Career represents just one life portfolio component, but deserves careful construction given its centrality.
The T-Shaped Professional Evolution
Traditional career advice promoted I-shaped specialization—deep expertise in narrow domains. Modern uncertainty rewards T-shaped professionals—deep expertise plus broad capabilities.
David evolved from I to T: - Vertical Bar: World-class software architecture expertise - Horizontal Bar: Business strategy, team leadership, public speaking, written communication, crisis management
His deep expertise provided credibility while broad capabilities enabled adaptation.
Multiple Revenue Stream Architecture
Single income sources create fragility regardless of size. Multiple streams provide both security and growth potential.
Patricia architected five income streams: 1. Primary Employment (40%): Base stability 2. Consulting Practice (25%): Leverage expertise 3. Digital Products (15%): Scalable creation 4. Investment Income (15%): Passive growth 5. Teaching/Speaking (5%): Network building
Each stream used different skills, served different markets, and responded differently to disruption.
Skill Adjacency Mapping
Random skill accumulation wastes effort. Strategic skill development creates synergistic capabilities.
Robert mapped skill adjacencies: - Core: Data analysis - Adjacent Layer 1: Statistics, visualization, storytelling - Adjacent Layer 2: Business strategy, product management, teaching - Adjacent Layer 3: Writing, public speaking, consulting
Each layer built on previous, creating compound expertise valuable across contexts.