T-type People Or The Renaissance Personality, A Highly Demanded Profile

Type T people are increasingly in demand in the world of work. They outline a type of behavior and high-value personal approach that is transforming the way we work, address daily challenges and innovate in our organizations. These are people who are specialized in one subject, but at the same time they know how to diversify themselves to the point of being very skilled in many other functions.

Some define them ironically as the “unicorns” of big business. Now, it is true that this term, that of “T-type people,” is on the rise. However, it should be noted that the idea is not new, nor casual, nor does it respond to a momentary fad, as is often the case in giving curious names to certain behaviors.

In reality, T-shaped skills or T-shaped persons was an idea coined in the 1980s when the consulting firm McKinsey & Company was looking for T-shaped employees. What exactly did they want? They demanded men and also women with crossed abilities. In other words, they wanted people who were highly specialized in a specific subject and also skilled in other more general ones.

The idea was to recruit a profile that showed training in a specific area (this represented the vertical suit of the letter T) and also that showed interdisciplinary skills, such as creativity (symbolized by the horizontal part of the letter T). These types of figures, so unique as well as versatile, were later defined by the world of business psychology as the Renaissance personality.

Let’s know more data.

Type T people or the Renaissance personality, what are they like?

Type T people are by no means a rare sight in our society. Someone who combines specific and general knowledge is not a unicorn; it is simply a man or a woman who has been trained in their specialty, but who also has a curious mind that has led them to master many other skills.

This open attitude for knowledge, for seeing the world in perspective and making use of intersections, bridges when creating, solving and communicating, make up a true human capital in any setting.

Thus, one of the great drivers of this type of profile today is Tim Brown, CEO of the IDEO company and one of the greatest references in terms of innovation and creativity in the workplace.

This same year he has published a book entitled

Because, beyond what we may believe, one does not come into the world with the type T personality. We can, in some way, acquire it. Therefore, let’s find out what makes this profile so special.

The T-type personality and the Renaissance figure

When we talk about the person of rebirth, it is common that, almost instantly, Leonardo da Vinci comes to mind. In this historical period it was common for a person to be trained in multiple disciplines: painting, architecture, music, poetry, science … Although it was true that they often received quite extensive training, something that undoubtedly defined many of these artists was their curiosity.

Curiosity is what puts us in positions of advantage, an advantage enjoyed by the T-type personality. Thus, their solvency and ability in a certain area (such as being a math teacher) are added many more interests and skills. Examples of the latter would be pedagogy, emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, communication, creativity …

The horizontal line of the «T» integrates hard and soft skills

As we have pointed out at the beginning, the vertical line of the letter T defines our specific abilities. The horizontal, for its part, represents the general ones and it is in this sphere where soft skills (communication, social, psychological, etc.) and also hard skills (technical skills) can enter.

Therefore, the wider the horizontal line, the better. The type T personality is also defined by someone who does not stop expanding their knowledge, learning things and integrating new skills.

The specialized generalist, the ideal profile for a complex world

Person T is a specialized professional with general skills. He is someone capable of delving into a specific value, but who in turn moves well in other areas, in other scenarios and in the face of multiple demands. Someone like this undoubtedly stands as human capital for any company and social institution, and it is because, as we well know, our world is increasingly complex.

Whoever is not able to react to challenges becomes stagnant, whoever always applies the same approach to carry out their tasks rusts, does not innovate and does not advance. Being versatile forces us to recycle every little time, and something like this does not only demand that we be curious or that we have a good attitude.

What we also need are means, resources (both economic and social), because if the right conditions are not met, extraordinary people will not emerge. Therefore, that more and more people with this profile come to light depends on many things; especially that all of us join forces and wills.