Our careers are changing.
The linear work-your-way-up mentality is being replaced with a choose-your-own adventure, wherein the main quest is to find purposeful work that engages us in the day to day. In this story of Gen Z the new main characters must face off against the endless armies of distraction, misinformation & artificial intelligence that threatens their freedom.
For behind us are the days of incremental improvements to repeatable tasks that are always better off automated by an algorithm. And ahead of us are exponential increases in the creativity of computers that will encroach on even the most “safe” of jobs. With tools like ChatGPT & Lensa AI in our arsenal the world is being forced to question what it means to human.
Or maybe just whether we love a self-portrait a little too much…
(the answer to that one is yes)
But, as the world only becomes exponentially more complex, so do the number of roles that will soon exist. With a job market that’s set to include Avatar clothing designers, Data bounty hunters & Metahuman doctors by 2023 (plus so many more), sticking to one set career is now impossible. For as every industry is disrupted by the endless march of technology, so too are the responsibilities that humans are given within them.
What are we to do?
We must accept that the rate of change is only increasing. That what works today will not reap the same rewards in 5 years time. We must constantly learn new skills to evolve who we are to stay one step ahead of the drum of automation that will force us to embrace our uniqueness as humans. It will mean honing our ability to make connections across the arts, sciences, humanities and technology to find the new theories, ideas and improvements at their intersections.
It’s only there that we’ll be irreplaceable.
And there’s no better suited person than the Multipotentialite to make the most of this increasingly challenging reality we live in.
What is a Multipotentialite?
A Multipotentialite is “an individual with many passions and creative pursuits who is able to excel in two or more fields”.
It’s a term popularised by Emilie Wapnick in her 2015 Ted Talk wherein she explains Why Some Of Us Don’t Have One True Calling. Providing those of us who have always struggled to know “What do you want to be when you grow up?” or even now can’t answer “What do you do?” with a label for ourselves.
With it’s roots embedded in the history of polymaths or Vitruvian men, the term refers to those who master multiple disciplines. From the famous painter, sculptor, engineer, astronomer, architect, musician, philosopher, humanist that was Leonardo Da Vinci to the even more well known physicist, mathematician, cosmologist, essayist, pianist, violinist with the unforgettable name Albert Einstein, many before us have embraced their limitless identities.
And you’re likely also a fellow multipotentialite if you…
Lack a clear life path.
Have too many passions & interests.
Struggle to commit to one project.
Enjoy learning for it’s own sake.
Feel like a jack of all trades.
Meaning that if you’ve relented against the voice of your parents, friends & society to “just specialise” your entire life, know that you’re not alone.
Others have embraced their multipotentiality.
And so should you.
Multipotentialite Superpowers
Embracing many interests can be a superpower. For being conduit in the exchange of ideas with a ‘putty-like’ approach enables multipotentialites to understand, synthesise & empathise across their many identities.
Mastering interdisciplinary skills
Learning from multiple disciplines forces multipotentialites to understand the skills that transfer from one industry to the next. Meaning that rather than specialising into deep, specific knowledge, they often combine a broad soft skillset with a few not-so-deep hard bases of knowledge. In the end, they develop an E-shaped understanding that looks like this…
Which provides them with an irreplaceable worldview that is almost impossible to replicate by other humans, let alone machines. While also gifting them the tremendously valuable creativity of combining existing ideas from one industry into the next. All of which equip them with the skillset to stand out from the crowd of commoditised service providers that play a game of race to the bottom in marketplaces like Fiverr & Upwork.
Embracing the flow of change
Multipotentialites are no victims to the wave of change. They ride above it, relishing the learning that follows in the wash behind. For mastering multiple disciplines has forced them to let go of their identities many a time before. And the only difference now is that they have the self-trust and mental models to know that in the end everything will be okay.
Empathising with everyone
Knowing such a broad number of disciplines enables multipotentialites to relate, empathise and translate between people operating on entirely different modes of thought. From the technicality of coding languages to the psychology of selling to the structure of project management, anyone able to communicate across jargon, misunderstanding & priorities is irreplaceable.
Overcoming the Pitfalls
But having many interests ain’t all plain sailing.
In fact, it can often feel closer to a curse than a blessing with the passions stretching you so thinly across the entire spectrum of life.
Often providing you with the following pitfalls:
Sticking at a passion long enough to reap the rewards.
Balancing variety with stability in professional work.
Avoiding the shiny object syndrome of comparison.
Knowing when to start, pause & quit projects.
Answering the dreaded “What do you do?”.
For which there is no silver bullet.
With nuanced answers to each one, full of situational what-ifs and buckets of context to reach anything close to the “right decision”.
We’ll cover the specifics of each in separate posts (coming soon).
But for now, remember that by combining the leverage of the internet with an understanding of business & enough time, you’ll position yourself to take advantage of the many opportunities that lie ahead of you.
Focus on the interdisciplinary skills like collaboration, communication, time management, critical thinking & problem solving.
For they’ll exist within you regardless of the passion you explore.
And for however long time you spend doing it.
Quotes from the Community
As a new feature for 2023, I’ll be including selected responses from questions debated within the community in each post.
Question: “Will AI render humans redundant from work or will it just lead to creation of new, more complex jobs to manage the AI?”
“One super interesting question is whether the companies like Lensa, Midjourney etc. should even be able to offer/ charge for their services since they have essentially scraped the internet and 'stolen' art without permission, now don't get me wrong I love the products, as someone with lots of imagination but limited craft it's basically magic, but the ethical implications of these products already shows just how big a threat AI will be to jobs. Its already hit the art industry hard but in much less time than people expect it will effect all different craft based professions and even stuff like engineering.”
“I don't believe AI will render humans totally redundant and I think jobs will shift in two ways:
1. I think it will augment jobs to become more human focused as AI picks up the more monotonous tasks. For example, AI diagnosising patients but doctors checking and providing the emotional news or support.
2. Also like you said I think it will lead to a lot of jobs managing AI. I don't think businesses and governments will ever allow AI to make big long-term decisions by themselves but instead be used as an aid. Humans should make sure they understand how AI comes to it's conclusions so it is not a blackbox.”
“I think new jobs will be created but many more will be automated. Combine AI with robotics and every non-creative human task will be automated eventually. We'll need UBI for sure to compensate for the job loss and redistribute all the production gains made by AI advancement”