Date post: | 14-Jul-2015 |
Category: |
Career |
Upload: | reuven-gorsht |
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The Rise of the
Generalist
New Problems Require New Approaches
@reuvengorsht
Almost every organization looks like this
HR
With Specialist organizations Designed to support business priorities
Finance R D
IT
They value deep domain expertise, efficiency and process execution
Domain expertise efficiency process execution
You get hired, promoted and measured based on your expertise and value-add in your particular specialization
Going back to 1776, in Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, division of labor always represented a qualitative
increase in productivity
We’ve built our entire society and educational system around
specialization
The way to move up the ladder is to focus and get good at something
VP of HR CIO VP of Procurement
VP of Sales
However, issues that businesses face today are
MUCH MORE COMPLEX
And when complex problems arise,
WHAT
HOW WHY
BUT
HUH
Odds are they don’t always intersect within areas of specialization
Each specialist sees the problem through
THEIR OWN LENS
Which leads to
NARROW perspectives
While some companies have been successful in bringing together cross-functional teams to work together towards a
Common goal
Many resort to creating more
specialized silos
Hiring
MORE SPECIALISTS to facilitate communications between specialists
But this only increases
Complexity and distance from THE customer
Problems remain unsolved
The bottom line is that capabilities needed to win in the marketplace are
much broader than they were in the past
What organizations really need are
Generalists with new and agile skills
But aren’t Generalist
jacks of all trades masters of none
NOT AT ALL!
The new Generalist is a master of their trade
They bring expertise and experience FROM several areas
They see
the big picture
They understand and can synthesize
the full scope at hand
They are fueled by insatiable curiosity and the ability to
LEARN AND UNLEARN new concepts and ideas.
They act like the hub of a wheel
Connecting teams of experts
They complement specialists, by challenging them to think differently
but never compete with them or take credit for their ideas
they can reframe, package and present ideas, helping decision makers visualize
the future.
As outstanding communicators
by understanding and personally diffusing resistance to change.
they encourage and promote change from within
The new generalist is
courageous, the ultimate balancer of competing interests,
and a natural strategic thinker
the specialist and the generalist
The modern organization needs both
But it requires rethinking
how we recruit and how we manage
Generalists don’t typically fit
In a box
NEW SKILLS need to be DEVELOPED
HOW CAN YOU SPOT a great GENERALIST?
Attitude first not only experience
Intellectually curious (to an extreme level)
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XHTML, JavaScript”
ALWAYS CONNECTS THE DOTS
Can imagine EVERYTHING From a different perspective
Leads by influence and collaboration
Constantly challenges THE status quo and
Encourages new wayS of doing things
ARE YOU READY FOR The rise of the generalist?
@reuvengorsht www.reuvengorsht.com