How to Hire an Astronaut — today.

The way to successfully grow your company is to hire for expertise.

Today’s leaders operate in complex environments defined by interconnected systems:

• Supply chains

• Regulations

• Technology

• Customer behaviour

• Geopolitics

• Workforce dynamics

• Environmental factors

• Market disruption

Increasingly, success depends on understanding how these systems interact and higher orders of impact rather than simply optimizing for any single structural component. The forward-thinking leader wants to hire talent that comes with that capacity.

There are few professionals in the world whose entire training and experience is built around understanding complex systems — but among them are, without question, astronauts.

Astronauts are specialists, yes, but that’s not why they are selected. They are chosen because of their capacity to integrate multiple disciplines simultaneously. In space, no one can hear you complain about a task being outside your job description; astronauts must, for both success and survival, understand engineering, operations, risk management, human performance, communication, mission objectives — all while working in environments where mistakes can have cascading and cataclysmic consequences.

“Houston, we have a problem” has become synonymous with a complex challenge with dire consequences — but the Apollo 13 team made it home in one piece.

The unique value proposition of astronauts isn’t what they know — it’s how they think.

One of the value-adds astronauts tend to gain and share upon the successful completion of an orbital or super-orbital mission is what’s known as the Overview Effect — a profound shift in perspective that comes from viewing earth from space.

When you have left earth’s atmosphere, you can see with your own eyes how thing the atmospheric shield that separates life on earth from the harsh vacuum of space truly is. It’s not woke philosophy or environmentalist indoctrination; the astronaut speaks from fact, experience, and reality.

From space, there are no geopolitical borders. There are no political divides or visible communities of lefties or righties. There are no markets, nor shareholders. In the words of former NASA astronaut Ron Garan, “The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment.”

To bring this down to business terms — astronauts, by inclination, by training, and by first-hand experience, see beyond departmental silos. They have lived within them, yes, but they have also quite literally looked down upon the whole; they live the trees, yet they also understand the forest.

The unique value proposition of astronauts, the think that makes them most valuable, is their ability to think beyond silos and to visualize systems.

They are systems thinkers.

As it happens, the biggest challenges facing us today are systemic by nature, and defy simple categorization, short priority lists or tightly focused (and communicated) action plans:

· How will AI affect workforce strategy?

· How will climate risks impact supply chains?

· What will the impact of demographic shifts be on customer demands?

· How will regulatory reform impact innovation — and what role can we play in shaping it?

· How can we look around the corner and gain visibility on how small decisions made today impact larger organizational outcomes?

These are big questions — questions corporate and political leaders are grasping with at this very moment. It would be handy to have an astronaut on staff; someone who can understand the here and now, but contextualize it within the broader structure of our moment and where the trend lines are likely to converge tomorrow.

These aren’t simple, simply communicated challenges; they are incredibly complex. The unique value an astronaut can bring to bear on these myriad, interwoven challenges isn’t one specific skillset; it’s systems thinking.

To break this down into clear terms — the best way to successfully position your company for success in the emerging reality is to hire systems thinkers.

If you’re hiring an astronaut, it’s a no-brainer; they have been to space, for god’s sakes, so they bring a suite of talent to the table that a corporate executive, a board, or an HR manager might not be able to quantify, but can understand conceptually.

Astronauts aren’t exactly Top Tier Talent that’s in high supply. What is in high supply right now, however, are systems thinkers — people with the capacity to see the whole and the parts without having the pedigree (and price tag) that comes with orbital experience. Systems thinkers have the unique value proposition of seeing complexity the way most people see a straight path; it doesn’t require effort, it’s just how they think.

There’s a catch, though.

The Overview Effect common among astronauts — that is, the ability to see the world as a whole beyond the silos of markets and competing political interests — is, by its very nature, hard to whittle down to a tight tag line on a LinkedIn profile, or to summarize in AI-friendly, human-comprehensible bullets for a resume.

If you are an HR manager or a corporate executive looking for a specific professional skillset and approach that adds immediate value to your company, you kind of want it spelled out to you in simple, direct, and friendly terms. You are hiring; you have responsibilities; it is the role of applicants to meet you where you are, where your corporate needs are. The ability to speak your language is, in terms of hiring, the single most important variable when screening countless applicants in this tight job market.

Yet the ability to reach you where you are in the simplest, most direct and applicable terms possible is not what you need.

If you could, you’d hire an astronaut; their value, clearly proven beyond a shadow of doubt, is the ability to function in high-stakes situations with an eye towards the practical and an understanding of the structural. “I am an astronaut” communicates that pretty effectively; “I am a systems thinker” does not.

Yet it’s systems thinking that today’s leaders need, and the most value talent they can and should look for.

You absolutely can hire talent with the “Overview Effect” of an astronaut, for a fraction of the price; the challenge is to recognize it not on your terms, but in terms of corporate need.

The trick to finding and hiring systems thinking talent is as easy as it is challenging.

Don’t look for the person who can easily meet you where you are now.

Look for the people who can tell you where you want to be tomorrow.

If we accept that we can’t solve a problem with the thinking that got us into it, then we can also accept that the thinking that will solve the problem probably won’t sit easily in our current understanding.

That means those with the capacity to hire need to reach beyond their comfort zone. The talent they need might not be great at meeting them where they are, but that’s the point. The future, like space, is vast and void, making it hard to chart a simple course forward.

Unless, that is, you can see the terrain.

Systems thinking for the win, my friends; you’ll thank me if you look not for those who meet you where you are, but those who can help you navigate the path forward.