Your knowledge portfolio

I am not a professional investor, but I know that an investment portfolio can consist of a core portfolio and a risky portfolio.

The core portfolio is conservative, consisting of more stable and reliable assets such as shares of reputable companies, government bonds, deposits, etc. These assets provide a stable but less risky return.

The risky portfolio contains more volatile and risky assets such as shares of innovative technology companies, cryptocurrencies, venture capital investments, etc. Such assets can generate significantly higher returns but also have a higher level of risk.

I recently thought, why not try the same with our knowledge? We are constantly learning and usually studying the fundamental things that help us work and develop in our profession. Especially in a time when there is a catastrophic lack of time.

What if we create a knowledge portfolio from this, and for example, invest 10% in a “risky portfolio”? What does this mean?

When planning learning for the year, 10% of the “learning budget” can be allocated to areas that are completely irrelevant to what I do. From other fields that I would never have even thought of. For example, studying art, anthropology or astronomy. This will allow you to look at the world from a new perspective, and gain new ideas and approaches that can be applied in your profession.

These areas unrelated to our main activity, which overlap with your core knowledge, can create something new, previously unknown. You get the opportunity for unexpected discoveries and innovative ideas at the intersection of different fields of knowledge.

Such a “risky portfolio” of knowledge can bring you several important benefits:

1. It expands your horizons and stimulates non-standard, creative thinking. The interaction of diverse knowledge is often a source of new, unexpected solutions.
2. It makes you more flexible and adaptable to change. The pace of change in the modern world requires us to be ready to go beyond the usual.
3. It increases your chances of unexpected professional opportunities. Unusual combinations of competencies can open up new niches and areas of application for your talents.

We can talk about “diversification of learning” as a key principle of personal development.

I also looked further and found that this idea is already reflected in existing concepts and approaches:

1. The concept of “T-shaped skills” or “T-shaped person”: This model combines deep specialized knowledge (the vertical part of the “T”) with broader, interdisciplinary competencies (the horizontal part of the “T”). This model allows you to combine an in-depth understanding of your main field with a willingness to go beyond its boundaries.
2. Bloom’s taxonomy and the “learning pyramid”: The well-known classification of levels of cognitive activity, from simple memorization to the highest level — the creation of something new. It is the latter levels — analysis, synthesis, evaluation — that stimulate going beyond the usual and combining different areas of knowledge.
3. The concept of “rapid learning”: The idea is to allocate a portion of your time to mastering new subjects unrelated to your main activity. This allows you to develop flexibility in thinking and adaptability.
4. “T-shaped” teams in innovative companies: Such teams combine narrow specialists (the vertical part of the “T”) with multidisciplinary employees (the horizontal part of the “T”). This allows them to successfully solve complex problems.

This article has become an example of such a “risky investment” in knowledge for me. Having become interested in the topic of investment, I realized that a similar approach can be applied to my learning and development. So I decided to allocate a portion of my “learning budget” to mastering completely new disciplines unrelated to computer science. Who knows, perhaps this “risky investment” will open up new horizons for me and lead to unexpected professional successes.