The most important career logic of the past is becoming counterproductive. Many of us have been told the key to success was developing a specialization that allowed us to climb the professional ladder. 
However, with the advancement in technology combined with increased uncertainty, the world is rapidly changing. In the future, being broad-minded is likely to be as important as expertise. The ability to connect the dots (generalists) is as important as the ability to make the dots (specialists).

Future career logic

Problem Solving

Self Improvement

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Breadth is gaining favor. To make it in today's world, it's essential to be agile and flexible.
It is not to say that deep expertise is useless. It is just that our world is changing so fast that those with more tools in their possession will better navigate the uncertainty.

The future belongs to generalists

To be a generalist, zoom out and pay more attention to the context in which you're making decisions.
<ul>
<li>Think bigger and wider than you usually would. Read the whole paper, not just the part that pertains to your industry. Study the dynamics affecting your sector. If you are a finance professional, read a book on marketing.</li>
<li>Take the time to consider how seemingly unrelated developments are connected and may impact each other.</li>
</ul>
Because generalists have a broader set of tools to draw from, they can dynamically adjust their course.

Being a generalist

The advancement of artificial intelligence and technological innovation have commoditized information. Many companies now look for multi-functional experience when hiring, such as Google, who values problem-solvers over role-related knowledge.
If you're reasonably new to the workforce, manage your career around obtaining a diversity of geographic and functional experiences that will allow you to compete against those who are more focused on a specific skill.

Professional success for generalists

Harvard lecturer: 'No specific skill will get you ahead in the future'—but this 'way of thinking' will

Many of us have been told that deep expertise will lead to enhanced credibility, rapid job advancement, and escalating incomes. The alternative of being broad-minded is usually dismissed as dabbling without really adding value. But the future may be very different: Breadth of perspective and the ability to connect the proverbial dots (the domain of generalists) is likely to be as important as depth of expertise and the ability to generate dots (the domain of specialists). The rapid advancement of technology, combined with increased uncertainty, is making the most important career logic of the past counterproductive going forward. The world, to put it bluntly, has changed, but our philosophy around skills development has not.

Today's dynamic complexity demands an ability to thrive in ambiguous and poorly defined situations, a context that generates anxiety for most, because it has always felt safer to generalize. Just think about some of the buzzwords that characterized the business advice over the past 40 to 50 years: Core competence, unique skills, deep expertise. For as far back as many of us can remember, the key to success was developing a specialization that allowed us to climb the professional ladder.

But as the typical mutual fund disclaimer so famously states, past performance is no guarantee of future results. It's time to rethink our love affair with depth. The pendulum between depth and breadth has swung too far in favor of depth. There's an oft-quoted saying that "to a man with a hammer, everything looks like nails." But what if that man had a hammer, a screwdriver, and a wrench? Might he or she look to see if the flat top had a narrow slit, suggesting the use of a screwdriver? Or perhaps consider the shape of the flat top. Circle? Hexagon? Could a wrench be a more effective tool? And finally, the mere addition of these tools can encourage a better understanding of a problem.

This is not to suggest that deep expertise is useless. Au contraire . Carrying a hammer is not a problem. It's just that our world is changing so rapidly that those with more tools in their possession will better navigate the uncertainty. To make it in today's world, it's important to be agile and flexible.

How does one do this? To begin, it's important to zoom out and pay more attention to the context in which you're making decisions. Read the whole paper, not just the section about your industry. Is your primary focus oil and gas? Study the dynamics affecting the retail sector. Are you a finance professional? Why not read a book on marketing? Think bigger and wider than you've traditionally done. Another strategy is to think about how seemingly unrelated developments may impact each other, something that systems thinkers do naturally. Study the interconnections across industries and imagine how changes in one domain can disrupt operations in another one.

Because generalists have a set of tools to draw from, they are able to dynamically adjust their course of action as a situation evolves. Just think of how rapidly the world changed with the development of the Internet and wireless data technologies. Jeff Bezos was not a retail specialist who took on his competitors and won. He was a relative newcomer to retail but was able to adapt rapidly to seize a gigantic opportunity.

Many forward-looking companies look for multi-functional experience when hiring. This is essential for large <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/01/how-google-ceos-brilliant-answer-in-a-job-interview-helped-him-get-hired.html">organizations like Google </a>, for example, where employees jump from team to team and from role to role. In fact, Lisa Stern Hayes, one of Google's top recruiters, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/10/google-uses-this-shocking-strategy-to-hire-the-best-employees.html">said in a podcast </a>that the company <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/28/the-most-important-skill-you-should-have-to-score-a-job-at-google.html">values problem-solvers </a>who have a "general cognitive ability" over role-related knowledge. "Think about how quickly Google evolves," she said. "If you just hire someone to do one specific job, but then our company needs change, we need to be rest assured that the person is going to find something else to do at Google. That comes back to hiring smart generalists."

If you're relatively new to the workforce, my advice is to manage your career around obtaining a diversity of geographic and functional experiences. The analytical capabilities you develop (e.g. basic statistical skills and critical reasoning) in the process will fare well when competing against those who are more focused on domain-specific skill.

The one certainty about the future is that it will be uncertain. The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence and technological innovation have commoditized information. The skill of generating dots is losing value. The key skill of the future is, well, not quite a skill; it's an approach, a philosophy, and way of thinking — and it's critical you adopt it as soon as you're able.

<a href="http://www.mansharamani.com/">Vikram Mansharamani </a>, PhD, is a Lecturer at Harvard University and author of the new book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Think-Yourself-Restoring-Artificial-Intelligence/dp/1633699218/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3CITRMDBEVG32&amp;amp;dchild=1&amp;amp;keywords=think+for+yourself+by+vikram+mansharamani&amp;amp;qid=1592264412&amp;amp;s=books&amp;amp;sprefix=think+for+yousrelf%2Cstripbooks%2C180&amp;amp;sr=1-1">"THINK FOR YOURSELF: Restoring Common Sense in an Age of Experts and Artificial Intelligence" </a>(HBR Press, 2020). Follow him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/mansharamani">@mansharamani </a>. Don't miss: <ul><li><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/09/harvard-psychology-researcher-biggest-traits-of-emotional-intelligence-do-you-have-them.html">Harvard researcher says the most emotionally intelligent people have these 12 traits. Which do you have? </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/10/billionaire-warren-buffett-use-this-simple-test-when-making-tough-decisions.html">Warren Buffett has a 'simple' test for making tough decisions—here's how it works </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/15/self-made-millionaire-this-is-the-no-1-way-to-get-rich-ramit-sethi.html">Self-made millionaire: This is the No. 1 way to get rich—and most young people are not doing it </a> </li> </ul>

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Future career logic

The future belongs to generalists

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Professional success for generalists

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Harvard researcher shares key skill of the future-that most people don't have

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The future belongs to generalists

Being a generalist

Professional success for generalists

IDEAS ABOUT

MORE LIKE THIS

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Bite-sized knowledge
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