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you can customize the type of content and news you see. LinkedIn also has a service called “Thought Leaders” that features exclusive blogs from big-name people like Richard Branson. It’s a great opportunity to learn from the best.
    If you’re interested in a particular job, Onetoline.org will tell you the exact skills you’ll need to be successful. It’s a great resource whether you’re hoping to move up in your department or are planning to change fields entirely. You’ll get a clear picture of what life is like for people currently in that position, including what they do over the course of any workday, and classes you’ll need to take to stay current. For example, if you’re interested in being a financial analyst, you’ll need to be able to evaluate the quality of securities, be proficient in financial analysis and spreadsheet software, and have a good working knowledge of finance and accounting. You’ll also be able to find out the education requirements, median salary, and even the number of current and projected openings.
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    A Brief Pause …
    Once you know the skills you need, there’s an important step that you have to do before you can get out there and start acquiring them. What I’m talking about is doing an honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses, what you’re best at and what you might need to improve. The goal is to home in on the hard skills you can develop that will help you become the subject matter expert you want to be—the go-to person on a particular topic, the one people come to whenever they’ve got questions, whether it’s because you’re a Microsoft Excel power user, you’re a whiz at creating smartphone apps, or you’re the only one in your office who knows the obscure Indian dialect that is the only language your supplier speaks. The more people seek you out, the more in-demand your skills, the more valuable you’ll be to your company.
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    Strengths or Weaknesses?
    Whenever I talk about strengths and weaknesses, I always get the same question: Is it better to focus on developing strengths or overcoming weaknesses?
    Unfortunately, there’s no absolute right or wrong answer; you need to do what you feel most comfortable doing. Some people find it more effective to develop their strengths. Some, like Lisa Stewart, Assistant Vice President, e-Exchange, at State Street—a Fortune 500 financial services company—find it better to work on overcoming weaknesses. “I focus more on finding my weaknesses so I can improve them before someone else finds them. I don’t want to give management any reasons to want to replace me.” And still others put an equal emphasis on both. “I need to know and exercise my strengths to ensure that I won’t lose them,” says J&J’s Oana Kelsay. “I need to acknowledge and work on my weaknesses so that I can quickly turn them into strengths. I have this obsessive need to be the best at everything, and I know I can’t do that unless I know both my strengths and weaknesses.”
    While the choice is yours, I recommend that you develop your strengths. When you focus on developing your strengths, you’ll see results sooner than if you had spent the same amount of time on overcoming your weaknesses. That will give you more confidence. Plus, it’s generally more fun to do and learn about things you’re already good at. And when you’re enjoying yourself, you’re likely to want to keep learning and developing your skills even more. There are exceptions though. For instance, if you know you’ve got a weakness that could potentially hurt or limit your career (in terms of hard skills, that might be something like wanting to become a financial analyst without knowing anything about statistics), your first priority should be to resolve that weakness. What I want you to do here is identify your hard skills.