May 13 2008
Seth Godin says: Don’t be a Generalist. I disagree.
On his blog today, Seth Godin suggests that it’s better to be a specialist than a generalist.
While I see his point and agree to some extent, there’s a big part of me that thinks that a statement that general can’t help but be wrong.
I think that it’s possible to be both a generalist and a specialist at the same time. I know a little about a lot of things, but there are things that I specialize in and those are the things I try to focus on. However, knowing a little about those other things allows me to know how to do them, should I be required to, and to know how those things fit with what I do well. It also allows me to know what I’m NOT good at so, if necessary, I can bring in someone with that skill-set. It’s why my customers like me, I’m diverse, I can put out lots of different kinds of fires, and I know exactly what my skills are.
The problem I’ve seen with many specialists is that they get so locked into their specialty of choice that they then have problems applying that specialty when working on more far-reaching projects because they can’t see the big picture, only their small part of the puzzle. They also seem to have problems communicating with people outside of the scope and language of their specialty.
Who hasn’t met the science or tech nerd (and, as a nerd, I use that word in the most loving way possible) who can solve the problems of the math world but who can’t hold a simple conversation? And who would you rather work with? The best in the world - and someone you can’t communicate with, or someone not quite the best but who has well-rounded knowledge that is applicable to several areas of your business? Which gives you more bang for your buck?
I mean, it’s great if you’re the best web coder in the world, but if you don’t know how to translate that into making a site user friendly, SEO optimized and pretty to look at, you aren’t going to get much business.
So, go ahead and be a specialist, just don’t specialize yourself to the extent that you effectively cut yourself off from the rest of the world.
