透视企业家是一个在线社区，美国创业界最睿智、最有影响力的一些大咖会在这里及时回答有关创业和职场的问题。今天的问题是：转行时如何发挥利用原有工作经验？回答者是Endurance的首席执行官兼创始人Hari Ravichandran。

职场中企业往往根据员工过去的工作或者头衔狭隘地划分类别，例如会计、律师、程序员。从业者们往往专攻某个领域，耗费多年提升技能积攒经验，却发现一旦需要转行，此前的优势反而成为难以摆脱的负累。

从个人经历看，我觉得比打磨技能更重要的是，掌握一系列推动人进步的核心价值。

核心价值具体什么意思？我比较看重的几种素质如下：

• 协作力

• 创造力

• 坚韧

• 好奇心

• 勇敢

如果能找到真正具备这些核心价值的人才，你会发现自己和企业都能突破思维局限。面对问题，他们不会立即翻参考资料找答案，而是从各个角度思考如何攻克拦路虎，也不会因为某种方法此前行之有效就反复使用，希望获得同样的结果。创新的本质是全方位观察问题，然后创造性地解决。

假如你想进入新的行业，却没有通常需要的背景，建议你强调此前的工作经验对完成新工作有哪些帮助。你可能不了解新部门的运作，但要是你表现出擅于适应变化并且渴望学习，就可能达到新工作的要求。要积极主动地抓住对转行有帮助的职业发展机会。这样一来，你就有机会展现核心价值，证明每个人都可以为企业发展贡献独到的视角。

以我的教育背景为例。我学的是计算机工程，但工作一直和工程不沾边！虽然我接受的教育跟从事的职业不太相关，但并没有影响我成长为优秀的科技企业家。解决问题时我会运用工程师思维，充分利用所学，并且一直鞭策自己继续学习和挑战自我。

说到挑战，创业过程中的艰难不可言喻。身为Endurance的创始人，我体会到企业成长中一大挑战是打造企业文化。成立时规模很小，所以我们能一直保持初创公司的心态。但现在公司全球员工超过4000人了，我们仍然希望公司上下保持顽强拼搏，坦诚率直的精神，不断增强凝聚力。

这种文化会孕育集体主义精神，让员工相信只要团结一心，公司就会蓬勃发展。要尽量避免单打独斗，打造一支肩负共同使命，朝同一个目标奋斗的团队。所有企业都希望员工能发挥创新精神解决问题，交流坦诚布公，热爱推陈出新。企业的成功依靠每位员工尽忠职守，以企业的使命为己任。

倘若你的企业致力于培养鼓励员工跳出既有思路解决问题，你可能会惊奇地发现，员工对企业价值观高度认同可以帮助你打造长期可持续发展的事业，而且会积极影响企业文化。（财富中文网）

作者：Hari Ravichandran

译者：Pessy

审稿：夏林

The Entrepreneur Insiders network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in America’s startup scene contribute answers to timely questions about entrepreneurship and careers. Today’s answer to the question, “How do you leverage a non-traditional background in a new role?” is written by Hari Ravichandran, CEO and founder of Endurance.

Oftentimes in the business world, people become narrowly categorized based on their past jobs or titles: accountant, lawyer, programmer. They have one skill set or career path that they’ve honed or developed for years and now find that getting out of that self-imposed box is much harder than it looks.

But in my experience, I’ve found that what’s more important than having a specific skill set is having a core set of values that drives a person forward.

What do I mean by core values? I look for people who have the following attributes:

• Collaborative

• Creative

• Tenacious

• Curious

• Fearless

If you look for those who are intrinsically driven by these values, you’ll find that they’ll be the ones who can help you and your business think outside the box. They are the people who can look at the problem and not immediately reference a playbook for the solution. They attack obstacles from all angles and don’t expect to achieve results by doing the same thing over and over just because it worked well in one situation. The root of innovation is being able to look at problems from all dimensions, and solve them creatively.

For those who are trying to break into a new role but do not have the typical background for that function, my advice is to show how your previous experience is an asset to the role you wish to assume. You may not know the ins and outs of the new department, but if you show that you can adapt well to change and are eager to learn, you could be the innovator the role requires. Be proactive and show initiative by exploring professional development opportunities that will prepare you for this career change. By doing so, you will demonstrate those core values and prove that everyone has a unique perspective that they can bring to a business.

Take, for example, my educational background. I studied computer engineering. And guess what? My job is no longer in engineering! While my education did not necessarily correspond with my career trajectory, it did not limit my success as an entrepreneur in the tech industry either. I used what I learned as an engineer to solve problems. I made the best use of my knowledge and took it upon myself to continue to learn and challenge myself.

Speaking of challenges, nothing fully prepares you to start your own company. As the Founder of Endurance, one of the most challenging aspects of growing the business has been evolving our culture. Since we started small, we still have the startup mentality, but now we have more than 4,000 employees globally and our goal is to still foster a sense of cohesion where we welcome tenacity and candor from each team member.

This type of culture breeds unity and the belief that the company thrives when we all work together. Work towards eliminating silos and building a team that embodies one mission and one purpose. All businesses look for employees that are creative problem solvers, open communicators and innovators. An organization’s success is dependent on each team member, their commitment to the role and the company’s mission.

If companies work on building an environment where stepping outside your lane is encouraged, you might be surprised to find that this shared sense of value from employees will help you build a long-term sustainable business and positively impact your company culture.