The Four Parts of the Triangle of Success

In my line of work, I often am asked, "Can you help me or my friend a job."  This is something that I am more than glad to do based on my experience and the ability to help others.  Often, as I sit down with individuals and get a sense of what they have done in the past and their lives, I am often amazed how they have completely missed the ball on a number of things that could have either A.Prevented them from losing their job in the first place or B.Put them in position to already have a job lined up by now.  Over the next four weeks, I will focus on the tips and strategies that I have learned over the the years that will help you maximize your career and ensure that you aren't placed in a situation in which you're helpless if something happens to your current position. Each week, I will focus on one particular aspect that will help build what I call the Triangle of Success.  This triangle has four specific parts: Education, Brand Building, Political Savvy, and Networking.

This weeks' focus is on Education.  Education is the base of the triangle as it is the foundation of your life.  Without a commitment to continuous education, you are dooming yourself to a life of mediocrity and staleness.  When I a say continuous education, however, I am not always referring to higher degrees from a particular school.  (This could be needed, however, depending on your particular profession and goals you have for your life.) This could refer to your commitment to "self-teach" by reading books or trade journals on your profession to stay abreast of the latest trends or just increase your overall knowledge and business acumen.  This focus on education is important because it gives you several advantages to those who don't understand the importance of it for their career.

NEW STRATEGIES AND WAYS TO THINK TO INCREASE CHANCES OF SUCCESS
One of the most obvious advantages of continual education is that it arms you with new information that you can apply to situations that you may encounter. When in a board meeting and faced with a problem that is very important to the company, if you had the knowledge of a similar problem faced by XYZ company during your research and studies, you would have a great advantage over your peers by being able to make suggestions that are relevant and tested for the group to consider.  This same knowledge would be able to help you in your one-on-one interactions with individuals, as you could learn ways to manage and message to individuals better through your consistent study of this practice.

MAKES ONE MORE WELL-ROUNDED TO BE BETTER EQUIPPED FOR DIFFERENT SITUATIONS
Another advantage of continuous learning is that it allows an individual to have a breadth a knowledge to pull from for various conversations when needed.  By committing oneself to consistent study, one will come across a multitude of information that he/she could use in everyday conversation that could prove very useful in different situations.  One of the great polymaths of all time was Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was known to be able to have a conversation about almost any thing with anybody. It is not a coincidence that Franklin was one of the most well-read and self-educated men who ever lived. He dedicated his life to a life of learning and was able to accomplish things in his life that could have been the lives of several men.  By continuous education, you put yourselves in a very advantageous situation to have better conversational content than those who haven't been exposed to your same level of knowledge.  Something that is very important when we get to the networking pillar of the triangle in two weeks!

IT EXPOSES YOU TO NEW OPPORTUNITIES THAT COULD INTEREST YOU
One of perhaps the most important aspects of continual education is that you could stumble upon something that could be a great passion for you. What many people are looking for in life is that one thing that makes them want to jump out of bed each morning and attack the day with a fervor and excitement that they would do for free.  By continually educating yourself on different topics, you have a greater chance of discovering some profession or idea that ignites a fire inside you that you may not have even known was there.  The importance of a university education isn't always so much about going to college to get a specific degree to begin work, as much as it is the opportunity to be exposed to so many different ways of thinking and professions that we truly get a chance to identify what could be the right opportunity for us to be successful in life. The funny thing about that, however, is that we are always changing as time progresses and by continuing to expose ourselves to a university-type educational view of the world, we increase the chances that we will continue to find that one thing that will make our work our joy.

It has been said that whether you are 20 or 80, you are dying if you stop learning.  By committing to continuous education and making sure to keep your brain sharp and focused with new knowledge, you greatly increase the chance of your continued success.  This will give you a great advantage over those individuals who do not practice this in their life and, in the world of work, any advantage must be taken for success.

Next week, I'll discuss the second pillar in Triangle of Success: Branding Building

Ken Middleton is an Account Executive at TEKsystems that specializes in IT staffing and services. He is a graduate of UNC-Pembroke and current MBA student at Scheller College of Business at Georgia Tech.

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