This week, while clearing out an old laptop bag, I stumbled across a stash of my business cards from my time at Parity. These cards hadn’t seen daylight in over 10 years, yet holding them again sparked memories of an exciting chapter in my career.

As a Principal Consultant at Parity Solutions, I was fortunate to help clients navigate complex challenges across diverse industries. But what stood out most for me was the title I was given by Heather Moore, the Managing Director at the time: the company’s first “hybrid” consultant.

Parity Group PLC is a computer software and consultancy company. It offers IT staffing services to enterprises, including telecommunications, utilities, pharmaceutical, and public sector. The Company also provides consultancy, training, applications management, software development solutions, and web design. Founded in 1971, headquarters in Wimbledon, GB with offices across the globe, employs nearly 3,000.

Hybrid?

What did “hybrid” mean in this context? It reflected my Pi-shaped profile—breadth across multiple solution areas and depth in key domains. This wasn’t just about being versatile; it was about bridging gaps, connecting dots, and crafting tailored solutions that spanned traditional boundaries. It’s a mindset and approach I’ve carried throughout my career. It went beyond Agile ways of working, to being able to solve problems, write software, architect business solutions, lead programs of work, manage a practice of c200 consultants, and continuously learn and improve (and inspire others to do the same).

Multiple Hats or Adaptable

One example that illustrates this well was a program I led with a UK bank. One of the standout programs for the bank, we consolidated seven corporate portals, which contained over 1 million pages of content, much of it outdated or duplicated, into a single “source of the truth” that staff could rely on.

Additionally, I operated as the Client Relationship Director, with three account managers reporting to me. I wore multiple hats, overseeing significant initiatives across Parity’s business units and within the client.

Leading the program team of over 100 people—including SMEs from the client’s business, information architects, and information management specialists—we tackled the monumental challenge over the course of 12 months (putting into project management terms, it was over 22,000 person-days of effort). We refined the overwhelming volume of content into “information-mapped,” accessible material managed through Microsoft FrontPage. Frontpage was an interim solution that we used to work with the continent, but we experimented with ways of improving how we used this, to help us do our job better. We ended up with a solution that made the client question their planned spend on the Vignette content management system. The experiments and continuous improvements ultimately saved the client £40 million on the content management system and over £4 million per annum in fees to Vignette.

Frugal innovation is apt here. The bank was already paying for Microsoft Office, and FrontPage came with it. We just adapted and improved what was already installed on most devices.

Upon Reflection

Reflecting on those years, I realize how foundational they were to shaping my perspective on adaptability and collaboration. They taught me the value of exploring intersections—of industries, methodologies, and people—and leveraging them to drive meaningful outcomes.

The world of work has changed significantly since then, but the principle of being Pi-shaped remains more relevant than ever. As businesses strive to navigate today’s complexities, the ability to combine broad knowledge with deep expertise across domains continues to be a game-changer.

If you’ve ever considered the benefits of expanding your skills or diversifying your approach, I’d encourage you to embrace that Pi-shaped mindset. Who knows, one day you might look back on your career artifacts with the same sense of pride and gratitude I felt rediscovering those business cards.

What are your thoughts on the value of being Pi-shaped in today’s world? Let’s discuss in the comments!