Fresh-Oil Episode #09
 

IS THIS A SPECIALIST LOOKING FOR A GENERALIST?
OR A GENERALIST LOOKING FOR A SPECIALIST?
It will depend upon who is sitting at the computer!
That will determine who the people in the background represent.

Why Generalists and Specialists need each other.
LIfe serves up an interesting conundrum.
Should you be a specialist or should you be a generalist?
The question was posed on a podcast that caused the hosts to ponder the answer.

"Why is this episode going off the charts?"

"What is so unusual about this episode?"

I recently interviewed the author of these questions, Jayme Soulati, and decided to review the show she shares with John Gregory Olson.
Because it begged an answer, and I was immediately struck by several considerations of my own.
So...
Growing up, we had a saying in Northern Ireland and across the general British Isles.
He is, "A Jack-of-all-trades, but a master of none!"

The idea was that they could do many things well, but no one thing with mastery.

You will see that I think this should be,  "jack-of-all-trades or master of one!"
What I mean by this is that most generalists are wrapped around a specialty.
But seldom are specialists geared the same way.

I never really grabbed the essentials of this moniker until I realized something about myself.
I did master one specific thing, or at least made it my specific objective to master it as much as I was capable of doing.

Along the way I picked up the generalists bent.
Being interested in everything and curious about too many things.

I examined life, living, work, play, and more.
But often I lost interest in going beyond proficiency in the matter.
I know why now.

There's nothing wrong with the ladder, it's the wall that needs to be moved.
Comparisons of need.
One inch wide and ten miles deep.

The specialist.
They are the one inch wide and a mile deep people.
They have the intricacies of the speciality.
Your customer needs this but often the generalist can't supply it.
So, you go to the ladder, the specialist and barter a deal.

One inch deep and ten miles wide.

The generalist.
They are the one inch deep and a mile wide people.
They have the intricacies of a wide general competency.
They have what the specialist doesn't and they need it.
so you go to the wall or the ladder and or the wall or the ladder must come to you.
Here are some examples to consider.
Tesla and Edison
Nicola Tesla was the ladder.
Without him Edison could not light his bulb or safely deliver current over long distances.

Tesla needed Edison to get a place to build his ladder of expertise.
Edison used this to his advantage whenever he needed him.

Jobs and Wozniak
Jobs was the generalist that saw what the future electronic age would bring.
Wozniak was the ladder that Jobs put against that wall to make it happen.

Jobs needed Wozniak to build the ladder.
Wozniak needed Jobs to get his expertise to market.

Ford and business minds

Ford saw the wall for the cars.
His engineers built the ladder.

Ford created the assembly line.
The engineers build the ladders he saw and needed.

And then there is you?

Are you a specialist?
Find your generalist who faces the same wall or similar.
Pair up. Form a coop. Let the generalist find the walls, then bring the ladders to them.
And the reverse if you are a generalist.

Not so easy, but worth the work.

Each specialist needs to find the right generalist or selection of generalists to work with.
Same for the generalist they need their ladder building specialists as well.
When this happens.
Clients can be served the best.

But specialists and generalists often are one man or one woman shows.
The costs are too high to share the revenue of business with another.
So going it alone takes its toll.

Oh! of course there is always an exception to the rule.
Once in a while you get an exceptional specialist who is an extraordinary generalist.