What shape are you?
T-Shape. V-Shape. X-Shape. M-Shape.
A universal human need is to belong—to feel seen and valued for the unique contributions we bring to the world.
For many years in my corporate career, I never felt like I ‘fit’ into the boxes that organisations provided. I was often brought in as the ‘change maker’, tasked with shaking things up and encouraging people to think differently.
At first, this was exciting, but it quickly became draining. My skillset, my way of thinking, and how I moved through the world were different from everyone else. I was often celebrated initially, but within 18 months to 2 years, the enthusiasm faded. My approach was simply too far removed from the deeply ingrained company culture that had existed for years.
I started to wonder if I would ever ‘fit in’. For a while, I believed that I might never find the meaning and purpose I craved in my work life. Then like magic, I found a style of working that allowed me to indulge my interests, express myself, leverage my strengths, and support organisations and people.
Are Definitions Important? Yes and No.
The concept of Portfolio Careers isn’t new, but for the last two decades, it was seen as a path only for those who had already climbed the corporate ladder. Traditionally, it was reserved for professionals nearing the end of their careers—those looking to sit on boards or take on a few consulting roles as they transitioned away from full-time work (see example here).
I started to see this change in 2019 and then accelerate during the pandemic with more and more people wishing to reimagine how they work and what they work on.
My definition of a Portfolio Career is a culmination of books such as Life is in the Transitions & The Search by Bruce Felier and Dr Catorina Wallace who wrote the Portfolio Life, and other writers in this space. It’s not a perfect description - it hasn’t been universally accepted by all those within this category, but it makes the most sense to me:
A Portfolio Career is more than just your income and the money you can make—it’s a reflection of who you are, the impact you want to have, and how you choose to invest your time.
It’s about embracing a wide range of experiences and skill sets, allowing you to diversify your knowledge, your networks, and your growth. It opens the door to unexpected opportunities, where you might stumble upon something meaningful and exciting simply because you’ve positioned yourself to explore different paths.
A portfolio career lets you balance financial security with passion projects. Some roles will pay the bills, while others might fuel your soul, even if they aren’t as profitable. It’s a reminder that your work can reflect your entire self—not just what brings in the most income.
It also allows you to integrate your hobbies and personal interests into your professional world, creating a life where you can show up as fully yourself—multifaceted, diverse, and unapologetically human.
Over the past few years of supporting women in building their own Portfolio Careers, I’ve noticed distinct patterns in how these tend to take shape. From my experience, there are four main categories (which can overlap and include sub-categories), but for simplicity, I have created definitions around 4 shapes.
I have also leveraged letters as a descriptor. This is not a new way to describe people’s skills. It entered pop culture in the early 90s and gained a lot of traction when Tim Brown, CEO of the IDEO, endorsed this approach to build interdisciplinary work teams for creative processes.
T-Shaped Portfolio Career - The Builder, Generalist
The first time I felt *really* seen in a work context was in 2018 when I joined a software engineering consultancy. During the hiring process, they said to me “We hire T-Shaped people like yourself - who have deep experience in one skill but generalist business knowledge across multiple topics.”
And I thought - that’s it - that’s me!
As I stepped into my own Portfolio Career and supported others to do the same, I noticed a T-Shaped Portfolio Career emerge.
Overview: You likely have a core full-time role, but you’re building your side hustle with the intention of making it your main gig one day. You’re already generating revenue from supplementary sources—whether it’s from early morning client calls, evening consulting projects, or weekend workshops.
Throughout your career, you’ve always had side projects. Maybe it was speaking at conferences, launching mentoring programs within your company, or even exchanging your expertise for equity in a startup. You’re a natural multitasker, and your generalist skills have been shaped and sharpened by years of diverse experience in your core job.
You understand that success doesn’t happen overnight. You’re playing the long game, knowing that your side hustle may not generate immediate returns, but you’re committed to growing that income stream over time. You see your core job as the key investor in your future, funding your side ventures without any sense that this investment is a ‘waste of money.’
What sets you apart is your ability to weave all these projects into a cohesive story. You’ve created a clear narrative that brings together your skills and passions, and you showcase it on one platform—your website, your social media where all your services are offered in one place.
Example Income Streams for a Builder:
Fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO): Using your marketing expertise to offer part-time CMO services to startups or small businesses while still holding a full-time role.
Executive Coach: Leveraging your leadership experience to coach other professionals or executives in your industry, offering workshops or one-on-one sessions outside your core job.
Financial Advisor for Startups: Drawing on your finance expertise to advise startups or entrepreneurs on financial planning, budgeting, and growth strategies.
Business Operations Consultant: Offering your core operations management skills to help small businesses optimise processes, set up systems, and scale effectively.
V-Shaped Portfolio Careerist - The Advisor, Specialist
At first, I believed Portfolio Careers would mainly attract generalists who wanted to transform their side job into their main job. However, as I worked with more people, I realised there was also a place for traditional specialists who wanted more. These individuals were looking to not only be subject matter experts but to offer expert advice and guidance to those in need of their skills.
That’s when I introduced the concept of the V-Shaped Portfolio Career-ist—someone who combines deep domain expertise with the role of a trusted advisor in their field.
Overview: You’ve cultivated a deep well of expertise in a few select areas, and you thrive as the go-to subject matter expert in your field. Your skill set is highly specialised, and you know how to combine 2 to 3 niche areas into a distinctive brand story—one that allows you to monetise your knowledge at premium rates across multiple platforms.
You likely focus on a particular industry where your name is synonymous with expertise. Whether it’s through consulting, teaching, or speaking, you aim to be a world-class leader and thinker in your domain, and you stand out from the crowd by offering rare insights that others can't replicate.
