The Top 5 Reasons to Be a Jack of All Trades

Specialization isn't always a good thing.

Are the days of Da Vinci dead? Is it possible to, at once, be a world-class painter, engineer, scientist, and more?

"No way. Those times are long gone. Nothing was discovered then. Now the best you can do is pick your field and master it."

The devout specialist is fond of labeling the impetuous learner -- Da Vinci and Ben Franklin being just two forgotten examples -- a "jack of all trades, master of none." The chorus unites: In the modern world, it is he who specializes who survives and thrives. There is no place for Renaissance men or women. Starry-eyed amateurs.

Is it true? I don't think so. Here are the top five reasons why being a "jack of all trades," what I prefer to call a "generalist," is making a comeback:

5) "Jack of all trades, master of none" is an artificial pairing.

It is entirely possible to be a jack of all trades, master of many. How? Specialists overestimate the time needed to "master" a skill and confuse "master" with "perfect."

Generalists recognize that the 80/20 principle applies to skills: 20 percent of a language's vocabulary will enable you to communicate and understand at least 80 percent, 20 percent of a dance like tango (lead and footwork) separates the novice from the pro, 20 percent of the moves in a sport account for 80 percent of the scoring, etc. Is this settling for mediocre?

Not at all. Generalists take the condensed study up to, but not beyond, the point of rapidly diminishing returns. There is perhaps a five percent comprehension difference between the focused generalist who studies Japanese systematically for two years vs. the specialist who studies Japanese for 10 with the lack of urgency typical of those who claim that something "takes a lifetime to learn." Hogwash. Based on my experience and research, it is possible to become world-class in almost any skill within one year.

4) In a world of dogmatic specialists, it's the generalist who ends up running the show.

Is the CEO a better accountant than the CPA? Is Steve Jobs a better programmer than the iTunes VP of Engineering? No, but he has a broad range of skills and sees the unseen interconnectedness. As technology becomes a commodity with the democratization of information, it's the big-picture generalists who will predict, innovate, and rise to power fastest. There is a reason military "generals" are called such.

3) Boredom is failure.

In a first-world economy where we have the physical necessities covered with even low-class income, Maslow's hierarchy of needs drives us to need more for any measure of comparative "success." Lack of intellectual stimulation, not superlative material wealth, is what drives us to depression and emotional bankruptcy. Generalizing and experimenting prevents this, while over-specialization guarantees it.

2) Diversity of intellectual playgrounds breeds confidence instead of fear of the unknown.

It also breeds empathy with the broadest range of human conditions and appreciation of the broadest range of human accomplishments. The alternative is the defensive xenophobia and smugness uniquely common to those whose identities are defined by their job title or single skill, which they pursue out of obligation and not enjoyment.

1) It's more fun, in the most serious existential sense.

The jack of all trades maximizes his number of peak experiences in life and learns to enjoy the pursuit of excellence unrelated to material gain, all while finding the few things he is truly uniquely suited to dominate.

The specialist who imprisons himself in self-inflicted one-dimensionality -- pursuing and impossible perfection -- spends decades stagnant or making imperceptible incremental improvements while the curious generalist consistently measures improvement in quantum leaps. It is only the latter who enjoys the process of pursuing excellence.

--

Don't put on experiential blinders in the name of specializing. It's both unnecessary and crippling. Those who label you a "jack of all trades, master of none" are seldom satisfied with themselves.

Why take their advice?

Here is a description of the incredible Alfred Lee Loomis, a generalist of the highest order who changed the course of World War II with his private science experiments, here taken from the incredible portrait of his life, Tuxedo Park. Loomis did not conform to the conventional measure of a great scientist. He was too complex to categorize -- financier, philanthropist, society figure, physicist, inventor, amateur, dilettante -- a contradiction in terms.

Be too complex to categorize.

Look far and wide -- there are worlds to conquer.

Timothy Ferriss is author of the #1 New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Businessweek bestseller, The 4-Hour Workweek.

Comments

[darwin1859]

In the 25 years since I left the confines of the University as an Anthropology major, I've been a Technical Editor for NASA, a Salesman, and the last 8 years in Construction as a Manager, Consultant, and College Instructor. And I'm not done yet because I've never put mental limits on what I can do. Everything I've done before gives me a much broader perspective on what's ahead of me, and allows for a greater creativity in dealing with different problems than a specialist could.

