Latest / Career Skills with Fexingo: Hard Skills, Soft Skills, and Future-Proofing Your Career / The Unlearning Curve In Career Growth
Transcript
- Lucas: Most people think career advancement is about accumulation. You add a certification, you learn a new software package, you pick up another language. It feels like building a wall brick by brick until you have something solid to stand on. Luna: But I think the real bottleneck lately isn't what you can't do, it's what you refuse to stop doing because you were really good at it five years ago. Lucas: Exactly. And that refusal creates what I call the unlearning curve. It is significantly steeper than the learning curve. Let me give you a concrete example from the marketing world. A senior manager I spoke with last month was still manually reconciling three different spreadsheets every Friday night. He spent four hours doing this work because he had mastered Excel pivot tables back in two thousand and eighteen. He felt proud of his speed. But then a junior analyst showed him how a simple API connection could do it in thirty seconds. Luna: So his pride in his old skill was actually blocking his ability to delegate or automate? Lucas: It was. He wasn't just wasting time; he was actively resisting a tool that would free him up for strategy. The thing is, when you become highly competent at something, your brain rewards you for using that specific neural pathway. It feels safe. It feels valuable. So when a new technology comes along that renders that skill obsolete, you don't just ignore it. You feel a subtle sense of threat. Like you are losing your identity as an expert. Luna: That makes total sense. If my superpower is typing fast and writing long reports, and now AI writes them better and faster, I might subconsciously try to prove I can write even more creatively instead of just accepting the AI does the heavy lifting. Lucas: Right. You double down on the old method rather than pivoting to the new one. And this happens across industries. Look at finance. There were accountants who refused to adopt cloud-based auditing tools because they prided themselves on physical ledger mastery. They got left behind not because they weren't smart, but because they couldn't let go of the tactile comfort of paper. Today, in September twenty twenty six, the market doesn't reward the person who is fastest at the old way. It rewards the person who is quickest to abandon it. Luna: So how do we spot those skills? How do we know if we are holding onto something just because it used to be impressive? Lucas: I suggest starting with a simple question: does this task create leverage? If you spend ten hours a week doing something that could be done in ten minutes by someone else or by software, you are not being efficient. You are being nostalgic. I worked with a project manager who insisted on running all team meetings himself. He loved facilitating. But he realized later that half his team didn't need his facilitation style. They needed asynchronous updates. By clinging to the role of 'facilitator,' he was burning out while his team sat idle waiting for permission to move forward. Luna: It sounds like we need to separate our ego from our output. If the tool works better without us, we should step aside immediately. Lucas: Precisely. But here is where it gets tricky. Not everything that looks like a hard skill should be discarded. Some skills are foundational. Reading, critical thinking, basic arithmetic. Those are durable. The problem arises when we mistake a for a. Coding in a specific legacy language might be a method. Understanding logic and system architecture is the skill. When the language dies, the method dies with it. The skill remains. So the audit needs to be ruthless. You have to ask yourself, am I learning the underlying principle, or am I just memorizing the interface? Luna: That distinction between principle and interface is so important. Most training programs sell you the interface because it changes every year. They rarely teach you how to deconstruct the principle. Lucas: They do not. And that is why unlearning is so hard. Because we are conditioned to collect certificates. We want the badge that says we did the thing. But in a dynamic economy, the badge is often a receipt for something that is already depreciating. I remember reading about a logistics company that switched from route optimization software based on traffic patterns to one based on real-time weather and supply chain disruptions. The old software was excellent. It was reliable. But the new environment required a completely different data input structure. The managers who stayed loyal to the old dashboard lost market share within a quarter. They weren't incompetent. They were just attached to their previous accuracy. Luna: It’s almost like hoarding. We keep the skills because we fear we might need them again someday. Lucas: Fear of scarcity. That is exactly it. We grew up in an era where knowledge was scarce. Now, information is abundant. The scarcity is attention and judgment. If you are spending your attention maintaining low-value skills, you have no room for high-value judgment. I think about the rise of generative AI in content creation. Writers who focused solely on volume production found their jobs threatened overnight. But writers who focused on editorial voice, narrative structure, and strategic messaging thrived. They unlearned the idea that word count equals value. They learned that insight equals value. Luna: So the shift is from quantity to quality, but it requires admitting that your old quantity metrics were wrong. Lucas: Yes. And that admission hurts. It feels like a loss. But consider the alternative. Stagnation. If you keep polishing a stone that is no longer part of the mosaic, you are just holding a heavy rock. The industry moves on. Your colleagues adapt. And suddenly, you are the one asking for mentorship on a tool you should have known about months ago. That is the silent penalty of not unlearning. It is not just missed promotion. It is irrelevance. Luna: Irrelevance is a scary word, but it feels accurate. What about the emotional side? How do you handle the disappointment of realizing your expertise is becoming less relevant? Lucas: You reframe it. You stop seeing yourself as a repository of facts and start seeing yourself as a processor of problems. Facts expire. Problems persist. When you detach your identity from the specific tools you use, you become fluid. You can pick up a new tool without feeling like you are starting from zero. You are just applying your problem-solving engine to a new chassis. I saw this with a lawyer who