The Twelve Habits of Smart Skill-Building
  • Published: 31 August 2021
  • ISBN: 9789814954730
  • Imprint: PRH SEA
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 240
  • RRP: $29.99
Categories:

The Twelve Habits of Smart Skill-Building

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There is no one magic bullet to learning skills - only twelve easy habits

Human improvements have always been the backbone of inventions that advanced mankind. These were based on both knowledge and skills that we gained from time to time. Never before in the past decades has the topic of skills received as widespread attention and debate as now, with dominant opinion equating success with upskilling or reskilling - and failure with stagnant skillsets.
The concept of lifelong learning is challenging the old school maxim of frontloading all education. It is therefore intriguing to understand how people can take their core skills to new areas of work. What is the morphing mantra? How do people reshape their skillsets even when they are out of school? As knowledge and skill become increasingly crucial in the human versus machine competition, should we be analysing how we use old skills to do new tasks? And develop new skills with old abilities? What habit patterns helped successful people embrace skill-learning and build it as a second nature?
  • Published: 31 August 2021
  • ISBN: 9789814954730
  • Imprint: PRH SEA
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 240
  • RRP: $29.99
Categories:

About the author

Bala Shankar

Bala Shankar has experienced many different professions for sustained periods and in different geographies. He has had careers in corporate, teaching, entrepreneurship and writing. His own new pivots in life and career have prompted him to reflect on the skills journey and its impact.
Bala qualified as a management post-graduate (MBA) from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, one of the premier management institutions in the world. He also obtained a Bachelors degree in Statistics. For over twenty five years, his corporate career spanned sales, account management, global account leadership and regional profit center responsibility at a global multinational in the fragrance and flavour business (current turnover of the company USD 2.5 billion) across Asia, the US and Europe. During his experience, he oversaw new market entry, geographical expansion, managed two large global accounts (Unilever, Johnson & Johnson), oversaw transition through a merger and private equity ownership and rolled out a global programme for sales growth.

Praise for The Twelve Habits of Smart Skill-Building

‘I have worked with and advised many senior corporate managers who regularly added new capabilities that spurred them to new heights of performance. Their ability to innovate has strong parallels to corporate innovation, a topic on which I have extensively researched and written. Bala's book on skill-building, anchored on several inspiring anecdotes, is a highly valuable operating code for anyone who wants to prepare for a better tomorrow, in careers, relationships and lives in general.’

PROF VIJAY GOVINDARAJAN Coxe Distinguished Professor, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, NYT and WSJ best-selling author, Faculty Partner, Mach 49, Executive Fellow, Harvard Business School

‘The best leaders never cease to learn. This book encourages the reader to continuously evolve one’s skill sets and offers practical ways of doing so interspersed with motivating anecdotes from how great leaders have done this. Even more important now, given that most people today will go through multiple career choices in their lives.’

MANVINDER (VINDI) SINGH BANGA Senior Partner – Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, UK, former President – Unilever and non-Executive Director – Marks & Spencer, Glaxo Smithkline and Thomson Reuters

‘I have always believed that the art of choosing well is the hallmark of good leaders in all walks of life. Choosing to reskill and revitalize ourselves is our prerogative. But how do we do it? This book on skill-building is a good one that can empower people towards making those choices.’

PROF SHEENA S. IYENGAR S.T.Lee Professor of Business Management, Columbia Business School and Author

‘The smartest leaders recognize that skill-building never ends. Bala Shankar's new book is a powerful reminder of the importance of continuous, lifelong learning.’

MS DORIE CLARK Author of Reinventing You and executive education faculty, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
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