[realitytrumpsbull]

I agree with wiseferret. Anymore, in career-land, you are the play-doh, the work environment
is the little star-shaped mold that you'll be
passing through, then they'll do everything
they can to apply hardener to make you retain
the assigned shape. I think, to do what you're
talking about, you just about have to open
up your own business and be a 1-man-band.
Otherwise, you'll just get caught in the
gears trying to do your own thing in someone
elses' corporate thresher...

[RaderBarbarian]

I retired three years ago after a "career" as minister, theater director, rock & roller, newspaper editor and donor developer for a wide variety of nonprofits. When I "retired," I hardly noticed, since I had been having FUN throughout my "work" life. Now that I am retired, I have become a travel consultant, "life coach" (whatever the hell THAT is!), blogger, "professional homosexual" and chef. They told me throughout my life that it couldn't be done. That I would "rue the day."

And here I sit in paradise, knowing that in a few hours another glorious morning will burst over the horizon, thrilling me and making me feel like a six-year old who cannot wait to go to school.

I think about "them," all those "educators" who desperately needed me to make the same "career choices" (mistakes) that they made in order to validate their sad absurdity of a life - and I laugh and laugh and laugh.

[dadw5boys]

You have to be a Jack of All Trades if you own a home. Plus with the rapid changes in Technology we have to be able to make a living in between those changes.
Getting laid off and not having a skill in your back pocket to pay the bills is horrifing.
Just being able to to do a good paint job or landscape is important. Electricial work will save you tons of you own a home and plumbing oh my the money you'll save. Learning to maintain or repair you vechile will save tons espically if you buy older vechiles.
I only buy old vechiles and put maybe $3,000 in the whole car and they last me 3 to 5 years. I will never pay $30,000 for a car. NEVER!

[newyorknewyork]

I agree and this is often a big topic of discussion with me. I'm amazed how people who aren't a jack of all trades aren't even able to grasp the concept. They have it so set in their mind that you can only really be good at one thing, that coupled with our need to put a label on everything- and put in categories reinforces the belief that you are either x, y, or z. And you can't be good at more than one. Utterly ridicuous.

I'm a JOAT if there ever was one- and I love every minute of it. And we can add so much value to a project by being able to see from so many different perspectives. I've had jobs in completely different fields but every one has helped me perform better in the next. I attribute most of my successes to the fact that I'm a JOAT. But try explaining the value of this to someone who's clueless.

[jeskiley]

When you number them 5 to 1, I get confused and lost. It goes against everything I believe in! Latin words comprise at least 50% of the English language. Why, I ask, did my public school not insist that I learn it? I'm homeschooling my little masters of everything, thank you very much. And I agree with your research, it really doesn't take much more than a year to become world class at anything. And with every subject being somehow intertwined with the others, it doesn't take long to reconstruct the world that our elders so selflessly deconstructed for us. I'm searching the classics to find out what they were thinking.

[wiseferret]

So true, but try to get hired without being specialized. Try to get promoted.
Most of buisness in the USA does not reward the diversely talented.
I am that "Jack of all Trades" kind of person. My opportunities for advancement are nil because I am not going to specialize for a doctorate or MBA. In a small company, my ability to handle anything threatened my supervisor to the point I nearly went after a harrasment suit. Now in the cooperate world, I'm really bored. But I need to eat.
I don't see any come back of generalist unless they are starting thier own company. Not everyone, even a generalist, is suited to that. HR across the USA hates people that they can't quash into a little box.
And, um, "2) Diversity of intellectual playgrounds breeds confidence instead of fear of the unknown." Really interfers with the current drumbeat of politics for keeping people in fear.
I wish you could change the USA philosophy on this, but it'll be a long time coming!

[ReelBusy]

I started out in the entertainment industry as a creative type and learned a bunch of the business end by sheer luck and proximity. Those lessons are the one truly responsible for the success I've have been lucky enough to enjoy. Knowledge diversity rules!

[cktirumalai]

An ancient Roman said, "Nothing human is alien to me." People whose knowledge covers a broad range can bring to the particular subject they are interested in perceptions and principles narrow specialists are unable to. In Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited" a senior student advises the freshman at Oxford to go to all the best lectures regardless of subject. This is still sound general advice so long as the lecture is not in an area one cannot make head or tail of.