Author: John Utt
May 27, 2025

Don't Pick a Lane — Build the Road

When we think of mastery of skill, we picture the prodigies who lead lifetimes in their respective fields — the Mozarts of the world, who compose symphonies as teenagers and end up as historical greats. As extreme as these cases are, we are surrounded by specialists in unique fields every day. The student who sits next to me in my programming course has been coding since he was ten. And my professor has been a math whiz since first grade. Sure, these are all great stories, but they aren’t exactly inspiring to someone like me who hadn’t written a line of code until I was in college and despised math until high school. Instead, these accounts sounded off alarms in my head, telling me that I was behind and that everybody else has it figured out. In reality, I’ve come to realize that these stories are unrealistic and have no correlation to success in the long run.

In the business world, real problem solving isn’t always about having the “right” skills - it’s about pulling from everything you’ve seen and learned, even the topics and experiences you once thought wouldn’t matter. I’ve always believed in building a wide toolkit, so in school, I strive for that — I currently study Data Science, Computer Science, and Economics as an undergrad at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Jumping between fields taught me that tackling new problems isn’t some huge leap; it’s just another puzzle, just another set of rules to learn and connect back to what I already know. 

When I started my internship at CōLab, you'd think I'd be in over my head – I had zero background in marketing or working with growth-stage tech companies. But instead of panicking, I leaned on my mix of experiences to figure it out. Assisting with due diligence on growth-stage tech companies felt innate because of my unique perspectives. Technical points of my schooling, like Data Science and Computer Science, helped me assess product differentiation and my classes in Economics and interest in the markets gave me context for market analyses. I was exposed to problems I had never seen before, but because of my experience in a variety of overlapping fields, I felt well-equipped to take them on. I quickly realized that actual problem-solving isn’t the multiple-choice question on my exams – it’s about connecting the dots across your personal experiences to pick a solution out of unlimited possibilities.

The truth is, compounding skills and experiences over multiple years can be quite unintentional – but beneficial nonetheless. Last summer, I decided to join the Ocean Rescue division of my local fire department and I could never have imagined its impact on my personal and professional development. Sure, I wasn't likely to be giving CPR during my internship at CōLab, but my experience in emergency services gave me perspective and the less measurable lessons stuck with me. It taught me uniquely transferable skills relating to decisiveness and confidence. After that summer, I stopped second guessing myself or freezing in the face of tough decisions. At school, I learned to more effectively take on leadership roles in clubs and on projects, and at CōLab, I contributed my experiences and education to projects alongside a team of experts. The point is, the most unique perspectives and influences tend to sneak up unexpectedly through a seemingly unrelated field. For example, Allen Mask, Managing Partner at CōLab, who also sits on the investment committee at WestCap, says he uses lessons from his love for music and his degree in Journalism every day in his work. Michelle Ha, our Practice Lead on the Operations team, attributes her strong preparation and organizational skills to her early career as a photographer. Building real success isn’t about being perfect from the start, but about stacking years of experience, one piece at a time. Play the long game – the skills you pick up in seemingly random areas will start to connect and compound in ways you can’t predict yet.

It’s time to leave behind the view of mastery involving long-term specialization and embrace a more realistic form of pursuing success that weaves together a bunch of different skills into something unique that only you can offer. With that, I’ll conclude with a nugget of wisdom from Allen for the next time you think that you might be learning a useless skill: “When you don’t know where you’re going, all roads work.” No experience is ever wasted – keep challenging your own status quo and continue building!

About the author

John Utt is an intern at CōLab, where he contributes to cross-functional projects that support the company’s initiatives across product, design and marketing. He’s currently studying Data Science with a concentration in Economics and a minor in Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. With an interest in the intersection of business and data, John brings a sharp perspective to the fast-paced world of tech.