Why the most interesting thinkers refuse to specialize
For a long time, our society has rewarded people who have deep knowledge in one area, but as technology has democratized access to information, we’re seeing that it’s actually the people who refuse to niche down who have more opportunities to thrive. These people are sometimes called “generalists” because they have a wider, more general frame of reference than a single, narrow focus of expertise.
It’s an interesting topic to explore, especially as AI continues to shape the employment landscape, stealing away entry-level jobs from college grads with specialized degrees, and from later-career people who poured decades into something that can be done in moments with a supercomputer.
This further underlines why, while it’s great to be an expert in one thing, it’s important to also seek out a broader knowledge base in more general subjects.
The world rewards specialists; so why do generalists keep winning?
Generalists keep winning precisely because they’re able to think big, to avoid narrowing their focus so acutely that they ignore solutions that might be gleaned from looking at a bigger picture.
For example, a company is deciding between two candidates for a managerial position. They both have all of the basic required skills, but where they differ is in the intangibles. Candidate One has a Master’s Degree in Business Management, but no real-world experience, while Candidate Two has a Bachelor’s in Art History, but has organized and chaired an annual art fair for the last 5 years. It’s clear that Candidate One has a deeper scholarly knowledge and expertise in management, but Candidate Two’s broader background gives them an edge because they’ve leveraged it to gain real-world managerial skills.
This is the conundrum of the specialist: how do I showcase my breadth of knowledge in a two-page resume? Or how do I make my social media look cohesive while doing several different things?
There’s no “one size fits all” answer to this, but there are real-life examples of how embracing this generalist mindset delivers over time.
The thinkers who refused to stay in their lane, and what they built
Generalists have left an everlasting mark on history simply by being curious and thinking outside the box. Here are a few of note:
Susan Sontag was an essayist, novelist, filmmaker, and philosopher. She’s a wonderful example of how someone can be an expert in something (writing) but generalize it so she wasn’t pigeonholed into one area. A specialist could spend their entire life diving deep into any one of those areas, but Sontag was interested in them all and developed the skills necessary to excel at them. Being a generalist doesn’t mean needing to have a super wide-ranging set of skills and knowledge; it can be general within one area, like writing. The key is that whatever you find interesting, see how wide a net of curiosity you can cast over it.
Leonardo da Vinci is probably the most well-known example of a generalist. He made advances in art, math, and even anatomy, but he was only able to do all of that because of his generalism. Many of his most famous paintings, like the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, are so interesting in part because of his understanding of mathematics and how it can captivate a viewer. His Vitruvian Man drawing in a notebook was an accurate anatomical sketch, and he was also able to draw an accurate depiction of the circulation system of a heart years before it was considered settled science. By marrying art, science, and math, da Vinci created everlasting works that were hugely influential in all of his generalist areas.
Hedy Lamarr was a silver screen siren in the 1930s and was known as “the most beautiful woman in the world.” What many people don’t know is that she also laid the foundation for Bluetooth, wi-fi, and GPS systems we use today. During WWII, she created a frequency-hopping spread-spectrum technology to keep the Axis powers from jamming torpedo radio frequencies. She did this by using her knowledge of musical composition to think laterally about how to solve the problem.
This is precisely where generalists have an edge: their ability to take a concept from one discipline and apply it to another. Let’s continue exploring…
Why the most interesting ideas live at the edge of disciplines
A narrow focus on one topic creates tunnel vision, cutting off the ability to see possible solutions from a different perspective. That’s why it isn’t the core of a discipline that creates the most interesting ideas, but rather what lies at the fringe.
Between 1983 and 2004, Wharton professor and psychologist Philip Tetlock studied how people make predictions. Over the decades, he tracked 284 experts who made over 28,000 predictions about their area of study. They were asked to assign a probability of something happening (e.g., “Will the Eurozone collapse in 5 years?”) as well as their reasoning. He found that on average their predictions, while well-reasoned, had nearly the same probability of coming true as randomly guessing the answer.
