From the course: Hiring and Developing Your Future Workforce

Unlock the full course today

Join today to access over 22,400 courses taught by industry experts or purchase this course individually.

Understand the importance of T-skills

Understand the importance of T-skills

From the course: Hiring and Developing Your Future Workforce

Start my 1-month free trial

Understand the importance of T-skills

- Now for roles that require very specific knowledges and skills, a hiring manager usually wants depth. But in a rapidly-changing world, you're also going to need breadth. In a world of unbundled work, you have to have both. A variety of roles in Silicon Valley companies tend to require workers who are deeply knowledgeable in one or more areas, but generalists in other areas. Tim Brown, the co-CEO of Silicon Valley from IDEO, calls these T-skills, or T-shaped people. Those who are both deep in the special knowledges of a particular field, and broad, with the curiosity and learning capacity of a generalist, such as an accountant who understands sales business processes. Or an IT specialist who knows the broad range of customer relationship activities. This kind of depth and breadth allows workers to maintain their expertise in a specific area, while gaining a greater understanding of how their area of knowledge intersects with others. These intersections, such as deep knowledge of…

Contents