🌀framework friday

Hi folks! Telling your spiky career story can feel PAINFUL. I’ve rolled up 6 simple framings to help you sell your spiky skillset!

Bonus: Here’s a helpful pod with even more frameworks & golden insights 🌀 

1. The O-type Human — by Jen Rice

2. I’m a better X because Y — by Robert Berris

3. Specialist feat generalist by Ramiro Oosting

It’s true, the world we live in was built for specialists. So instead of fighting this, leverage it. Open with your depth. And then win ‘em over with your breadth and ability to tie it all together. EG:

“I have deep (10+yrs exp) in sales. I've also studied Social Psychology for 5years. So I can not only sell, but I can teach other people how to sell. I can execute, and explain why the techniques work”

4. 'Career tentpoles' by Justin DiRose

Your career is propped up my multiple tentpoles (or as Milly calles them: spikes)

Tentpole 1 is Community & Ops

Tentpole 2 is Tech & Productivity

Tentpole 3 is Content & Marketing

It’s the mutliple tent poles which give you a strong, sturdy, difficult to replace foundation.

5. ‘People seek me out for’ by Elizabeth Manning

Instead of saying "I do X, Y and Z" in your elevator pitch.

Say: " People seek me out for........

• Executives seek me out as a strategic business partner to solve bold problems that don’t have a clear pathway to solve.

• People seek me out to rapidly connect the dots from insight to impact for sustainable change and growth.

• Innovators seek me out to put my finger right on what hurts so they can avoid wasting resources chasing the wrong problem to no avail.

6. Favourite problems + favourite contexts by Rohab Aamir

People who have squiggly careers usually don't enjoy finding their fit in conventional career definitions. It feels like a slog. "I do many different things in many different environments!!"

Here's a way to map the worlds you're trying to bridge.

You likely have a few ideal problems you love getting stuck into. These are your favourite problems to solve. Do a quick review of your past experiences and filter for contexts where you truly felt energized and lit up. These are your contexts where you SHINE.

This quick audit is my new fave way to SEE generalists.

Remember, you are in control of your narrative. You can tweak and position it to the audience who will appreciate it most. You’re not someone who is mediocre at lots of things. You’re actually great at lots of things, and spectacular at a few. Lean into the intersections of these.

🌀 So, which framing was your favourite? Screenshot, share it on socials and tag us @generalistworld so we can help amplify to our audience of builders, leaders and innovators