The Imperial Equation: Ability = Skills + Attitude + Exposure + Means
Every company needs a good way to measure the ability of their people. This is especially true for service-oriented companies whose major asset is manpower. Information technology is one of the industries that heavily rely on a skilled workforce. Working in the IT industry, manpower is always in the top of my mind.
While on a business trip to Israel, the 11-hour flight enabled me and my bosses to do a bit of extended thinking. One of the main topics of discussion was ability assessment. After a bit of discussion, the Imperial Equation was born. It is named after the person in the group who first formulated it.
Ability = Skills + Attitude + Exposure + Means
This equation is actually much older but this current form is a product of a really long El-Al flight. Let us take a look at the components.
- Skills refer to an individual’s technical and soft capabilities. The technical skills are those required to execute effectivity as an employee. Soft skills, on the other hand, are requisite for ensuring that the employee can communicate well, coordinate with people and manage once self, staff, peers, providers, customers and superiors.
- Attitude is also as equally important as skills. This ensures that an individual is whole-heartedly focusing himself or herself to the task at hand. The mind must be prepared. The proper attitude must be one of gusto and heart.
- Exposure. Even if one has the skills and attitude without exposure, ones ability to execute is severely limited. This refers to an individual’s collection of experiences and his or her world view. Experience provides a body of knowledge beyond that provided by just skills. Not only does exposure refer to experience but also world view. How one looks at the world will definitely affect his or her behavior. To have a full world view allows one to be more open to other ideas and experiences.
- Means is a major and key ingredient. This refers to access to resources (human, technology, financial and access) required to execute any project and endeavor. The most highly skilled engineer with good exposure and the proper attitude is still not enough without the means to execute.
Now it is time to see if the Imperial Equation works out!
December 2nd, 2006 at 3:51 pm
[…] William writes about the Imperial Equation, which aims to assess the ability of people, specifically those work in the IT field which is highly dependent on the ability of its workers. I find William’s post interesting because of it’s relevance to me at the moment, and the process that formulated this equation. […]
December 2nd, 2006 at 3:57 pm
Very nice post!
December 3rd, 2006 at 6:08 am
Interesting comments. This equation have been brewing for a long time already. Our latest foriegn trip has definitely convinced me that this equation should hold under usual circumstances.
Also you are right to note that most people fail to consider “Means”. This last point was definitely a product of our last trip. This is what separates most programmers in Bangalore, Israel and Silicon Valley from Filipino programmers. It is not enough to a company to build up the first 3 components alone. Without means to succeed, the best talent will find execution difficult.
I particularly liked your comment about how this equation applied to the formulation of this equation. Nice!
December 3rd, 2006 at 9:07 pm
Nice post
Over the weekend, I have been also thinking on how this will apply to children. For example, my daughter has studied in 5 schools already, 2 pre-schools, 1 all-girls exclusive school, 1 international school (Montessori, Beijing), and currently in a Makati-based co-ed school as a member of the foreigners’class, although she’s definitely a Filipino. At first I was worried, but studies show that children who are exposed early to other cultures become more tolerant and more ‘global’ as adults. She’s only 8 years old but she has always been described as ’speaks like an adult’.
Schools teach skills, families teach attitude. Exposure is a function of how the children travels, not just physically, but through books, the internet, experiences with other cultures. Now, if I had 1 billion dollars, then the equation is complete
Thanks William.
December 14th, 2006 at 12:54 am
[…] Of course, there are no easy solutions to these problems. Technical skill is still a very important deciding factor when seeking employment. However, having the necessary skills is only one part of the equation. The Imperial Equation. Also necessary is the proper attitude, the right exposure and enough means. Employers can help with the skills, means and exposure parts. However, attitude is harder to mold. This is something that should be developed bottom-up. There is also the question of having the appropriate soft skills. In our quest to create technically competent graduates, we might have forgotten to consider that there are other things that must also be developed. […]