Shapeshifting is a profession. Which means, it involves jobs, contracts, roles, money. Except, it can be done in different manners.
Based on our observations and interviews, we’ve identified two main ways that ‘shapeshifters’ navigate their career: in-house or on-demand
Some shapeshifters are fully or closely attached to one organisation. They occupy a defined role: either one that they were recruited for, or one that shaped around them. After they’ve been in the organisation for a while, a need emerged, and their capacity was recognised. (you might wish to check out our use case)
Among those, we can distinguish between two ways of exercising the role, with different levels of authority, resourcing, access, constraints, and different challenges.
Some organisations formally appoint people to do connective work, with KPIs and expectations that roughly correspond to the function we described above. This is often with titles like Chief of Staff, Head of Special Projects, Innovation Lead. Check out this list of iconic shapeshifter roles.
People in those roles generally have a high enough level of access to leadership, typically by reporting directly to the CEO or a top executive. They also have a mandate to lean on, even if it can be contested, and the continuity that comes with a formal role.
It’s often a good sign for them if an organisation appoints them, yet the limited understanding of shapeshifter work overall can limit their capacity to act and impact their context. Their influence still depends on trust, clarity, and emotional intelligence rather than authority.
Core challenges:
How do you build real leverage when your mandate is in-between?
How do you work with a system while nudging it gently beyond itself?
Sometimes, shapeshifting is a secondary function, after internal promotion or personal evolution. Think of a lead teacher in charge of a whole-school project, an executive assistant acting as ‘business manager’ or ‘chief of staff’, or an emotionally intelligent data analyst who becomes a translator between teams and executives. You might also look at our note on adjacent roles.
These people often hold significant influence with limited or no formal authority. Coherence becomes part of their day job. Partly, this is a matter of ‘natural selection’: only those able and willing to do shapeshifter roles can reach positions of influence without formal authority. They also have to optimise for low-cost, achievable interventions, as they cannot easily mobilise resources for more. However, if the pressures of their standard job remain high, this can is very fragile – they may lose influence when a key person leaves or managers change, experience burn out from cumulating two jobs including one on the stealth, or be highly frustrated if they see others who contribute less but more visibly be rewarded ahead of them.
Core questions:
How do you make th work legible and visible?