But then he looked to philosopher Isaiah Berlin's essay on a Greek poet Archilochus, where he categorized the experts into "Hedgehogs" and "Foxes.” Berlin explained:
Low scorers look like hedgehogs: thinkers who “know one big thing,” aggressively extend the explanatory reach of that one big thing into new domains, display bristly impatience with those who “do not get it,” and express considerable confidence that they are already pretty proficient forecasters, at least in the long term. High scorers look like foxes: thinkers who know many small things (tricks of their trade), are skeptical of grand schemes, see explanation and prediction not as deductive exercises but rather as exercises in flexible “ad hocery” that require stitching together diverse sources of information, and are rather diffident about their own forecasting prowess.
When Tetlock broke these experts into hedgehogs and foxes, he found that the generalists were accurate more often because they weren’t forcing their facts to fit a theory, and they left room for more nuance. Instead of being rigid, generalists were happy to think outside the box, and therefore, had a greater degree of accuracy.
The Green Lane Cardiothoracic Unit is another example of where cross-functional multidisciplinary inquiry can have life-saving impacts. Cardio units need to move quickly, not unlike a pit crew in Formula 1 racing. So, Green Lane consulted with these pit crews to see how they could enhance their handoffs and help save more lives.
“When people are able to look beyond the obvious, revolutionary solutions surface. ”
The cost of specializing too early
I’ve always thought it’s crazy that kids are supposed to know what they want to do with the rest of their lives by the time they’re 15 years old (maybe even younger in some cases!). They need to organize their high school career around how to best position themselves to get into a college that specializes in their desired career. But this leaves little to no room for exploration, which is what young teens should still be doing!
But if we encourage generalism and being multi-disciplinary areas of study, then their world broadens. There suddenly isn’t one specific school they need to get into, but rather there are a handful or more that can help them continue to learn.
This isn’t to say that experts aren’t necessary, because they are. Professions that require precision, like surgeons and lawyers, literally hold the lives of people in their hands every day. But the point of encouraging generalism is to enhance their expertise. Surgeons are adapting to use robotics in their procedures to cause less trauma in their patients’ bodies. Lawyers have to think of the most creative way to make the jury sympathize with their side of the case, or to simply make the law bend in their clients’ favor. This is where that fringe knowledge comes into play.
This way of thinking is how I’ve built a multi-disciplinary career. I started as an aspiring sports journalist, but when that couldn’t pay the bills, I had to think of how to use my writing skills in other ways. I was a celebrity ghost writer, which led me to social media management, then I pivoted completely into financial writing, then authorship… You get the idea. At no point in my career have I been rigidly only one thing. I let my curiosity lead me to the fringes of my work and then asked myself, “What if I applied my knowledge from that other project to this one?” Now, I’m an internationally award-nominated author, best-selling embroidery patternist, and author coach, in addition to continuing to write for clients and work on my own books. I’m not singularly a journalist, an author, or an artist… I’m all of those things, and I let each discipline I learned unlock the next one.
How to think across disciplines without losing depth
It’s easier to think deeply across disciplines than you might think. Let’s look at cozy mystery books, for example. This genre is filled with series that follow a throughline. Murder, She Wrote is a classic example that most people are familiar with. The main character, Jessica Fletcher, uses her knowledge of mystery story construction, background as a teacher, and general observation to help solve crimes. Many cozy mystery series are like this as well, maybe centering around a bakery, a knitting circle, or a particular time in history. These types of outlets allow author and reader alike to apply generalist knowledge in writing, culinary skills, fiber art, etc., into well-rounded and researched books.
There are other practical, everyday examples as well. The other day, I was at a community garden and was paired with an engineer. We were tasked with clearing out an overgrown garden plot. Instead of taking wheelbarrows back and forth, hauling hundreds of shovelfuls of debris over the dumpster wall, he quickly realized it made more sense if we both lifted the wheelbarrows together to dump their contents, then he strategically stacked the empty wheelbarrows so we only needed to take one trip instead of several. He applied his engineering skills to gardening and made the work much more efficient.
Think outside the box about what you know or are interested in. If you find that you have quite a narrow focus, get curious about what else is going on around you, or is intertwined with what you know. If you’re a mathematician, learn to draw and see how the two tie together. If you’re an expert at fixing cars, consider how learning about storytelling might help you better teach others to fix their cars, too.
