Monday, April 3, 2006

Filling Your Knowledge Gaps Will Help You Get Ahead

How much time can you realistically spend boosting your knowledge base? What kind of program would match your goals and skills? What's your company looking for? We offer some answers.

By Carol Hilderbrand

James Brennan knew he didn’t know enough. He wanted to move from operations into general management at Motorola, but there were some knowledge gaps he needed to fill first. As the senior director of operations for Motorola’s cable modem division, "I had an engineering and operations background," says Brennan. "But I knew I didn’t have the business and leadership skills to balance [the technical ones]."

So Brennan signed up for the six-week, intensive Advanced Management Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. The program teaches business courses from finance to strategic planning to leadership. "It really helped me develop my general management skill set," he says.

It also paid off in a new position. Brennan, now senior director of strategic planning and merger integration for Motorola’s broadband division, credits the course for helping him get ahead. "It gave me a much better frame of reference to manage successfully," he says.

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