E29: The Leadership Challenge: Embracing T-Shaped Skills.

Why Listen: Unlock unique strategies for enhancing your leadership skills.Ama Cobbina, a business development leader, explores the challenges of becoming a leader and suggests that the difficulty lies in specialists learning to become T-Shaped, moving from their core skill set of depth and learning how to embrace breadth.  This philosophical discussion as well  as practice tools for how leaders can embrace a generalist mindset is the focus of this episode.   Conversation HighlightsLeadership and Generalism: Ama shares insights on transitioning into a leadership role, emphasizing the importance of a generalist mindset and the challenges of not being attracted to entrepreneurship while seeking to make a significant impact within an organization.  Career Path Exploration: Ama and Julie discuss the concept of episodic careers and the importance of allowing for interim steps in career progression, removing the pressure of finding the "perfect" job.  Learning and Development: Ama reflects on the importance of a generalist mindset for leadership development, suggesting that it aids in quickly learning and building relationships across various domains.Storytelling and Critical Thinking: Ama proposes storytelling and the 5Ws (Who, What, When, Where, Why) and How as frameworks to foster a generalist mindset, emphasizing their utility in processing information and making connections.Ama Cobbina is a business development leader who prides themselves on strategic decision making as a generalist connector. They have connected the dots of sales lifecycles, marketing and business health for 15+ years advocating for frameworks that build commonality, interdependence and value creation. A member of the Proposal Industry Expert Advisory Board and Mentor, Ama seeks to help organizations orient themselves towards the necessary mindsets around meeting their business needs holistically. Trained in the ultimate generalist profession of Architecture and bringing those skills into their professional career has served them well in thinking about formulating how generalism is viable or even inevitable path forward. LinkedIn: Ama CobbinaFind Us: Connect with Julie on LinkedIn ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-lavergne/⁠  Follow the podcast’s LinkedIn page for next Episode release ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/the-generalist-advantage/?viewAsMember=true⁠  Visit our Website ⁠https://8ballclarity.com/⁠   Don’t forget to leave a 5* review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts – The more reviews, the bigger the impact