Develop Curiosity & T-shaped Mastery
The concept of a T-shaped business professional has its roots in a 1990 study on hybrid managers and have been used as a concept for selection and training by companies like Mckinsey & Co and IDEO.
In essence, T-shaped professionals have both deep and broad knowledge and expertise. They are typically trained across multiple disciplines and systems and have considerable depth in a one or two disciplines or systems.
The problem with most young professionals is that we tend to discount or do away with the whole notion of continual learning and growth after we step into the corporate workplace. We stop being curious and asking questions. Instead, we become comfortable with what we know. Hence, the proverbial curse of knowledge.
Yet, T-shaped mastery is key for a couple reasons
- Problem solving – with deep functional experience expressed by the T’s stem and with broad and diverse skills, executives can deploy a synergistic and convergent type of thinking to solve problems instead of being stubbornly fixated on that one way of doing things. Think how a marketing executive can get creative by understanding and appreciating budget constraints and tap into guerrilla marketing techniques.
- Relational lubricant – it is not uncommon to be working with co-workers across other functions or meeting executives at events from other fields, being broadly aware and informed gives you the ability gives you more talking points to establish common ground and connect in more meaningful manners. This way, you open more doors that would otherwise be closed to you because you thought you don't speak their language!
- Organizational mastery – it keeps you a perspective of “being on top” of the business instead of just being “in the business” all the time. From a practical stand point, it aids you in communicating business agenda in a more holistic manner so you can seek more win-win partnerships instead of zero-sum games.