I’m encouraged to hear that you sometimes wonder if you should have studied more technology or more business. That's a good problem to have. Being an excellent engineer or business entrepreneur are noble professions. Rather than regret not being more technical or more business savvy, think about being an excellent “between” person.
I remember early in my career feeling as if I needed to go back to school. I was working in the security products division of a computer services company in the financial investments sector. I managed a small team of developers building online portfolio analysis apps. One of the Vice Presidents, Kurt, came to my office from time to time to talk about the projects we were working on.[1] He had a PhD in economics and years of business experience. He said that he liked talking with me because he could understand my explanations of technology and he always learned something. And I enjoyed speaking with him as much as I enjoyed applying the technology to solve a problem.
As I grew in my career, I found that this "between" skill was more important to the business than the technical knowledge I had honed in my early years. With a foot in both camps, I had become a translator of business needs into technology, and of technology innovations into business opportunities. After I moved from security products to management consulting, it was this skill that guided me in finding and adding value for my customer's business. Consultants are good "between" people.
When I moved to the Chief Information Officer seat, the translation needs were even greater, interpreting business strategy into technology strategy. In fact, I often described my role as one of Chief Translator, and as Jerry Sternin taught me, Chief Amplifier [2]. That is a subject for another letter.
So if you love the technology, but love the conversations with business people as much, consider becoming a "between" person.
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