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In his book ‘Range’, David Epstein lays out an alternative to the oft-touted ‘10,000 hours + deep expertise’ approach for crafting a career that has become our accepted wisdom. Instead what he describes is the embracing of broad learning, of continuous experimentation in different fields, of multi-disciplinary thinking and of the power that... See more

Zoe • The Magpie Mind

Approximately 2,700 years ago, the Greek poet Archilochus wrote that “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” Isaiah Berlin’s 1953 essay “The Fox and the Hedgehog” contrasts hedgehogs that “relate everything to a single, central vision” with foxes who “pursue many ends connected…if at all, only in some de facto way.” It’s... See more

Vikram Mansharamani • All Hail the Generalist

Perhaps the most obvious of generalist characteristics is the connect-the-dots serendipity-searching that comes from linking disparate subjects together. Such cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural knitting is core to moving from incremental innovation to transcending ideation.

Steve Hardy • What Specifically Do Generalists Do?

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.”

Patrick Tanguay • Generalists

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight

Johnny Rodgers

generalist/specialist debate

destina • 5 cards

Career

Matshepo Mamabolo • 1 card

Companies that employ part-time consultants and for-hire workers often seek specialists with very specific skills whom they can briefly “plug in” to a broader overall project. It’s easier to plug in a specialist whose role and value-add are clear than it is with a generalist whose exact roles and responsibilities may be more ambiguous.

Reid Hoffman • The Start-up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career

What generalists are

Generalists are usually curious people who like to hop around from domain to domain. They enjoy figuring things out, especially in areas that are uncertain or new. They’re good at solving problems that domain experts struggle with, because they’re able to bring bits of knowledge from diverse fields together.

As Nat notes, because