Career Success Starts With a "T"

Are you T-shaped? The most sought-after candidates are.

Posted Apr 19, 2012

Are you T-shaped?



The term “T-shaped” isn’t new: it’s been in use since the 1990s but mostly in consulting and technical fields. Several companies, including IDEO and McKinsey & Company, have used this concept for years because they have always sought multidisciplinary workers who are capable of responding creatively to unexpected situations. Many companies have also developed interdisciplinary T teams to solve problems.


Dr. Gardner’s webpage references an excellent white paper from the Cambridge Service Science, Management and Engineering Symposium in 2007 which identifies four knowledge clusters of the T-shape concept: whole business and organizations; technology; people; and shared information. According to this paper, certain academic disciplines naturally support this type of knowledge integration including anthropology, architecture, cognitive science, financial and value engineering, knowledge management, information systems, operations management, psychology and sociology.

Another excellent online article on this topic refers to T-shaped professionals as “hybrid managers” who are immediately productive and can hit the ground running. Flexible in their mindset and approach to problems, they are able to go beyond any technical training or knowledge and apply a more creative problem solving approach.

One challenge of pure technical training is the potential to see the same solution to all problems (as in the classic phrase “to the man with a hammer, everything is a nail”). T-shaped professionals adapt their knowledge and problem-solving skills to fit the problem. In the current work environment it is no longer enough to be a one-trick pony: to have a specific expertise which you apply in a specific setting. Rather, the most sought-after workers have a deep knowledge of their discipline, but then also possess a strong understanding of the system as a whole including the people, the technology and the shared information.

The “T” concept can be particularly helpful for the career development of liberal arts majors. Foreign language majors, for example, may possess deep specialized knowledge of a language and a culture. But they will still need broader skills to work for most organizations. They might need to add other fields of knowledge like accounting/finance, computer skills, teaching, communication, writing, editing, etc., to their foreign language knowledge to be marketable. Thinking as a “T” will help liberal arts students develop their full potential for the workplace.

So are you a “T”?

If so, have you conveyed this ability to your potential or current employer? How have you applied your knowledge across boundaries? How do you use your communication skills in conjunction with your technical expertise?

If not, how might you consider developing your T profile and presenting it to a potential employer?

Here are some ideas to get started:


Want to learn more? Check out these online resources:


Artwork credit: Robert Vega