Contents

List of Figures vi
About the Course vii
About the Author viii
Acknowledgements viii
Preface A Skill to Get Skilled ix
Section I: What is Skills Management? 1
Chapter 1: Why Skills Management? 3
Chapter 2: Lessons from Business Strategy 7
Reading Notes The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of 11
Individual Skills Management
Chapter 3: Skills Management Framework 13
Section II: The Quantified Self 21
Chapter 4: How to Operationalize Skills 23
Chapter 5: What Is Your T.S.S. (Total Skillset Score)? 30
Chapter 6: Meet Jafar, The Skills Manager Pro 36
Reading Notes 42
Section III: Skills Management in Action. Part One 43
Chapter 7: Scenario 1: Job Excellence 45
Chapter 8: Tangible Outcome: Skillset Summary Checklist 50
Chapter 9: Scenario 2: Job Enhancement 56
Chapter 10: Tangible Outcome: Selection Criteria Statement 62
Reading Notes 68
Section IV: Skills Management in Action. Part Two 69
Chapter 11: Scenario 3: Job Diversification 71
Chapter 12: Tangible Outcome: How Jafar Can Make You 79
S.M.A.R.T.E. R.
Reading Notes 85
Chapter 13: What (We Think) You Have Learned 86
Chapter 14: Conclusion: What’s Next? 90
Extended Glossary 93
Appendix 1: Skills Management Certificate from Coursera 109
Peer Review 121
Self-Assessment 129
Appendix 2: J.A.F.A.R., The Skills Manager Pro 135

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 Reading Notes

As we have mentioned before, Individual Skills Management utilizes many

theories, concepts, and ideas that were originally developed by scholars and
practitioners in other areas, such as Business Strategy, Career Development, and
Human Resource Management. For example, one of the main ideas of this course
is that to be effective personal strategy must be focused on achieving a
competitive edge in the selection process. This idea is rooted in Porter’s (1979)
view of strategy in which “The essence of strategy formulation is coping with
competition”. We think that you may be interested in reviewing publications
presented in the list of references and further readings below.
Business strategy provides individual skills management with both a
philosophical foundation and some usable models of competitor’s analysis and
tools, such as conjoint analysis and the use of simulations (Lehmann & Winer,
2007). All you need to do is to switch from companies and characteristics of their
goods and brands to observing best practices and analyzing mastery performances
in your chosen job role. To analyze skills, you will probably need to develop a
better understanding of skills in general.
To do so, we recommend that you become familiar with three web-based
sources on skills development referenced below (Burning Glass, O’Net, and The
Balance). You will find more readings on competencies and skills in Module 3.

References and further reading

Alsever, J. (May 19, 2017). How A.I. Is Changing Your Job Hunt?
http://fortune.com/2017/05/19/ai-changing-jobs-hiring-recruiting. Accessed
March 20, 2018.
Ansoff, H. Igor (1979). Corporate Strategy. Hammondsworth, Eng.: Penguin
Books.
Lehmann, D.R., & Winer, R.S. (2007). Analysis for Marketing Planning. 7th ed.
N.Y.: McGraw Hill Irwin.
Porter, M. (1979). The Structure within Industries and Companies’ Performance.
Review of Economics and Statistics, 61, pp. 214-227.

https://www.burningglass.com/
https://www.onetonline.org/
https://www.thebalance.com/

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