"Je suis un Amateur professionnel."

If you don't know what your competitive edge is, you don't have one.

Adapt or become obsolete: The world is changing fast, and old ways of thinking simply won't cut it anymore.

This article intends

To address 3 shifts in perspective imperative right now. We introduce the vehicles via which we may travel there. Offering clear signposts to guide your way and deliver to you, a never before discussed take on Competitive Edge. Included are examples from both Tech and Non-tech sectors.

Since AI, akin to a high-performance vehicle itself, is primed for exploration, and awaits our direction. It possesses the potential for dazzling speed, this we already know, and transformative capability which only a few, ahead of the curve have already tapped into. 

Who are they? We find out...

The analogy of the Queen in chess, contrasted with the Pawn, will serve as a recurring motif, illustrating the strategic flexibility and multifaceted approach of the Professional Amateur, while also acknowledging that even the 'humble' pawn can be promoted to Queen.

The Queen vs. The Pawn: A Chess Lesson for Business

In chess, the Queen moves in any direction—the embodiment of adaptability and power. The Pawn advances linearly, constrained by rules, yet with the potential for transformation. This contrast perfectly illustrates two archetypes + 1 unique edge:

• The Pure Professional: Excels within established boundaries but rarely ventures beyond them.
• The Professional Amateur: Combines deep expertise with boundless curiosity, moving across domains with strategic flexibility.
• The Competitive Edge: 3 techniques you will not find using AI or Google Search - a perspective borne out of leveraging knowledge. Something you will want to understand.

Understanding the key terms I've used:

 ‘’Pure Professional’’: The introduction of ‘pure’ is to distinguish them as per the Australian Council of Professionals definition: Someone who earns a living by performing specialized tasks gained through research, education, and training. They are expected to adhere strictly to established rules and methods of the profession - hence Pure.

‘’Professional Amateur’’: Someone who combines professional knowledge with an amateur's passion for self-directed inquiry and exploration. They question everything and embrace new ideas from various fields.

Fractal thinking - is a way of finding order in chaos by embracing complexity and interconnectedness. Instead of following a straight path, it explores multiple possibilities and adapts through experimentation and learning. 

Convexity - In the context of life, convexity can be understood as a concept where the payoff or outcome is disproportionately favorable in extreme situations, whether positive or negative. A convex payoff implies that small inputs or changes can lead to outsized positive results under favorable conditions, while also offering protection against severe losses in adverse scenarios.

Reclaiming "Amateur"

"Amateur" comes from both French and the Latin amare—"to love." A lover of something, who pursues it with self-directed inquiry and great intent. Over time, the word lost favour outside of France and came to mean someone lacking formal training.

We must reclaim its original meaning - it holds value.

We begin though, with the 

Benefits of Pure Professionals:

Pure Professionals are vital to maintaining stability and consistency within business. We are not suggesting they are dispensable. They ensure adherence to established processes and efficient task completion.

•  Reliability and Consistency: They provide dependable operations, ensuring standard procedures are followed, maintaining quality control, and meeting benchmarks. They are the steady hands that keep the machine running smoothly.
• Knowledge and Compliance: They possess deep institutional knowledge and ensure adherence to best practices and compliance.

All important but they face challenges:

Static Thinking: Their focus on established practices can lead to difficulty adapting to new ideas or technologies, limiting their ability to see alternative solutions, these solutions they see as problems.

Limited Incentives for Innovation: The emphasis on established procedures can disincentivize innovative thinking.

Businesses often inadvertently contribute to these challenges by:

• Rewarding Perfectionism: Requiring extensive justification and proof before new endeavours proceed can stifle creativity and experimentation.
• Expecting Constant Availability: The pressure to be "on" at all times, without time for reflection or exploration, overlooks the importance of downtime for generating innovative ideas. 
• Playbook Reliance: Neither business nor pure professionals can function without a playbook to guide them - limiting adaptability and creativity.

Einstein knew this: ‘’I think 99 times and can’t find anything. I stop thinking and swim in silence and the truth comes to me’’.

The Amateur Advantage

NB: This is also your checklist if you want to develop into a Professional Amateur and your talent acquisition question framework as an employer.

The Amateur mindset provides six critical advantages that transform professionals into innovators:

1. Questioning Everything: Challenging assumptions that others accept
2. Embracing Trial and Error: Learning through Experimentation
3. Cross-Disciplinary Thinking: Connecting Seemingly Unrelated Fields
4. Triangulating Perspectives: Seeing issues from multiple angles
5. Developing Heuristics: Creating mental shortcuts to navigate complexity
6. Fractal Thinking: Recognizing patterns across different scales

Microsoft ex-CEO Steve Balmer had his eye on Satya Nadella for years. They threw novel problems at him for years—challenges no one had experience solving—watching his ability to learn quickly on the job. This epitomizes the Professional Amateur approach.

Fractal Thinking: Finding Order in Chaos

Professional Amateurs thrive at the boundary between order and chaos. Like fractals in nature they:

• Replace linear thinking with networked connections - They don't just follow a straight path; they explore multiple branches and intersections.

• Embrace iteration and adaptation - Fractal patterns are generated through iteration. Similarly, the Professional Amateur is adaptive and iterative in their approach. They are willing to experiment, learn from mistakes, and adjust their course.

• Navigate ambiguity confidently - Fractals exist at the boundary between order and chaos. Extremes. This concept is crucial for the Professional Amateur. They are comfortable navigating ambiguity and uncertainty. They can operate effectively in situations that are not clearly defined or structured, just as fractals emerge from complex, dynamic systems.

• Scale successful strategies across diverse contexts - Like Albert Bourla at Pfizer in the Covid vaccine development discussed in the last article.

