It's Not the How or the What but the Who

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Why I Like People with Unconventional Résumés

Two years ago, I wrote a blog post for HBR.org called “Why I Like People with Unconventional Résumés.”¹ In it, I argued that while professional success used to depend on experience, knowledge, and skill, things have changed a lot in recent decades. First, knowledge is both universally available and rapidly obsolete. Second, we live in an increasingly uncertain and volatile world (the VUCA conditions I described in chapter 19). And, finally, business has become more global and diverse.

In this new normal, job candidates with a penchant for personal disruption who have succeeded at big transitions should have a leg up on those who have followed traditional career paths because they’ve already ...