The One Trait That Elon Musk, Ben Franklin, and Marie Curie Have In Common
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“Jack of all trades. Master of none.”
The warning against being a generalist has persisted for hundreds of years in dozens of languages.
“Equipped with knives all over, yet none is sharp,” warned people in China. In Estonia, it went, “Nine trades, the tenth one — hunger.”
Yet, many of the most impactful individuals — both contemporary and historical — have been generalists: Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Arianna Huffington, Ben Franklin, Leonardo Da Vinci,and Marie Curie.
Are these legends just genius anomalies? Or are they models that we can all learn from?
My research over the past year shows that the latter is true. There is a surprisingly strong link between diversity of relationships / knowledge(being a generalist) and career success.
Many people fail to become successful generalists because schools and society tend to encourage focus on a single…
