Generalists, rejoice! Behold: "Range"!

Is it so bad to be a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none? In a world of specialization and technical expertise, it can seem that way sometimes. But, "different strokes for different folks," as they say!

David Epstein's "Range: why generalists triumph in a specialized world" lays out a few convincing arguments as to why there is (still) a need for people with just enough cross-domain knowledge to serve as bridges connecting the land masses of vastly different technical specialties.

In our ever-more-complex world, generalists are better able to employ lateral thinking: "the re-imagining of information in new contexts, including the drawing together of seemingly disparate concepts or domains than can give old ideas new uses" (p.93) because of their ability to span specialties and apply concepts or principles from one area to innovate in another.

Proper problem framing is the key to solving complex challenges, and generalists' added value are their diverse perspectives: they can see a problem from different angles and analyze how it connects to different domains, whereas specialists tend to view problems from the narrow lenses of their own expertise.

One interviewee from the book, Professor Dedre Gentner of Northwestern University Psychology Department advised,

"In the life we lead today, we need to be reminded of the things that are only abstractly or relationally similar. And the more creative you want to be, the more important that is."

As a self-identifying generalist, I recognize that I may very well be biased, but these points make sense to me. Great book; highly recommend!

#generalists #books #goodreads #range