Some people don’t have a degree or a string of titles and credentials that others may need, so they can see you as important and known. Not having specific branding does not lessen your value.

The traditional gatekeeping mechanisms – degrees, titles, formal credentials – are fortunately losing their monopoly on determining worth and capability. We’re witnessing new and relevant job opportunities becoming available to everyone in ways that technology and changing social attitudes have accelerated.

Your life experience, knowledge, skills, abilities, talents, gifts, and track record are your true assets. These intangible qualities can’t be printed on a diploma, yet they form the currency of authentic human connection and effective collaboration.

Harvard Business School Professor Joseph Fuller’s research shows companies are increasingly dropping degree requirements, recognizing that “talent is scarce, and requiring degrees eliminates almost two-thirds of workers from consideration.” People, (employers) are looking for trust, consistency, reliability, genuine care, and empathy – the hardest things to fake or shortcut your way to obtaining.

Your integrity, which includes the quality of your work, is the key. Integrity isn’t just about honesty – it’s about wholeness, about your actions aligning with your values consistently over time in all you do. When someone demonstrates integrity through quality work and genuine relationships, credentials become secondary evidence rather than primary proof of their worth.

This message speaks to those who embrace self-learning, the career changers, the people whose paths didn’t follow traditional trajectories but who’ve built real expertise through experience, curiosity, practice, dedication. problem solving and producing results.

In a world where information is quickly and abundantly accessible and change happens rapidly, the ability to learn, adapt, and execute with integrity often matters more than where you learned or what paper says you’re qualified to do.

Focus on building substantive value rather than just collecting titles. Your worth isn’t determined by external validation – it’s demonstrated through consistent action and authentic contribution.

Show up. Do the work. Get results. Build your human skills.

Thanks – Michael (he, him)

Please share this Daily with your tribes.
This is also key – Human Skills.

#2050