specialized in contract review. He thought AI was coming for his job. Instead, he used the time saved by AI to specialize in complex negotiation strategies. He didn't lose his value. He upgraded his position. He unlearned the drudgery to keep the craft. Luna: That is a powerful reframing. From protector of documents to architect of agreements. He moved up the value chain by letting go of the lower level work. Lucas: Exactly. And that is the pattern we see everywhere. Customer service reps who stopped trying to answer every query personally and started designing self-serve knowledge bases. They went from being operators to being designers. The skill set changed completely. One requires patience and repetition. The other requires empathy and systems thinking. Both are valuable. But only one scales. Luna: So scalability is the key metric. If a skill doesn't scale, it becomes a ceiling. Lucas: It becomes a trap. And here is the practical advice I give to clients. Pick one recurring task you do weekly. Just one. Ask yourself, what is the most expensive version of this task I am doing? Is it the time? Is it the cognitive load? Is it the error rate? Then find the cheapest, fastest version. Implement it. Even if it feels wrong at first. Especially if it feels wrong. That discomfort is the signal that you are unlearning. Lean into it. Luna: Discomfort as a signal. I like that. Usually, we treat discomfort as a warning sign to stop. Here, it means you are growing. Lucas: Correct. Growth is uncomfortable. Maintenance is comfortable. If you are too comfortable in your daily workflow, check your relevance. Are you riding the wave, or are you standing still on a receding shore? I have seen brilliant professionals slide into mediocrity simply because they enjoyed their competence too much to risk looking clumsy again. But looking clumsy for a week to learn a new platform is nothing compared to looking obsolete for a decade. Luna: There is a lot of pressure to look polished, especially on LinkedIn and in meetings. Admitting you are struggling to learn something new can feel risky. Lucas: It does. But the culture is shifting. Leaders who admit they are experimenting with new tools are gaining respect, not losing it. They are showing agility. They are showing that they prioritize results over ego. In fact, I would argue that hiding your learning curve is the bigger risk. If you pretend you already know something you don't, you will make mistakes later. Better to be transparent about the gap than to cover it up with old habits. Luna: Transparency builds trust. Pretense builds fragility. One breaks under pressure, the other adapts. Lucas: Well said. So, as we wrap up this thought, I want you to think about your own toolkit. What is one skill you hold onto tightly? What is one process you defend because it is yours? Challenge it. Try to break it. See if there is a lighter, faster way. You might be surprised by how much weight you can lift once you drop the dead weight. Luna: And if you find that weight, don't just throw it away. Recycle it. Find the principle inside it and carry that forward. The rest is just baggage. Lucas: Recycle the principle. Drop the baggage. That is the unlearning curve. It is not about forgetting. It is about making space. Luna: Space for what? For the next thing that matters. Lucas: For the next thing that matters. And honestly, listening to these conversations helps us keep that space clear. If we've helped you think through a career move or decision, a couple of dollars a month is genuinely what keeps these going. You can support the show at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It makes a real difference in keeping the production ad-free and consistent. Luna: Yeah, it really helps us focus on quality research rather than chasing clicks. Thank you for supporting independent business commentary. Lucas: Back to the topic though. I was thinking about that logistics example earlier. The managers who stuck with the old dashboard. Do you think their failure was individual or systemic? Luna: I think it was systemic. Their companies probably rewarded tenure and familiarity over innovation. They punished the risk of trying something new. Lucas: That is a crucial point. Unlearning is not just a personal discipline. It requires organizational permission. If your boss praises you for working late fixing spreadsheets, they are incentivizing inefficiency. They are rewarding the old skill, not the new outcome. So part of future-proofing is also managing upward. Teaching your organization why unlearning is good for the bottom line. Luna: Managing upward is such an underrated skill. It’s not just about doing the work, it’s about framing the work in a way that shows evolution. Lucas: Exactly. Show them the delta. Show them the before and after. Quantify the time saved. Quantify the error reduction. Make the case for the new skill not as a luxury, but as a necessity. It turns unlearning from a personal weakness into a business strength. Luna: It transforms you from a worker bee into a strategist. Someone who sees the whole hive, not just one cell. Lucas: A strategist who knows which flowers to pollinate and which to leave alone. It is a higher order of thinking. And it starts with the courage to say, 'I don't need to do this anymore.' That sentence alone can change your trajectory. Luna: I love that. 'I don't need to do this anymore.' It sounds simple, but it requires a lot of confidence. Lucas: It does. Confidence in your ability to learn, and confidence in your worth beyond your current tasks. It is the ultimate career anchor. Not a title, not a salary, but the belief that you can always start fresh. Luna: Starting fresh is less scary when you know you have the principles to guide you. Lucas: Principles guide you. Skills are just the temporary vehicles. Keep the principles. Change the vehicles whenever you need to. That is how you stay ahead. Luna: And that is how you avoid becoming a museum piece in a modern market. Lucas: Precisely. Don't be a museum piece. Be a living document. Always updating. Always refining. Never static. Luna: Living document. I’m going to steal that phrase. Lucas: Please do. And remember, the best time to update was yesterday. The second best time is today. Luna: So, what is the one update you are making this week? Lucas: I am finally delegating my calendar management to an assistant. I have been doing it myself for ten years. It is time to let go. Luna: Ten years! That is a big anchor to drop. But I bet you will feel lighter. Lucas: I definitely will. And I hope you try dropping one anchor of your own. See what floats to the surface.