"A polymath is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems.”

The ability to learn has never been easier, and yet careers are becoming more linear. Where did all the generalists go?

Felipe Fernández-Armesto wrote: 

"Universities bear some responsibility for its extinction. Classical Greece, Renaissance Italy and Victorian England all revered and rewarded generalists, for whom today universities have little or no space or patience. Enclosed departments in discrete spaces, with their own journals and jargons, are a legacy of lamentable, out-of-date ways of organising knowledge and work."

I agree with Felipe. I hate that students are leaving University with a defined skillset. At a degree show last week, one of the design graduates told me that User Experience wasn’t in their skillset. They’d collaborated with one of their mates to do the UX bit. 

At 21, I don’t think 'I can’t' should be part of anyone’s vocabulary.

Robert A. Heinlein wrote:

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialisation is for insects.”

I think I’ve tried about 14 out of Roberts 21 instructions. 

To 'conn a ship' means to give orders to the ship’s engine, rudder lines & ground tackle. I had to Google that one, but it sounds like running a business, so maybe it’s 15. 

I haven’t tried dying gallantly yet – it's on my to do list. 

Tim Ferriss wrote:

"In a world of dogmatic specialists, it’s the generalist who ends up running the show. Is the CEO a better accountant than the CFO or CPA? Was Steve Jobs a better programmer than top coders at Apple? No, but he had a broad range of skills and saw the unseen interconnectedness … it’s the big-picture generalists who will predict, innovate, and rise to power fastest. There is a reason military “generals” are called such.”

As I write this Sam, our ‘copywriter’ is editing a video. Last week he learnt how to create a flexible grid systems and threw himself into some hand-painted typography. 

Was the typography great? Not at first. He’s also on V6 of the video edit. But has he improved? A tonne. Give someone a little trust and time and they’ll blow you away. 

So are managers to blame? I heard recently Jamil Qureshi say that people crave consistency. It’s a comfortable place to be. We’re conditioned to work consistently, not creatively. And that’s because for the last 100 years, management has been around to (primarily) reduce variance in output.  

With less variance, businesses can scale. Management keeps people habitual. So when we do try something new, we inevitably hit the discomfort wall. And if this discomfort is then paired with clock-watching management, it’s a recipe for disaster. 

We need to embrace the discomfort of failing 

I took my kids to skateboarding lessons last night. After their lesson we shared a portion of chips and watched some of the other skaters try to land a trick. 

Slam after slam they failed. 

I winced. The kids soaked it in.

One dude landed it after his 30th attempt. Everyone cheered. 

I’m glad they saw that.