Growing In Knowledge, Holistically

There are literally millions of different career choices available for the picking. Each one having its own focus. This makes for essentially an endless list of possible choices. To make it even more complicated, every year several new career fields are “created.” I used to work for a company that would periodically create new positions.

In business, the vast majority of companies have one President. However, many larger corporations may have multiple Presidents. This is especially true for those with a global footprint. The larger the corporation gets, the higher the level of hierarchy becomes. Below the President are typically the Vice Presidents. This level might be broken into multiple levels of both Executive Vice Presidents and Vice Presidents. Below them would typically be Managing Directors and Directors.

At the time, my former employer had the President, Executive Vice Presidents, and Vice Presidents. They also had Assistant Vice Presidents. These were not assistances to the Vice Presidents. No, they had added another layer to the hierarchy. Each Vice President, regardless of their extension, was put in charge of a different area or division. Regardless if it was in their “area of expertise.”

Isn’t it important to be an expert though?

What’s the significance with the area of expertise? I had a mentor at one of the companies I worked for. He was a Director. We regularly met one-on-one. During one of our meetings, I asked him what turned out to be a profound question. “Has there ever been a position that you didn’t feel qualified for?” Without hesitation, he told me almost every one of them. The exception of the very first one. He told me that at the beginning of each position he felt completely unqualified. But, by having this mentality, it forced him to grow both personally and professionally.

Over time, he became very good at each one. Before long, it was on to a new position. Though, he admitted, many of them were somewhat chosen for him. He would receive the proverbial “tap on the shoulder.” By going along like that, he was not going towards his real passion of Learning and Development. By choosing the “taps,” he missed out on the opportunities that he really wanted to make for himself. He desired to become an expert in one area. But, by choosing the different route, he was not pigeonholed.

What exactly does it mean to be pigeonholed?

Being pigeonholed is being known for one thing. Unfortunately, this is often interpreted as being a one-trick pony. Do know someone who has been pigeonholed into one position or specialty? Perhaps it’s you. Have you ever asked yourself what’ll happens if that one thing becomes obsolete? Maybe now is the time to expand your knowledge.

Effective leaders have knowledge/experience in several areas. Helping them to make strategic decisions. And, often times, they won’t make these decisions on their own. Rather, they will surround themselves with experts in their respective fields. The leaders will gain knowledge from them. And decisions made will give them experience. In order to grow holistically, we can do the same.

What does it mean to grow holistically?

Growing holistically is taking the whole into account instead of thinking about individual parts. For instance. In holistic medicine, the practice is to look at the patient as a whole person. Whereas in traditional medicine, the practice is to focus on the symptom of the underlying problem. The focus is on one thing specifically. Let’s say that you’re having pain in your leg. In traditional medicine, the physician will try and find the cause of that pain. This could be done through X-Rays, MRI’s, CT (often pronounced cat) scans, and the like. But they’re only looking in that leg. If there’s no obvious cause for the pain, the traditional physician might prescribe pain meds as a fix for the pain. But covering up the pain doesn’t fix the problem. And we know this because if we stop taking the pain meds, if the problem still exists, the pain still exists too.

In holistic medicine, the physician will treat the root cause of the pain. But rather than looking at just the leg, the holistic physician will look at the body as a whole. The pain in one area could actually be generated from a different area of the body. In which case, the traditional physician would have missed it. Furthermore, the holistic physician will try to help the patient be better overall. This approach helps to prevent future illnesses before they occur. They understand that each part of the body has a specific function. And how these interactions affect other parts of the body. 

It’s time to go and grow in knowledge, holistically.

In the same way, when we grow holistically, we aren’t completely focused on any one area. Rather, we continuously learn and become knowledgeable in multiple areas. Whether they’re related or not. What I’m trying to say is don’t be discouraged if you’re not an expert in a specific area. By having knowledge and experience in multiple areas, it provides you with the ability to fill a number of various roles. Find an area that you’re interested in. Once you determine that, identify what you already know and how it relates to it in some way. Because you’re well-rounded, you’re able to bring a lot to that position. When you grow holistically, the number of transferrable skills become abundant. And that’s an advantage not a disadvantage. Be confident in what you know and not what you think you don’t know.