A while ago, I had a conversation with a coachee who was wondering about the future of Europe and anxious that the future might not be as bright as he wants it to be. In our conversation, he explained how his worldview is shaped by his education as an engineer. He couldn’t imagine how Germany could be successful without an industry producing goods. His criticism of the current situation thus was focused on a lack of solutions that, according to him, would boost production.

I don’t have the ambition to decide if he is right or not.

However, considering the world we live in today, it has become increasingly important to develop an overview of the situation that goes far beyond basic rentability observation or competition.

Most industries operate with the necessity to innovate, which results from the massive amount of innovation happening globally. The necessity to find employees who can do the work comes with a huge interest of individuals in focusing on their satisfaction. This leads to people finding it easy to relocate elsewhere.

These are simple-to-see threats. Reading the news, many more appear.

Solving that dilemma might work best through bridge builders who know the field, can learn from experts, and are curious about the change as it is occurring. They are those who understand the threat well enough to trigger innovation in other fields. They are those who let go of the discomfort of looking outside one’s field and connecting with others beyond it.

Trying to be experts and generalists at the same time will be exhausting.

It’s the work of confronting oneself with information that isn’t easily understandable, information that doesn’t allow one to show one’s competence in it. Situations that require curiosity about the way other people do their work but also enough humility to be interested in learning why it works for them.