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A common refrain I hear is that in the age of AI, you don’t want to be a “jack of all trades and a master of none.”
For example, my good friend (and former Every writer) Nat Eliason recently argued: “Trying to be a generalist is the worst professional mistake you can make right now. Everyone in the world is getting access to basic competence in every white-collar skill. Your ‘skill stack’ will cost $30/month for anyone to use in 3-5 years.”
He makes a reasonable point. If we think of a generalist as someone with broad, basic competence in a wide variety of domains, then in the age of AI, being a generalist is a risky career move. A language model is going to beat your shallow expertise any day of the week.
But I think knowing a little bit about a lot is only a small part of what it means to be a generalist. And that if you look at who generalists are—and at the kind of mindset that drives a person who knows a lot about a little—you’ll come to a very different conclusion: In the age of AI, generalists own the future.
What generalists are
Become a paid subscriber to Every to unlock the rest of this piece and read about:
- Generalists: Masters of the uncertain
- AI's limitations in novel problem-solving
- How the allocation economy favors adaptable minds
- Why asking the right questions trumps knowing all the answers
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Dan Shipper
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Totally agree. I also think that having a specialist area (one you've dived deep into in the past) helps you know what questions to ask about the new thing you want to learn about. To be able to do both might be where the super power is at.
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"A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes is better than a master of one."
The second part is often forgotten or unknown.
The book "The Neo-Generalist" revises the _of none_ part: _None_ doesnt mean zero, it means not 100% depth. Imho a jack of all trades (@85+% in several disciplines) will always manage better in complex situations.
Its just a pity that most education systems still produce workforce for the 19th century factory.
Long term versatility will beat depth, because most fundamental problems man produces come from a lacking holistic approach and adaptability. I totally agree with your conclusion.
I really love this article - thank you! Of course I am very biased, being a generalist myself but have found this a good way to progress my career as well as aiding personal development and building skills outside of my immediate career. It has also given me confidence to tackle most situations; obviously not open-heart surgery, but instances in the corporate world.
This was one of the first articles that I read of yours Dan and it hit me so hard and just that realization of this is who I am and how this age of AI has really given me my power back as this generalist who can see what others don't see and knows how to connect the dots and can adapt, and now has the ability to leverage the deep dive and the expertise of AI and it makes the future so exciting for me. Great job on articulating this.
Although I agree with the article, the real situation for generalists is that it is hard to convince others that you have the ability to solve more cross-field problems with your diverse insights (unless you have already accomplished something extraordinary).
Since not everyone dreams of becoming an entrepreneur, proving past experience to secure employment is still important.
**"It's the one who knows which questions to ask in the first place."**
I've found that the questions we ask often come from our domain experience and curiosity. As Kitto implied, there's "a respect for the wholeness or the oneness of life, and a consequent dislike of specialization." What's true for economies is also true for nature.
When environmental changes occur, generalists survive while highly specialized species struggle to adapt. And why should they adapt? They've developed features, diets, and hunting methods specifically designed to thrive in stable, unchanging environments—tools honed over a great length of time in non-hostile conditions. But when change happens—a change that levels the playing field—it becomes about who can utilize it to thrive and who cannot.
By tapping into our understanding of areas we're familiar with and drawing from diverse experiences, we're able to explore more effectively and solve problems outside our usual domains—things that were once not possible.
AI is a force multiplier. Applied correctly, it yields significant results. But it's also a threat. Because it creates a division between those who can use it and those who cannot.
Consider leveraging AI at the very beginning of your problem-solving process. Even if you don't know the answers to questions outside your fields of expertise, AI can multiply our efforts and help us ask the right questions. Turning you specialist domain expertise into general domain competence.
Love it