There is an unseen bargain that's being accepted by working professionals everywhere.
The bargain is that the professional spends their career developing one clearly defined skill and gets handsomely rewarded for excellence in that skill. It doesn't matter if you're a lawyer, software developer, consultant or doctor, there is this idea instilled from university that once you can do one thing well, once you're up the ladder far enough, you're "sorted for life."
I'm here to argue that this bargain is broken.
If it can be defined, it will be commoditized.
This idea came about with discussion from a senior eye surgeon. He explained to me that 20 years ago, a surgeon was paid over £1200 for one cataract operation. These days it's about £250 if you're lucky for the exact same procedure.
On the surface this seems absurd. Surgeons have gotten better with time, operations are safer, faster. You would think they would be rewarded for that but that's not how markets work. Do people value their eyesight 6 times less now? Of course not.
And that's the perversity of the bargain - being good at your work as a professionals isn't coupled with the value you fetch on the market. In fact, as the thing you do becomes more standardised, safe, fast and cheap - the customer wins, and the one-dimensional professional loses.
This is a hard pill to swallow as a professional because these skills are often hard to master. But simply being difficult and in demand isn't enough. But I challenge you to think about what you do. How much of a premium is there on excellence? How much better is the top 1% from the average? Ultimately, it's still a race to the bottom if you can only do the one thing.
Mere competence is not enough. Switchboard operators, factory workers, and bank tellers were all competent, and the products of their craft are still in demand today. Their professions were defined more and more, and eventually they were replaced by technology.
Inject anti-fragility by learning new skills.
Resilience means surviving big shocks. Anti-fragility means getting better with them.
The best way to inject anti-fragility into your career is to constantly learn in the direction you see the world moving.
The key reframe is to know that this isn't at-odds with your primary work, you don't have to be planning to quit your job.
- You don't have to have any intention of becoming a full time software developer to become more technically literate.
- You don't have to retire to a cabin in the woods to learn to write and to communicate clearly.
Uncommoditize yourself through constant learning.
Traditional professional jobs want you to be "I" shaped in your skills and to fit neatly into place. To be a commodity.
I'd argue you should become "T-shaped" by skating to where the puck is going. If the market shifts under you, you'll be able to shift with it.