4/1/1: 4 Random Thoughts from me, 1 tools to help Sales Engineers, 1 quote for motivation

4/1/1 Building Strong And Loyal Communities

October 15, 2020

By Bini Kanungo

4 Random Thoughts, 1 Tool, and 1 Quote

It’s always great to be reminded of the community that has been building around Sales Engineering. Since the creation of We The Sales Engineers, other SE-oriented communities have been popping up to offer up their own flavor to the pre-sales community. One such community was started by this week’s guest, James Kaikis, a co-founder of the Presales Collective.

Listen to our conversation with James here.

As per always, there was a lot that could be taken from this show, and this week’s 4/1/1 explores some of what comes to mind after listening.

4 Random Thoughts From Me:

1- Everyone has something to learn from others. We The SEs, the Presales Collective, and so many great books and other resources were created to allow subject matter experts to share their knowledge with the masses – but typically all start with humble beginnings. If you are passionate about a topic and know others have an interest in it too, start sharing your knowledge and you’ll surprise yourself with just how influential you’ll become.

2- Birds of a feather, flock together. Also related: You are the company you keep. You may have heard of these adages about how like people tend to stick around each other. I find it also very applicable to the professional world as well. Immersing oneself in a community that encourages growth and improvement will ultimately result in you growing and improving in the same way everyone around you is striving for.

3- The importance of transferable skills. As we heard in the interview, the path from one job to the next can be pretty unpredictable. But one thing we can control is what we take from one role to the next, and those things are transferable skills. These skills can tie together the most unlikely of jobs and careers, and you shouldn’t undervalue all that you learned in one place to take you to the next.

4- Eat well. Okay, this doesn’t have much to do with the interview, but I did get hungry while listening to it. As the weather gets colder (for many of us), and communities remain in lockdown, it’s getting harder and harder to stay healthy (and being healthy translates into better performance). So be cognizant of what you eat throughout the day and try to have a balanced diet so that you can be the best you can be (all things considered).

1 Tool:

f.lux: As we spend more time indoors, some of you may be experiencing eye strains and other complications that come with staring at a computer screen for a long period of time. F.lux helps with this by adapting the light outputted by your computer to the time of day to minimize the strain you experience.

1 Quote:

“People with highly transferable skills may be specialists in certain areas, but they’re also incredible generalists – something businesses that want to grow need.”