The Power of Being a Generalist — the lens to innovation and problem solving
The word “generalist” used to be considered as a job title that was more of an administrative position. Normally someone who sits at the front desk of an office, or does little things around the office whenever someone needs something to be done. The word generalist to this day still has the same meaning, however they are being looked at in a very different role in the office besides the person who can create word documents, as well as organize a small company event.
Instead, generalists are being touted as a resource that every startup and company is looking for in order to achieve fast growth, and every corporation is looking for to solve problems and assist in innovation.
The statement above helps demonstrate the strength of generalists, which is their ability to look at problems from a large set of lenses which makes them extremely versatile in problem solving situations. This topic was my most recent deep dive book which is called Range by David Epstein. Range is a book focused on helping explore the different success stories and different types of “range” that a person can have which enabled some of the greatest innovations and solutions to problems the world has ever seen. It helps reinforce the fact that having the ability to see problems through different, and sometimes completely unrelated lenses, will allow a generalists to come up with a variety of solutions that may have been missed.
Most people grow up thinking that in order for them to be chosen for a specific job, that they need to be considered experts in that field. This is then reinforced by companies also looking for experts to fit a specific job opening. That being said, there is the saying that once you have done something for 10,000 hours you are now considered an expert. Example 1: Tiger Woods, child golf prodigy, 10,000+ hours of experience, and the person I would want to be making a putt that my life depended on. The point I am trying to drive home here is that if you are an expert at something, then you are certainly a good fit for your specific area of expertise, however how good would you be in another subject matter? This is where generalists come into play…
The concept of generalists is something very close to me, as I consider myself one of them. I have my undergrad from a liberal arts college, I have my masters from a public university, and I am a volunteer firefighter. In addition, I believe I had a solid childhood that provided me with opportunities to play many different team and individual sports, along with interacting with many different organizations of people my entire life which gave me a large variety of experiences. These experiences, have helped me thrive in all the different roles that I have been part of since college. I have been part of startups, Fortune 100 Companies, government organizations, non profits and now, the world of venture capital.
What I can say, is that none of the roles at each of these companies intertwined, meaning that each role was very different from each other. (Example, I was not a software engineer at one company and moved to another company to be another software engineer) . Instead these roles were different and gave me an opportunity to look at all the different problems in front of me and combine all of my life experiences to come up with the best solution possible.
At first I thought I was just a great team player. Someone who can be part of a team, and if needed, step up to take on a leadership role if needed. I learned this as a firefighter. I also learned how to interact with both internal and external stakeholders. I learned this from running my own landscaping company in high school, as well as working as an IT consultant. In addition to my real world experiences, I am able to enhance these experiences with all of the different topics that I learned getting my liberal arts degree which provided me with new lenses into each topic my classes were focused on.
So when I say that generalists are something that startups should used for growth and corporations should use for problem solving and innovation I truly mean it. Generalists don’t like to be stuck in boxes. They like to be able to utilize multiple lenses to solve issues instead of only using one lens for a long amount of time on one job to be done.
From a startup perspective, generalists are the type of person you want on your team who can pick up many projects at once and come up with new solutions to solve those projects for the long run until you have someone to fill a role, and at the same time if you have a spike in sales, be able to pull this generalists to now be your new sales person to meet and onboard customers.
From a corporation perspective, a generalist is going to be the “outside view” that you need in order to find a fresh new potential solution to a problem. Over time, if the same group of people are looking to solve a problem, then they only know the lenses they specialize in. Bringing an outside perspective from someone who can see at least a small portion of the lenses being used by the existing team as well as new set of lenses not originally in the equation will allow for new ideas and innovation which could help solve the problem at hand.
So what is my point of my exploration and this post? It’s more to help enable those who are generalists to realize their potential. Constantly people are being compared based on just the school they attended, example, myself going to a liberal arts college vs. Harvard. However what I know, is that I am the type of person who can not only build out a bullet proof business model, but I am also the person you want to have next to you during an emergency situation due to my experience as a firefighter. You won’t find many who attended an ivy league that could say that.
So calling all generalists!!!! If you have had a wide range of experiences that allow you to look at problems through different lenses, then get your solutions out in the world. Look for problems that are difficult to solve and see if you can find a new spin to it. And if you need proof of the power of generalists… then please read Range by David Epstein and there are tons of examples for you to see the power you may be able to unlock for you and your career.
