The SKILL Equation [(1+n)^x]
Are your skills enough to take you over the line? Well, here’s the skill equation explaining what you may be missing…
Do you think it is enough to possess a SKILL?
Is it ONLY skill that sets the winners apart?
What else does one ought to blend those skills with to be super-successful?
Background:
I remember my first ever mentoring assignment, a call I had with someone who literally cried over phone because they felt totally bogged down by the expectations of the people they were dealing with, the bosses, the managers, the peers & that made them feel totally out of place…
…which is when I realized that there could always be so much more to things than that’s visible to the naked eye.
What could appear as a simple problem could have some deeply nuanced layers overlooking / ignoring which would never solve the problem rendering the whole engagement worthless & futile.
I have played a significant part in helping many identify a few skill gaps, prepare detailed action plans over how they could get over bridging it so that they can realize, take cognizance & get ready to unleash their full potential. Being a mentor / coach working with product managers across the world & across hierarchy has taught me one thing. There’s a certain degree of SKILL that’s quintessential when one talks of bare survival in any given industry / domain. But again, that’s never going to be enough if one’s looking to establish a name & leave a mark achieving a significant degree of success, which is apparently the bare minimum expectation an org. would have from a product manager. And that could be the crucial role INTENT plays in shaping everything up...
(LINK to the original post here)
Helping upgrade one’s skill levels could be the easiest part for a mentor as it is pretty much straight forward, but to teach someone intent would be a tough nut to crack given the deeper connection it would demand with the mentee.
What’s the difference b/w SKILL & INTENT you ask?
“SKILL” could be thought of as a combination of the basic qualifications & the knowledge of the nuances acquired through experience, practice, training & updating one’s armory continuously converting into an ability to get over & finish a certain job / task
But “INTENT” often refers to a deeper human connection to the underlying purpose, clearly formulated plan of action converting into a natural drive towards achieving things of magnificence often beyond the ordinary & the motivation to keep going unless a given goal is reached
Take the example of sportspersons across the world. There could be so many that crop up on the scene, knocking on & getting a foot in the door of superstardom but just happen to fade away much quicker than they appeared for reasons other than injuries & in spite of recovering to 100% fitness / normal health. But those very few who manage to stay on could end up having decorated careers that could put anyone at awe. Make no mistake, people belonging to both those sample spaces do carry a certain degree of skill. But, the ones with the real intent could be the latter lot.
Let’s get down to exploring more about the relationship between Skill & Intent.
Given the subject of intent & skills, it all ultimately boils down to the impact one can create with it, which is also a tangible way to measure the intensity of them both. And it won’t at all be wrong to say “Impact is directly proportional to Skill”.
IMPACT ∝ SKILL
Analyzing it, you see how if one is in possession of a given skill it improves the probability of one making an impact. And also, the converse also holds good. One obviously ought to possess a skill if one is looking to make an impact, even at a bare minimum level.
But, as we already have it by now, intent is what magnifies the skill beyond compare.
Let’s try and process this a bit more deeply.
Consider this for a statement:
👉 “I want to build a feature for this certain user group”
That’s an example of skill given how building a feature calls for a certain degree of skill sans which it may as well remain just a mere plain thought.
But if that were to be cast into intent, it’d sound something like:
👉 “I want to build this specific (x) feature so as to capture the imagination of (y) audience & then drive it forward to the relevant segments (p, q, r) enabling a near exponential signup from all user groups involved triggering a new wave of impeccable growth”
Notice the unrelenting nature of the responsibility here, always taking that extra slice of ownership & driving it ruthlessly to the outcome(s) so desired? That’s Intent, which is what’s expected out of every product person by default. I guess you’d agree now that the intent was able to propel the skill to levels unimaginable, which does enhance our previous equation to:
IMPACT = 1 + (SKILL)INTENT
If one is looking to magnify the IMPACT, one ought to obviously possess a certain degree of SKILL alright but that would get magnified only by the right quantum of INTENT, which is why Skill to the power of Intent is a great way to represent it.
NOTE: Consider a case where both the skill & the intent could be tending to zero (if not altogether 0), it is possible that something minimal gets achieved (although not worth anyone’s while) thus explaining the (1+ x) form of the equation there.
Let’s explore a few of those cases here to understand this relationship better.
Case 1: MINIMUM skill, MINIMUM intent
Although hypothetical in today’s world, consider a case where the SKILL level of a person is at a bare minimum for whatever reasons. Given that the skill is almost absent, there is a higher likelihood that the INTENT could be missing as well.
