you deserve. Additionally, identify ways your expertise can be applied to other projects or departments. As the expert, you are in the best position to demonstrate how transferable your skill sets are in bringing impact in ways others may not have considered. This isn't about promoting yourself inappropriately or awkwardly showcasing your skills. Instead, think of it as sharing your work in a way that others can understand, demonstrating how your expertise can be applied in innovative ways that others might not have considered. Your current skills are stepping stones Successful professionals must continuously audit their skill portfolios, identifying which competencies remain assets versus which have become liabilities. This requires honest self-assessment, proactive new skill development, and marketing of your accomplishments. The solution isn't abandoning existing expertise but rather complementing it with forward-looking capabilities, whether they be additional technical skills or new leadership or managerial ones. The data analyst should develop storytelling skills. The operations manager should practice strategic communication. The technical specialist should cultivate business development abilities. Moreover, professionals must become skilled at translating their expertise into business value and communicating that value effectively. Excellence in execution must be paired with excellence in articulation.
Yahoo
20-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Who is Joe Bradshaw? The Liverpool wonderkid who just signed first deal
Bradshaw is quite tall for his age, and has always been a more developed play. In fact he made his debut almost two years ago for the U18s when he was just 15 years and three months old. This makes him the fourth youngest Liverpool U18 player in the U18 Premier League. He's also the fifth youngest player to play for the Reds in the UEFA Youth League at just 16 years and fourth months old, beating Harvey Elliott, who was 16 years and five months old when he made his debut. Bradshaw is a wide player, he's comfortable with both feet and can play on the left and the right. One of his most impressive qualities are his technical skills. Bradshaw has a really good ball striking technique and he can find the back of the net from inside and outside the penalty area. He averages a 25.6% goal conversion rate for Liverpool's U18 side so far in his career as per Wyscout. He's also capable of scoring from set-pieces. This makes him a dangerous player anywhere in the final third. His production backs this up as well, Bradshaw has averaged 0.80 goal contributions per 90 minutes in his U18 Premier League career so far - this in a struggling side that finished second from bottom in the league is very impressive. His technical qualities also translate to Bradshaw's one vs one quality. He's very effective in tight spaces and can get out of tricky situations even when he's surrounded by multiple defenders. Again the numbers back this up. He's averaging 4.12 dribblers per 90 minutes and he completes 62% of his dribble attempts. These are impressive statistics. For a winger a dribble success rate of around 60% and over, with the same kind of volume of attempts as Bradshaw, is a really solid return. Bradshaw is quick, too. He can run in behind defences and he will chase down loose balls. He brings a lot of energy to the team whenever he plays and this is something that will be appreciated by Arne Slot at first team level, too. In terms of improvement, Bradshaw already has a lot of the base qualities you need for a top level winger. What can give him the best chances of succeeding at senior level is if he works on his explosiveness on the ball. Bradshaw is fast but he's not been able to demonstrate his explosiveness when running with the ball. His technical ability means he doesn't always need to run at high speeds. He can draw defenders in and he's able to get around them with clever feints and body movements. However, at a higher level, he needs to add that extra bit of speed on the ball to make him succeed in the modern game, where he will need the extra speed on the ball to get around his opponents. He's got the ability in his locker and now it's just up to the club's U21 coach Page and Bradshaw himself to bring that out of him as well.
