Apologies to Richard Nixon for paraphrasing his famous Keynesian quote.

Two years after starting a mid-career search, I remain impressed by the greatly increased emphasis on perfectly matching an individual’s professional and industrial experience to an open position.  Hiring managers, recruiters and HR managers have all adopted this approach.  This is partly because of the abundance of candidates and partly due to the risk averse environment caused by the slow economic recovery.  It is also due to the improved results of the “fill the bucket” approach to hiring where specific requirements are listed and then proven from actual experience and multiple interview responses.

However, I think there is something deeper involved.  Professional and industry specialization has continued to increase through time.  The discussion of outsourcing, virtual project teams and individual agents has died down, but these innovations have become a growing reality.  Successful firms increasingly focus on smaller niches of product, geography and comparative advantage.  Increased industrial and professional fragmentation is required for success.  The trend will continue.

How did I miss this?  As usual, paradigms act as blinders.  In high school in the 1970’s I was taught it was important to be “well rounded”.   At a liberal arts college, I learned that great minds and thoughts were academic, abstract and universal.  In business school, I learned that an MBA provided the necessary skills for a lifetime of career success.   I later discovered the competitive advantages of being a “general manager” from John Kotter’s influential work.

My teachers were correct in promoting the personal and professional value in developing broad knowledge, thinking skills and a professional base.   They did not foresee the modern world of global competition, where firms are forced to specialize and make economically rational decisions far beyond those envisioned by Adam Smith and David Ricardo who outlined these principles long ago. 

“General Managers” are now merely a declining specialization.   Some top-end MBAs with broad consulting experience can move from industry to industry and be successful.  A few individuals can specialize as “strategic advisors” to presidents.  But even in these fields, the trend is toward specialization.  Firms will pay for experts in a narrow tax, legal, technical or IT field only when in-house experts do not exist or others cannot complete a project well enough. 

Professional services firms have always paid lip-service to industry focus.  In the last two decades, led by IT firms, they now specialized by industry and technology equally.  Clients expect staff to understand their business.

Industrial and professional specialization will be required for future employment.   Individuals, firms and universities will adapt to survive.