Written by: Vickie Sullivan | October 02, 2014
How to Find New Opportunities
Many thought leaders seem to travel in huge packs, competing head-to-head for the same projects from the same buyers. Here’s an idea: let’s use studies to uncover opportunities for us.
Exhibit A: this Gallup research on education and the economy. Very interesting findings. But let’s dig deeper and look at these discoveries from an opportunity perspective. Here’s what I see using that lens:
- Only 11% of US business leaders believe that college graduates are well-prepared for success at work. On the other side, 96% of chief academic officers are confident that they are preparing these students for great careers. Wow. This gap is as big as the Grand Canyon. And there are a lot of opportunities for thought leaders on talent acquisition.
- Students who use what they’ve learned in long-term projects in their community were twice as likely to have higher work quality as those who didn’t have that experience. Talk about solutions hidden in plain sight. Folks who can facilitate partnerships between education and non-profits will have a field day.
- Google found no correlation between employee’s test scores and their success on the job. This opens the door for a redefinition of evaluating talent. First movers here can create empires similar to Marcus Buckingham.
Big problems create big opportunities. But you have to drill down and find your place in the nooks and crannies. Use studies like these to find the gaps and the partnerships. This will drive new opportunities for many kinds of thought leaders.
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