Our capacity to understand and engage the world is limited by our awareness--what we can perceive. We engage with what we believe the world to be. How we engage with the world is who we are. A simple example is this: If I perceive the world as fundamentally other or separate from me then I will tend to commodify it. I will tend to try to control it, manipulate and use it as end to my means. The world is like a vast shopping mall. I am a consumer. Sound familiar...?

 

There has been a lot written about T-shaped people. For a good list of links visit Keith Instone's blog. Tim Brown's article in Fast Company talks about their strategy at IDEO: "We look for people who are so inquisitive about the world that they're willing to try to do what you do. We call them "T-shaped people." They have a principal skill that describes the vertical leg of the T -- they're mechanical engineers or industrial designers. But they are so empathetic that they can branch out into other skills, such as anthropology, and do them as well. They are able to explore insights from many different perspectives and recognize patterns of behavior that point to a universal human need. That's what you're after at this point -- patterns that yield ideas."

 

T-shaped people can dive deep like I-shaped people, but they have left the safety and comfort of simple expertise behind. T-shaped people tend to be more engaging and appreciative of others and the contribution those people might bring to the project.However, people at the T-shaped worldview may still tend to see their wide ranging connections as a means to a specific end. In other words, if you are in the T-shaped person's network, you may be being used-a resource to be consumed.

 

To really get egalitarian and, to use an overused slogan, "leverage diversity", we're actually not looking at "T", we're talking about "H-shaped". The difference is this: at the "T" range of capacity we are just beginning to engage others and the world in their complex glory. Others are still others. The world is still "out there." When we make the move from being T-shaped to being H-shaped we take on a more inclusive, flexible and inter-connected perspective. The boundaries between "me", "you" and "the world" begin to blur. This is when innovation gets really exciting and sustainability starts to gain traction. Why? We become capable of viewing problems, solutions and projects from multiple perspectives, interlinked time horizons and non-linear relationships.

 

Change becomes less like a disruptive wave washing away castles in the sand and more like an opportunity for some great surfing, generating power for the coastal community, and a moment to be savored and enjoyed even as the next swells sweep in toward shore.