Upskilling?

[Guest]

Hi Guys,

I'm in the time of my life where I think a bit of upskilling is needed and want to decide upon any short course that will help me reach my ultimate goal of becoming a business consultant.

My background experience thus far are in the industries of banking, finance and superannuation.

Right now I'm in a dilemna and wondering if I should be focusing on concentrating my skills in one particular area or whether to diversify my learning.

Currently considering these 3 areas:
a) financial knowledge
business strategy
c) Technology (example: programming, systems architecture)

Primarily the courses I've looked at so far are:
-Lean Six Sigma
-VBA programming

For anyone who has taken these courses would you be able to inform me as to whether they found those course useful personally/career-wise or if anyone can suggest any other courses they think might be useful.

After having a re-read of my post I think an english course might be a good option as well :|

[alee228]

Jason,

Thank you for your interesting question.

Finance, strategy and technology are all interesting options for further study and, as it happens, I have dabbled a little in each.

It is worth referencing Victor's comments from yesterday. Victor provided Jbot with some good advice regarding thinking about new business ideas.

There are a series of questions you can ask yourself to help you decide what to do:
1. What inspires you? What are you passionate about? What do you think about when you are free to think about anything or nothing in particular?
2. What are you good at? What do other people tell you that you're good at?
3. What would you like to be doing in 5 years time? Or in 10 years time? Is there a way you can start doing that today? Why not?

If you can answer the above questions then this should help you find the passion, talent and focus you will need to answer the next question:
4. What is wrong with the world? What problem needs fixing? How can you be the solution?

A lot of people have become rich beyond belief by answering question 4 and then putting their head down and getting to work. One notable example is Larry Page and Sergy Brin who saw a problem with Internet search and created Google. My understanding is that prior to launching Google they tried to get Yahoo to invest in the idea, but Yahoo turned them down. The lesson here is that you should not pay too much attention to the opinions of supposed experts.

Hope that helps.

Tom

[Guest]

Hi Tom,

I've actually already had a detailed think about career path and current strengths and development areas.

Right now I'm trying to look for a list of interesting courses that would actually fit into any of the three criteria so that I can make an educated choice.

Right now I can only think of those two courses that might be of interest to me at the moment and was wondering if anyone else may have some other course suggestions.

[alee228]

Hi Jason,

Course suggestions include:
a) Financial knowledge - You should consider the CFA Program
Strategy - You should consider an MBA

[Guest]

Chiu-sir:

My little comment does nothing more than to help start the process of analyzing/understanding what is it that makes you a happier person. It's nice that you have the goal to become a business consultant, but remember, consultants come with a variety of background and skills. Focus on what you like, or what you're good at (preferably they're the same thing) and then you will have differentiated yourself as a candidate with true depth.

That said, I'd like to quote Seth Godin's recent posting on what he calls the

"Fear Tax" .

We pay the fear tax every time we spend time or money seeking reassurance. We pay it twice when the act of seeking that reassurance actually makes us more anxious, not less.

Take a moment to absorb that in. Why are you asking us for advice when you could ask current students enrolled in these subjects? Is it because we have a better grasp on what you should do with your life to be successful? Find out more - talk to students, teachers, and please, shamelessly do so.

You'll be doing yourself a disservice if you end up paying that fear tax.