Fungibility & the danger of being too good in one thing

-

Getting stuck


Nearly everywhere you’ll find examples of people who are too good at their specialty.  The Latin term is “stuckus-in-placeus.”   Let’s do a thought experiment:  assume you could go back in time and look at some of these people when they were  new employees.  They probably had a wide range of interests and skills.  Then, perhaps by chance, they got involved in projects that were a good match with their talent and personality. Praise, raises, and respect came shortly after.  They focused even more on their narrow strengths and become respected by peers and management.  They felt great until one day, working at 10pm, they experienced the unsavory feeling of being stuck. Perhaps one of them was an attorney.  She thought “I’m the best at bankruptcy lawyer in town.  Partners look to me for guidance whenever the topic comes up.  But after five years I’m still a senior associate.  No partner track gets mentioned.  Where did I go wrong?” 


I’ve seen this scenario play out repeatedly in IT technology.  People who go into the field typically find satisfaction and meaning in the mastery of infrastructure, applications, and (for example) artificial intelligence.  Success begets success and reinforces the specialty mindset.  

Now Back to the Future: the generalists—those who have a variety of “good enough” skills, business knowledge, ability to organize, and some specialty expertise move ahead.  Why?

The landscape of managerial competence is the intersection of talent, acquired skills, exposure to the business, learning to work at scale, and social adroitness.  It is the intersection of all these attributes that makes good managers so rare.  And they only develop over time.      

Fungibility:  good for the business but personally risky


Is your job fungible? Is it so narrow that someone with comparable industry experience could come in today and replace you tomorrow? A fungible job need not be lower level; it could be paid well and regarded as highly professional.  For example, some top surgeons do the same type operation day after day.  They excel. I want them working on me if I’m sick.  Nonetheless, repetitive experiences do not move employees or consultants to points of higher responsibility.  


Bottom line:  Don’t be fungible unless it is a personal choice. Collect skills, experiences, friends, and tools which equip you with ever expanding capabilities to manage people and the business.  You will become hard to replace, not because of your skill in any one job but because finding someone else with your combination of mental assets becomes almost impossible.  Given that two people are  competent, the “Swiss army knife” person will rise to the top more often than the deep specialist.    



None of this is to say that specialization is bad for the individual or the organization. It can be a satisfying life, It's essential for society and the economy.  But if your goals are squarely set for management, go for breadth, not depth.  




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Are We Running Out of Math?

-
Image
  Here's a question that might seem purely theoretical at first: Is mathematics discovered or invented? While it may sound like the kind of abstract puzzle that leads nowhere useful, this question has fascinating implications for our technological future. As we push the boundaries of artificial intelligence and algorithmic innovation, the nature of mathematics itself could shape what's possible.  Consider the implications of each possibility. If mathematics is discovered—if it exists independently of human minds, waiting to be uncovered like buried treasure—then there's a finite amount of it in the universe. Just as we might eventually exhaust Earth's oil reserves, we could theoretically reach a point where we've uncovered all the mathematical truths that exist. It's a sobering thought: a mathematical peak, beyond which no new foundations can be laid.  But what if mathematics is invented—a product of human creativity and intellectual exploration? This would ...
Read more

Fashion cycles forever. Repackaging opportunities

-
Image
Fashion I'm reading Foundation , by Peter Ackroyd, a book about early English history,.  He's an entertaining writer and throws off some interesting FYI-type comments.  Apparently in medieval England, the thing was to show off clothing with the brightest possible colors.  No matter that the colors clashed.  Bright, loud clothes showed your membership in the well-to-do gentry or aristocracy.  Even different colored shoes were au courant.  I started thinking about fashion in general.  There is no real standard, except that change is mandatory. Many people like quasi-random style variations--it provides an opportunity to broadcast status and success.  So how can this help business people?  Style can be embedded in anything. Customers at the grocery store may walk by the bathroom supplies section and see a toilet bowl brush.  Surely there are no style considerations there.   But yes indeed, a brush with a long, delicately curv...
Read more

On the necessity of a hyper-critical day

-
Image
  Stay positive. We hear this from teachers, friends, partners, bosses, and doctors. I’m guessing even godfather Don Corleone said it once to his lieutenants.   And there’s a reason for this hackneyed advice—99% of the time it works and works well. I hate working with a negative, irritating sour puss and I’m pretty sure you do to.   Now let’s talk about the 1%. Not the wealthy 1%. The 1% of the time you should be critical and harsh in your thinking. Once a year or maybe twice a year, clear your schedule for a hyper critical day where all the stops are pulled out and skeptical/suspicious/unkind thoughts are allowed. Why? Because most of us are basically good people and are uncomfortable with highly critical thoughts. Much of this is subconscious, which is why you need to designate a day for extremely critical, even unpleasant thinking. It takes that to root out mistakes, bad decisions, excessive trust in people, organizations, and businesses.   You have to get up an...
Read more