The Essential Business Skill: Making Things Happen

February 10, 2010

Sales, leadership, finance, negotiation, design–there are a lot of useful skills in the business world. But they finish as distant runners up to the ability to make things happen.

The Super Skill

Yes, that’s kind of a cheat–”making things happen” will always encompass multiple skills–but I think that it’s a justifiable cheat. Some people are simply great at getting things done. Not the productivity hacks and to-do lists kind of getting things done but rather the ability to impose their will on the world. They set sights on an objective, and they make it happen regardless of obstacles.

Let me repeat that last point with proper emphasis: regardless of obstacles.

Optimism + Hustle + Problem Solving

It’s the mindset that whatever is broken, there’s a way to fix it. Whatever needs to be done, let’s get started. Whatever is in the way, let’s work around it or find a way to get rid of it.

Not everyone excels at this (in fact, most people don’t), but the people who do are the ones who are the engine of the economy. They build businesses. If they are employed at a company, they are the most productive at their job. If they hate their job, they go do something better. If they need to advance in their career, they go get an online MBA.

Role Models

How do you spot one of these people? How do you become one of these people? Those are good questions to ask, something we’ll write about later. For now though, just look around in your life for people you know that fit this mold. Start thinking about what it is that they have and just how valuable that really is. They aren’t lazy. They don’t wait for things to fall into their lap.

They just have a knack for making things happen.

Online MBA