Forbes
07-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Why The AI Era Demands EQ
Kempton Presley, CEO of AdhereHealth , has expertise in health economics, analytics, digital health integration and value-based care. getty Just a few years ago, knowledge of the Python programming language felt like a ticket to guaranteed employment for life. But today, AI can write passable code in seconds, with tools like GitHub and Copilot automating many of the tasks that previously earned employees a permanent spot at the top of recruiters' call lists. I'm not saying engineers will be replaced by AI. But I am saying technical skills alone are no longer enough to set candidates and employees apart. The ability to understand and manage emotions—known as emotional intelligence or emotional quotient (EQ)—is critical for helping leaders and teams bridge technical expertise with human concerns and business outcomes. At organizations that place a premium on EQ, teams are typically adept at soft skills like adaptability, communication and collaboration. These qualities have always been important, but talented employees, and even some leaders, have often been able to get by without them if they possessed the right hard skills. Not anymore. To build teams that will succeed in the age of AI, leaders must recruit and retain workers who bring emotional intelligence to technical environments. Turn cooks into chefs. In this analogy, a 'cook' is someone who knows how to follow a specific recipe, using a specific tool. By contrast, a 'chef' understands the full kitchen and surrounding context (including ingredients, timing, staff and customers) and can adapt on the fly. Almost anybody can become a decent cook with a little bit of training. By contrast, becoming a chef takes talent, time and determination. A good cook can broil one perfect medium-rare steak after another. But if a group of gluten-sensitive vegans walks into the restaurant, you're going to need a chef who can improvise what's available. Think back to our Python developers. Mastery of their great coding skills alone makes them cooks. The same can be said for Power BI experts and AWS infrastructure specialists if they only focus on one skill in isolation. In the past, their tool-specific knowledge has meant they've been constantly in demand. But soon, people in these roles will also need to have a deep understanding of data science concepts and the ability to identify the right solutions for the right problems. They'll need to become chefs. Recognize communication as currency. Any fan of Apple's origin story can tell you Steve Jobs wasn't the primary technical wiz behind the company's earliest successes. That was cofounder Steve Wozniak. One reason we continue to associate Apple so closely with Jobs nearly 15 years after his death is that he was one of the great communicators in business history. Although he didn't have the technical skills needed to bring the iPod or iPhone to life himself, he knew how to communicate his vision—first to the engineers who would design the products and then to the public who would buy them. Not all team members need to be able to deliver a mic-drop keynote, but they do need to be able to explain the value of their work. And they need to be able to translate technical data into business insights. Often, effective communication is the difference between an idea that never gets put into action and one that transforms the entire organization. Optimize working relationships. Jobs and Wozniak are just one team famous for achieving far more together than they ever could have separately. For example, compare the soaring heights reached by the Beatles to their relatively pedestrian solo careers. Or consider the fact that Bill Belichick and Greg Popovich, arguably the greatest football and basketball coaches of all time, respectively, actually have losing records without star players Tom Brady and Tim Duncan. Although some people are naturally better teammates than others, collaboration isn't a fixed trait. It's a teachable, coachable skill, and employees are much more likely to improve if leaders reward it and treat it as a core competency. Collaboration has always been important, but the rise of AI may finally kill off the myth of the 'lone wolf' for good. As technology improves, no hard skill will be so prized that it outweighs an inability to work well with one's colleagues. Yesterday, organizations bent over backwards to keep employees who accumulated institutional knowledge and swept in to save the day. Tomorrow, they will compete for employees who can solve problems as part of a team. EQ In Action Many employees already possess the EQ-related soft skills their organizations need. They simply haven't been asked to put those skills into practice in their job roles. In fact, some engineers might not even recognize they're good communicators, effective collaborators or creative problem solvers. Often, these employees view their job performance purely through the lens of their technical skills, and historically, so have their employers. It's up to leaders to identify these soft skills, nurture them and assemble teams where the pieces all fit. We're entering an era where AI can increasingly handle coding, data analysis and even task execution. But only humans can come up with new ideas, communicate those ideas across an organization and work together to put them into practice. Tech trends will come and go, but EQ will never become obsolete. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pierpont Community and Technical College hosts 2025 commencement ceremony
CLARKSBURG, (WBOY) — Pierpont Community and Technical College celebrated the achievements of its graduates Friday night during the school's commencement ceremony at the Robinson Grand Performing Arts Center in Clarksburg. Graduates earned degrees in a wide array of career-focused programs designed to meet the demands of today's job market. Among the disciplines represented were Cybersecurity, Advanced Welding, Aviation Maintenance Technology and Licensed Practical Nursing. Preston High School FFA students participate in Drive Your Tractor to School Day Officials with Pierpont Community and Technical College said these programs equip students with the technical skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in critical industries, which will have them contribute to both local communities and the global economy. 'We have a lot of students who struggle with making ends meet, balancing work and family, raising children, working multiple jobs. All the while going to college, and all the while burning the midnight oil to better their lives,' the president of Pierpont Community and Technical College, Michael Waide, said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
