The importance of adaptability, development, and continuous education in the professional field, and beyond, has been talked about by many – a lot.
And I think no one doubts that!
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” – Charles Darwin.
“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” – Albert Einstein.
“It is paradoxical, yet true, to say, that the more we know, the more ignorant we become in the absolute sense, for it is only through enlightenment that we become conscious of our limitations. Precisely one of the most gratifying results of intellectual evolution is the continuous opening up of new and greater prospects.” – Nikola Tesla
“Adaptability is not imitation. It means the power of resistance and assimilation.” – Mahatma Gandhi.
Let’s zoom in on our industry.
As I often say about “the sport” that I and many other colleagues have chosen to do and make a living from, is that we live with a wish and a curse.
The wish…
What can I say about the “wish”?
Our field is a unique intersection of various scientific disciplines, including marketing, technology, data science, statistics, economics, psychology, sociology, and business administration. This interdisciplinary approach allows us to explore complex problems from multiple angles.
Isn’t that amazing?
The work we do is highly rewarding, as we often see tangible results that directly correlate with our efforts. Our ability to measure and analyze these outcomes provides a clear understanding of our impact.
And, of course, we are lucky enough that someone else’s life is not affected by our actions (what we tend to say to someone we know when they are stressed and anxious, “Calm down, we’re not heart surgeons.”).
Btw, big respect to all the doctors and people who make sure that we and our loved ones are well out there!
And the curse…
One of the curses (obviously we don’t have just one, but let’s keep our positive thinking for now) is that the process of adapting, evolving, up-skilling, and re-skilling is arduous, difficult and requires enormous amounts of self-awareness and self-challenge.
The rapid pace of technological advancements and industry shifts necessitate ongoing professional development.
I recently listened to a podcast by Lex Fridman (if you don’t know him, Google him now!) that had Jeff Bezos as a guest.
There, Jeff threw in the following line “In what we do, we try to wake up every morning and remind ourselves that we don’t know anything. So we are forced, every day, to learn as a normal process”.
And unfortunately, my friend, it is. Every day is a new day for us.
The truth is, that, this market can very easily throw you out in a few years if the process of evolution and adaptation becomes a second priority.
So with that in mind, I thought I’d share my own routine that might give some ideas and inspiration to someone out there wondering how they can stay relevant in our industry and evolve as our industry is constantly changing at such a rapid pace.
Whether or not this particular routine works, only time will tell.
To avoid chatter, I will follow the logic of the cooking recipe, only bullets, links, and useful information.
Enjoy!
The routine of adaptation & keeping up-to-date
I’m in favor of habits – in a good way.
I am also in favor of commitment, regarding the part of how one can stay up to date without seeing it as a process that burdens and tires him (sometimes, of course, this will also happen).
They say it takes anywhere from 18 to 254 days to build a habit, with an average of 66 days.
I haven’t found the answer yet (since I didn’t happen to measure it), but the one thing for sure is that it takes effort.
Personally, I operate as follows.
- Feedly. Feedly is an excellent content aggregator where it brings you the latest content from blogs and sites you choose. If you want me to share my list of blogs and creators I follow, send me a private message on LinkedIn. Duration: In general, I spend a minimum of 4-5 hours a week “scrolling through the headlines” and then I choose something specific that interests me and I want to read.
- Podcasts. I listen to podcasts every morning before I go to the office, on my way home, and/or on my evening walk. For the time being, I have focused on Greek podcasts, with topics mainly around entrepreneurship, digital marketing, and startups: Business Talks, Finding True North by EO Greece, Μιλάμε Επιχειρηματικά, Startup Greece Talks, Outliers by Endeavor Greece, Randstad: The Future of Work, Innovative Greek Talks, Business Undercover, Marathon VC Podcast, The Koe Cast, The Joe Rogan Experience, Treis Para Digital. Duration: 30 minutes to go + 30 minutes to get back = 5 hours per week, approx.
- LinkedIn (of course): The well-known, daily check on specific profiles (mainly field experts) for updates or meaningful content. Duration: About 2-3 hours per week.
To sum up, 5+5+3 = 13 hours per week for learning and keeping up to date with trends!
Unfortunately, I have tried but it seems I’m not a “books” guy!
The routine of up/re-skilling
The “education” part is different from the up/re-skilling part.
I believe it requires a different handling, approach, and habits.
Certainly, the up/re-skilling part is more difficult, as it depends on many factors and the pressures may be different.
After all, it takes different levels of effort to listen to a podcast while walking in a park, and different levels of effort to try and undertake a project that has to offer you many different learnings.
What I’ve seen that works:
- Direct calls: There are many times when I will be called upon to manage a situation, problem, or project in which I do not have the appropriate knowledge. Thus, I choose to approach people who have significant expertise and – if they choose – can share their knowledge, often giving suggestions for the management of the above. Such cases that responded to my request are some excellent professionals and people like Mike Konstantoulakis and Dimitris Vogiatzis.
- Take the challenge: If an opportunity arises to take on something that I believe will offer me something different, something unknowable, I might as well make myself available to take what I believe is the value from this “new” challenge.
- Courses/Webinars/Seminars/MSc/MBA: I don’t need to elaborate here, there are many sources out there from which one can gain knowledge and experience.
- Communities/Meetups: There will always be someone out there who is more experienced than you, someone who has more performances, and failures and it is very important to learn from them. There are several (not many) worthwhile meetups that can offer that extra bit.
- Mentoring/Coaching: I consider the mentoring coaching factor to be of utmost importance. There are people out there who get excited by sharing and developing other people, each from their own perspective and rich background. Anyone who finds such people and gains some time with them – even attending a meeting with them, without speaking or participating – the value is priceless. Shoutout to these guys: Panos Kondylis, Nikos Varvadoukas for devoting the time to make me what I am today.
I hope the above will help, even at the level of ideas, some people to see differently the part of evolution and how they can stay up-to-date.
More or less, almost everything mentioned here can be applied to any industry – so maybe a lot of people will find relevance in it outside of the digital marketing/e-commerce/performance industry.
In any case, I’d be happy to hear feedback.
Find/Read/Listen:
– Personal Website: https://growth-lab.me/
– Blog (Digital Marketing): https://www.grow-digital.gr/
– Blog (Performance Marketing): https://performance-marketing.gr/
– Medium (Personal): https://stevetheodoratos.medium.com/
– Podcast: Let’s Get Digital ( https://open.spotify.com/show/7CgqucMolwLi1xGIya85um )