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It’s a Hybrid Nation

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After reading a few provocative, smart articles today on job titles and the growth of hybrid roles in all sorts of industries, I’ve been inspired to throw in my two bits-worth. Mr Boches offers up some great thoughts on job titles, as does this great Fast Company article on the rise of the hybrid thinker. Both articles do a great job of articulating some fundamental problems we have in the old business model of linear thinking and A-B-C sequential progression.

When we start in school, we’re all hybrid learners/thinkers–we are expected to do/understand everything (math, science, literature, art, etc). As we develop we are pushed and prodded to become “one thing”. The reality, is the world no longer requires you to BE one thing. Planning is one career path that happens to be intriguing because this hybrid nature should be intrinsic. Not so much about being good at a “single” thing, but about being curious, diverse and open. However, much of the time as an industry we fall back on the simplicity of silos to help organize and at times, monetize the value of our job.

I’ve been lucky enough to encounter a number of “hybrids” in my life. Sometimes they take on a couple of titles (and a couple people’s work load to boot). Other times they find themselves living in departments that you wouldn’t “normally” find them. All times, they are doing phenomenal work that blurs the lines and silos. And yet, it’s always hard for us in an agency setting to acknowledge and embrace the awesomeness that they bring to the table. Why? Because we’re not set up to be multidisciplinary. We’re set up to look at one role. One task. Evaluate. Repeat. Fundamentally flawed.

The world has become more “bendy”. With this bendy world, titles become less meaningful–which is not to say that you’re not working your tuchas off to get to the next skill level (and of course more $)–but they mean less when it comes to what actually gets “done”. The challenge for companies today is to find these chameleon like folks and create spaces that they can thrive in. It’s not the easiest thing to do, but I wholeheartedly believe that it’s just these folks who will push our industry (and many other industries!) forward.

Even if you don’t find yourself an “official” hybrid, that doesn’t mean you can’t play. Today we have wiggly roles that sometimes will roll over into each other. Don’t be afraid to play and push boundaries of what your business card says.  That said, humility is massive in this new world. You don’t know it all. Check the ego at the door and move forward as a team.

My challenge (and sincerest hope) is that agencies come to realize that the days of single department “owning” a part of the process are numbered. We all own the end product if we do our jobs right.

Kumbaya.


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