JUNE 22 — I have a former colleague who has an impressive set of skills. She was a great lecturer (all her students loved her) and she was also very eloquent and a wonderful story-teller, so she was often the first choice for emcee-ing at formal events. 

Interestingly, she also knew some photography so she was also sought after by the marketing department for input on brochures, posters, etc. 

Finally, she was a warm people person, so sometimes other heads of departments would seek her help to speak to "difficult” people.

She has a PhD in Engineering, so that was — at least formally — her main expertise. 

Sure, she was not the greatest MC, nor the world’s best photographer (in fact, like many folks, she learnt photography from YouTube), nor did she have a degree in counselling. 

Nevertheless the combination of her engineering knowledge, plus all those other skills which she had "a little bit of”, added up to something unique, extraordinary and powerful: A kickass talent stack which made her the darling of the company.

The concept of talent stacking was coined by Dilbert creator, Scott Adams. This is the idea that you can combine many "normal”-level skills you possess to produce something no one else has. 

Adams himself blended his only-slightly-above-par art skills with his sense of humour, risk-taking and work ethic to produce the world-famous comic-strip. 

He also merged his unique reading of US socio-political events with psychological heuristics to produce about four or five best-sellers (his latest being LoserThink, which discusses a list of popular errors of reasoning and perception).

Certainly, this concept isn’t new. Many Malaysian parents, for similar reasons, send their children to piano or ballet classes; the constant emphasis on students being good in all school subjects also sounds, at least superficially, similar to talent-stacking.

But there’s a critical difference: Talent stacking is more about your range of skills than it is about your expertise in any one of them (see note 1).

The thing about most Asian parents is we expect our kids to excel in everything they do. Not only does this breed chronic stress, it also downplays the value of mere exposure without the need to win scholarships or awards.

Likewise, in the universe of talent stacks, having a PhD in Biology is not as welcomed as, say, having two Masters degrees (perhaps one in Computer Engineering and another in Political Philosophy — no point having two post-graduate degrees in fields so close to each other, might as well just do a PhD).

The key here is breaking the trap of domain-dependency i.e. you’re not limited to working in one specific area. Plus, you can draw on competences from multiple spheres to offer something unique.

Another friend of mine from my consulting days aptly mixed his project management skills (the chief requirement of firms like Ernst & Young) with his negotiation skills (honed from many years buying and selling cars) plus a weird sense of humour (honed from many years in bars) to become a clear stand-out in the firm. 

Again, he wasn’t the best project manager, nor the best negotiator, nor (by a long shot) anywhere near Jason Leong when it comes to comedy (see note 2).

But the combination of all three skills, stacked together, turned him into a strong player both in the firm and in the sector as a whole.

Talent stacking for pandemic times

I’m no HR expert or "Talent Management Specialist” and I don’t wish to sound trite to anyone struggling with unemployment. 

I only hope to offer some humble advice to all of us to do whatever we can, to use whatever skills we have at our disposal, to try to merge or unite all our barely-above-par qualities to yield something special, something few others have. 

I also wish to remind bosses and employers to try to go beyond the CV skills, but to look for the multiple talents which existing or potential staff may have. 

Try to look at the unique nature of the staff we have. My prayer is that this will create win-win scenarios in which the company gets to benefit from its staff’s various and compounded abilities and people get to keep their jobs.

Note 1: A recent book which emphasises the power of diversity in one’s skillset is David Epstein’s Range (New York: Macmillan, 2019) which, among other things, challenges Malcolm Gladwell’s "10,000 hours” thesis. 

Epstein shows that many high-achievers tend to specialise late, thus avoiding "cognitive entrenchment” by opening themselves up to multiple domains of learning.

Note 2: Some people may object to speaking of humour as a skill. But, seriously, have you tried making people laugh on cue? Most people’s comedic talents are limited to sharing funny memes. ‘Nuff said.

*This is the personal opinion of the columnist.