Rare Skills

If you are going to teach kids a skill that will help them in their career and life, teach them to be reliable. Teach them to do what they say they will do. If you consistently do what you say you will do, you will almost certainly be someone people desire to have on their teams. It is so rare that when you work with someone who is reliable, you never, ever want to work with anyone else. You will do anything to keep that person on your team. If you tell someone that you will have the software development project done by next week, then it should be done by then. Throw away those moving targets in your life. You also have to be upfront and let the other person know if it is going to need more time and them come to a date that is agreed upon. Obviously, there are external factors that make commitments hard to achieve but it is important to do everything to be reliable. The other side of the coin is being able to keep track of yourself. Surprisingly, there are not that many people that consistently do things without needing reminders. Those skills will get you far and you will be indispensable to any company.