Hello Friends,
How many of you believe in the importance of skill enhancement & taking required actions for the same on a regular basis? I am sure the answer to this will vary with some of you saying we do take serious measures as & when required with another lot saying may be we never gave it a thought or feel that there aren't any requirements as such. Whatever may be your answer, giving your skills a much needed boost is the need of the hour. It's not just about improving upon your existing skills, but acquiring the new ones too. The Covid19 pandemic has brought the world to the cusp of an extreme transformation where one has to be equipped with the required ammunition to fulfill the demands at the everchanging workplace. So what these skills we are talking about, how to enhance them, how to acquire new skills....these are some of the common questions expected to come to your mind. Here I am with the answers to all of these & many more in my today's book review .The book that I am going to talk about will definitely help to change your perception of looking at things in a different manner not only in professional life but also personal life.
Skill It, Kill It: Up Your Game by Ronnie Screwvala is a book which I found is a must read at a time like this. Ronnie Screwvala requires no introduction. He is one of the most influential entrepreneurs of this generation who created successful ventures not only once but multiple times. His latest organization upGrad which is into edtech segment instills the idea of lifelong learning among working professionals & help them grow with its highly useful online courses. But this is not a book where Ronnie talks about his journey with upGrad. Instead he focuses on several soft skills which are of utmost importance in one's career.
After knowing about the book or seeing its content you might think that probably this is another self help or personality development book with the same old content packed in a different cover. Let me tell you then irrespective of any categorization I would consider it as a myth breaker. It kicks out a lot of myths which all of us carried throughout our career but in a subtle manner. There are many aspects which make this book a standout. I am going to talk about a few of them and I am sure you will discover few more once you read it.
The book talks about quite a few essential common soft skills like communication & listening skills, art of multitasking, mentoring skills along with a few very attractive ones like storytelling ,empathy, work life balance& shining in your career with lifelong learning. All these skills are the building blocks in making of a great professional or leader.
A simple pattern has been followed to explain each of the above mentioned skills. Every chapter starts with a personal experience from Ronnie's life pertaining to a particular skill followed by opinions of renowned industry stalwarts like Sanjeev Mehta- CMD of Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Suneeta Reddy- MD of Apollo Group, Vijay Shekar Sharma-Founder of Paytm and many more on that, feedbacks or real life experiences of some of the working professionals. Chapter ends with major takeaways along with a couple of call to action activities. Creating a pattern like this makes the entire read very attractive as you can corelate with the working professionals' experiences as well as can take a clue or two from what the industry leaders think about the value of a particular skillset.
The book is a combination of extremely simple language and well explained concepts in the words of an honest writer. Design of the cover page is beautiful too. Loved the way the emphasis on the concept of lifelong learning & its relevance in the current context. This book doesn't ask you to completely change your thought process. Instead encourages you to apply few variations which indeed will transform you into a better leader.
Fascinating to see how the author himself endorses the concept of lifelong learning in his own life through various experiences. This book can not only be a prized possession in your library but also can be an invaluable gift to your loved ones, friends, colleagues or peers. As the author rightly mentioned that it's not a book to read once but many a times throughout one's career. If you are stuck in your career, prospering in career but want to achieve more or have reached the peak, whatever situation you may be in you need to up your game every time to get into the next level of success. Hence go skill it kill it.
Image Credit: amazon.in
Personal Recommendation (Self development)
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