The Future of Generalist Work

Here are eight imperatives—all of them drawing strength and sustenance from the humanities:

We need a way of defining and pursuing progress that doesn’t reduce that concept to something that only comes from a digital device.

We desperately need access to values and wisdom that aren’t corrupted by the relentless financial metrics and imposed

Ted Gioia • The Real Crisis in Humanities Isn't Happening at College

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

Ruchi Sanghvi • To Go 0 to 1, First Go -1 to 0

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

Jimmy Buffett

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

Mastery is not only about getting better at your craft, but also about finding ways to eliminate the obstacles, distractions, and other annoyances that prevent you from working on your craft.

Top performers find ways to spend as much time as possible on what matters and as little time as possible on what doesn't. It is not someone else's... See more

Superhuman

What is generalist mastery? Connecting the right dots, realizing that some dots matter and other dots don’t. Not every dot should be connected.

Most ideas fail, but some will still create value for you even in failure.

An idea that allows you to acquire skills, experience, and build assets regardless of its ultimate success, is worth investing in.

How To Figure Out If Your Idea Is Worth Spending Time On - For The Interested

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

Model managers of tomorrow will need to learn the same things. They’ll need to know which AI models to use for which tasks. They’ll need to be able to quickly evaluate new models that they’ve never used before to determine if they’re good enough. They’ll need to know how to break up complex tasks between different models suited to each piece of... See more

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

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.