Mark Cuban has some advice about the soft skills everyone needs to learn, and while they sound simple at first, it’s a different story once work changes.
Start with the question
First up is curiosity. It sounds like something that belongs only on a school poster, but Cuban’s using it more to talk about looking into new things that appear. You don’t simply accept a new tool. No, you ask questions and poke around to figure out exactly what it does.
That doesn’t mean you can’t make mistakes. You can. Curiosity isn’t the same as being smart or perfect, and it actually means you’re not allowing yourself to stay confused. That’s pretty important now that AI is becoming a bigger part of our jobs. You’ve got to understand it.
Keep your feet loose
Your sense of agility appears when plans don’t go as you intended. For example, maybe a client wants something different or a system changes in an unexpected way. You could still use the old way, sure, but Cuban says that agile people respond better to these problems.
No, they don’t need a complete reset before taking action. They’ll just do it. Think of the difference between curiosity and agility this way. Curiosity’s the one asking questions about what’s happening, and agility’s the thing that’s going to make you act on the answers. Simple.
Stay useful after the change
Not all skills are flashy. Some of them, in fact, work a lot more slowly, and adaptability’s one of them. Agility’s the kind of skill that helps you deal with a single task changing, while adaptability helps you when your entire job changes.
You can be curious about AI. You can be agile enough to try it. But, according to Cuban, being adaptable is going to keep you working well, even when your routine doesn’t look like anything that you’re used to.
The five-minute habit
So how do you learn curiosity? For starters, it’s not like you’ve got to question every single thing you come across, because it turns out, the habits can be a lot smaller. You might hear a term that you only half-understand. Don’t sit there nodding along.
Give it five minutes and search for the meaning, or ask someone about it. Write down all the questions you have about it. Yes, as soon as you think of them. Don’t wait. Being a little nosy can really pay off, and it could give you the information you need to work better.
The rough little test
Being agile’s way easier when you’ve got low stakes to deal with, so don’t wait until everything’s hectic to get it sorted. Change a small thing. Do it on purpose. You could try using that software you’ve been avoiding for ages because it’s so complex, or maybe run an idea past someone.
Anything works, really. Learning socially is actually a really great idea because it helps you take in new information. You remember the lessons you’ve learned. Best of all, you’ll be motivated to actually do things in a new way. Who knew other people could be so useful?
The calmer switch
Adaptability. It begins with something so boring, where something changes a little and you stop yourself from immediately reacting to it. You take the time to actually think, to actually separate the facts from your feelings. Write it down.
What changed? What’s an action you can take today to deal with the change? Doing that will help you figure out how to anticipate and adapt to any changes that come up. You can change the situation too. Yes, you still get a say in being adaptable, sometimes.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