The Heavy Weight Competitive Edge Trifecta

Individual or Business - A true competitive edge requires at least two of these heavy hitters:

• Analytical Edge: Processing information differently via bespoke analytical tools or intellect
• Informational Edge: Accessing Information and knowledge others don't have especially multidisciplinary knowledge.
• Structural Edge: Leveraging unique organisational capabilities via re-engineering business or team structure.

Tech giants exemplify this approach. While laying off 75,000 employees in 2024, they simultaneously executed "stealth acquisitions" of AI businesses and their talent:

• Google partnered with Character.ai
• Amazon allied with Adept.ai

 Google partnered with Character.ai

Amazon allied with Adept.ai

Taking Founders and key talent.

With these ‘stealth’ acquisitions, they first acquired the ‘Analytical’ edge by accessing the platforms of these startups. Then they paid for the AI Researchers and Analysts, the most important Talent in the AI game - to join them by offering huge signup bonuses.

Why stealth acquisitions? If it’s a licensing agreement or a non dominant shareholding - it escapes Regulatory scrutiny and flies under the radar - a Structural edge.

These individuals came with an ‘Information’ edge - Information that no one else had, creating Information Asymmetry - the ultimate edge. They were knowledgeable across AI but also multiples disciplines like Finance, Health, Transportation to anticipate future trends in these domains.

Information asymmetry creates positive non-linearity, resulting in convexity. This means that doubling the input doesn't simply double the outcome; it can lead to a superior result plus more or less compared to the average outcome.

Understanding convexity has implications for all of us in everyday life not just business. (More on this in my next article particularly on its profound impact on Hiring) 

Ask yourself: What is my Competitive Edge?

Do you have superior analytical skills or multi-industry knowledge?

What do you know via your own interests, hobbies or ideas that gives you access to knowledge by virtue of this, which others in your profession don't have. And how can you use it to differentiate yourself as an individual?

Or how can you streamline a process that delivers a Structural Edge for your business?

Notably who got left behind in these Tech acquisitions? Marketing, HR and even Sales.

Let’s dive into those non-tech positions with this example.

The Chanel Paradox

When luxury brand Chanel hired Unilever executive Leena Nair as CEO, traditional talent experts were puzzled. Mass-market consumer products versus luxury craftsmanship—worlds apart. Extremes.

Yet fractal thinking reveals the hidden connections between extremes:

• She took the risk of moving from Engineering to HR (like the Queen piece, she changed direction) during her long career at Unilever. There she took a stand on Achieving Gender Parity - achieved under her leadership in HR, across every Management role globally.
• Unilever ex-CEO Paul Polson, whom Leena worked with, is quoted as saying ''You can’t have a thriving business and a dying planet’’. Unilever has outlined specifically its targets to decouple its environmental footprint from its business growth.
• She was born and raised in India - a country with its roots still in craftsmanship, hand-created products and skills passed from one generation to the next.

The hidden variables?

Risk-taking, championing a cause she believes in, and understanding sustainability and heritage.

Chanel is a brand primarily associated with women, having been established by a female founder. The luxury status of Chanel products, such as their handbags, inherently promotes sustainability through their intergenerational transfer and investment value. Furthermore, the enduring heritage of Chanel underscores Savoir Faire, characterised by the transmission of artisanal skills across generations.

The perfect leader for a female-founded luxury brand built on sustainability and savoir faire.

Professional Amateurs in Action

 

1. Jennifer Doudna (CRISPR)

• Professional Side: A renowned biochemist and leading expert in RNA biology, Doudna's professional research and deep understanding of molecular mechanisms were fundamental to the discovery and development of CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology.
• Amateur Side: Doudna exhibited an amateur's curiosity and drive to explore the broader applications and ethical implications of CRISPR. She engaged in public discussions, collaborated with researchers from other fields, and actively considered the potential societal impact of this groundbreaking technology.
• Synthesis: Doudna amplified her impact by embracing an amateur's approach to interdisciplinary exploration and public engagement. Her work demonstrates the value of combining deep expertise with a broad, inquisitive perspective.

2. Catherine D. Wood (ARK Invest)

• Professional Side: Wood has a long and successful career in investment management, with extensive experience in analyzing market trends and making investment decisions.
• Amateur Side: Wood setup on her own and has distinguished herself by focusing on disruptive innovation and investing solely in companies that challenge traditional industries. Her approach is driven by a passion for identifying and exploring cutting-edge technologies and business models. She is willing to take risks on unproven ideas, demonstrating an openness to experimentation and unconventional thinking.
• Synthesis: Wood's example shows how a seasoned investment professional can achieve exceptional results by adopting an amateur's mindset of curiosity, risk-taking, and a focus on disruptive trends. She combines her professional knowledge of finance with a passion for exploring the future, leading to a unique and successful investment strategy.

Conclusion

 

The concept of the "Professional Amateur" emerges as a guiding principle for success in this AI dominant time. This concept encapsulates the importance of maintaining a delicate balance between professionalism and a certain amateur spirit.

 

By combining these two seemingly disparate elements, individuals can position themselves at the forefront of innovation. 

 

In an era of rapid technological advancement and unprecedented disruption, the Professional Amateur mindset is more important than ever. Those who can embrace this approach will be better equipped to navigate the complexities of the modern world and to seize the opportunities that arise. As the world continues to evolve at an ever-increasing pace, it is the Professional Amateurs who will shape the future, driving innovation and progress in all fields of endeavour.

 

The final question: Do you possess the boldness to put yourself on the line with personal risk to attain your desires? There is no other path to becoming a true Professional Amateur.