How to be a Professional and the Necessary Mindset to Become One

This is the third installment of a series of articles based on the Culture Book (a book that embodies the values we all want to have in common in our daily work).

In the last issue, I wrote about three culture codes related to one of our values, "Unite.This time, I would like to write about the four culture codes for one of our values: "Exceed Expectations," "Exceed Your Past," "Further Develop Your Expertise," and "Take Initiative.I would like to write about the four culture codes "Exceeding Expectations," "Exceeding Your Past," "Further Developing Your Expertise," and "Taking Initiative" in the value of "Pushing Through.

Taking initiative is the starting line for a startup.

Suddenly, what is the first prerequisite for being prepared to join a startup company?

I think there are many factors, but I believe that one of the most important factors is to "take the initiative", which is fundamental and important.

Another word for this is a sense of party or ownership.

What is initiative anyway?So I asked Dr. Google and got the following answer.

"Initiative is the attitude or disposition to act responsibly on one's own initiative and judgment in response to 'what is not decided to do.'"

I don't think I understand. lol
I read a little further and this is what it said.

"For example, 'I will think of a measure to solve a problem in the department and propose it to my boss, even though I was not instructed to do so by my boss.'"

This is becoming easier and easier to understand, but in my own way, I would like to break it down a bit more and say "being able to make things about yourself".People who are able to make things about themselves have a clear sense of their own will and judgment.

Conversely, a state in which one is not making decisions on one's own could be described as a state of "leaving it to others.

A more obvious example is when you ask your boss a question,

"What do you think about this?"

or "What do you think about this matter?

"I think A is better for this matter for the reason that it is fat.

and ask with your own will, you can think of it as a totally different kind of initiative.

At Recruit Co., it is said that when a subordinate asks his boss something, the boss repeatedly asks, "What do you want to do?I heard that at a recruiting company, when subordinates ask their superiors what they want to do, their superiors repeatedly ask them, "What do you want to do?

Startups are in a rapidly changing environment, and there are always new updates both inside and outside the company.In such an environment, it is not possible to make top-down decisions on all the details, and the world will be changing faster than ever.

Therefore, it is not always possible to have all the manuals available at all times, and things will always occur that are not decided on what to do.

That is why we believe that startup members are in an environment where they need to be able to think and act on their own, and we want BitStar members to be proactive as a starting line.

Exceeding Expectations" is Professionalism

At one of the training sessions at the startup where I graduated, we were asked the question, "What is a professional?"I gave my own answer.

The answer I came up with in my own way was to "exceed expectations.
I want to continue to be told by my opponents, "That's great.
I think if you are an amateur, their expectations will be lowered, but I don't want that to happen.

When I was a new graduate, and even now, I have always tried to act with an awareness of the expectations, or even slightly exceeding them, both inside and outside the company.

Therefore, I tried to add as much value as possible by making suggestions from various perspectives, such as whether there is anything newer that can be done or points that can be improved, even if they are not mentioned by the other party, and I believe this leads to my own growth.

Conversely, what is the state of not exceeding expectations?

It is doing only what the other party tells you to do.

Of course, there are many cases where this is sufficient, but if that is all you do, you will be replaced when a better service comes out in the world.You will not be able to grow as an individual.You will not be able to impress them.

Put another way, let's not just continue to meet our customers' apparent needs (what they tell us they want), but let's also take action to satisfy their latent needs (needs they potentially want but are unable to verbalize).

Being a professional is a difficult task at BitStar, "asking for more than what is expected of you," but if you overcome the hurdle of expectation, it is a precious thing that will please the other party and allow you to grow as well.

To become a professional, you must first "hone your strengths.

So how do you go about becoming a professional?
If you try to do your best in all areas, you may be at a loss because the areas are too wide.

I try to tell others that the first thing to do is to have an area of expertise in which you are "unbeatable".

For example, although BitStar now covers a wide range of industries, in the early days of BitStar, we had influencer marketing mainly from game companies that had the background to adopt the latest marketing techniques.

Inevitably, I became very knowledgeable about the game industry and marketing techniques, and was able to make new proposals to game company marketers.

I think I was able to do this both for the company and as an individual because I decided on my area of expertise.

If someone is struggling with growth, why not start by creating something you can say you are "good at"?

Once you have defined what you are good at, you will naturally become a person who attracts attention both inside and outside the company.

What you need to do to "surpass your past self

So, next, what should you do to surpass your past self, to become even better at what you are good at, or to overcome what you are not so good at?

There may be many limits to what you can overcome on your own.Or perhaps you are not sure what the challenge is, but you often feel vaguely that you have not experienced any growth recently.

One thing I am conscious of in order to achieve significant growth is to proactively incorporate feedback from others and input from books.

This is because when any person realizes that they are not organized in what they should be doing, or that they are unaware of issues, etc., due to their own assumptions, their future possibilities are limited.

I think this is generally called bias, but it can happen to any person.

Therefore, I believe that it is important to connect our personal growth with input from all kinds of people, not only stakeholders such as customers, internal supervisors, subordinates, and colleagues, but also people from outside the same industry and even people outside the industry.

In addition to the so-called 3C's (company, customer, and competitor), there are many other related companies in the world.If we only focus on our daily business, we will only be concerned with the relationship between our company and our customers, and we will not be able to see the whole picture of the industry, and our vision will become narrow.

I recommend that you regularly and intentionally move away from a relationship that is solely between your company and its customers, and communicate with a wide range of industry professionals and even those outside of your industry.

I believe that surpassing our past selves means to let go of our inner pride and get naked.In this way, we will have the humility to learn from any person, and we will be able to continuously grow.

These are the four culture codes of the value of "Go beyond.I have written about my own thoughts on the four culture codes in the value "Exceed Expectations," "Exceed Your Past," "Further Develop Your Expertise," and "Take Initiative.

I hope that internal members and potential recruits will take a look at them as a must, but I would be happy if there is anything useful in the form of management tips for those outside the company.

The Culture Code is an embodiment of BitStar's three values in the form of 10 SPIRITS.I hope to share my thoughts on the rest of the culture code and help stakeholders understand BitStar.

I have been writing at an unusually high frequency, so if you find it helpful, interesting, etc., I would appreciate it if you could like, follow, or comment on it.

Thank you for reading this long article!See you soon.