Generalists

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

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

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.

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

Combine two skills that are valuable but even more rare and therefore more valuable together. Like a computer science degree and a law degree, or extreme knowledge of finance or mathematics plus public speaking. […] You’re not dabbling as a dilettante in a million things and never going a mile-deep, but you are spreading yourself across multiple sk... See more

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.

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.

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

Tim Ferriss, in his short video on whether you should specialize or be a generalist, he says he often gets asked the question, and I quite liked his answer: you should be a “specialized generalist.”