One of the greatest assets of young Chinese today is that they are outstanding students. They have exceptional drive, studying hard and developing deep expertise in their area of academic focus, and later, in their chosen profession. Becoming an expert requires years of hard work, and many Chinese ascend to a high level of professional specialization.

But there’s a downside to expertise. Because experts are so focused on their specialization, they tend to neglect other areas of knowledge. Thus, their worldview narrows down to only a sliver of the vast world. This narrow perspective then becomes a major barrier to innovation.

T-Shape Thinkers Needed to Power China’s Future

John Pomfret, the Washington Post’s outstanding China expert, recently wrote about China’s future as a superpower:

[A]s China gains international heft, its lack of global brands threatens its dream of becoming a superpower. No big marquee brands means China is stuck doing the global grunt work in factory cities while designers and engineers overseas reap the profits. Much of Apple’s iPhone, for example, is made in China. But if a high-end version costs $750, China is lucky to hold on to $25. For a pair of Nikes, it’s four pennies on the dollar.

“We’ve lost a bucketload of money to foreigners because they have brands and we don’t,” complained Fan Chunyong, the secretary general of the China Industrial Overseas Development and Planning Association. “Our clothes are Italian, French, German, so the profits are all leaving China… We need to create brands, and fast.”

The problem is exacerbated by China’s lack of successful innovation and its reliance on stitching and welding together products that are imagined, invented and designed by others. A failure to innovate means China is trapped paying enormous amounts in patent royalties and licensing fees to foreigners who are.

So China’s superpower status depends on “innovation,” a concept defined as the “synthesis of knowledge in original, relevant, valued new products, processes, or services.” And gathering and synthesizing those new ideas requires “T-Shape Thinkers.”

Leaders are T-Shape Thinkers

T-Shape Thinkers have a core expertise, but they also possess a breadth of knowledge, skills and experiences in many other areas. They are open, curious, widely read and knowledgeable. They have cultivated relationships and accumulated a wealth of human experiences in varying areas of life. T-Shape Thinkers have a holistic view of the world.

In fact, T-Shape Thinking is key not just to innovation, but more broadly to your becoming the type of broad, agile, flexible leader that companies need, as Sun Tzu describes in The Art of War:

Those who triumph compute at their headquarters
A great number of factors prior to a challenge

Those who are defeated compute at their headquarters
A small number of factors prior to a challenge

How to Become a T-Shape Thinker

The learning strategies of T-Shape Thinkers differ from those pursued by experts, both in terms of what they learn and how they learn it. Becoming a T-Shape Thinker is a slow, evolutionary process, so the earlier you start the better. It involves becoming skilled at learning throughout your life. This skill involves both attitude and specific learning strategies:

• Be open: Find something interesting about everyone you meet and every situation you encounter. Your job or school is an important source of learning, but only one of many. Be present and carefully mindful in every interaction you have with others. Be especially aware of multiple perspectives.
• Explore new ideas: Enjoy exploring well beyond your core expertise. Constantly absorb new information in a variety of arenas. Read broadly, engage in discussion and debate with friends, pursue outside interests, and carefully observe successful individuals.
• Acquire knowledge as a daily routine: Many of us as adults compartmentalize learning. We do it in chunks – going to a seminar, enrolling in graduate school. Learning needs to become embedded into your lifestyle. Set aside focused time each day to learn about the world. For example, I enjoy reading multiple newspapers in bed each night before going to sleep.
• Enlarge your professional focus: T-Shape Thinkers continue to develop their expertise, but are constantly layering on top of it new knowledge. Expand your knowledge of new industries, new specialties, or even prepare to undertake a major career shift. Perhaps the best way to push yourself to enlarge your professional focus is to start a blog.

T-Shape Thinking powered the innovation process of the Beatles, history’s most beloved rock band, and one of the world’s most enduring brands.

One day, while Paul McCartney was on his way to John Lennon’s house for a songwriting session, he asked the driver of his car if he was working hard. “Hard?” the man exclaimed. “I’m working eight days a week!” After listening carefully to the driver’s tale of endless chauffeuring, McCartney sat down with Lennon that afternoon and wrote the hit Beatles song, “Eight Days a Week.” To hear the song that resulted, click on the Beatles image above.

To be a competent global leader, you must become a student of life. Becoming a T-Shape Thinker essentially means cultivating a flexible, open intellect.

You’ll know you’ve gotten there when people ask for your advice and respect your judgment about issues that extend well beyond your core expertise.

For more about becoming a T-Shape Thinker, you can watch my remarks on this subject on Chinese Education TV here.

I welcome your comments, in Chinese or English, on the Chinese version of this blog post, which is here.