I heard a great business term the other day that I hadn’t come across before: The Slasher.
No, it’s not a cost cutting expert or a serial killer. Instead it describes those people who have two sets of skills and therefore two titles.
You’ve probably met some already.
“I’m a lawyer/comedian,” they might say. Or maybe they are a “scientist/accountant”.
You can come up with all sorts of silly examples, but in actual fact having a few slashers in your organisation can be quite attractive.
For example, an engineer/sales person probably understands product development, product marketing and sales.
A psychologist/HR professional will have some great insights into what makes people tick. A lawyer/marketing person could be really valuable in knowing exactly how far you can go in terms of making marketing claims.
My thought is that you don’t want to have too many slashes. In the start-up phase, an entrepreneur will be CEO/CFO/IT expert/cleaner, but obviously they should try to reduce those roles as the business grows.
In the same way, I don’t think employing a slasher who claims to be an expert on everything is necessarily a brilliant idea.
But pinpointing slashers with the right sets of complementary skills – and is the right fit for your culture, of course – could be a great move.
Get it done – today!
Andrew Sadauskas is a former journalist at SmartCompany and a former editor of TechCompany.
