Generalists

Often times, when there’s a discussion about generalists, the words “bridge” or “translator” will pop-up.

He goes on to list 3 multipliers: I would encourage you to consider public speaking, writing, and negotiating to be three very easy add-ons or multipliers for whatever your core skill or skills might be. Those will give you an immediate competitive advantage.

So a lot of people—often working in certain specific areas like tech, some form of creative, or indie consultancy—see themselves as hybrids of multiple disciplines.

A facilitator is a person who helps a group of people to work together better, understand their common objectives, and plan how to achieve these objectives, during meetings or discussions.

Most lists of tips you can find about growing a publication or micro-media and finding “1000 true fans” will say at some point “find your niche,” “you need a niche,” “it’s important to know what your niche is,” or some variation. Which seems to lead to a similar conclusion as generalists: that more and more people value a multi-domain “hyphenated” ... See more

On facilitation:

Akin to the key-shaped profile mentioned at the beginning: more than one deep domains of knowledge and experience, joined by familiarity with a shallower but much broader set of topics.

Perhaps the effective generalist facilitates between disciplines? Perhaps the skills of facilitation are the fourth great multiplier?

This bridging comes with broader interests and curiosity, but skills of facilitation seem like a great way to turn that up a few notches.'

In other words, lots of people see themselves as generalists, whether they use the word or not, and lots of people realize the value of these interstitial roles but not many brag about it, and not many hire for it.