The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘SWOT analysis’

If you conducted a quick search on the internet to identify traits of great leaders, you will find traits such as:

• Excellent problem solvers and decision makers
• Ability to embrace change
• Ability to think on their feel
• Confident
• Act with integrity
• Ability to focus
• Enthusiastic
• Subject matter experts
• Risk takers
• Good listeners

But what is often missing, is that effective leadership requires that you first lead yourself. Authentic leadership begins when you “know yourself. How well do you know yourself? When was the last time you asked yourself the “tough” questions? How often do you honor the commitments that you make to yourself? What do you like about yourself? What are your strengths and weaknesses? What are your values? How self-disciplined are you? How do you respond to the challenges you encounter in life? Can you count on yourself  to respond with thoughtfulness, agility and resilience, when you find yourself in a tight spot? How aware are you of what’s going on around you?  What are you committed to at this moment? Where do you draw your line in the sand?

As you embark on your journey of self-discovery, you learn the wisdom of life.  Through this experience you develop powerful strategies that you can use to help others. Then and only then do you  become an effective leader.

How great a leader are you?

What are your thoughts? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right side) by email or RSS Feed.

Photo Credit: Flickr via Apture

What are your thoughts on having experience? What does it mean to you to have experience? Are there situations where having experience is either a blessing or a curse? How do you define experience?

According to AudioEnglish.net, experience means:

The accumulation of knowledge or skill that results from direct participation in events or activities…

Go or live through

Have firsthand knowledge of states, situations, emotions, or sensations

Having experience is very important, but it isn’t everything. If we use the definition above which centers on the accumulation of knowledge, there will be instances where a certain experience is required, which you do not possess, but you do have the skills required to do the job. In this situation, transferring your skills may be enough.

What to do if you do not have the required experience for a job

Let’s say that there is a job that you would like to have, but you feel like you do not have the experience required to apply.

• Forget about the job title and hone in on the skills that are required
• Take an inventory of your skills
• Conduct a personal SWOT Analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (Refer to the post “When Was the Last Time You Conducted a Personal SWOT Analysis“
• Align your skills with those of the job, how do they match up?
• From the results of the SWOT Analysis, what unique strengths do you possess that would give you an advantage? What opportunities exist that are relevant to the job?
• If you find that you have more than 50 percent of the requirements for the job go for it and apply

Let’s say there is an unrelated field that you would like to transition into, how do you go about making the change?

• Look at the skills that are required for this field, align them with the skills that you have, work on acquiring those skills needed to close the gap. You can close the gap by:
  • Volunteering in the field that you are interested in, to acquire the new skills
  • Getting a mentor or coach who will work with you to acquire those skills
  • Reading books or observing people using those skills

And most importantly, when you are BUILDING your experience, make sure that you are HAVING an experience, because that means you are LIVING.

What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right side) by email or RSS Feed.

Photo Credit: Yahoo via Apture

Recently I had a blog post on How to Master a Subject. It was a good blog post and some readers really appreciated it, but I realized that there is a step, a precursor to it. If you are investing the time to master a subject, it makes sense that you choose an area that you have an interest in as well as an affinity for.

If you do not already know what your interests are, or if you want to test what you think, the first step in this process is to conduct a Personal SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats).

Personal SWOT Analysis

Answering the questions in the above table creates an inventory of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, which will determine possible areas to achieve mastery in. Develop ways to use strengths to exploit opportunities and avoid or defuse threats. In what ways could you exploit your knowledge and wisdom to create a niche market?

Please keep the conversation flowing, click on the comment link below and leave a note for me. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

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Related Articles

How to Master a Subject
How to Fill the Information Gap
How to Fill the Information Gap Part Two
How to Fill the Information Gap (when you don’t know there is a gap) Part Three

Photo Credit: Yahoo via Apture

Whenever you hear the term SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats), it is usually associated with businesses. But a SWOT Analysis can be very beneficial to individuals because results can help to position them for success, by highlighting information they can use to reposition themselves.

How to Conduct a Personal SWOT Analysis

Table 1: SWOT Analysis

Answering the questions in table 1 creates an inventory of your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, which will determine possible areas to specialize in, if you are looking for a change in career. Or, you can simply use the information to hone the skills that you are weak in.

Develop ways to use your strengths to exploit opportunities and avoid or defuse threats. In what ways could you exploit your knowledge and wisdom to create a niche that you can dominate? Are you ready to conduct your personal SWOT?

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• Swot Analysis1 (slideshare.net) Note from Avil: This is for a company but some of the information is useful