Why a rejection of Specialisation can be your greatest Strength

Chris Herd

Oct 1, 2017·4 min read

I always thought there was something wrong with me

Each year somebody would ask me what I wanted to do when I grew up and every year it was different. Typically my choice was deemed ‘unrealistic’ and my parents or teachers would encourage me to pick something else.

So my inclination to pursue the multiple interests that intrigued me and formed my passions receded

I didn’t feel normal and the criticism at a young age blunted my enthusiasm. I settled on something instead of allowing my wide-eye’d-wonder to guide me and my creative mind to soar. My growth was stunted — in order to fit in.

“I want to be an Architect.”

Mission accomplished — no more question or strange looks — acceptance and contentment achieved. Now I must tailor my experiences and skills to enable my pursuit of my new, more worthy goal as deemed so by other people.

One problem, I hated it.

Almost immediately I was bored and desperate to escape from the tedium of one subject.

I was the first person in my direct family to go to university so just getting there was seen as an achievement. I came from a relatively poor school in one of the UK’s most affluent regions and by way of career advice there was nothing to rely on.

I didn’t know what I didn’t know and this prevented me from being able to pursue the things where my passion lay

The biggest problem with the ‘pick a path’ approach isn’t that you have to define what you will pursue at an early age

It’s that you don’t know the paths available to you

That’s the problem with specialization too early

Nobody taught me about what a Venture Capitalist, Management Consultant or an Investment Banker was.

The difference in classes isn’t nepotism in the traditional sense — it’s the availability of knowledge which certain sections of society have of opportunities that are available

Polymath, Renaissance Man/Woman, Multipotentialite — whatever you want to call it, it means the same thing. It is what I’ve always been but was too scared to encourage my eclecticism to flourish.

Why do we not encourage this in everyone who show an interest in a multitude of things?

Instead we let those people flounder with thoughts which doubt their self-worth.

There are 3 huge benefits to being a multipotentialite which are overlooked:

1 — Idea synthesis

The ability to combine two or more fields and create something new at the intersection. The cross pollination of ideas, skills and experiences enables to birth of entirely new ways of thinking.

2 — Rapid learning

Multipotentialites are used to being beginners and are less scared about trying new things. They recover quickly from failure and learn the lessons it teaches. They develop paterns and behaviours which enable them to master things quickly while almost every skill acquired is transferable enabling the pursuit of future opportunities more efficiently.

3 — Adaptability

The ability to morph into whatever you want to be is the single most important skill to thrive in 21st century. Multipotentialites adapt and thrive through understanding. They are able to break down problems they don’t understand, see the element of things they have done within it, and pull it back together again.

The above relates to the pursuit of fresh opportunity

The collaboration between multipotentialites and subject matter specialists has the potential to drive even greater innovation leading to results which neither could achieve on their own.

Or an entirely new future where the value of them is finally realised on their own with the ‘assistance’ of something else

The Future

What does SatNav for Doctors or Lawyers look like?

It would be idiotic to not utilize tech which gives access to the sum of all human knowledge.

This will save lives by enabling the expert to focus on the problem and dealing with the person. They will utilise their emotional connection instead of having to rely on their logically abilities to solves simple problems for computers.

The typical assumption made currently is that tech will replace human operatives

The contrarian truth is simpler

Humans will become better when augmented by tech which will enable them to stay one step ahead of full automation.

If the ‘SatNav’ is doing the heavy lifting, you no longer need specialists acting as the public face to the patient or client

To thrive in a world flourishing with automation we need people who understand and exploit their knowledge across a multitude of industry sectors

To tackle bigger problem we need dreamers who don’t contrain themselves to one both

Could that be you?