Robert Walter Weir was a popular instructor at West Point in the mid-1800s, teaching mandatory drawing classes to military cadets. Drawing was vital for creating high-quality maps, a crucial skill for military officers at the time. Ulysses S. Grant, one of Weir's students, excelled at drawing. However, the importance of drawing as a skill has declined over time. Today, West Point focuses on cartography using mapping software and new technology. This highlights the concept of expiring skills versus permanent skills, which is applicable in every field.
Expiring skills tend to get more attention. They’re more likely to be the cool new thing, and a key driver of an industry’s short-term performance. They’re what employers value and employees flaunt.
Permanent skills are different. They’ve been around a long time, which makes them look stale and basic. They can be hard to define and quantify, which gives the impression of fortune-cookie wisdom vs. a hard skill.
But permanent skills compound over time, which gives them quiet importance. When several previous generations have worked on a skill that’s directly relevant to you, you have a deep well of relevant examples to study. And when you can spend a lifetime perfecting one skill whose importance never wanes, the payoffs can be ridiculous. Anything that compounds over decades usually is.
This episode discusses a few permanent skills that apply to many fields.