Specialization Is for Insects

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Specialisation is for insects. (and doctors)

Contrary to popular belief "jack of all trades and master of none" is wrong, and mostly taken literally.

The complete phrase actually goes "A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one."

Efficient generalists do exist. Actually, all humans are multifaceted. We suck at things, and then we're good at things, but one cannot just be a 'single skill' person.

There are different flavors of generalists:

• T-shaped folks: Deep in one thing, but know enough about everything

• Pi-shaped: Two deep skills, broad knowledge elsewhere Comb-shaped: Multiple expert areas

• M-shaped: Multiple deep skills plus they can connect these skills

Look at history's greatest:

Leonardo da Vinci wasn't just painting Mona Lisa, he was designing war machines and studying human anatomy.

Benjamin Franklin? Inventor, writer, diplomat, and scientist - all in one lifetime.

From builders of startups to unicorn companies, all the founders have been multihanded and multirole folks.

When Elon Musk was building SpaceX, he started to study physics again, going back to the roots.

He's famously known for his thinking from first principles mental model. You cannot go building something without knowing how it would work, you'll get snowballed for sure.

Y Combinator, the startup factory, specifically looks for founders who can both code AND sell. They know single-skilled founders rarely make it.

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I've seen business owners making the mistake of 'delegating' growth and working on just the product. It never works. Also goes the other way. Unless you are the thrust and the accelerator in the early stages, you are digging your own grave.

That's why most CEOs spend their time solving problems across departments each week. They're not just focusing on governance. Amazon even requires their managers to run "two-pizza teams" - small groups where leaders need multiple skills.

When generalists are heading the organization, they can be problem solvers at a scale.

Custom support's messed up? Okay lets fix this with new systems, analyse metrics.

Growth funnel is broken? lets take a look. we're measuring the wrong metrics. Instead of CPA lets focus on Landing page conversion rate.

Bottom line thinning? lets analyse the past year's marketing expenses and opex-es.

Studies show Nobel laureates are 22 times more likely to have artistic hobbies than average scientists. In a world of specialists, people who can cross domains and connect the dots are becoming rare gems.

Right now I'm running the newsletter all by myself, learning the sales, growth, writing and copywriting.

Its a disaster.

But this disaster is important before I slowly start to find patterns and end the experiments. Anything which becomes repeatable and scaleable can be delegated. But if you're starting out, you cannot just sleep on any part of business or even life.

The future belongs to the curious ones - those who can change a diaper, write code, cook a meal, build something from scratch, comfort others, lead when needed, work independently, solve complex problems, and face challenges head-on. That's not just being a jack of all trades.

That's being fully alive.