NOTE: Hypothetically & purely for mathematical purposes, we consider MINIMUM = 1 & MAXIMUM = 99
Plugging Skill = 1, Intent = 1 into the equation, we now get to:
IMPACT = 1 + (1) 1
IMPACT = 1 + 1
IMPACT = 2
The IMPACT is obviously & as expected pretty LOW.
Case 2: MINIMUM skill, MAXIMUM intent
It is important to understand how merely carrying some intent would get nobody anywhere. One could get it all right with intent but if the skill seems to be lacking then one’s going to have a damn hard time for sure. That’s also a classic of case of hard work, in fact to the extent of a toil yielding nothing valuable at all.
Now, plugging Skill = 1, Intent = 99 into the equation, we now get to:
IMPACT = 1 + (1) 99
IMPACT = 1 + 1
IMPACT = 2
The IMPACT again turns out to be pretty LOW here as well.
Case 3: MAXIMUM skill, MINIMUM intent
This is a pretty interesting case as it could be the story of many people’s lives who can’t help but feel stuck in their jobs. The skill level could be at a near maximum, but the intent could be totally lacking, blame it on toxicity at the workplace, unrewarding & retrograde culture. What’s more, it is very possible that this lot could gradually lose their motivation to work as they may feel like their efforts are getting wasted without any significant yield at all.
So, pegging Skill = 99, Intent = 1 & looking at the equation, we would now have:
IMPACT = 1 + (99) 1
IMPACT = 1 + 99
IMPACT = 100
When the IMPACT is significantly higher as compared to the previous 2 cases, it could be considered MODERATE given the potential up-side.
Case 4: MAXIMUM skill, MAXIMUM intent
This state is pretty interesting & this is what one ought to be gunning for. This is maximum utilization of skill levels presenting one with a juicy opportunity to put them to use day-in day-out leading to maximization of learning potential fueled by full-on intent that not just maximizes the yield but could as well rub off on the others in the team.
Plugging Skill = 99, Intent = 99 into the equation, we now get to:
IMPACT = 1 + (99) 99
IMPACT -> ∞
NOTE: 99 to the power of 99 is a large number with 190+ digits in it.
This could be the ideal case where IMPACT is SUPER-HIGH, tending to infinity.
Given the understanding we have built about IMPACT being maximum if the SKILL & INTENT tends to be maximum, how does a mentor approach the problem of teaching their subjects, the mentees to carry a significant degree of intent, towards making their work more impactful?
Although there’s no secret formula to this, no real tried & tested methodology to take to as an escape route towards achieving perfection in this case, here are a few steps that could help build intent:
1. Be Inquisitive
Being inquisitive / competitive is a trait that ought to be innate & could be very tough to teach, even for the super-successful mentors / coaches. It starts off by being observant, being detail oriented towards assessing the situation to study all the major factors playing a part in defining the outcome & determining the impact that one is expected to make.
And yes, charity begins at home. So, you’d do well to kick-off with an understanding of your own selves which is to say the skills gained over the course of your experience. Talk to a mentor if you are confused as for this part. When experience does matter, the inquisitiveness to learn, to gain that new skill, to master it over a period of time, get perfect at it so as to be able to trump those expectations is what ought to take center-stage.
2. Take Ownership
Post being inquisitive, taking the initiative ought to follow suit. Most product roles expect one to be enterprising in that way, so one’d think that their days are sorted. But there could be a significant difference between someone taking ownership just because they are bound by duty as opposed to it being totally innate, driven from internal locus of control.
Just as much as one’s taking ownership one also ought to carry a supreme degree of self-belief & of course belief in one’s abilities. Post the doing part comes the measuring part, the analysis. So, measuring your own performances benchmarking them against the others whilst also pitting it against your own could be the best way forward if you are looking to get to a state of semblance & get noticed by the people who matter.
3. Step-Up Incrementally
When winning is a habit, it is important to take it with a grain of salt & ensure you make that a benchmark for the future instances. And that doesn’t mean forget the past entirely. Nobody has ever got better by doing that. Thoroughly assessing & documenting what went wrong, why it went wrong, when also keeping a tab on what went right & understanding what was done to get it all right does play a significant role as well.
Stepping up on the challenge, incrementally increasing the levels of expectations of oneself gradually & not settling down for the previous best is a trait that’s found across the best of the world & that’s domain agnostic. Consistency is of course the name of the game & consistently improving those skills ought to be the mantra.
Conclusion:
Most mentors, coaches delve deeper into those skills, helping you identify those gaps & bridge them via those 1:1s. When intent mostly ought to be innate given how it is pretty tough to teach, there are a few ways to trigger that off as a continuous reaction in someone. If it is 1:1 mentoring you’re looking for, please feel free to HMU.