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This is the focus of my main keynote presentation topic, On Being a Deep Generalist. Specialisation came to the fore during the Industrial Revolution and achie

This is the focus of my main keynote presentation topic, On Being a Deep Generalist. Specialisation came to the fore during the Industrial Revolution and achieved a form of preeminence in the 20th Century that hadn’t existed elsewhere in human history when knowing, at depth, a wide variety of skills and disciplines was either essential for survival or in order to be considered a well-rounded individual. The internet, not without ongoing battles against vested interests, has solved the discoverability challenge faced with approaching the wealth of knowledge created in the past few centuries. For many of us aspiring polymaths (and I agree with the other comments here that a polymath isn’t someone who knows “everything about everything“, but rather knows “a lot about a lot” or “enough about enough”) the challenge is mental and societal. We convince ourselves that we must specialize to succeed; most schools and many workplaces promote the same. Yet creativity and insight so often depends on interdisciplinary knowledge and the ability to use our brains to connect novel ideas. It’s not the right choice for everyone. If you want to be the best in the world (or the top 1%) at something, then specialize. But most of us are more varied than that, which has benefits for us as business owners, or employees, and as humans.

alok-g 6y ago
What's the definition of Deep Generalist that you have in mind?
- smiley1437 6y ago
  “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” ― Robert A. Heinlein
  - n4r9 6y ago
    Technically the quote belongs to a character in one of Heinlein's novels. He did love writing hyper-competent men though, so chances are he believed it himself at some point. It's a decent description of a hyper competent person, but I wouldn't say a "deep generalist" in the sense of someone who has prolific knowledge of many different fields of human knowledge.
- JacobAldridge 6y ago
  In my main keynote I talk about being in the top 25% of the field across 3 different domains, while also being at an intermediary level in a range of others. In part, that’s to set an achievable first goal - most of the audience are probably already there in 1 or 2 fields, so it’s not insurmountable for them to progress, and hopefully from there they have the success to keep going wide as well as deep. If I had to add a stronger definition it would be more onerous than that; but at the same time, I’m not keen to be a gatekeeper playing the ‘No True Scotsman’ game - I just feel people would be happier if they pursued their interests and let curiosity guide them, and that we would probably achieve more commercially and creatively if we embraced that part of our natural desires.
  - alok-g 6y ago
    Thanks. I'll be curious to watch the keynote. :-) A question on my mind is how is "different domains" defined (a loose definition and/or positive and negative examples would be OK): * Running and swimming? * Playing violin and singing? * User Experience designer and sketch artist? * Neuroscience and machine learning? * Music and dancing? * Programming and chess? * Hardware and software? * Music and sketching? * Engineering and medicine? * Physics and gymnastics? :-) Thanks.

alok-g 6y ago

What's the definition of Deep Generalist that you have in mind?

smiley1437 6y ago
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” ― Robert A. Heinlein
- n4r9 6y ago
  Technically the quote belongs to a character in one of Heinlein's novels. He did love writing hyper-competent men though, so chances are he believed it himself at some point. It's a decent description of a hyper competent person, but I wouldn't say a "deep generalist" in the sense of someone who has prolific knowledge of many different fields of human knowledge.
JacobAldridge 6y ago
In my main keynote I talk about being in the top 25% of the field across 3 different domains, while also being at an intermediary level in a range of others. In part, that’s to set an achievable first goal - most of the audience are probably already there in 1 or 2 fields, so it’s not insurmountable for them to progress, and hopefully from there they have the success to keep going wide as well as deep. If I had to add a stronger definition it would be more onerous than that; but at the same time, I’m not keen to be a gatekeeper playing the ‘No True Scotsman’ game - I just feel people would be happier if they pursued their interests and let curiosity guide them, and that we would probably achieve more commercially and creatively if we embraced that part of our natural desires.
- alok-g 6y ago
  Thanks. I'll be curious to watch the keynote. :-) A question on my mind is how is "different domains" defined (a loose definition and/or positive and negative examples would be OK): * Running and swimming? * Playing violin and singing? * User Experience designer and sketch artist? * Neuroscience and machine learning? * Music and dancing? * Programming and chess? * Hardware and software? * Music and sketching? * Engineering and medicine? * Physics and gymnastics? :-) Thanks.