A Harvard Business School professor discussed the reasons why one trait can help someone reach their full potential sooner than expected.
Professor Joseph Fuller, co-founder of the Managing the Future of Work initiative, spoke to CNBC Make It this week about what sets top performers apart from their other, less successful counterparts.
“They are not tied to a predetermined career path that they followed when they went to college or started their first job,” Fuller says.
“They are open to unexpected opportunities and embrace change rather than fear it.”
That “soft skill,” which a LinkedIn blog post said is adaptability, is the key trait that is “in increasing demand.”
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Professor Fuller is an alumnus of Harvard Business School and teaches the Becoming a General Manager course in the second year of the school’s MBA program.
The professor explained to CNBC Make It that setting career goals and completion timelines is great – until it isn’t.
According to Fuller, setting career goals and timelines for achieving them can be dangerous if one is closed off to an unexpected route or path.
This would be the case when adaptability is needed to help successful individuals fulfill options that can benefit their careers.
Adaptability is the ability or willingness to adapt to new conditions in any location.
Fuller told CNBC Make It that adaptability in the job market is “a skill that is rare to find.”
‘People are afraid of trying new things and failing. But you can’t grow without stepping outside your comfort zone,” says Fuller.
Researchers studied the effect of adaptability on careers after deciding to focus on several micro-trends in the labor market.
They took a six-month period in 2022 and compared it to the same period in 2023 to see which skills grew the fastest.
“Adaptability is the best way to have choice right now,” says LinkedIn Vice President Aneesh Raman.
‘The core of managing change is building that adaptability.’
This skill is considered crucial for employees and organizations and can help employees remain capable and calm during potential changes in the work environment.
While adaptability is the most important trait in the eyes of highly successful employees, it is not the most in-demand skill.
The February 2024 LinkedIn post on this year’s most in-demand skills argued that there is more value in increasing specialization in communication, collaboration and leadership.
Other in-demand skills include customer service, leadership, project management, analysis, teamwork, sales, problem solving and research.
“I believe we are in the early days of a work world that is more human than before,” said LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky.
Roslansky added that this gives individuals “the opportunity to do more fulfilling work, and to do that work more easily and effectively with others.”