I've Worked Across Four Industries. Is There a Single Expertise Connecting Them? The Hidden Risk of Sorting Yourself by Industry

“If you've solved the same type of problem a dozen times in a dozen settings, that's no coincidence. That's a specialty.”

— Robyn Mancell, The Power of the Expert, Chapter 3

Usually, yes. The connection across four industries is rarely the industry. It is the type of problem you keep solving in different settings, and you can find it by looking at what was actually wrong each time you were needed, not at what the job title or sector looked like. Robyn Mancell, author of The Power of the Expert, gives the test: If you've solved the same type of problem a dozen times in a dozen settings, that's no coincidence. That's a specialty. This article shows why industry hides your real expertise, how to find the problem that repeats, and how to turn the pattern into one sentence you can say to a stranger, followed by a short action sequence you can complete this week.

Why Does Industry Hide My Real Expertise?

Because industries sort work by surface features, and experts see the structure underneath. In their 1981 study, Michelene Chi, Paul Feltovich, and Robert Glaser found that expert physicists sorted problems by the principle needed to solve them, while novices sorted by what the problems looked like. Two problems that look nothing alike on the surface may be the same problem underneath, and an expert recognizes it.

Herbert Simon and William Chase reached a related conclusion about chess in 1973. Masters did not see more pieces. They saw meaningful groupings built from many games, which let them recognize a position quickly. A career across four industries can build the same kind of recognition. The pieces look different in each sector, and the pattern you learned to see is the same.

How Do I Find the Problem I Keep Solving?

Write the problems down by type, not by employer. A résumé lists where you sat. A list of solved problems shows what you did, and repetition across settings is what turns experience into a specialty. Mancell adds that ten years of the same difficult problem is worth more than ten years of ten different easy ones.

Make four columns, one per industry. Under each, list the problems you solved, including small ones. For each, write what was broken, what you did, and what happened.

Rewrite each problem without industry words. Replace "a hospital scheduling backlog" or "a plant changeover delay" with the plain version: something was waiting on a decision nobody owned.

Mark what repeats. Circle any problem type that shows up in two or more industries. Underline the one that shows up in all four.

Finish this sentence ten times, quickly: "People come to me when they need ______." Compare your answers across the four industries.

Take the pattern to the Expert Edge Finder at https://expertedgefinder.com/. It asks 12 questions about the problems people bring you, a time your judgment made a difference, what you have learned, and who could benefit, then proposes a possible specialty for you to test.

What Do People in Each Industry Say I Did for Them?

They can usually see the common thread before you do. Researchers at the University of Michigan built the Reflected Best Self exercise on this idea, which Laura Morgan Roberts and colleagues described in 2005. You ask people who know your work to describe specific moments when you were at your best, then look for the pattern across their stories.

Use it across your four industries. Ask two people from each sector the same question: "When have I been most useful to you, and what exactly did I do?" Ask for a story, not praise. If a manager in manufacturing and a client in healthcare describe the same quality in different words, you have found the connecting expertise. Save the replies word for word.

Is Working in Four Industries a Strength or a Scattered Résumé?

It is a strength once the pattern is named, and a scattered résumé until then. In Mancell's words, If you've solved the same type of problem a dozen times in a dozen settings, that's no coincidence. That's a specialty. Working across four industries is evidence that your expertise is not luck or a quirk of one workplace. If the same type of problem has yielded to you in four places, the result is repeatable. The table compares the industry view with the problem view, using only the ideas in this article.

What Sentence Describes an Expertise That Travels Across Industries?

Lead with the problem, then name the range as proof. Say what you solve in plain words, then add that you have done it in more than one setting. The range works as evidence, not as a confession of being scattered. Try a version like "I solve [type of problem] for [type of organization], and I've done it in four different industries." Replace the brackets with your own words, and do not claim results you cannot show.

How Do I Tell a Real Pattern From a Coincidence?

