The 20/80 Rule

One of my favorite 'rules' is the one that says, "Twenty percent of the knowledge will get you through eighty percent of what you have to do. After that, know who to call."

This does not mean that you should strive to learn only twenty percent of what you need to know; rather, that you don't need to know everything and that learning who to call on is as important as learning the subject. In today's fast paced world of exploding technology you simply can't know everything. Too many people are working too hard on developing new technologies for any given person to keep up with it all. The key is to learn some things, meet some people, and don't be afraid to ask for help.

Networking has never been so valuable. However, you need to be conscious of who you might need to know. In the world of convergence, voice people need to know data people and data people need to know voice folks. We all need to expand our areas of expertise to include voice and data, and there is no one more valuable in helping us do that than the ones who already know it.

Learn what you can, make yourself valuable to others, and you can draw on their knowledge as they draw on yours. It is only by working together, voice with data, and data with voice, that we will be able to move our organizations forward into the converged world. And when we do that, we will be making ourselves valuable, sought after, employees - and smarter people in the bargain.