What makes someone a professional? We could say time and experience but neither equates to the development of ability. We need to focus specifically on the skills someone needs to do a task or series of tasks well. Let’s break down the skills of a professional into their ability to manage situations, think critically, problem solve, and make decisions. How do they develop these skills in real life? Usually through trial and error and over a very long period of time. The more time, the more questions, issues, and interactions that occur. The more experience that is developed and the faster answers and solutions can be found to these questions and issues. We are always lucky when we find a good teacher or mentor along the way, but we live in a world that moves fast and with careers with high turn-over and new products that need constant training, we need ways to expedite the process and build rapid experience. […]