Versatility Is A State Of Mind — All You Have To Do Is Feed It

In this day and age, being versatile is one of the most important keys to success (or even just coping!).

Some people think of versatility as being skillful with multiple tools. To me, that's just the inevitable result of what versatility truly is: a thought process. It's not what you can do, it's how you decide what to do.

It is a skill unto itself that needs to be nurtured. Here are some ways I try to go about doing that.

Tuning Your Antenna

The whole process starts with information. If you don't know what's going on around you, your well-meaning decisions can easily make a situation worse. Or, at the very least, you'll miss opportunities.

To cope with information overload, select a few sources you trust and then access them regularly. Don't fall into the "I don't have time to read the paper" trap! You've got to make the time. You'll be glad you did.

When selecting your sources, ask yourself: Is this information accurate and well balanced? Does it go into enough depth so that you can understand the factors underlying the issue?

Do your sources cover a broad enough spectrum of news and analysis? Watch out for sources that are too narrow. If your only sources focus solely on your industry, you will miss out on many applicable lessons being learned elsewhere.

Although internalizing information and lessons learned is essential, making use of it all in real time is where the rubber meets the road.

Ask Questions — Either Of Yourself Or Of Others

Versatility is about anticipating or reacting to a situation in a thoughtful, open-minded way in order to achieve the optimum result. Key word: thought.

But good ideas rarely come out of nowhere — they are the direct result of asking the right questions.

So get into the habit of thinking critically and asking yourself questions like:

• What factors are really at work here?
• Is there a pattern or a trend?
• How could it conceivably affect your business, either directly or indirectly?

Or, even better, get into the habit of engaging others with these questions. We all think differently. The more heads the better!

These are the things that work for me. What about you? What do you do to stay sharp, aware and informed? I'd love to know and share them with other readers in a future newsletter. Click here to send me a quick note.