Because of the rapid acceleration of numerous technologies, our society must learn how to separate TOOLS vs. SKILLS vs. RESULTS in our education, hiring, and management processes.

My neighbor in my coworking space recently introduced me to his new intern in product development. I showed them how I’ve been using Midjourney to crank out stunning A.I. concept images for product development and marketing. They were taken aback by the power and rapidity of the tool. The intern even commented “I just spent years going to school for that” and looked defeated.

Turns out she is 20 years old, the same age when I started my first professional internship. It made me think about all the “tools” that I had to learn back in the ’90’s when I was an intern at an architectural office, versus the core “skills” that I really needed to retain as a professional all these years.

Was it a core “skill” for me to learn to use an ammonia-driven blueprinting machine? Cranky film photography? Pain-in-the-butt ink-on-Mylar drafting? Fax machines?

No. Those were merely “tools” of the time needed to produce a great construction document set. But is a set of blueprints even the “result” that the customer was seeking? What was their “job to be done”?

This is where so many professionals loose sight of their true profession — our client wasn’t seeking a great document set: They were seeking a well-built building! They believed that the design firm had the skills to achieve that end result. The client couldn’t have cared less about the tools used.

“Skills” are the timeless high-level knowledge on what constitutes a job-well-done. The end client expects a professional to have wisdom from the past, an eye towards the future and to demonstrate flexible savviness throughout the project to deliver the end result.

“Tool” technologies advance ceaselessly. The end client expects that a professional be up-to-date with all current technologies and to most expediently, accurately and efficiently deliver the end result with the best tools currently available.

The best craftsmen are always eager to achieve better results for their clients by learning new tools and techniques to add to their proverbial toolbox. The worst craftsmen can’t get past the “sunk cost” they’ve emotionally or financially invested into antiquated technologies and techniques.

Ultimately, your profitability as a craftsman is how efficiently you deliver results, not your use of your familiar old “trusty” tools. You need to divorce your creative ego, your professional pride and stature from the use of specific tools.

I told my neighbor’s intern that her ultimate worth is not in her short term knowledge of Midjourney or Photoshop for Figma or whatever. Her ultimate value will be understanding her industry, her customers, staying on top of implementation technologies and working faster and more efficiently than anyone else.