The professional world is now looking for managers who possess a wide range of skills and soft skills. But for young people and students like you, why is it a good thing to develop these skills? Here is a three-part answer. 

1) Speaking other people’s professional languages

With the rise of globalisation and digitalisation especially, companies have shifted from a vertical logic to a project-based logic. In this context, engineers, developers, marketers and sales reps are in direct, constant communication. The added value of managers comes from their ability to organise the contributions of different forms of expertise. They need to understand what a developer can or cannot do, know the industry standard practices in their sector, the legal constraints, the ecological impact of their business and more. They possess all of this within the scope of another cultural hybridisation that often involves international teams.

Digitalisation also makes hybridisation an essential component. In projects that increasingly involve technology, all managers need to understand what an algorithm or programming language is, grasp data-related concerns and changes in regulations linked to digital technology. This will be the link between all types of expertise.

2) Developing agility

In a context that includes the transformation of jobs and professions, hybridisation is already being applied, from law and artificial intelligence, to communication and social media, data and ethics, etc. From these various interconnections also arise the products and services of tomorrow. It’s not by chance that the most widespread innovation process is a form of skills hybridisation called design thinking. It is a process where a designer’s method is applied to different sectors: housing (Airbnb, an already historic example), transport (Blablacar), online sales, etc.

3) Providing your career with meaning

Why should you choose between sport and management, art and law, science and sales when the companies themselves are looking for these types of combinations? Hybrid skills bring an end to this choice between your studies and your passion. Higher education now allows students to organise their curriculum based on their professional objectives and employability. In short, it allows them to take a more personalised, individual approach.

For students in the Master in Management Programme, the preferred curriculum for combining these two skills is above all the MSc (Master of Science). A short 12-month programme, which is often taught in English and, what is more, recognised throughout the international job market. Throughout this year, students can add to their Master’s in management another expertise connected to a specialisation (e.g., digital marketing) or a sector (e.g., wine and gastronomy).