In 5 years, we will care less about your professional specialty or education. We will care more about who are you playing with and who wants to play with you.
Right now it could not look more like the exact opposite. Try getting an interview today if your resume/cv does not match the exact description of the job. No chance to even meet anyone and try to explain what you can do for them or why you’re the best candidate.
A whole new paradigm is evolving at record pace parallel to the highly mechanistic one based upon past education and easily quantifiable work experiences. One based upon your abilities that are not yet easily quantifiable. The best measures today are your social capital, or as I like saying, who wants to play with you?
In the latter paradigm, you have transcended locality and a mechanistic definition of yourself. I am no longer the bilingual media lawyer from NBC Universal and Georgetown. I am Jorge Colon, and like that Verizon commercial, and my network! But it’s even more than that: I’m Jorge Colon and the diverse experiences and values of my lifetime and those of my network.
For now, many of us define our professional ability by our niche. That’s great. But we know that we’re not one dimensional. It’s as if we must leave the totality of ourselves outside work. In some cases that may not be a bad thing either! But we’re the sum total of all our experiences in our life. We’re also the sum total of our access to all our network’s experiences, and those that want to collaborate with us. There is not an actual market for this experience today. It was actually considered a huge distraction from your highly mechanistic job performance.
Tomorrow, if you don’t have that collaborative network, if you can’t bring all your experiences and values to your work, you’re doomed to stay in the highly mechanistic world and definition of yourself. I say doomed not because you can’t make money or even enjoy that style of life, but that it’s a declining paradigm. You will find yourself struggling to merely survive and continue earning as computers and outsourcing perform better for less.
Let’s take the movie The Blind Side as an imperfect but dramatic example of a currency not easily quantifiable nor previously considered – but crucial.
The main character, Micahel Oher, now a Ravens offensive lineman, is quite large and exceptionally fast. This alone gets him in the door for that position. Like a law degree and passing the bar. But it was another quality, that was identified when he was supposedly tested as a child, that determined he had extraordinary levels of protective instinct. But how do you quantify that and how do you use that in a team? The movie tries to show that it is exactly the trait that made him incredibly valuable. A player others want to play with because he will protect his team and his quarterback at emotional levels probably unavailable to equally large and fast players. On his team, you know he literally has your back – and he’s as fast as he is huge!
That’s the same argument I’m making about lawyers and professionals in 5 years. You don’t need to be tested. You need to know yourself enough to know all your skills, values and share them openly.
Who are you playing with, and who wants to play with you?
Jorge Colón's Blog 