Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World

We've all heard the old adage, "jack of all trades, master of none." Personally, I had always used this in a self-deprecating manner. Picking up a new skill or hobby by applying patterns and big picture thinking always came natural. On the other hand, specializing in one thing - and fussing over every little detail to perfection - was anathema to me.

Growing up, Bruce Lee was my hero. ‎”I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times”, he said. I saw my strength as a weakness. "Generalists are a dime a dozen", I thought, "A master of one thing is truly special."

The funny thing is, Bruce Lee was one of the most dynamic people of all time. As a martial artist, actor, director, screenwriter, producer, inventor, and philosopher, he was wildly successful. He was a visionary, whose combining of several different martial arts into Jeet Kune Do - and eventually an unnamed art - has earned him the reputation of the father of mixed martial arts. He thought and wrote incessantly about new ways to develop physical strength, speed, and technique. He sketched out and built several novel fitness machines to increase his grip strength alone.

I'm sure he did practice one kick 10,000 times. But I'd wager he also did the same with dozens of other kicks, punches, throws, chokes and blocks as well. This approach seems to me to create the best of both worlds: the committed generalist. It's Tim Ferriss prioritizing the Pareto Principle, getting 80% of the result from 20% of the effort. It's Roger Federer, playing dozens of sports until it was blatantly obvious that Tennis was his best way of acquiring the money he required to grow his CD collection.

The original phrase by Shakespeare was "A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one." It's not something to be ashamed of - it's a strength. It just needs to be cultivated properly. A modern rephrasing encapsulates it well: "Being a jack of all trades is pretty damn useful, but I would also say that it's really necessary to buckle down and find one primary mode of discipline."

In Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, David Epstein argues, “The more varied your training is, the better able you’ll be to apply your skills flexibly to situations you haven’t seen.” It's this pattern recognition and ability to learn quickly that powers a generalist's potential. It's a commitment to develop his craft diligently and effectively that allows him to capitalize on it.