As a teenager I was enthralled by the music of the Clash. So wasn’t so out of character when I found myself unconsciously humming the words to Career opportunities, a blistering track from 1977. Particularly the refrain “.. Career opportunities, the ones that never knock..”
The occasion? another AI powered knock back for a role
The irony is up to 11.
The very machines I champion being used to systematically filter out precisely the cross-pollinating professionals that can add such value to organisations dealing with the effects of AI.
Ladder meet bridge
The traditional career ladder assumed a stable world where skills depreciated slowly and industries remained predictable. That world is gone.
The most valuable professionals aren't climbing ladders; they're building bridges between disciplines, industries and crafts.
Clearly I’m biased, having zig zagged around pretty much every corner of advertising all my career, and yes before you ask, I’m old enough now, to realize I do get bored without a strong mental challenge before me
Skill stacking
Post AI research shows that professionals with diverse domain experience exhibit 43% superior performance in adaptive problem-solving scenarios. The terror many feel about "leaving their lane" represents profound misunderstanding of value creation in machine-augmented environments.
It's like discarding your Swiss Army knife in favour of a single blade, then wondering why you can't open wine bottles or extract stones from horses hooves anymore…
My point is: Cross-domain experience generates novel solution pathways that pure specialists struggle to access.
Adaptive Resilience: Multiple pivots build intellectual muscle memory for navigation of the increasing uncertainty businesses now face.
Curiosity Expertise: Understanding how to extract maximum value from AI requires precisely the kind of cognitive flexibility that portfolio careers cultivate.
Career opportunities
As AI assumes routine cognitive tasks, human value increasingly lies in synthesis, pattern recognition across domains, and strategic ambiguity navigation. Linear careers optimised for industrial efficiency; portfolio careers optimism for algorithmic collaboration.
What unexpected skill combination defines your professional edge?