Generalism and T-Shaped People
Thoughts on Being Specialized vs Going Broad
I admire Dan Debow’s concept of the GPS Person (General Purpose Smart Person) and the value they can bring to an organization. I 100% agree with the sentiment of first being useful, second being a useful firefight (solve problems as they arise), and third being a useful firefighting preventative maintenance technician (solve problems before they become problems). That’s how empires are built.
More so, it’s been shown time and time again that you’re better off hiring exceptional people with unrelated skill sets, than below-average skilled people.
But I see this trend emerging that worries me:
“I have a wide range of skills, so I’ll just apply as a generalist”
So many young, brilliant individuals I speak with talk about finding roles like this. This is very troubling.
I believe there are three kinds of generalists.
The lazy kind.
Most of you fall in this category. If you claim you are a generalist, 95% of the time you’re a lazy generalist. You’re lazy for not having asked yourself the hard questions. You’re lazy for not committing to excelling in a particular area. You’re lazy for not knowing what kind of value you actually provide. You’re lazy for being undecided. You’re lazy for not making your ruckus.
No organization needs a lazy generalist.
Every organization needs a team that can pull together to solve problems, often outside of their specific domains, and to keep the ship moving forward at all costs. Every organization needs individuals who take responsibility. Every organization need people who know what they are good at, what value they can provide, and where they can make their ruckus.
Lazy generalists claim they are good at anything, which means they are great at nothing.
The domain-specific kind.
When you begin to categorize a subject, you begin to understand just how many subcategories their are. And for every subcategory, there are dozens of subsubcategories. This trend continues ad nauseum. If you’re Apple or the United Nations, you can hire subsubcategory specialists to cover every conceivable aspect of the ruckus you seek to make.
Empires often fall due to lead pipes and sanitation more than they fall due to wars or economics. If you’re building an empire, by all means, hire a subterannean waterway piping infrastructure specialist. But small empires don’t have that luxury. You might have to make due with the first civil engineer you can find. Or any kind of engineer for that matter.
When you break things down, you begin to realize just how much of a generalist every subject requires. Sales, marketing, business development, product, manufacturing, back-end, infrastructure, front-end — however you break it down, chances are, when you’re a team of less than 5, every employee is a generalist.
Ask any early employee in any discipline and I’m sure they explain how much of a generalist they are. They are a domain-specific generalist. More specific than a generalist generalist, but required to be all things to all people within their circle of responsibility.
Every early company needs domain-specific generalists. The first sales person, the first product engineer, the first marketing hire, the founder — all of these roles fall into this category.
The difference between a lazy generalist and a domain-specific generalist is the courage to commit. Often years before, but commit nonetheless.
Sales professionals had to make a conscious decision to go into sales at some point, and to stick with it. Engineers often spend years honing their craft in formal education before practicing in the workforce. Marketers commit to staying up-to-date on the hottest trends and newest emerging markets. All of them commit to their craft, to their art, and have the courage to see it through.
Often, domain-specific generalists are required to extend their domains. The engineer starts managing the team and takes over HR. The sales manager begins hiring for marketing as well. The founder brings on staff to help in various areas. They didn’t step outside their domains, they simply expanded them.
Domains can overlap (in fact, it’s great if they do) but ultimately, the choice to commit and to have the courage to be responsible is what divides the good from the great, the lazy from the ruckus-makers.
And of course, if you can’t find a domain within an organization that you can own and be responsible for, make a new one. Chances are you’ll be an expert in no time.
The T-Shaped Person
Domain-specific generalists eventually grow into T-Shaped people, meaning they are experts in a particular field where they contain tremendous depth of knowledge, expertise, and have honed their craft, in addition to a working-level knowledge of many other areas.
T-Shaped people provide the most value, to every organization, at every level. In small companies, it is their breadth that provides the bulk of their value — the more areas they can be competent, the more meaningful projects they can take from zero to one. In large companies, it is the depth that provides the bulk of their value — expertise is what takes projects from 99 to 100, or 99,999 to 100,000. Both are required at every level in between, to varying degrees, but T-shaped people are always required.
T-shaped people are generalists and specialists. They are rare and worthwhile. They make a ruckus. When you find T-shaped people, don’t let them go.
And if you’re looking to be found, you’re better off becoming more T-shaped than becoming louder.
So the comprehensive 4-point plan is as follows:
- Stop being a lazy generalist. Spend the time to ask yourself the hard questions. Understand what domain you can own, what ruckus you want to make in the world, and how you can be of the most value. Commit to your craft, and build an expertise.
- Become a domain-specific generalist. Own a domain. Be responsible, good or bad, for that domain. Go deep, and as the opportunities arise, go broad within your domain.
- Become T-Shaped. As opportunities extend beyond your easily-categorized domains, find ways to extend outwards. Continue going deep, but go broad as well. Develop an expertise, and a series of working-level competencies. Always be useful.
- Make a Ruckus.
And companies, stop posting for generalist positions.
It’s lazy, degrading, and short-sighted.
We must demand more of each other.
