Build Your Business Expertise And Reputation To World-class Levels Right Where You Are

In my work as a researcher, an author, and a management consultant

, I often notice business people hurting their careers by acting on mistaken beliefs about how and where to learn world-class skills and to develop new knowledge. Most people persist in seeing the world as it was in the early 19th century when advanced skills and technology were highly concentrated in just a few manufacturing industries within just two or three countries.

Acting on such incorrect beliefs, some business people make repeated learning pilgrimages to the headquarters of certain companies where they expect to find all the best practices. Finding that many others are also visiting makes the business people feel as if they are on the right path. The visitors return to their offices fully committed to following the "new" practices.

In reality, such high-profile headquarter visits often reveal only practices that are below average for a given industry. Why? Best practices are more often located in smaller, newer organizations that are relatively unknown than in larger, older ones that are well known. In addition, what a company takes pride in having accomplished doesn't necessarily equate to describing its current effectiveness.

Here's an example. Winners of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in the United States receive quite a lot of publicity, and many organizations become aware of them. As winners, award holders are required to host visitors who want to learn about their practices. Their conferences attract lots of visitors from around the world.

My visits to the award winners have been more like history lessons than practical learning opportunities. In fact, the first two Baldrige-award winning companies I visited were just about to experience major corporate stumbles based on having so many ineffective processes in place, including the ones that they taught me about. The "best practices" they portrayed were at least 20 years old and had been superseded many years earlier.

Naturally, very few organizations and even fewer individuals are going to take the time to locate the current best practices on their own. So how should someone learn what's best to do?

When you think carefully about learning today's best practices, you'll realize that in many cases that exercise is simply a way to copy what someone discovered quite a long time ago. Someone else is currently learning how to accomplish a great deal more, learning methods that can push way beyond the best practice to much higher levels of effectiveness.

It's hard to find such breakthrough activities as an investigator because the organization's development work will be largely invisible . . . and deliberately so. There's tremendous value in moving way ahead of the rest of the world. Why share?

Is there a more useful approach for reaching world-class effectiveness than tracking down what others are doing? Yes, when you approach the ideal application of what can be done with soon-to-be-available technology and information.

To look for the ideal method requires not only identifying and developing vastly improved practices but, more importantly, applying the practices well to your circumstances. As a result, most business people should begin to appreciate that they should and can develop world-class knowledge and experience right where they are.

Eventually, other business people will become aware of the newest, self-developed expertise and will flock to the new centers of knowledge, much as their predecessors once flocked to English cotton mills to see the new methods of mechanical production being applied there. And, of course, the eager visitors will be hopelessly behind the improvement cycle.

How might someone accomplish such self-directed breakthroughs? Let me explain by sharing an example and then drawing some lessons.

Meet Dr. Ernest Ochonma, a Ph.D. graduate of Rushmore University, who is one of the world's foremost practitioners of supply-chain management for oil-and-gas exploration and development. He is Deputy Manager/Head of Contracting and Procurement for the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, the upstream subsidiary of Nigeria's national oil company, one of the world's largest.

In this capacity, he has done some remarkable work. For instance, he and his staff have pioneered new methods for online reverse auctions, involving major oil services companies, to speed contracting decisions and to lower costs.

Despite this success, Dr. Ochonma still sees important opportunities to reduce cycle times for contracting processes so that his organization can more nimbly take advantage of rapidly emerging opportunities. As an experienced researcher, he has worked on developing such practices for several years, and he plans to share his findings in a book explaining how to apply the breakthrough methods to many other industries.

My description of his experience, credentials, and current work will impress most people, but a few may be surprised that I attach such credibility to a Nigerian business leader. Surely, some others will think, he must have learned how to do these things in some economically advanced country with a more sophisticated employer.

Such an assumption about Dr. Ochonma's ways of learning is totally wrong. He developed his expertise and knowledge solely through studies and work in Nigeria. Let me describe his education and work experiences.

Encouraged by his headmaster father, he paid close attention to teachers. As a result, he was able to pass secondary school examinations a year early.

Once there, Dr. Ochonma often found himself in classes with students who were much older and larger than he, a physically daunting circumstance that would have discouraged many youngsters from seeking academic excellence. He responded to intimidation by simply staying in and studying during recesses. Tutored at night by his father, his learning continued to be rapid.

His youthful study habits paid off when he was accepted into the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in biochemistry. Four years later, he also earned an MBA degree from the University of Lagos.

At quite a young age, Dr. Ochonma began lecturing about materials management and wrote a number of influential articles that were published in Nigerian newspapers, attracting attention from experienced business people. To add to his knowledge some years later, he earned a Master of Science degree in finance from Lagos State University.

He originally planned to also earn a Ph.D. degree in finance from Lagos State, but later changed his mind. He decided instead to use a doctoral program to gain more knowledge of supply chain management, to advance global practices in this discipline, and to prepare a book based on his research.

He decided to continue his work and studies in Nigeria while expanding his access to world-class knowledge by also working with non-Nigerian professors through online courses. Dr. Ochonma found that his decision to learn while continuing his job was very effective for keeping his research and analysis focused on practical applications that brought immediate value to his organization.

He developed new concepts based on his prior and current experiences, something that a more "ivory tower" Ph.D. program would have made more difficult. He also enjoyed on-the-job benefits, such as more credibility with and respect from colleagues.

I asked him what the lesson was for how to make such practical improvements. He replied, "You can achieve your objectives in life if you can believe in yourself and remain focused on your objectives."

In addition to such positive thinking, Dr. Ochonma's example also shows the importance of:

-- mastering a broader skill set to provide more tools for creating breakthroughs (science, management, and process development in his case).

-- setting high goals that include accomplishing well beyond what anyone else has attempted.

-- combining conceptual development with practical, on-the-job applications.

-- partnering with leading thinkers who challenge assumptions and point out more promising directions.

Perhaps the most important lesson is that you can do world-record-breaking work right where you are.

Well, what are you waiting for? The world needs your talents and your determination.

by: Donald Mitchell

POST COMMENT

Virtual Phone Systems On The Rise With Start Up Businesses Personal Wealth-building Increase Your Cash Flow And Building Wealth Over A Lifetime Business Card Holder Setting Perfect Way to Make Business Tidy Mitel Phone System – The Best in the Business 13 Proven Steps for Sure-Fire Success with Any Business Opportunity Same Day Loans Unemployed People – Fast Cash for You without Any Collateral Keeping It Stylish In Your Business! The Poker Mastermind - Texas Hold Em Winning Hands Checkless Cash Loans - Now Avail Rapid Cash Led Spotlights - Ideal For Business And Home Getting The Best Out Of Your Business Telephone Systems Tips That Can Help On Marketing Your Business For Free On The Social Web Express Loans – Speedy Cash in a Fast Way