Are Specialists More Valued Than Generalists?
'Hira, you have only been in London for 21 months and you have been working on more projects than I have done in my entire career. You need to slow down and focus on one thing. And what's your niche, anyway?'
This was a conversation I had with one of my mentors a few weeks ago. You'd think that doing a number of projects in a short span of time would be a huge accomplishment, no? But not in the eyes of this mentor. In fact not in the eyes of many people. I immediately felt a strong pang of guilt after this conversation! Though I talk a lot about coping strategies to deal with Impostor Syndrome, I could feel the impostor in me kicking in at that very moment. Maybe my mentor was right. I do need to focus on one thing at a time. What if pursuing multiple projects spells out disaster? Somehow, the phrase Jack of All, Master of None started ringing in my years. I have identified myself as a High Achieving Type Women since years-women who have always had a LOT on their plate at any given time. In my interviews and blogs, I have talked about these high achieving women, often.
But wait, isn't multitasking or being multi-talented a good thing? Unfortunately, mostly it's not. The world sees many downsides in being a Type A women including these women themselves. Why? Because it has been drilled in our minds since we were much younger that we need to focus on one target in hand/one market/ one strength/one specialty and that those who tend to pursue many passions are seen as either fickle, over-ambitious or confused.
But what if there are people who really are good in a number of things? For years, I have been struggling to create a niche for myself? I have been trying to convince myself, this is what I I should too, if I really wished to distinguish myself. I am essentially a trainer and coach but who is my ideal client? Women? BAME Women, Business Women? Professional Women? Career Men & Women? Men and Women From Diverse Groups? University Graduates? And what do I help them with? Careers? Businesses, Personal Lives, Relationships? What's my industry? Corporates, Small Businesses, NGOs? And even though I now primarily identify as a Leadership Trainer & Career Coach for women, at this point in time, what if I don't want to stick to one target market? What if I tell you that I have done or I am doing projects covering most of these aforementioned categories? Would you perceive me as having lack of clarity in my goals? Will you see me as being someone who is indecisiveness? Would you tell me to narrow down my focus? In this day and age, shouldn't I be an expert in one area? Specialists are better valued than Generalists, aren't they? If I have many interests and pursuits would people take me seriously?
But then, what if I have proved myself in each of these areas? What if I don't want to be forced to choose only one? What if I truly am equally good with all these groups and target markets? What if I don't want to limit myself to one single project or audience. What if instead of one, multiple projects and target markets spark my interest?
Thanks to the amazing Alexandra Galviz-Authentic Alex who I met recently and with whom I also happen to share many passions and interests, I was introduced to a Ted talk by Emilie Wapnick and that's when I realized who I actually am! That conversation was an enlightening one for me! It's that day I realized that I am actually allowed to pursue many goals at one time. We had a very interesting conversation which you can view over here!
After watching the talk, I realized that I, with my multiple passions could actually be beneficial to the society. I now have a new identity to which I can now relate and feel proud of. Next time when I talk about what I do, I will proudly tell them that I am a Trainer, A Coach, An NLP Practitioner, A Blogger, A Podcaster, An Author, A Social Worker, A Motivational Speaker, A Diversity Advisor, A Change Maker in addition to being a Chef, Party Planner, Project Manager, Mom and Wife. I won't self cautiously break off with embarrassment when listing what I really do. I don't need to niche down or specialize. I wouldn't be changing my LinkedIn Header every now to avoid appearing Jack of all and Master of None. My multiple projects won't embarrass me anymore. I am going to proudly identify with each role and talent that I have and own every project unabashedly. Because I am what Emilie calls a MULTIPOTENTIALITE who doesn't need to put in her pursuits and interests in one single box. I am woman with many interests and talents. I am allowed to be and to do many things at the same time. And, I am proud of it. I remember telling people, just because you are good at many things, you don't need to do them all. I would like to rephrase that.
Just because you are good at many things, don't be afraid to admit and do them all. I have finally found my calling as a mutipotentialite! How about you? Is it so important to have a specialization or a niche or can the world benefit from people like me? Is being mutipotentialite a bane or a boon?
Hira Ali is the Chief Executive Officer Advancing Your Potential & Revitalize and Rise and the Founder of The Career Exceler For Trailblazing Women
She is an Executive Career Coach, Leadership Trainer, Motivational Speaker, Writer, Podcaster, & NLP Practitioner. She tweets @advancingyou and can be contacted at [email protected] Or via her Twitter, LinkedIn, Insta or Facebook profiles
Read my article on Impostor Syndrome shared by Arianna Huffington
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8 Minutes Of Learning With Hira Ali * Featured In the Huffpost
Security Architect - Cloud
6 年How about specialist in many areas i.e. specialist generalist ;)
Marketing @ Stitchflow.io | Bootstrapping Supermeme.ai ($50k ARR) | MicroSaaS Builder | B2B SaaS Comedy
6 年This is one of very few articles that made me feel like someone has put out the thoughts on my head! Thanks for teaching me the word MULTIPOTENTIALITE, I called them multi-doer in this blog. https://medium.com/@kaihopasu/how-we-enable-multi-doers-through-a-project-approach-4969c7ae7cf2
Experience Strategist ? Responsible AI ? Behavioral Insights ? Customer Experience Innovation ? Business Design ? Championing humanity & ethical technology
6 年What a wonderful post - thank you for sharing your journey to embracing the generalist in you. I point to this example for why a generalist view is important in addition to a specialist one: When Galileo found mountains on the moon, he didn’t have a sophisticated enough telescope to see it. But his knowledge as an artist and painter helped him see the zig zag formations and dark/light colors on top of his depth of knowledge in astronomy to surmise they were mountains. There is another term you may wish to explore: Polymath. It is defined as "a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas—such a person is known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems." I also view these labels more as the way knowledge is APPLIED rather than LEVEL of knowledge. Generalists apply their knowledge in broader larger influence, while specialists apply their knowledge in a focused way. Myself, I traverse somewhere between science, technology, culture, humanity, social impact, food photographer, cook, husband, dad, traveller. I'm the square peg that won't fit into a round space. :)
Founder of OFFLINE, which is a celebration of the virtues of randomness and serendipity!
6 年Specialisation certainly has its merits but generalisation is much preferred. Specialisation often requires a deep dive into technical issues and concentrating on one area alone may be interpreted as either very focused or very narrow. Generalisation suggests a curious mind and tends to draw a much wider cross section of colleagues and associates into your orbit.
Russian to English literary translator @ leading publishers
6 年An interesting article thanks for sharing - speaking from my own experience I would say that I have for the last ten years focussed on one speciality the most, but have developed other skills by diversifying into other subject areas as a Linguist and Translator. These other professional fields I have found have not only fed into each other in many ways, but have allowed me to broaden my sphere of interest and move out of my comfort zone. Whether you work as a generalist, or a specialist you are always drawing on key skills such as negotiation, managing expectations, communication, team working, promotion etc, so there are naturally crossovers. As to whether specialists have an edge over generalists in the marketplace I can only speak from my personal niche, but I would always side with the specialist route, but would advise that openness, and readiness to diversify and learn from each other is always a plus. Best of luck with your work.