On generalists and specialists.
Soldiers are often trained to do one single thing. They learn to shoot, and shoot really well. Of course, that’s a complex action as it involves a lot of small skills and a precision that’s uncanny. Not to talk of the morality of the whole thing. Still, they’ve learned to master one tool — shooting. Of course, that’s a simplification of what makes up a soldier, but for the case, we’ll stick to this premise.
In the HBO-series Westworld, there’s a scene where soldiers are encountered with a problem. They have a bunch or raging bulls coming at them with short notice. The bulls are coming in with full speed and they’re about 10 metres away when the soldiers first see them. The soldiers are stunned, but then get to use their tool — shooting. They open fire.
The problem for the soldiers is that at that distance, there’s little they can do about the bulls with that tool. The bulls have such speed that the bullets are doing little to stop therefrom running straight in to the soldiers. The soldiers die, as do the bulls.
The soldiers had a real, potentially lethal problem at their hands with the bulls. They decided to solve it with the tool closest at hand, both literally and figuratively, their guns. Hed they stopped for a second to think about it, they’d probably jumped out of the way or started running.
The point is that the soldiers are incredibly specialised in one thing — responding quickly with gunfire. They’ve practiced their reflexes and aim for hours and hours. It’s just not that great of a solution all the time.
The specialist has a real competence in something, in this case, firing a gun. That’s a really great tool in wars. The specialist is really good at doing what they do. But the tool isn’t at all effective in other situations, such as with the bulls.
The challenge for a specialist is to know what situations the tool is applicable in and what to do if their tool isn’t the best in that particular situation. They can, of course, ask for help. But that requires them to know whether or not their tool is applicable, and what tool might be if theirs isn’t.
The generalist, on the other hand, have challenges of their own. A generalist might have a sufficient knowledge of a number of tools, but they’re rarely as good at using them as the specialist. A generalist programmer might do okay in a number of different coding languages, but the specialist will outdo them in their specific language.
The difference is about as prominent as it can be in athletics. In all of the individual competitions, there are great runners, jumpers and shot putters. They’ve trained in one or a few branches of athletics. But in the competition of heptathlon, Usain Bolt wouldn’t stand a chance. There are people that are good enough at all of the things except running that would beat him in that.
The generalist knows what tools and skills are required to solve a number of problems. The specialist is great at using one or a few tools to solve a very specific problem.
Now, ask yourself: Are you more of a generalist or a specialist? And more importantly, which would you like to be?
