From the Mailbag: How to Stay Current in a Fast Changing World

Believe it or not, some people actually read this blog. And to stretch the imagination even further, I actually receive a fairly steady stream of email from readers who ask me questions. Questions about switching jobs, corporate finance issues, Wall Street culture issues, entrepreneurship, derivatives matters and beyond. Not surprisingly, the questions I receive tend to be clustered in a handful of areas. Given these interesting and relevant queries from readers, I thought I'd start an occasional post cycle specifically addressing these questions. Some of you will find this interesting; others may find this off-topic and annoying. Anyway, I like it. Attempting to keep it fresh, trying to keep it real. You know - cool like.

So today's question is from an MBA student:

...I have a background in software development and am interested in pursuing a career as a financial analyst/strategist in the technology sector. My problem, however, is that I always seem to be playing catch-up with the pace of change in the industry. It seems to me that unless I am driving (entrepreneur) these changes, it is going to be difficult to be in sync.

For instance, it seems to me that a lot of the developments that have happened in the gaming industry may have a big impact on enterprise software. Of course making that statement is the easy part, however, proving that assertion using a systematic technique which results in a course of action is difficult. I was just curious on how you approached these issues and how you manage to be on top?...

Now that is a really good question. It is, in fact, a question I ask myself almost every day. I perpetually feel behind notwithstanding the fact that I am in the middle of the explosion of new technologies and approaches in a range of pretty complicated fields: data harvesting, entity extraction, NLP, taxonomies, ontologies, spam, categorization, sentiment, clustering, visualization, etc. It is a full-time job just to feel behind, much less being "on top" as my reader both kindly and inaccurately portrayed me. That said, I have gone from 0-60 pretty quickly and have stayed at a pretty good speed, especially considering that I entered the technology realm not much more than two years ago after nearly 20 years in a completely different domain. How did this happen and how do I stay in touch with the leading-edge issues of the day? I didn't know until I was asked this question and had to think about it, but my answer is as follows:

1. Build and maintain networks

One of the best ways I've gotten educated about and stay on top of a broad array of issues is to leverage my personal networks. We've all got friends in different fields with different interests involving different technologies facing different issues. Leverage them. In general, people love to talk about what they do, and enjoy hearing that people are interested in what they have to say. And this doesn't only apply to friends. Reaching out to someone who has specialized knowledge you covet, if approached in the right way, can be incredibly receptive and give you a font of information you couldn't have imagined you'd be able to access. I can't over-emphasize this point enough. The building of networks clearly applies to all aspects of one's life, but staying on top of issues in a rapidly-shifting technology landscape not only benefits from leveraging one's networks, but requires it.

2. Divide and conquer

Let's face it, with the exception of a handful of polymath freaks (which I most assuredly am not) being wise about a wide range of topical issues requires help. And while networks are key, another way to manage "information overload" and to tackle the signal/noise problem is to work with people whom you respect and trust to track a range of relevant issues and domains. I have some friends who are NLP freaks and know the latest and greatest (to the extent that the latest and greatest is even knowable) in this field, others who are visualization junkies who are hip to cool ways to display data, and yet more who geek out on issues of reputation and sentiment. I know, it's scary that people like this exist but thankfully for me they do, because I'd have an impossible task knowing much about any of these arenas without a little help from my friends. And when they need to know about financial engineering, raising money, structuring a financing round, which VCs to call, how to structure a pitch book, who do they call? Me. This is what makes the world go around. Enlightened self-interest is a beautiful thing.

3. Load up that feed reader

To be honest, I'm not sure how I functioned before the world of RSS. The insights and perspectives I get on a daily basis on a stupidly wide range of issues is truly incomprehensible. The resources are out there for the taking, if only one invests the time to dig around, identify those words and themes that best describe a domain and then to focus in on the best sources of information in those areas. It takes a while to get the hang of it but when you do, the ability to stay current on truly bleeding-edge topics without picking up the phone or spending a dime is mind-boggling. Further, once the feed reader is loaded with good stuff you can actually build relationships with top experts in the domains of your choice and get further insights. See 1 above; people fundamentally like to talk and write about stuff they like and to feel important. I know I do. I answer almost every email I get and try to help people wherever possible. Because I get something from it? Sure I do. It makes me feel good. And most of the time that is good enough. I have found most excellent bloggers to be very generous with their advice. And I'm sure you will, too.

4. Attend key domain-specific events

Depending on what your gig is, there is a conference of every stripe at every time of year. I go to a select group of conferences each year that are high-impact and relevant to my areas of interest, and I get a tremendous amount of mileage out of them. This is a good place to hear new stuff, exchange business cards and further build my networks. The cost of a really good conference is returned many times over. You just need to be clear on what you are looking for in order to spend your time and money wisely. Because at the end of the day time is truly your most valuable resource. Be frugal with it.

5. Start something

Until a few years ago I had no idea what this entailed, but now I do. When you start something, it is amazing how fear, desperation and possession drives you to ask more, learn more, read more and research more than you ever thought possible. How did I go from a Wall Street guy to a VC/tech/entrepreneur guy in such a short period of time? Because I chucked myself in the deep end and didn't want to drown. And so what is the metaphorical life preserver of which I speak? Knowledge. There is nothing to focus the mind like starting a business from scratch. You want to talk about building networks? Start a company. You HAVE to build them. Leverage people you know? You HAVE to do it. Stay on top of cutting edge issues on the Internet? You HAVE to. Going to key conferences to see, be seen and learn? You HAVE to do it. So if you really want to cut to the chase, forget about 1-4 above and jump straight to 5. Because in the process you will, by necessity, check 1-4 off the list. This is a fact.

I could go on but I think these are the punch lines. Hopefully this has been helpful. Please tell me if you think this "mailbag" concept is good or stupid. You can tell me. I can take it.