The Future of Generalist Work

a common misconception about going deep in a subject and researching it day in and day out is that its novelty will wear off. it doesn't wear off, but your perspective on novelty changes. for a novice, novelty is newness. for an expert, novelty is nuance.

Soona x.com

We live in a knowledge economy. What you know—and your ability to bring it to bear in any given circumstance—is what creates economic value for you. This was primarily driven by the advent of personal computers and the internet, starting in the 1970s and accelerating through today.

But what happens when that very skill—knowing and utilizing the... See more

Dan Shipper • The Knowledge Economy Is Over. Welcome to the Allocation Economy

Dan Shipper on the transition from the Knowledge Economy to the Allocation Economy

The researchers, Todd Rose and Ogi Ogas, were interested in people who took a less conventional approach to life. They interviewed hundreds of high-achieving, wildly successful “dark horses”: people who swerved in and out of jobs—and often industries—to find a good fit. From symphony conductors to chess masters, Apple execs to dogsled mushers,... See more

Simone Stolzoff • In Praise of the Meandering Career

Job titles are just the most visible ladder of them all. It’s interesting that pompous executive job titles were invented during the Victorian era. This is when we started the trend of calling a cleaner a hygiene technician. A bin man became a waste management and disposal technician. Later on, a call-center worker became a communications... See more

Anne-Laure Le Cunff • The tyranny of job titles: from vanity growth to personal growth

Generalists have shirked the the notion of a true job title to fit their work and have followed the thread of providing value and making an impact. No wonder there’s a group of talented professionals hiding in plain sight given how constricting the traditional job titles have become in affirming our professional worth.

“It is ironic that I was never categorizable and now I’m a category.”

Jimmy Buffett

the people who can start things will be the major beneficiaries in the coming years, because the barrier is no longer knowledge or skills, it’s courage.

Superhuman

Rise of the Generalist | 2023 Global Culture Report | O.C. Tanner

Generalists are force multipliers.

The important training is not STEM, coding or how AI works. (The market will take care of that.) It’s about how people work—and how businesses so often make money by manipulating people to buy things they might not need. Instead, people can learn how to manipulate themselves .

Rather than compete with computers, people need to learn how to use and... See more

Esther Dyson • Don’t Fuss About Training AIs. Train Our Kids

Build a cross-company network of change agents.

You need to start by building out a layer of high-performers within your own team. Before you go broad, adapt and iterate on the culture you want to build among that group. Then, just as they are ready to move up in their career ladders, facilitate cross-functional moves into key roles for them. This... See more