The Future of Generalist Work
When you make changes in your life, especially when learning new skill sets, you’ll have to cross a moat of low status—a period where you are bad at the thing or fail to know things that are obvious to other people.
It’s called a moat both because you can’t just leap to the other side and because anyone who can cross it has a real advantage.... See more
It’s called a moat both because you can’t just leap to the other side and because anyone who can cross it has a real advantage.... See more
Cate Hall • How to Be More Agentic
Different backgrounds, different views, different experiences. The best teams are diverse. These are the ingredients that spark innovation.
Daniel Rizea • Top 5 Learnings After Mentoring 100 Startups
Diversity of backgrounds can also mean diversity of generalist vs. specialist skillsets. Generalists become multi-functional, bringing domain expertise from corners that you might least expect it.
That’s what -1 to 0 feels like: messy, confusing—squiggly. The hardest part is escaping. What ultimately leads you out of the mess is conviction, a state you must build incrementally and internally. And conviction and certainty are not the same.
For many people, -1 to 0 is also about deciding how you want to work. In a startup? In a big team? As a... See more
For many people, -1 to 0 is also about deciding how you want to work. In a startup? In a big team? As a... See more
Ruchi Sanghvi • To Go 0 to 1, First Go -1 to 0
Steve Jobs explains the importance of both thinking and doing:
“The doers are the major thinkers. The people who really create the things that change this industry are both the thinker-doer in one person.”
How to clarify a concept you can’t articulate:
1. Change mediums. Draw it. Photograph it. Sing it.
2. Change levels. Explain what is one level up (bigger picture) or one level down (finer details).
3. Change fields. What would this concept look like in different fields?
1. Change mediums. Draw it. Photograph it. Sing it.
2. Change levels. Explain what is one level up (bigger picture) or one level down (finer details).
3. Change fields. What would this concept look like in different fields?
James Clear • 3-2-1: On hard conversations, how to ruin a good strategy, and asking for what you want
How great generalists think
many of society’s most pressing challenges – such as climate change – require highly creative problem-solving that crosses multiple domains, and polymaths may be the best people to find those solutions.
David Robson • Why Some People Are Impossibly Talented
As I discovered, talent and drive aren’t enough. If anything, talent can make finding ideas feel more daunting because it increases the number of available opportunities.
Ruchi Sanghvi • To Go 0 to 1, First Go -1 to 0
Generalists have the advantage of interdisciplinary knowledge, which fosters creativity and a firmer understanding of how the world works. They have a better overall perspective and can generally perform second-order thinking in a wider range of situations than the specialist can.
Shane • The Generalized Specialist: How Shakespeare, Da Vinci, and Kepler Excelled
I believe “what effect do you want to have on people” is one of the most important questions we should ask when we are making something. Life isn't just a series of problems to be solved but experiences to be had.