Shapeshifters don't all do the same thing. All work across boundaries, holding what falls between, but the primary orientation varies. Below are five recurring types. Most shapeshifters are a combination, with the dominant type shifting depending on context.

🧵 The Program Weaver

Primary orientation: projects and delivery

Cross-functional program management on behalf of the whole. The Program Weaver runs initiatives that cross reporting lines, disciplines, teams, even organisations. Their key feature is orientation: they're not asking "how do I deliver my program?" but "how do I make the system work?" They’re non-territorial, honest about side-effects, willing to say if something shouldn't be done at all. They hold the whole in view even while managing the parts.

This is the most legible type to HR systems, which is a strength and a risk. It can get misread as regular program management. The broader orientation goes unrecognised and unrewarded.

⚡ The Surge Capacity

Primary orientation: crises and gaps

Available for high-stakes, time-sensitive problems with no clear owner. The Surge Capacity is the person senior leaders call when something urgent and messy lands. Think, urgent reporting to investors. A major mess-up in a program. Stepping up for a manger who needs to take three months of medical leave. Or a kind of problem that doesn't belong to any one team but is critical to the business. Their value is readiness: they're here when needed. Meaning, they can't be fully occupied the rest of the time.

This is structurally misunderstood by organisations that optimise for 100% utilisation. The baseload cost – staying tuned in, maintaining context, keeping capacity available – is real but invisible. Without it, the surge capacity isn't there when needed. One avenue could be for them to play another informal shapeshifter role - or simply accept a measure of slack.

🕸️ The Relational Anchor

Primary orientation: people and belonging

Holds the human fabric of the organisation together: trust, morale, informal bonds that make formal structures work. The Relational Anchor is the person people go to when they're struggling, the one who notices when dynamics are fraying, the one whose presence makes a team feel like a team. This is the heart mode taken as a primary identity. Over time, they’re also shaping the culture, and critical for it to evolve when needed.

This is often an EA, business manager, HR person, chief of staff, or long-tenured generalist. The risk: they become so load-bearing that the organisation can't imagine them leaving, which paradoxically makes them invisible. Why recognise what you can't lose?

🌐 The System Entrepreneur

Primary orientation: ecosystems and purpose

Operates at the level of a sector, city, community, or ecosystem. They take whatever role or portfolio serves the broader purpose, opportunistically. Less focused on one organisation than on the health of a whole. The System Entrepreneur builds networks, initiates collaborations, and cross-pollinates ideas across institutional boundaries. Their primary loyalty is to something larger than any single employer. Which, of course, comes with risk and cost.

This is the Weaver career pattern at its most expansive. For HR, it can feel threatening. This person isn't fully "yours." For the right organisation, it's invaluable: they bring the outside in, and carry the inside out.

📜 The Institutional Memory

Primary orientation: continuity and history

Knows where things came from, why decisions were made, what was tried before. They’re not necessarily the most senior person, they might have a completely standard role, but they’re the most deeply embedded. The Institutional Memory is the person new colleagues seek out to understand the real history. They’re the informal historian of the organisation.