What this means for how you build your creative life
Building a creative life is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. It helps with emotional regulation, self-expression, and building empathy (for yourself and others). But sometimes we’re afraid to start because we think we won’t be good at it, or we don’t want to put in the work required to get over the first “beginner” hump.
That’s okay. Even just learning to try something new is a skill many won’t cultivate because of a fear of failure. Think back to Hedy Lamarr, who just had an idea, gave herself the time to research it, sought out others in the field, and created something revolutionary. You can do that too. Any of us can if we grant ourselves the freedom to stretch our wings and expand beyond the confines of narrow thinking.
The cost of specializing too early
I’ve always thought it’s crazy that kids are supposed to know what they want to do with the rest of their lives by the time they’re 15 years old (maybe even younger in some cases!). They need to organize their high school career around how to best position themselves to get into a college that specializes in their desired career. But this leaves little to no room for exploration, which is what young teens should still be doing!
But if we encourage generalism and being multi-disciplinary areas of study, then their world broadens. There suddenly isn’t one specific school they need to get into, but rather there are a handful or more that can help them continue to learn.
This isn’t to say that experts aren’t necessary, because they are. Professions that require precision, like surgeons and lawyers, literally hold the lives of people in their hands every day. But the point of encouraging generalism is to enhance their expertise. Surgeons are adapting to use robotics in their procedures to cause less trauma in their patients’ bodies. Lawyers have to think of the most creative way to make the jury sympathize with their side of the case, or to simply make the law bend in their clients’ favor. This is where that fringe knowledge comes into play.
This way of thinking is how I’ve built a multi-disciplinary career. I started out as an aspiring sports journalist, but when that couldn’t pay the bills, I had to think of how to use my writing skills in other ways. I was a celebrity ghost writer, which led me to social media management, then I pivoted completely into financial writing, then authorship… You get the idea. At no point in my career have I been rigidly only one thing. I let my curiosity lead me to the fringes of my work and then asked myself, “What if I applied my knowledge from that other project to this one?” Now, I’m an internationally award-nominated author, best-selling embroidery patternist, and author coach, in addition to continuing to write for clients and work on my own books. I’m not singularly a journalist, an author, or an artist… I’m all of those things, and I let each discipline I learned unlock the next one.
How to think across disciplines without losing depth
It’s easier to think deeply across disciplines than you might think. Let’s look at cozy mystery books, for example. This genre is filled with series that follow a throughline. Murder, She Wrote is a classic example that most people are familiar with. The main character, Jessica Fletcher, uses her knowledge of mystery story construction, background as a teacher, and general observation to help solve crimes. Many cozy mystery series are like this as well, maybe centering around a bakery, a knitting circle, or a particular time in history. These types of outlets allow author and reader alike to apply generalist knowledge in writing, culinary skills, fiber art, etc., into well-rounded and researched books.
There are other practical, everyday examples as well. The other day, I was at a community garden and was paired with an engineer. We were tasked with clearing out an overgrown garden plot. Instead of taking wheelbarrows back and forth, hauling hundreds of shovelfuls of debris over the dumpster wall, he quickly realized it made more sense if we both lifted the wheelbarrows together to dump their contents, then he strategically stacked the empty wheelbarrows so we only needed to take one trip instead of several. He applied his engineering skills to gardening and made the work much more efficient.
Think outside the box about what you know or are interested in. If you find that you have quite a narrow focus, get curious about what else is going on around you, or is intertwined with what you know. If you’re a mathematician, learn to draw and see how the two tie together. If you’re an expert at fixing cars, consider how learning about storytelling might help you better teach others to fix their cars, too.
What this means for how you build your creative life
Building a creative life is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. It helps with emotional regulation, self-expression, and building empathy (for yourself and others). But sometimes we’re afraid to start because we think we won’t be good at it, or we don’t want to put in the work required to get over the first “beginner” hump.
That’s okay. Even just learning to try something new is a skill many won’t cultivate because of a fear of failure. Think back to Hedy Lamarr, who just had an idea, gave herself the time to research it, sought out others in the field, and created something revolutionary. You can do that too. Any of us can if we grant ourselves the freedom to stretch our wings and expand beyond the confines of narrow thinking.
