I remember as a kid we got taught something boring and entirely unimaginative under the guise of personal development. They called it transferable skills; I thought it sounded like wearing an uncomfortable uniform.

In English you learn how to write. It is very important you pay attention in class, because when you grow up, you will have to write many many things. It will be a “transferable skill”.

That made me cringe. Not only because of the clone-CV overtones but also because I envisioned a far prettier rainbow lurking behind all this meaningless foliage.

The Pixar culture seems to have caught a glimpse of this rainbow:

The skills we develop are skills we need everywhere in the organization,” Nelson said. “Why teach drawing to accountants? Because drawing class doesn’t just teach people to draw. It teaches them to be more observant. There’s no company on earth that wouldn’t benefit from having people become more observant. {Source linked in footnote]

It has always intriuged me to learn something entirely unexpectedly as a side-effect of learning something else. I think the most valuable experiences are those that ‘discover’ skills that are difficult to teach, and/or measure: the kind that would earn someone the accolade of “a very practical, useful sort-of-person to have around”.

Apparently in Danish¹ they have a word for this, that is roughly translated “supercompetence”. But in English it sounds too straightforward a word to describe so mysteriously enticing a concept… so my challenge is to discover something better… “Serendipitous experiential learning” might cover it, but that’s a bit of a highfalutin’ mouthful.

Surely someone out there knows a better English word for it? Maybe one that could do with the dust blown off.

Suggestions very welcome

¹ Thanks to Christoffer Hallas for sharing