How To Get Hired: I, X, And

T-Shaped Persons

Do you and your organisation have strength in breadth as

well as depth? In this article we explore how important “T-
shaped” people are to effective collaboration, and suggest
some ways to expand your own set of skills.
IDEO Chief Executive Tim Brown popularized the term “T-
shaped person”. Part of the company’s success is its ability to
put together diverse, collaborative teams for intensive project
work. When recruiting, IDEO assess candidates based on
both their breadth and depth of experience. The term quickly
caught on with designers and engineers.
In an interview with Chief Executive Magazine, Brown explains
what a T-shaped person is:
The vertical stroke of the “T” is a depth of skill that allows
them to contribute to the creative process. That can be from
any number of different fields: an industrial designer, an
architect, a social scientist, a business specialist or a
mechanical engineer.
The horizontal stroke of the “T” is the disposition for
collaboration across disciplines. It is composed of two
things. First, empathy. It’s important because it allows
people to imagine the problem from another perspective – to
stand in somebody else’s shoes. Second, they tend to get very
enthusiastic about other people’s disciplines, to the point that
they may actually start to practice them. T-shaped people
have both depth and breadth in their skills.
We can contrast a T-shaped person with an I-shaped person.
If your skills are I-shaped, you have deep knowledge and
experience in one area, but haven’t applied those skills to
other areas. Although depth of experience is highly valuable,
effective collaboration in a discipline like design benefits from
individuals who have combined this with a range of
applications in different professional environments. I-shaped
people can excel in many workplaces, but typically not in
those demanding high levels of collaborative working.
The traditional educational system is built to produce I-
shaped people. So can you mould yourself into a T? If so,
how? Here are some ideas that don’t need you to go back to
school or change career.

1. Broaden your horizons

Maximize your experience by expanding the range of projects
you take on. Take stock of your existing set of skills and work
out what other industries you could apply them to. Consider
how transferable your current skills are — you might be
surprised at how versatile you could already be. You could
even work on a project in a different country, or approach a
friend in a different line of work and see if you can work on
something together.
Find out what soft skills are and learn about them. Behaviors
like active listening, open communication, and adaptability
go a long way to building trust and empathy between
collaborators. Training in transactional analysis, conflict
resolution, and even figuring out your Myers-Briggs
personality type can help you become more self-aware, more
generous to those who see the world differently, and better
prepared to deal with difficulties.

2. Deepen your knowledge

It’s possible that you’re already T-shaped, but you can always
put down deeper roots and consolidate your expertise.
Design, like most creative disciplines, is constantly changing
— in terms of technology, standards, culture, and client
expectations. Get subscribed to the top sites and journals in
your area. Bookmark, keep a log, experiment, and exceed
your comfort zone as often as you can.

3. Could you become X-shaped?

T-shaped people are great collaborators. But when it comes to
hiring a new leader for an organisation, the qualities are more
X-shaped. Great leaders are rooted in the depth of both their
subject knowledge and their professional esteem and
credibility. Similarly, they must be able to support diverse
teams. John Lasseter or Ed Catmull of Pixar are X-shaped
people. This isn’t for everyone, though: roles demanding X-
shaped people tend to be focused on strategy and team
management, rather than the coalface design work.