I read this post by the great Wes Kao about skills you need for being a generalist. I actually couldn’t help but chime in with advocating for basic legal and finance skills. However, specific skills aside, for me, the bigger question is why? Why should someone become a generalist? And If so, how? Should you pursue the path and become a generalist? Or should you dive deep and become an expert? Here are some thoughts.
1. Know who you are. Not everyone can or want to be a generalist. And verse versa.
The first question is, of course, the dichotomy of a generalist and an expert. Some people are not destined to be generalists. Similarly, others are meant to be generalists. So what are the traits?
Are you curious? Is your head always spinning? Are you impatient and can’t wait to get to the next big thing? If so, in my personal humble opinion, you may be happier being a generalist. On the other hand, if you are calm, patient, and really want to dive deep into a given area, maybe you are more suitable to become an expert.
Take the practice of law, for example. Starting from the very early days, I’ve always found it to be extremely tedious, too detail oriented for my taste, and ultimately boring. Don’t get me wrong. I had a lot of fun at law school and excelled at it. But once you graduate, you can’t say that I want to be a generalist kinda lawyer. You must specialize. That’s where things fell apart for me.
On the contrary, for some folks, that’s a blessing. Many of my friends and colleagues found areas that interest them and dived really deep into them. They became experts in these areas of practice and thrived. They are content. They know every single detail. The practice is now f their art, and they’ve perfected it. Needless to say, they also get compensated handsomely for their expertise.
For any young professional at the beginning of their career, it’s important to find this distinction and figure out which side they are on. Once you know, then you can plan your career and chart your growth accordingly. Don’t just follow others’ paths or do what your parents want you to do. Knowing yourself and what makes you happy will go a long way down the road.
2. So you want to be a generalist. What does that mean?
After some soul searching, you may come to the conclusion that you really want to be a generalist. So what can you do?
Some categories of work are, by definition, generalist.
Take indirect procurement, for example. I stumbled upon it along the way, but I developed a huge passion for it just because of how diverse and interesting it can be.
All my fellow indirect procurement professionals can vouch for this. Depending on the company and the time, you could either by sourcing advanced technology for self-driving cars, or getting a lease of a commercial property, or even getting a catering service in to feed all the employees. All these entail entirely different areas of the subject matter of expertise, and as the head of indirect, you kinda need to know it all.
Another good example might be being a product manager. My cofounder Charlotte is hosting a boot camp for product managers, and she showed them a list of the skills they must possess. It made my head spin. But they are all very real. Being a generalist means you must know all these things to a reasonable degree.
Being a generalist means you are ok with knowing a little bit about many things. You want to, and you find it interesting. It has its own pitfalls, which I will explain later. But know what you are getting yourself into before you decide.
Being a CEO, after all, is by definition being a generalist. You must know product, fundraising, finances, legal, operations, marketing, PR, a bit of engineering, just to name a few. So the good news is that if you want to be a generalist, you may be good material for being a CEO some day.
On the flip side, the people who want to become experts have an entirely different path of growth. They are the ones that want to be staff or expert engineers. They are the professors, researchers, and experts of the field. They dive deep and are happy with in-depth knowledge of one field, just one. So again, think hard about which side of the fence you land.
3. Be ready to take some shortcuts
Great. Now that you’ve considered the issue thoroughly and concluded that you want to be a generalist. It’s time to take some shortcuts.
Knowing many things to a reasonable degree means you don’t know everything in depth. It sounds pretty upsetting to some folks. Are you telling me that I should be superficial and be ok with it? Kind of.
Resist the urge to dive in too deep. It’s sometimes human nature to want to be a perfectionist and spend the time to be good. However, there is a price to pay: time. If you want to be reasonably good at many things, you must resist the temptation to dive too deep into anything of them.
I’ve always had an interest in software development. Many times I’ve considered taking some coding courses. Then I quickly realized that there are so many areas of coding that even becoming reasonably competent in any of them will take a tremendous amount of time and effort. Rather than doing that, I’d rather spend the time to get a high-level understanding of software development so that I can ask intelligent questions. Leave the details to the experts. More on that later.
Doing a bit of everything means doing nothing exceptionally well. Instead of struggling with this, be content with that notion. Then hire experts to compensate for the lack of depth on your own part. Trying to be an expert in everything is impossible. So might as well stop trying.
4. Get experts for their skills and depth
This brings me to a natural next point, which is when the time comes, spend time and money to find experts in areas that you personally lack expertise. Acknowledge that these people spend their entire career developing skills and knowledge in specific areas. So when the time comes, find them and pay for their expertise.
Even for areas that you think you may know, it only goes so far. So I am a lawyer licensed in both New York and California. I know basic concepts of contracts, financing, etc. I got my company through the family and friend round of SAFEs, no problem. However, it came to a point where I lacked experience and knowledge. When I received the first side letter to a SAFE, I knew it was the time to ask for help. There is no shame or personal pride in this. Know your limits and ask and pay for help when you can no longer get away with your own knowledge and expertise.
It may feel uncomfortable for some people, but you must trade breath for expertise. Acknowledge that you can’t be and won’t be a know it all. Hire good people when you are lacking.
5. Being a generalist is all about the growth mindset
I’ve written a lot about the growth mindset. Being a generalist is much easier said than done. You must try to know a bit of everything, and all of that is constantly changing.
That means you must be a lifelong learner. You can always never rest on your laurels. If you are an expert on an obscure subject, maybe you can be ok for a few years. But if you want to know a bit of everything, then you must be updated and know what’s kinda going on with all of the areas.
Even if you have become reasonably good in many areas, there is always the next thing. I’ve kinda taught myself to be a project manager, then there is a product manager scope. I know procurement really well, but what about sales? And SEO? That’s yet another entirely different world.
The good news is that if you are curious, open-minded, and flexible, all of this is FUN. Only choose to become a generalist if it’s fun for you. Otherwise, that’s the point.
Don’t despair. We are architects, entrepreneurs, founders, CEOs, and adventurists. One could argue that the generalists are the ones who push humankind forward, as they have the vision, the dreams, the ambition. We will always need doctors, lawyers, and experts of the field to do the nitty gritty. But when we are going to Mars, it’s the Elon Musks of the world who is pushing us, right?
P.s., while searching for a graphic for this piece, I found this term “Expert Generalist” and clearly they believe Elon is one. Lol. https://www.lifehack.org/598693/how-elon-musk-gains-massive-success-by-learning-differently-from-everyone-else
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