Enabler skills — what they are and why I focus on them

Enabler skills allow you to work your magic. If you fail at these, you won’t get the same chances.

Some skills are crazy important without people realizing it. We tend not to think about them and to take them for granted, but if you don’t possess those skills, you are set up to fail.

Let me give you some examples:

• We notice the football player’s kicking abilities, but not her endurance. Yet without endurance, the player never gets a chance to use her skills.
• When we read a book, an article or an email, we don’t notice good writing. Good writing skills are assumed. But we notice poor writing immediately, and will question the author’s intellectual abilities — regardless whether this is relevant for the subject. You can be a world-class mathematician without good writing skills, but people will think less of your math skills if your writing is poor.
• We expect people to be able to use a smartphone, including the internet, maps-apps, a calendar et cetera.
• If you don’t know how to engage in basic small-talk before and after a business meeting, it will affect other peoples’ impression of you.

You need to be good at running if you want to be great at football

Some skills are so basic that if you don’t have them, you have very little chance for success. No one will take you seriously if you do not master personal hygiene.

I used to call these skills “access tickets”, because if you don’t possess these skills, you are not allowed to enter. Recently I have started calling them “enabler skills”, because they enable you to use the skills that make you special.

When interviewing for a job, you will often be judged more by your enabler skills than by your actual professional skills (because those are much more difficult to test).

Small talk is an important enabler skill. It allows you to connect to people — so you can demonstrate the skills that make you special.

Why is this relevant to you?

Enabler skills are hugely asymmetrical. Let’s say you can master a skill on level 1–10. If you are on level 1–2 in an enabler skill, it will affect you negatively — a lot. On the other hand, there is very little positive effect from improving an enabler skill from 8 to 9 or 10.

If your skill at picking clothes is 2 or 3, people will notice that you are a bad dresser and will take you less seriously. But once you are at level 5 or 6, there is no benefit in improving to a 9 or 10. Professionals will not get the impression that you are better at your job because of it (unless you work with fashion).

Also it is a lot easier to get from 2 to 5 than from 5 to 8, and moving from 8 to 10 is extremely difficult.

So here is my recommendation for you:

• Think about which enabler skills are relevant for you.
• Estimate what level you are at, and what level you want to be. Being acceptable is good enough in most skills. Ask your friends to estimate your level as well.
• Getting to an acceptable level in your relevant enabler skills should be comparatively quick and easy. An internet search or a good book is enough in many cases.
• Once you are good enough at enabler skills, you can focus on the skills that make you special.

PS:

For many active people (especially men), flexibility/mobility is an enabler skill. Many amateur athletes are not mobile enough, which increases their risk of injury.

I wish I had done more stretching when I was younger.