Shopify’s chief operating officer has one word to describe employees that will thrive in the AI era: “X-shaped.”
On an episode of the “Rapid Response” podcast released on Wednesday, Jess Hertz said that Shopify previously embraced the idea of a “T-shaped person” — someone with broad capabilities but deep expertise in one area. AI is changing that model.
“What I think we’re starting to see is AI is really pushing towards what I’m calling X-shaped people,” Hertz said. “You have different vectors of expertise, and you’re really moving away from just the expectation that you have to have depth in this one area.”
She said these employees have “multiple spikes of expertise” — they can absorb complex concepts and learn new skills quickly.
She added: “You have multiple spikes of expertise, much faster, being able to absorb complexity, being able to learn new spaces, being able to you know be a seven out of 10 designer if you want to be.”
Hertz joined Shopify in 2021 as general counsel after serving in the Biden administration, including as White House staff secretary. She became the e-commerce company’s COO in 2025.
The shift may also change how companies assemble teams, Hertz said.
“The other part is really how do those different shaped people actually intersect with each other,” she said. “The idea of team composition and the different constellation of people will only become more and more important as we enter this AI world.”
Last year, Shopify’s CEO, Tobi Lütke, went viral for mandating AI use at the company and said that questions about AI use would be gauged at performance reviews.
“Before asking for more head count and resources, teams must demonstrate why they cannot get what they want done using AI,” Lütke wrote in an April memo that he posted on X after it was leaked.
‘Learn your EQ’
Hertz joins a group of tech leaders who have been saying that AI is changing what they are looking for in an ideal employee.
In a February TV interview, Anthropic president Daniela Amodei said she thinks people with a humanities background are as important as ever, since AI models are very good at STEM.
“What I mean by that is when we look to hire people at Anthropic today, we look for people who are great communicators, who have excellent EQ and people skills, who are kind and compassionate and curious and want to help other people.”
Similarly, in an interview last year, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said workers should develop the abilities that AI struggles to replace.
“My advice to people would be critical thinking, learn skills, learn your EQ, learn how to be good in a meeting, how to communicate, how to write,” he said.
