The Rise of the

Generalist

New Problems Require New Approaches

@reuvengorsht

Almost every organization looks like this

HR

With Specialist organizations Designed to support business priorities

Finance R D

IT

They value deep domain expertise, efficiency and process execution

Domain expertise efficiency process execution

You get hired, promoted and measured based on your expertise and value-add in your particular specialization

Going back to 1776, in Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, division of labor always represented a qualitative

increase in productivity

We’ve built our entire society and educational system around

specialization

The way to move up the ladder is to focus and get good at something

VP of HR CIO VP of Procurement

VP of Sales

However, issues that businesses face today are

MUCH MORE COMPLEX

And when complex problems arise,

WHAT

HOW WHY

BUT

HUH

Odds are they don’t always intersect within areas of specialization

Each specialist sees the problem through

THEIR OWN LENS

Which leads to

NARROW perspectives

While some companies have been successful in bringing together cross-functional teams to work together towards a

Common goal

Many resort to creating more

specialized silos

Hiring

MORE SPECIALISTS to facilitate communications between specialists

But this only increases

Complexity and distance from THE customer

Problems remain unsolved

The bottom line is that capabilities needed to win in the marketplace are

much broader than they were in the past

What organizations really need are

Generalists with new and agile skills

But aren’t Generalist

jacks of all trades masters of none

NOT AT ALL!

The new Generalist is a master of their trade

They bring expertise and experience FROM several areas

They see

the big picture

They understand and can synthesize

the full scope at hand

They are fueled by insatiable curiosity and the ability to

LEARN AND UNLEARN new concepts and ideas.

They act like the hub of a wheel

Connecting teams of experts

They complement specialists, by challenging them to think differently

but never compete with them or take credit for their ideas

they can reframe, package and present ideas, helping decision makers visualize

the future.

As outstanding communicators

by understanding and personally diffusing resistance to change.

they encourage and promote change from within

The new generalist is

courageous,  the ultimate balancer of competing interests,

and a natural strategic thinker

the specialist and the generalist

The modern organization needs both

But it requires rethinking

how we recruit and how we manage

Generalists don’t typically fit

In a box

NEW SKILLS need to be DEVELOPED

HOW CAN YOU SPOT a great GENERALIST?

Attitude first not only experience

Intellectually curious  (to an extreme level)  

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ALWAYS CONNECTS THE DOTS

Can imagine EVERYTHING From a different perspective

Leads by influence and collaboration

Constantly challenges THE status quo and

Encourages new wayS of doing things

ARE YOU READY FOR The rise of the generalist?

@reuvengorsht www.reuvengorsht.com