Understand Scenario Planning

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1. Understand scenario planning & why it's important to do it (even if it scares people). These articles are aimed at helping startups with scenario planning - but you can easily use these frameworks for larger organizations and for individuals seeking new careers. Also, super, super helpful to understand how people navigate change (there's a model for it!)

• Startup Best Practices - Using Scenario Planning for Strategic Decisions - VC Tom Tonguz

• First Round's Scenario Response Planner

• Understanding the Kubler Ross Change Curve Model

2. Tracy Wilk is an ex-Googler who shares such fantastic career tips on LinkedIn, often with a long arc to them. Here's a recent one that I found valuable:

“Don't just take it on faith that your career is going to be there in forty years. You already know that's not true. Have a broad radar for where opportunities might exist. Look for those opportunities and they may include the road less traveled. There are always opportunities where there are human beings. We can always provide services or comfort or whatever is needed, to one another. That's really our best opportunity.”

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Adjusting to the Dynamism of Tech

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When I do my tech industry overview, I talk about the dynamism of tech, with constant mergers & acquisitions. Having the ability to recognize & react to ambiguous situations is a hallmark skill for accelerating innovation in tech.

In business, the ability to transform obstacles into opportunities is highly valued. The same growth mindset that helps you navigate working in a dynamic industry like tech will also help support you during the uncertain challenges that we're all facing in the coming months. Speaking to students today about identifying what they can control (interview readiness) vs what they can't (no responses from networking emails) was helpful to reframe expectations.

Learn more:

• 10 principles of resilience for women in tech

• 4 ways to boost your resilience in tough times

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Do you speak data?

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Do you speak data?

As you consider or advance a career in tech, you need to sharpen your data literacy and analytics skills.

• Understand your fluency level with data manipulation.

• Figure out if you are a data translator as they help bridge the gap between data scientists and executive decision-makers.

• Check out these 6 rules from Google for great data design.

• Mastering these skills is critical before progressing to the next level Data/AI skills required for ‘Jobs of Tomorrow,’ according to the World Economic Forum.

Does your team speak data?

You should evaluate the digital dexterity and the data literacy skills of the team/business unit/company that you are joining.

• Don’t assume that your team is data literate simply because it’s a tech firm. You’d be surprised how often everyone needs to build and refresh those skills, mainly because data availability and the tools to manipulate it keep changing!

• Here are two great guides (one from HBR and another from Gartner) on how to boost your team’s data literacy skills. It’s crucial that you understand how tech-literate your team is to help you when launching new initiatives.

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