Transferable Skills

We often think that if someone is good at one thing, they will be good at related things. Sometimes this is true. For example, a person with good hand-eye coordination might be good at sports like baseball or basketball and possibly golf. But they are less likely to be good at swimming, which requires different skills. In education, we might assume a great teacher will also be a great assistant principal, principal, or superintendent. However, the skills needed for teaching don’t always work for administration.

Still, we persist in the belief that skills are transferable. Herbert Hoover was Secretary of Commerce before he became president. The first sitting senator to be elected president was Warren Harding and that didn’t turn out very well either. We may even believe a great businessman would be a great leader. Experiences and similar skill sets will be better predictors of success than simply being good (or lucky) at one thing and hoping people will believe that you’ll be good at everything. 

And that brings me to one of the greatest mathematicians of all time: Albert Einstein. Apparently, while at Princeton used to play his violin in a string quartet. While he enjoyed playing, the other musicians didn’t think much of his skills. After a private performance one of the other other players complained about him saying, “He can’t count.”

It’s better to look at things objectively, see a different perspective, and then decide based on whether or not the skills you see are transferable to another setting.