Your Shape Isn’t Your Edge. Your Position Is.

You’ve likely heard it: “Be T-shaped.” Or maybe Pi-shaped. Or the ever-expanding Comb-shaped.

It’s become shorthand for desirable professionals who can go deep and wide. The diagram lives in job descriptions, LinkedIn carousels, and hiring panels.

But here’s what gets missed:

Your skillset shape isn’t your position.

You can be brilliant, broad, and multi-disciplinary and still be unplaceable. The market doesn’t reward versatility alone. It rewards clarity.

And in a world reshaped by AI, where CEOs are writing open letters demanding employees be AI-fluent, outcome-driven, and self-directed, you can’t afford just to be capable.

You need to be positioned.

T, Pi, Comb: A Useful Metaphor with a Dangerous Limit

Let’s unpack the shapes:

T-Shaped: One area of deep expertise (the vertical bar), with generalist awareness across other domains (the horizontal bar). Great for specialists with some versatility.
Pi-Shaped: Two strong verticals, often complementary disciplines. Think strategy + design. Code + product. Depth with dual fluency.
Comb-Shaped: Multiple areas of competency across disciplines. Pattern-seeking. Context-aware. Translational. Systems-thinking.

These models help you map what you do.
But they don’t tell people what you are.

And that’s where positioning comes in.

Skills Don’t Stick. Concepts Do.

Your skillset is not your advantage. It’s the cost of entry.

Your advantage is the noun you own in the minds of others.

When someone thinks “volatility,” they call McKinsey.
When someone thinks “safety,” they think Volvo.
When someone thinks “integration,” they call the person who lives at the intersection of systems, insight, and execution.

That’s positioning.

Integration Is Just One Example

Let’s say you’re a Comb-shaped professional: strong in product, fluent in design, able to think in systems, and able to execute strategy.

That’s good.

But what noun do you own?

You could position yourself around:

Integration: Making disparate systems work together.
Translation: Turning complexity into clarity.
Acceleration: Moving ideas from slide decks to reality.
Adaptation: Navigating high-change environments.
Orchestration: Coordinating moving parts into a cohesive whole.

The skillset lets you do.
The noun is what you are.

See a tangible example with Superman.

Why This Matters Now: The AI Threshold

AI isn’t replacing all jobs. It’s replacing roles without a clear contribution.

It’s not about being “AI literate.” It’s about being positionally indispensable.

CEOs are increasingly vocal:

“We don’t need more execution horsepower, we need people who can connect thinking, use AI intelligently, and solve problems across functions.”

In other words: If you don’t own a noun, you’ll be replaced by one.

You Can’t Market What You Haven’t Defined

Most people try to communicate their positioning before they’ve defined it.

That’s backwards.

If you can’t answer:

“What noun do I own?”
“What mental space do I occupy in the mind of a decision-maker?”
“What role do I play in a team that AI or automation can’t touch?”

…then you don’t have a position.

You have a résumé.

How to Start: From Shape to Substance

Here’s where you can start.

Don’t just show your range. Define what your range makes you fundamentally valuable for.

Not in adjectives. Not in slogans.

In nouns.

You don’t have to invent one. You have to discover the one that’s already underneath everything you do.

You are uncovering what’s already there and not slapping something on top.

Need Help Getting There?

If you’re reading this and thinking, “I see it but I don’t know what my noun is,” you’re not alone.

That’s why we built the CEO Clarity Starter Kit. A free, self-guided tool designed to help people like you move from scattered skillsets to singular, ownable positioning.

It’s not a branding exercise. It’s not about polish.
It’s about answering the hard strategic question:

“What am I?”

It takes 15 minutes. No gimmicks. Just focused, uninterrupted time to see yourself (and your career) through a sharper lens.

🧭 Start seeing things clearly → CEO Clarity Starter Kit

Final Thought: Don’t Be a Shape. Be a Force.

T-shaped. Pi-shaped. Comb-shaped.
Useful metaphors.

But the professionals who lead?
They’re not known for their shape.

They’re known for what they own.

Find your noun.

And defend it.

Platonic