Sum of the Parts
“My combined mediocre skills are worth far more than the sum of the parts.” - Scott Adams
The past week reminded me of the late Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame, and who became quite controversial in his later years). And reminded me of my own stack of mediocre skills.
The familiar. A collaborator who is also a veteran model risk head. The CEO of a training institute. Ex-colleagues.
The new. An ex-chief digital officer building his startup. A veteran innovation expert. A professor at a business school. Folks from the local chapter of a key professional association for risk managers.
My lane is not just AI governance
Most conversations these past few months have been about AI governance and risk management. But I’ve only really spent 2 years (out of 23 working years) in AI governance.
Some of my old lanes - in risk management, investment management, finance and AI - came back this week. The CEO of the training institute discovered mid-meeting that I actually spent more time in the world of finance and investments than AI. I had a discussion on a talk with a local chapter of a key professional association for risk managers. I also posted about financial time series modelling, my original lane in AI, before any work on AI governance.
Skills instead of progression
And it reminded me of my career filter.
There was a period in MAS when I hated my job. Somehow or other, I ended up in a coordination role. Board secretariat. Staffer. It was both boring and stressful at the same time. I wanted to try something else but I realized my skills at the time weren’t enough to give me freedom.
That discomfort was clarifying. It clarified the filter through which I would decide on roles later. A move upward was not worth it if it constrained me, and did not lead to useful new skills.
Scott Adams would call it skill-stacking. I called it freedom of choice.
On privilege
A national workforce agency - WSG - featured me last week with a quote I barely recognized: “The skill that carried me through every career pivot wasn’t finance, AI or engineering. It was learning how to learn.”
A comment on that post made me think.** The comment was thoughtful and fair. The gist - the pivots were incomplete without acknowledging the structural advantages underneath it. The stability I had due to my public service job. The privilege is real. I won’t pretend otherwise.
But it also led me to realize that everyone has their own story underneath. I have also met many who did not have the advantages the commenter mentioned, but their pivots, executed in conditions of scarcity, actually led to a better place. For me, my personal underlying challenge is that I’ve spent a third of my life in hospitals, due to my daughter’s congenital condition.
When is privilege privilege and when is privilege earned?
I don’t have a clean answer. But I know that learning new things does not require perfect conditions.