Myths of Industry Experience
Does having prior experience in a specific industry matter for driving profitable growth for a firm in that industry?
Background
There aren't that many people in the world who can say they've worked across nearly every industry and can back that up with 1,000 customers and clients, at various levels and departments in an organization.
We can.
Industrials, consumer product groups, beauty, sports, entertainment, software, hardware, telecom, professional services, manufacturing, energy, oil and gas, environmental consulting, investment management, eCommerce, retail, automotive, content and media, financial services, food and beverage, banking, travel and hospitality, the list goes on til the end of time.
We have worked with and seen results across these dimensions over the last three decades. When people look to hire talent, one of the first things they look for is prior industry experience. Even more so, experience at a direct competitor. It's one of the first things that goes on the job posting and one of the first filters HR and AI use to weed out potential candidates.
They think that this will give their company an edge. For some roles, sure, it may. But when it comes to overseeing an entire organization, with customers who likely operate across industries as well, it's a counterintuitive dead end.
But aren't skills more important? And a history of delivering results?
For example, if you're an accountant, knowing GAAP and closing the books accurately and on time every month is more important than whether you did it at an automotive company or a retail company. Sure, you'll say there's nuance in tax treatment for specific aspects of the business, which is fine. But if you're an individual who's spent his/her life studying accounting law, tax code, and know the secrets that save money, that's more important than having 30 years at a direct competitor. Guaranteed you'll provide more value on your first day than the next dude who doesn't have those deep skills.
Industry experience will get you far, but no further.
Driving Growth
If you want to go further, you need cross-industry experience.
This is where you pick up strategies, tactics, and nuance that no one else has. It's where differentiation and defensibility lie. It's where growth begins.
Especially in a world dominated by software, and now, artificial intelligence. It is eating the world, and it doesn't care about your industry. It sucks up all your data, pattern match, and spit out answers at 100 words per minute, every minute, until the end of time.
It's wiped the slate clean completely. It's more important that you have AI experience than industry experience.
However, nearly every buyer persona consistently prioritizes nuanced and specific industry experience. Somehow, thinking that this will produce a better result.
When the diligence question for whom you're hiring should be:
Yes, yes, yes. Can we just get to work already. "I'd rather prove it than talk about it, we're wasting time."
Skills Matter More Than Industry
So, is industry experience a Fake Jetpack?
In some ways, yes, it is. In others, it's not. The core skills and capabilities are more important than where you've deployed them, especially if you cut across industries.
Deep skills in the disciplines of product management, strategy, growth, incentive design, organizational velocity, iteration speed, brand, social, positioning, AI, capital allocation, treasury management, tax reduction, etc matter more than working at a specific company.
If your job is to win in a highly competitive market, you need every edge and advantage you can get. That edge won't be found inside the industry, it will be found outside the industry.
Bring Tactic A from Industry A to Industry B and C. They won't know how you did it. "Magic."
The cool of Nike and the feeling of your favorite rapper, combined with the underground distribution channels of overlapping text message groups, with the sophisticated value investing applied to an emerging asset class, raised to the power of agentic workflows that speed up iteration loops, and a profit-sharing incentive design that actually improves net profits, with a new R&D department that is nearly cost neutral due to recent Big Beautiful Bill tax law changes.
The next time you go to market looking to hire winners, ask them how many industries they've driven results in, not if they worked at your direct competitor.
Winners win everywhere.
Companies come to us when they want to win. If they want second place, they go somewhere else.