A real pattern shows up in three places at once: the problems you solved, the stories people tell about you, and the calls you get. It also has to come with feedback. Daniel Kahneman wrote in The New York Times Magazine in 2011 that true intuitive expertise is learned from prolonged experience with good feedback on mistakes, and his 2009 paper with Gary Klein reaches a similar conclusion about when intuition can be trusted. So ask a plain question about each industry: did you find out whether your solution worked? If you solved the same type of problem in four places and learned each time how it turned out, the pattern is far more than coincidence. If you never found out, keep the pattern as a hypothesis and look for the outcomes.

What If One Industry Pulled More Than the Others?

Separate what you are known for from what you are best at. Many professionals are known for whatever they did early in a career or for what their latest employer needed, while their strongest ability sits in the background. Look at where your advantage over other skilled people is widest. Which problems do you solve faster, more accurately, and with more confidence than peers who are also good? That may live in a different industry from the one that pays your bills now, or in none of them. The point is to describe the expertise first and choose where to apply it second.

How Do I Test It Before I Commit to It?

Say it to someone who could benefit and watch what they do. If they ask a follow-up question about the problem, you are close. If they ask which industry you serve, your sentence is still leading with the sector. The Expert Edge Finder's guidance is the same: treat any direction as a hypothesis, check whether it sounds like you, and test it with someone who could benefit before acting on it. A profile built from your answers is a place to start, not a verdict.

What Happens If Your Career Stays Sorted by Industry?

A career described by industry reads as four beginnings. The same career described by the problem you solve reads as one long, repeatable body of work, and a pattern left unnamed leaves you looking like a generalist to the people who most need a specialist. Start at the Expert Edge Finder at https://expertedgefinder.com/.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a single expertise connecting a career across four industries?

Usually. The link is typically the type of problem you keep solving, not the sector. Look at what was actually wrong each time you were needed, strip out the industry words, and mark what repeats.

Do I have to pick one industry?

Not to find the pattern. The pattern is what you do, and it can travel. Later you may choose where to focus, but you can name the expertise first.

Won't narrowing to one type of problem cost me work?

It narrows who thinks of you, and it can widen who refers you. If you want to see how a focus might look, the Expert Edge Finder at https://expertedgefinder.com/ proposes a possible specialty and a Category-of-One position based on your answers. It is provisional, you can edit it, and it does not verify your expertise or promise demand.

What if my four industries truly have nothing in common?

Look at the people instead of the sectors. Ask what colleagues and clients relied on you for in each place. A shared quality, such as calm, clarity, or follow-through, can be the connection.

How many examples do I need to see a pattern?

Two or three in each industry is usually enough to see what repeats. The point is repetition across settings.

Can this article tell me what my expertise is?

No. It offers a framework for finding the answer yourself and is not professional advice. Treat your sentence as a hypothesis and test it with someone who could benefit.

References

Chi, M. T. H., Feltovich, P. J., & Glaser, R. (1981). Categorization and representation of physics problems by experts and novices. Cognitive Science, 5(2), 121–152. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog0502_2

Chase, W. G., & Simon, H. A. (1973). Perception in chess. Cognitive Psychology, 4(1), 55–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0285(73)90004-2

Roberts, L. M., Dutton, J. E., Spreitzer, G. M., Heaphy, E. D., & Quinn, R. E. (2005). Composing the reflected best-self portrait: Building pathways for becoming extraordinary in work organizations. Academy of Management Review, 30(4), 712–736. https://positiveorgs.bus.umich.edu/?p=2022

Kahneman, D., & Klein, G. (2009). Conditions for intuitive expertise: A failure to disagree. American Psychologist, 64(6), 515–526. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016755

Kahneman, D. (2011, October 19). Don't blink! The hazards of confidence. The New York Times Magazine. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/magazine/dont-blink-the-hazards-of-confidence.html

Mancell, R. (2026). The Power of the Expert: How to Become Irreplaceable in the Age of AI. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HNGTSPRX, Chapters 1, 3, and 7

Expert Edge Finder. (2026, October 15). Terms and boundaries: Exploration, not verification. https://expertedgefinder.com/terms

Expert Edge Finder. (2026). How it works: Choose one small next step. https://expertedgefinder.com/