While the majority of the men and women interviewed for this book ranked computer literacy at the top of the list of skills that every executive must master, others point to a far deeper understanding of the role of constant learning and improvement in maintaining one's competitive edge in the marketplace. Joseph Cullen, a former vice president of the Burndy Corporation, observed in the middle of building a new facility for Burndy that "people were knowledgeable about many things, but did not know much about any one thing." Cullen responded by going to the library and reading everything he could on construction. "At the next company meeting," says Cullen, "I suddenly became the 'expert.' It was textbook expertise, but it was more than anyone else offered, and I used the same technique when Burndy opened a plant in the Dominican Republic and one in Mexico." Joe Cullen's observation that "people did not know much about any one thing" brings to light a critical issue-the need to distinguish between the types of learning that prove most valuable to a portable executive.
While taking responsibility for constant learning is certainly a key attribute of today's portable executive, the demands of the marketplace make it clear that such learning falls into two distinct categories: learning that enhances one's core skills and learning that improves one's generalist skills. Clearly, in the situation just described by Joe Cullen, generalist skills were plentiful, while core skills-those that make one "an expert" in a given area-are what drive the career success of. Thus, while most executives rightly argue that computer literacy is essential for all executives, for most of them, it is a generalist skill that can later be delegated to someone else as devotes the bulk of his time to employing his core skills in the marketplace. While constant improvement includes the need to acquire both core and generalist skills, in later chapters we will explore the roles that each play in the growth of the individual portable executive's career.
As portable executives go through the process of establishing themselves as businesses in their own right, many seek education in the form of seminars, lectures, reading, and adult education classes to enhance their knowledge of running these businesses. Still others add portable skills that are not strictly related to their career paths-either to explore a different business or to supply backup income during a start-up, such as acquiring a real-estate license.
Informal learning also plays a critical role in one's commitment to ongoing learning, as often only other members of the same industry, or other colleagues addressing a particular challenge, can offer the information and feedback that an executive needs. The common denominator in all that portable executives do to upgrade their existing skills and develop news ones is that they accept the full responsibility for their ongoing training and development, find the necessary sources of information, and utilize them fully.
Identifying new ways to employ one's existing core skills is one of the major tasks faced by portable executives. Media consultant Dave Moore identified the core skills he'd used making package sales for a major publisher, and leapt over to the buying side of the business when he went out on his own. "When I was in publishing," says Moore, "I was in the business of selling something, but now, I'm on the other side of it. I'm on the client's side, helping him do business more effectively." Ultimately, learning to apply one's skills in a different way, as Moore did, is far easier and more cost-effective than attempting to acquire entirely new core skills.
The Flexibility to Respond Rapidly
"Adaptability to a changing environment is really the best life skill you can possess," said one high-level corporate development officer, and as the effects of technology shorten the cycle time of producing virtually every product and service on the market, who can rapidly adapt to and address the needs of any given client is the one likeliest to surpass baseline performance levels. As newly lean corporations attempt to address market demands for shorter and shorter cycle times, there is an exponential rise in the need for portable executives who can respond rapidly to the demands of an assignment with specific expertise and willingly terminate the relationship with an employer as soon as the mission is accomplished.
As Joe Cullen moved into his first position as a portable executive-a warehouse manager on a short-term assignment-he highlighted the rewards of constantly improving his skills as he worked and being able to apply them in another environment than the Burndy Corporation:
I was doing things I never did before-training, calling the shots, and approving payroll. I walked away confident. I got a lot of help getting the job done, but I motivated people. I made it happen and I'm proud of it.
Possessing the flexibility to apply one's core skills, wherever one happens to be, is a natural outgrowth of developing the other attributes of portability mentioned so far in this chapter. Indeed, portability is built on the early recognition that one's core skills are both transferrable and marketable and not dependent on any one organization. Prioritizing the work at hand over and above any other considerations in one's work environment is yet another natural outgrowth of taking responsibility for one's career, as are the equally important attributes of being dedicated to constant improvement of those skills and, above all, adopting a flexible approach to applying them in the marketplace.
