Transcriber: Vy Dinh Reviewer: Keira White
Have you ever had an idea ignored
because you’re not an expert in a particular field?
Have you ever looked at something and thought it badly designed?
Or have you heard someone say: “That’s the way we’ve always done it”,
when you can clearly see there’s a better way of doing it?
And have you ever wondered how Tesla went from nothing,
to a world leader in electric cars in 11 years,
overtaking all the established car companies en route?
The common thread in all these examples is that someone on the outside
is seeing a way to do something those on the inside have missed.
It’s a case of the generalist seeing things the specialist cannot.
The world we live in at the moment worships the specialist,
but I’m not convinced that’s the best option for our future.
I’m not saying we don’t need specialists because we do,
but the focus and the praise that we throw at them does worry me.
Not only does it constrain us as a species,
but it also constrains us as individuals.
I would like to see a world where all ideas are treated equally.
A world where each idea is viewed on its own merit,
rather than judgement being made on the background
of the person speaking it. Why?
Because as well as that being the right way to treat people
and their thoughts and ideas,
such a system will also have the potential
to change our world in ways unimagined.
Before I go any further, I should perhaps define what I mean
by generalist and specialist.
I see a specialist as someone who knows more and more
about less and less.
I see a generalist as someone with a wide knowledge base
and a curious mind, someone who thinks in a more conceptual or abstract way,
linking their knowledge and skills in one area across to another.
Specialists tend towards silo thinking
and groupthink, that is, they tend to constrain
their thoughts within artificial boundaries.
This is brought on by the way they’ve been educated
and the environment within which they live and work.
Generalists, on the other hand, more open to new ideas,
they’re not bounded by any sense of tribalism
because by their nature, they are standing on the outside looking in.
Fundamentally, a generalist is someone who has an idea
on how to improve something in a subject area they’re not expert in.
Perhaps the most important thing about generalists is the fact
that it’s an opportunity open to everybody,
regardless of their background, their education,
their status, their wealth, or any of those other things
that often inhibit success in the modern world.
Which means essentially you could be a generalist
so you have the potential to change the world in ways yet unimagined.
Take a moment to think about that.
So how does a generalist live?
Well, you embrace your inner curiosity,
you keep your mind open to thinking in conceptual and abstract ways.
You look at the quirks in life and rather than just accepting them,
you question them.
When everyone else is turning right,
you turn left just to see what they’re all missing.
And you take an active interest in the world around you.
I consider myself to be a generalist in embracing my own inner curiosity.
I’ve acquired knowledge and experience in a wide range of areas.
I have experience and qualifications in many things
from the genteel art of photography through sailing, flying, furniture making
and coaching, to the less genteel profession of diving and bomb disposal.
But I don’t consider myself to be a specialist in any of these areas
because to do that would constrain my thinking.
My mind is constantly curious, it’s seeking out
new experiences and knowledge, and sometimes
I’m like a child in that sense.
Those with young children will know
the most common word uttered by 4-year-olds is not mommy or daddy,
but “Why?”
Children are naturally curious,
but the education system gradually extinguishes that curiosity
as we bend them to fit the requirements of the system.
We also narrow down their focus as they climb the educational ladder,
subconsciously planting the seed that specialist is best.
Take a moment to think about it.
We start out with children studying a wide range of subjects in middle school,
but by the time they do a masters degree or a PhD,
they’re studying subcategories of subcategories of a single subject.
The education system then congratulates itself
on having created another specialist,
another person who knows more and more about less and less,
and that’s one of the biggest problems I see with our education system today.
It claims to be preparing children for the future,
but the future of the world is becoming more and more unclear by the day.
The US military even coined a phrase for it: VUCA:
Volatile, Uncertain, Chaotic and Ambiguous.
So how do we prepare someone for a VUCA world?
Can our present education system do that?
Perhaps instead of telling children what to think,
we ought to be teaching them how to think.
Why? Because the ability to think in an abstract and conceptual way
is likely to be more useful to them
than the ability to regurgitate facts already available on their mobile phone.
Developing such skills will help them to deal with whatever that VUCA world
and VUCA future throws at them.
Now, while we cannot foresee the future,
we can take lessons from the past and then project them forward.
My grandfather had one job his whole life.
My father had three separate careers and I've had four so far,
and I think there's a fifth one in me.
If I wanted to follow in my grandfather’s footsteps,
I probably couldn’t, he was a coal miner.
And even if I did get a job in a coal mine,
it would not be hacking away at the coalface as he did,
it would most likely be hacking away at keyboard.
Now, think back to what your grandparents did
and then think forward to what your children
or your grandchildren might be doing for their employment.
I expect many will be doing jobs which haven’t even been invented yet.
So my question to you is: What tools can you give your children
to best prepare them for the unknown?
As well as thinking about your children and their potential as future generalists,
what about yourself?
It’s never too late for you to start your generalist career.
You already have huge amounts of experience, unique to you
that could benefit the world.
You probably just don’t realize it yet.
All you need to do is have belief and confidence
in yourself and your own ideas.
I read a wonderful quote recently that said:
“The fact that you only started blogging yesterday
does not mean you don’t have a valid opinion”,
and I love that quote because it encourages belief in oneself,
and it also highlights the equality of ideas.
Anyone can have a good idea, not just an expert.
Let me give you a few examples where generalists have demonstrated this.
There is a website called InnoCentive,
and it was specifically set up to allow generalists
to help specialists solve their problems.
Companies or organizations who have been struggling
with unsolvable issues post their problems on the site,
then anyone around the world can propose a solution.
NASA had a challenge they had been working on for 30 years,
within months a retired engineer with no links to the space program
had solved it for them.
An oil company had a pollution problem,
the problem was solved by a chemist, not using his chemistry knowledge,
but using knowledge he’d gained
while helping his brother complete a DIY project at his home.
This cross pollination of knowledge is key to the generalist concept of thinking,
because the outsider looking in can often see those things
that the insiders haven’t even noticed.
The book “Blackbox Thinking” by Matthew Syed
tells the story of how an airline pilot
brought about a revolution in medical surgery.
He identified an issue with how surgery was conducted
that was leading to increased death rates.
Surgeons themselves would never have solved this problem
because of their culture and the ways they worked,
they didn’t even realize there was a problem to solve,
but by transferring skills and practices used in aviation into the medical world,
the new processes have come together and saved countless lives during surgery.
Now, you might be listening to the examples and thinking:
“Well, I could never achieve anything so wonderful because, well, let’s face it,
who am I? You know, who am I to do something that might change the world?”
Well, in some ways, that’s one of the beauties
of being a generalist.
You don’t need to dedicate years of your life
focusing on one tiny subject area of work in the hope of discovering something new.
All you need to do is live a curious life and keep your eyes and your mind open,
and when that moment arrives,
when you look at something and you think there’s a better way of doing that,
have the belief in yourself as a generalist, speak out,
and let the world benefit from your glorious insight.
Thank you.
(Applause and cheering)