The future belongs to people with this skill. Do you have it?

I feel a little bit like Haley Joel Osment’s character in the 1999 smash hit The Six Sense. To be clear I don’t see dead people, but I do keep seeing something over and over again.

The thing I keep seeing and hearing about relates to people that are literally changing the world, or at the very least changing their own world and that for those they lead, love or live with.

I am convinced this new skill is key to embracing all the change, challenge and opportunity that the future will bring.

Reed Hastings swears by it, Elon Musk embodies it, Steve Jobs did it over and over again. So what is it?

The first time I came across the concept I was working in telco. It was an exciting time. It was our annual sales conference and our Sales Director was presenting the device roadmap for 2006. There was one word on the screen…

CONVERGENZIA

Confused?

So were we until he explained that the future of mobile devices was about convergence. That might sound obvious now but this was over a year before Steve Jobs’ famous “today, we’re introducing three revolutionary products” speech which of course eluded to the original iPhone, at the time a groundbreaking example of convergence.

Since then I have seen examples of 'convergenzia' increasingly everywhere. 

Technological convergence abounds but convergence is also happening across industries. Google is possibly the best and most obvious example of this, cutting across at least 15 industries already and growing.

As Netflix founder Reed Hastings says…

“Don’t be just a [insert your industry here] company – you want to combine 2 skills [at least] that have not been successfully combined before”.

And the convergers are giant killers!

Amazon, another great converger, is shortly to launch in Australia. 

We recently had a lunch with twelve CEOs from the following industries: logistics, dental equipment, management consulting, building products, telecommunications, entertainment, technology, health and energy storage. 

Despite the breadth of industries around the table every single one of them has been preparing for Amazon to enter the Australian market knowing their presence will have potentially significant implications for their operations.

Examples of product, corporate and industry convergence abound, but

the point of this article is to consider convergence at the level of the individual, which can be equally transformative, albeit on a smaller scale.

I believe the ability to bring two or more seemingly unrelated areas of personal knowledge, skill, experience, insight or passion together will become increasingly critical to promoting your job security and career success for three key reasons.

• Firstly, education standards are increasing and in many professions there is already an oversupply of tertiary qualified graduates. For example, around 15,000 law students graduate in Australia alone each year but almost one in four do not find employment within four months of finishing their course. Even having a post-grad degree is becoming less of a differentiator.
• Secondly, access to global talent is becoming easier via internet platforms such as freelancer.com and other means. Local talent must now compete with talent in markets with significantly lower labor rates. And I am not just talking about website design being geo-arbitraged. Highly technical and sophisticated work is now being done for top tier companies by freelance workers offshore.
• Thirdly, we all have heard the Oxford University research about how 47% of current jobs will be automated over the next 25 years. Half of us will need to find new gigs and it may be sooner than you think. And for those whose roles are not replaced large components of your roles will be automated challenging organisations to reassess the value you really add?

Do not fret however. The ability to converge is a solution to all three dynamics above. 

• There may be 15,000 law graduates each year but it is highly unlikely that any have your life experience, broader skill set, and passions. Combining these attributes together, where appropriate, will uniquely differentiate you when applying for jobs and working on cases.
• Jobs that can be offshored are no threat if you ensure your role relies on your local experience, networks and knowledge. Skills can be offshored. Who you know and what you know about the local market is much harder to replicate.
• And finally right now (and for the foreseeable future) AI does a wonderful job of processing a very specific set of skills extremely quickly, but it is terrible at working across skill sets, i.e. general intelligence. This was most famously demonstrated by Deep Blue, the chess playing super computer that beat world champion chess player Gary Kasporov, but could not even play checkers. 

Convergence is not just about career survival however. At the other end of the career spectrum I also believe it is key to becoming world class. Scott Adams is a great example of this… you know the guy who created Dilbert.

To quote Scott directly providing some serious career advice (unlike the above)…

“If you want an extraordinary [life], you have two paths:

1. Become the best at one specific thing.
2. Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things [and converge them].

The first strategy is difficult to the point of near impossibility. Few people will ever play in the NBA or make a platinum album. I don’t recommend anyone even try.

The second strategy is fairly easy. Everyone has at least a few areas in which they could be in the top 25% with some effort. In my case, I can draw better than most people, but I’m hardly an artist. And I’m not any funnier than the average standup comedian who never makes it big, but I’m funnier than most people.

The magic is that few people can draw well and write jokes. It’s the combination of the two that makes what I do so rare. And when you add in my business background, suddenly I had a topic that few cartoonists could hope to understand without living it.

Capitalism rewards things that are both rare and valuable. You make yourself rare by combining two or more “pretty goods” until no one else has your mix.”

So there you have it. CONVERGENZIA is possibly the best way to ensure your future career security and success. As Scott Adams says...

"no one else has your mix."

What top 25% skills, knowledge, experience, ideas or passions could you combine to change your world, if not the world?

Something to consider.

Please find below links to my previous monthly posts.

• Lessons from loss
• Good Grief
• 20 reasons why corporate wellness programs get sick
• Australia is still lucky... but for how long?
• Change management has become a joke!
• Are you ready for the third age?
• What matters most in a post-truth world?
• Never waste a good crisis
• Your best bet yet for a year of success
• What will your New Year's Evolution be?
• Are you ready for the 'gig economy'?
• Are you working with an energy vampire?
• From counting people to making people count
• Five novel tactics for better leadership
• Mid year reviews: Ubiquitous but ridiculous
• Talent pipelines are broken
• Australia: The innovation immigration correlation
• Time to reimagine HR
• The secret to successful disruption: The innovation colony
• How to survive and thrive in the supermatrix
• The biggest predictor of career success is...
• The secret to high performance is not what you think...
• Where are you on the digital vortex?
• Diversity does not equal inclusion
• How to catch and hold the rebound expat
• The e-factor is the new x: the ultimate growth multiplier
• Are you working with a waste of space?
• Iron Man needs you!
• Collaboration: the new super skill
• Leading innovation from the Australian subsidiary
• Insurgent or incumbent: the key to a future every company wants is...
• Why the talent war is over
• How 'the other GDP' is causing a talent crunch

Rich Hirst is a Director of CEB's International Executive Forums, providing a range of services specifically and exclusively for the most senior executives in the Australian operations of foreign-owned multinational corporations.  

CEB's International Executive Forums operate four peer groups: the International CEO Forum with over 3o0 CEO members; the International CFO Forum with almost 180 CFO members; the International HRD Forum with some 160 HRD members; and in 2016 we launched the International CSO Forum for heads of sales functions. In addition to our peer group services, we also provide a range of opportunities for our member companies to develop their up-and-coming talent through a series of events with a particular focus on women and emerging executives. For more information please call +612 9955 2848.

CEB is a best practice insight and technology company. In partnership with leading organizations around the globe, we develop innovative solutions to drive corporate performance. CEB equips leaders at more than 10,000 companies with the intelligence to effectively manage talent, customers, and operations. CEB is a trusted partner to 90% of the Fortune 500, nearly 75% of the Dow Jones Asian Titans, and more than 85% of the FTSE 100. CEB is now part of Gartner.