This selection from Kenneth Mikkelsen and Richard Martin’s The Neo-Generalist is a favorite and certainly insightful. It reinforces the idea that a generalist can also be a person that specializes in several different skills or has deep interest in multiple subjects.
“It is impossible to be a generalist all the time. Rather there are periods, time-bound and contextualized, during which people specialize, going deep, adding to their portfolio of skills and experience, before following their curiosity in another direction. Every polymathic generalist is, in fact, a serial specialist. Even as they become known for one thing, they are quick to demonstrate that they should be recognized for another too.”
The process of moving from specialty to specialty? Frequency hopping.
“Frequency hopping, the perfect metaphor for the neo-generalist; wandering, accumulating, sampling, mixing, putting into practice what they learn.”
