While the Industrial Age was marked by increasing specialization, the “Return of the Generalist” in society is a common theme in many books. It has been recognized already in 2005 by Dan Pink in his book “A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future“, and I found the issue further developed in an interesting book, “The Rise of the Naked Economy: How to Benefit from the Changing Workplace” by Ryan Coonerty and Jeremy Neuner.
In this book about the future of work and of the workplace, they identified two key players in the “Naked Economy” of the future: big-picture thinkers, who they call the Smart Generalists, and the small-bore experts, the Super Specialists. The two are complementary. In our future project-based working environment, Smart Generalists will coordinate the work of Super Specialists, and both will have tremendous value.
In the book, the author mention that “My value, like all generalists’, is to know a little about a lot. That means the onus is on me to constantly reach out to new people, read books and articles, watch the trends in a wide range of arenas, and generally be passionately interested in the world. Having that broad knowledge to draw on, and to be able to use it when I need it, brings me a lot of credibility when I’m dealing with people in business, government, or academia.”
The Smart Generalist is coming back, watch for the change in the workplace!
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