Fox with a compass
I recently started a postgraduate degree in data science and decision analytics at Edinburgh University. I did this to add greater depth and technical skills to complement my background in psychology and behavioural science.
I believe behavioural data science is going to matter more and more. I want to be able to connect questions underlying human, algorithmic, and systems behaviour with data, to provide deeper insights into why people act the way they do.
This choice reflects something the recent Wharton-Accenture Skills Index (see link in comments) makes clear through their own data: the market is drowning in people signalling broad traits while starving for specific, execution-level capabilities. 8.9 million more Americans claim "Leadership" on their profiles than employers actually seek. "Communication" shows a surplus of 4.7 million. The problem with claiming "leadership" or "communication" is that they're not specific enough to create value in any particular context.
David Deming's research, recently visualised by the FT (see link in comments), reveals what does work. Between 1980 and 2020, workers with high social skills AND high technical ability saw wages rise to 140% of baseline. Workers with technical depth but weak social skills? Barely 110%. Depth matters — but only when combined with the ability to coordinate and collaborate.
I've written before about Isaiah Berlin's distinction between hedgehogs (who know one big thing) and foxes (who know many things and adapt to context). Deming's data adds an interesting nuance: the fox still needs specific capabilities to deploy. It's my belief that it's more advantageous to be a fox than a hedgehog — but a fox with genuine capabilities to offer, what historian John Lewis Gaddis calls a "fox with a compass."
Google's DORA research (see link in comments) confirms this at the team level. Elite performers have both technical AND cultural capabilities. Neither alone is sufficient. Their 2025 report: "AI acts as an amplifier, but the greatest returns come from focusing on the underlying sociotechnical systems."
Three questions worth asking yourself:
→ What specific capabilities do I have? (Not "leadership" — what can I actually do?) → In what contexts do they create value? → Can I work with others to deploy them effectively?
In 2016, Julie Zhuo wrote that "your skills are forever." She's right — my background in psychology and behavioural science isn't going anywhere. But adding data science doesn't replace those skills. It makes them more deployable, in more contexts, with more people.
That's the fox with a compass: not abandoning what you know, but adding the specific capabilities that let you use it.
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Wharton-Accenture Skills Index (2026)
David Deming, "The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market" (2017)
Google DORA 2025 AI Capabilities Model
