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The Critical Life Skill They Never Taught You In College
You don’t need talent to master it
Your teachers and bosses expect you to be good at it. Perhaps that’s why nobody teaches it. Anyone can excel at it with the right attitude.
Several buzz words probably come to mind: critical thinking, decision making, design, creativity, business acumen. Those skills are important. But there is one meta-skill that accelerates your growth in any profession or area of focus. And the best part? No talent required. In my experience, the more talented you are, the less likely you are to embrace it.
The coachability quotient
In my early twenties, I took a job as a stockbroker trainee. It was the thing to do back in the 1990s.
It was the first day of our orientation. The trainer walked into the conference room and gave us a short motivational speech after his introduction.
“Let’s get one thing straight. I don’t care how smart you are or what your background is. I only care that you’re hungry and coachable. Damn it; you better be coachable.”
I hated that job, but the guy was right about the importance of being coachable. The guys who succeeded in that job took instructions without complaint. They never reinterpreted feedback to…
