「陳腐化するスキル」ばかり身につけないよう注意すべきこと

We now live in an age of "no right answers," where past successes don’t translate to future successes, where superior methods are quickly copied and implemented. The more a person is perceived to be diligent and talented through traditional lenses, the more they can be stuck in a head-on approach and make things more difficult. Mr. Takeshi Hirao, the President and CEO of Jigen Corporation, who joined Recruit Co., Ltd. and became president at the age of 25, got the company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange at age 30, and made the company a first-section company by age 35, is an up-and-coming entrepreneur who has achieved 12 consecutive terms of increased sales and profits since founding his company. He says " In this age of ‘no right answers,’ Anyone can achieve overwhelming results by learning how to think like an entrepreneur.” By coming up with "alternative solutions" that combine "being yourself," "excelling," and "doing things differently," one can surpass others' "honorable plans" and achieve superior results. In this series of articles, we will be excerpting from "Five Skills of Entrepreneurs that Today's Businesspersons Must Acquire," found in Hirao's first book "How to Think Like an Entrepreneur: Achieve Unparalleled Results Through Discovering problems, Solving problems, and Implementing Solutions Using The ‘Different Solutions’ Approach”. We will introducing how to think for oneself and produce results in "the era of high uncertainty where precedent or orthodoxy cannot be relied upon."

• Separating Portable Skills and Technical Skills

When considering one's own capabilities, one must look at a variety of factors, including one’s skills, mindset, and behaviors.

Skills are divided into "portable skills" and "technical skills”.

Portable skills are defined by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare as "abilities which are transferable to any industries or occupations one may change into.”

Specifically, they include the "ability to think," "problem-solving skills," and "interpersonal skills”. Problem-solving and problem-discovery skills are portable skills, as they can be used in all types of work situations.

　On the other hand, technical skills are skills that are required to perform a specific job. Such jobs may include, programming, design, etc.

Technical skills are secondary to portable skills, thus without a solid foundation of portable skills, technical skills will never achieve their full potential. Moreover, the specialized nature of technical skills means that they rapidly become obsolete as new skills are constantly being demanded in these times of rapid change.