At Work, Stars Are Not Born, Stars Rise
Do you remember that term, T-shaped people? It was a metaphor for folks who have a deep expertise, but who are also able to collaborate broadly across many disciplines. It was a term coined in the early 1990s but came to fashion in the mid-naughts.
At the time, it really stuck. We all wanted to be T-shaped.
It stuck so much, folks, especially Planners, buried their heads deeper into the downstroke of their T.
Read this short article on the value of Planning and on the need for star-shaped people, not T-shaped people.
I¹m not writing today to ask that we broaden our skills into areas of expertise that are unfamiliar. I¹m writing today to ask that we allow our expertise to mature, to become more and more apparent, as we work on a brand. The more richly we understand the journeys of the people we serve, the more deeply we understand the opportunities and challenges of the communication and distribution channels of the categories in which we operate, the more likely we will become star-shaped and the more value we will bring to the team.
At work stars rise, they are not born.
Planners become stars by constantly shining a light on the things we know, need to learn, have opportunity to activate in the channels and categories we serve. Planners become brighter when those around us shine bright. To this end, get that good learning from your SMEs in digital, social, tech dev, media and make them make you brighter and brighter.
Enough metaphor.
The last paragraph of this short article really hits home. I've been accused of failing to land the plane.' We all have, on occasion, I'm guessing. This is where our work together comes in. Please take the time time to go through work you've done in the past year that you are most proud of. Also understand the work that scares you to death. Work that you'd rather sort and haul trash to avoid doing.
Somewhere in there, between what we love and what we fear, is what we need to do next.
