From networking events to prospective in-laws, the question ‘What do you do?’ typically calls for a standard answer: a defined role in one organization, preferably within a recognized sector. Of course, roles change over a lifetime. Not only do people advance from junior to senior positions with rising responsibilities and paychecks, but many also change organizations or even sectors over their careers. This is generally accepted – even freelancing or running a business – as long as one adheres to the formula: one defined role, one defined organization, one defined sector.
Yet, many people operate differently. They don’t just move around over time; they often work more than one role simultaneously. This is common in the early years and at the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum, where people juggle whatever gigs they can find. At the other end, those who can afford to live without an income often collect board and advisory roles. In the middle band, we find people floating across projects in large and small organizations, blending periods of focused employment with more dispersed freelance jobs and paraprofessional commitments, rarely conforming to the standard formula when answering the question ‘What do you do?’
Learning from Nature’s Shape-Shifters
We recognize ourselves in these shape-shifters, working in opportunistic precarity across various roles, organizations, and sectors. What can nature teach us about them? Can ecotonal animals, which cross the boundaries of ecosystems for opportunistic feeding, enrich our professional archetypes and inspire better collective settings for innovation?
Nature offers compelling examples of species that thrive by navigating multiple environments. Consider the fox, a highly adaptable animal known for its ability to live in diverse habitats, from forests and grasslands to urban areas. Foxes are generalists. They don’t rely on a single food source or environment. Instead, they opportunistically pursue whatever is available, whether hunting small mammals, foraging for berries, or scavenging from human settlements. This adaptability is key to their resilience, allowing them to survive and even thrive in changing conditions. Similarly, professionals who cross boundaries and span multiple roles or sectors can draw on a wide range of experiences and skills, making them more resilient in the face of economic uncertainty and rapid change.
Ravens provide another interesting analogy. These birds are known for their intelligence and problem-solving abilities, often crossing various ecological boundaries, such as forests, mountains, and human-dominated landscapes. Ravens are also social learners. They learn from each other, from other species, and from humans. This allows them to identify new resources and adapt to different environments. Like ravens, shape-shifting professionals gather knowledge as they move across sectors and contexts, fostering creativity and coherence in the various organizations and communities they engage with. Bees may literally cross-pollinate, but when it comes to bridging gaps between systems through the circulation of ideas, ravens are more directly relatable role models.
Overcoming Challenges in Professional Shape-Shifting
Just as these animals face challenges when their natural behaviors conflict with human expectations, so do shape-shifters in the professional world. They often struggle against established norms that favor stability and singular career trajectories. They rarely match the profile of standard job descriptions, let alone institutional funding pools, and they face the social challenge of explaining themselves against expectations, which can affect their self-esteem and sense of belonging.
In many folk traditions, foxes and ravens represent the trickster archetype. Because they are not strictly dependent on any particular ecosystem, they’re easily painted as ‘traitorous’. Additionally, they rarely form lasting bonds of mutual dependence with a large number of peers. They train their young closely, by imitation and through play, to develop their intelligence. Afterward, the young are expected to fend for themselves. In the human realm, this resembles open-source communities more than institutional environments. Learning is about solving problems creatively, using whatever tools are available, rather than being inducted into social hierarchies through proper behavior. Nor is there a desire to surround oneself with a large group of peers, only to spend most of one’s time on political games of dominance. It’s better to stay nimble, move on, learn, and maybe teach new tricks.
Toward a New Professional Model
This is a model we recognize for ourselves and other shape-shifters: resilience is closely tied to lean operations. It is far easier to switch around when it is ‘just you’, rather than when you bear responsibility for an extensive payroll – or even a mortgage and a family. This is why many people who try this kind of life end up back in a corporate role: they are not in the right circumstances to run dry. In fact, this is one reason shape-shifters can be viewed with suspicion. They have no vested interest in rent-seeking or in protecting a group from competition. When those situations arise, they may choose to play the game, find a shortcut, or call out inefficiencies – whether in union rules or corporate IP.
By learning from these adaptive species, we may develop new mental models and policies that better support and value the contributions of individuals who operate beyond traditional boundaries. In an environment that prioritizes shiny success, shape-shifters may not receive the structural recognition typically lavished on founders, leaders, and other alpha figures. The fox is no lion, and the raven no eagle. Yet, they are essential creatures. They keep rodents in check and clean up carcasses, preventing the spread of disease. But as they cross boundaries, they can also spread disease. Professional shape-shifters will increase resilience, clean up inefficiencies, and spread know-how, but they might also cause confusion and a measure of chaos.
In conclusion, if we wanted to better nurture shape-shifters nonetheless, what could we learn from nature? Ravens have an interesting habit. They tend to live in pairs, but when they find a large source of food, they will call other ravens related to them by blood from up to 30 km away – inviting the family to join in a special feast, so to speak. That is how things tend to work in that part of the human realm already: people who worked on a project together will keep in touch and call on each other for windfalls. Whatever norms, regulations, and technology best enable people to stay connected with a network, and combine occasional bounties with other opportunistic sources of income, will probably benefit the system as a whole – at least if innovation is the goal.
Your turn:
- Have you ever felt limited by the traditional expectations of having a singular career path? How could embracing multiple roles benefit you?
- In what ways could you apply the adaptability of a fox in your own professional life to navigate uncertain or changing environments?
- What opportunities have you encountered that required learning from others, similar to how the raven learns from its surroundings? How did you adapt?
- How do you feel about balancing multiple roles or responsibilities? Does this sound empowering or overwhelming to you?
- What challenges have you faced in explaining your career choices to others, and how have those perceptions influenced your professional decisions?