Your working style is built around focus and efficiency. You prefer to work in concentrated, deep-focus sessions, time-blocking portions of your day to dive into your field and then step back to recharge. This rhythm allows you to maintain a high level of productivity while staying mentally fresh.
Because of your expertise, you’re regularly invited into specialised conversations, panels, and discussions where you can contribute your deep knowledge on topics that matter most to you.
Example Income Streams for an Advisor:
AI Ethics Consultant: Advising companies and organisations on the ethical implications of artificial intelligence technologies.
Luxury Brand Strategist: Specialising in advising high-end brands on positioning, market trends, and customer experiences.
Food Sustainability Advocate: Consulting on sustainable practices within the food industry, driving change through education and policy work.
Behavioural Economist: Applying economic principles to influence policy, marketing, or business strategy, with deep insights into human behaviour.
X-Shaped Portfolio Careerist - The Multi, Polymath
I called this type the ‘X’ Shaped because, just like in maths, ‘X’ represents an unknown variable—it can be anything you want it to be.
In my experience working with many X-Shaped Portfolio Career-ists, the biggest challenge they face is trying to package their brand story into a neat little bow—often the worst thing they can do!
Their unique talents are usually distinct and don’t necessarily overlap. While some may intersect, most of the time they remain separate.
Once they let go of the need to fit their story into a predefined box, they unlock the freedom to explore their diverse talents and share them with the world in their own way.
Overview: You likely have five projects on the go, each completely distinct from the other—ranging from business and science to the arts. You thrive on variety and generate revenue from unrelated fields, often juggling them simultaneously.
You love having diversity in your day-to-day life. By day, you could be working as a lawyer, at lunch, you're selling your artwork on Etsy, and by evening, you're teaching a spin class. For you, it’s not about merging all your passions into one story—you embrace being multi-passionate and enjoy keeping them separate, each in its own lane.
Your focus isn’t on creating a unified brand, but on pursuing multiple passions through different channels. You’re not concerned with having all your endeavours be income-generators. Some might fall away as your interests evolve, while others take their place, allowing you to explore new ventures as they arise.
Example Income Streams of a Multi:
Primary income stream (e.g., Lawyer or Marketing Consultant)
Freelance Photographer: Shooting weddings or creative projects on weekends.
Podcast Host: Running a podcast about mental health, wellness, or personal development.
Travel Blogger: Documenting global adventures and monetising through sponsorships or affiliate marketing.
M-Shaped Portfolio Careerist - The Innovator, Strategist
The M-Shaped Portfolio Career-ist thrives on initiating and birthing new ideas, then handing them off to others for execution. When I visualised this skillset, it resembled the letter ‘M’—each pillar representing a new initiative or idea they leap toward.
In my work with M-Shaped Portfolio Career-ists, I noticed many felt shame about their lack of desire to implement the ideas they had created. Society often tells us to ‘finish what we start,’ but not everyone’s gifts are that linear. Some people excel as the creative force, sketching the vision on a blank page, while others are more gifted at bringing those ideas to life by filling in the details once the framework is in place (e.g.: T-Shaped, Builders)
Overview: You thrive on bringing new ideas to life. Your ideal role is as the idea generator—you check the vibe, initiate the magic, and then hand off the project to others as soon as it's ready to take off.
You generate revenue by working with multiple companies that rely on you to spark innovation. Your passion is birthing new ideas into the world, but you prefer to move on to the next project once it’s in the delivery stage.
You move at a fast pace, identifying yourself as a strategist, entrepreneur, and free agent. You don’t like being held back by operational details or traditional corporate roles—you need the freedom to initiate and keep moving. While you excel in the early stages of projects, you rely on others to implement the details as you tend to lose interest once the idea is solidified.
You love the thrill of pitching your ideas and don’t hesitate to cold email or network. The more you get your ideas in front of people, the more doors open for you to bring them to life.
Example Income Streams of an Innovator:
CEO-in-Residence: Leading startups or early-stage companies for a defined period (6-12 months) to shape their vision and strategy before moving on to the next venture.
Innovation Consultant: Partnering with global corporations to generate fresh ideas and drive innovation, with a clear exit strategy once the project is ready for implementation.
Serial Entrepreneur: Continuously launch and pitch new startups or products, secure early-stage funding, and hand off operational responsibilities to dedicated teams.
Venture Scout: Working with venture capital firms to identify emerging trends, scout disruptive ideas, and advise on potential investments.
Final Thoughts
You might read this and think “I kind of feel like a T-Shape and also a little bit like an M-Shape with a splash of X-Shape.”
Yep - sometimes I do too.
These definitions are imperfect with no hard lines. But what I will say is that in my experience each person gravitates towards a primary shape, with a secondary shape close behind.
And guess what?
You can even completely change shapes over time too.
That’s the beauty of the non-linear approach to career development - you get to choose where you are at and when you wish to change.
(It’s almost as if I can hear traditional recruiters' heads exploding at the lack of definition 🤯—welcome to the new world of work.)
»»» Take the survey to find out your career shape ⭕️
🎙️ A note on definitions and boxing ourselves into categories >
Definitions are imperfect but can help articulate new concepts and ideas [0.44]
Building on definitions and creating a shared understanding of Portfolio Careers is important at this moment in time [1:28]
How the different shaped portfolio careers emerged [2:10]
Nuance is critical, definitions can help but should not make you feel like you have to fit perfectly into one category [5:54]
Your shape can change over the years and that is the beauty of non-linear career building [6:41]
I really liked this concept, I have definitely felt like I have moved through some of the shapes in my career, but not M, that sounds hard
This is a great summary and nice breakdown Jules, I can see how it could help clients figure out what kind of portfolio person people are. I most align to the "M" type!