Books For Decision Makers: Volume 2 - Range
How Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
In the ever-changing, complex world in which we live, a lot of pressure is placed on being an expert or mastering a particular skill. In order to attain excellence in whatever field you choose- sports, science, music, business, whatever- it is often said that you must specialize and focus on that particular skill, often starting at an early age, to be truly great. The 10,000 hour rule is often championed as the amount of ‘deliberate practice’ necessary to become an expert or world-class master. In his book, “Range: How Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World,” David Epstein argues that this is not the case. He contends that generalists, those who embrace range, experimentation and broader experiences, often find a better road to success than that of strictly specialization. Range demands patience, open-mindedness and scientific curiosity. Through this greater diversity, greater breakthroughs may be derived, which will lead to greater innovations that significantly contribute to and enhance society as a whole.
With that being said, he doesn’t discredit the process of specialization and its role in building one’s expertise or particular skill set. His message is simply that specialization is not the end-all, be-all that it is often made out to be. The idea that having a head start or specializing at an early age is essential to success is a myth. One’s environment is what truly dictates what method is best to triumph. Epstein studied some of the world’s most successful athletes, artists, scientists, musicians, and inventors, among others to find out what was it that made them excel. He gives a multitude of examples throughout his book that illustrate how success was achieved through the paths of specialization and generalization. To open his book, he focuses on 2 of the greatest single-player athletes of all-time, Tiger Woods and Roger Federer.
Tiger Woods first held a golf club at the age of 10 months. By the time he was 2 years old, he was already on TV hitting drives. His mindset from an extremely early age was golf, golf, golf. With the help of his parent’s dedication, he started his specialization early and was able to hone his craft through years and years of practice to become one of the best golfers the world has ever seen. This spawned many books and theories to be developed on the importance of getting a head start and the power of specializing one’s skill at such a young age. Roger Federer, conversely, took a more meandering approach. He played many other sports as an adolescent, including skiing, basketball and soccer. It wasn’t until he was a teenager that he really began to focus on tennis. He too became one of the greatest ever at his sport.
Epstein points out that yes, both of these great athletes eventually specialized in their sport in order to become some of the greatest champions ever, but Tiger’s path is the anomaly, not Roger’s. While early specialists may have a leg up at the start, many of the most successful people, in whatever field, often took time to explore, learn and develop a larger breadth of knowledge before ultimately settling on their chief-defining moment.
So, while both paths can lead to success, Epstein analyzes why Roger’s path, and a more generalized approach is actually more likely to foster greater achievements. He explains that if you function in a “kind” environment, where all variables are known and nothing really changes, then sure, the 10,000 hour rule is great. One can more easily ascertain that they can follow a step-by-step process in order to become specialized, master a trade and find success.
However, the world isn’t always setup like this. Things can change at an alarming rate and it is essential to continuously learn and adapt to new dynamics. He calls this the “wicked” environment, where the issues are more complex, their are moving targets and what needs to be learned next in order to succeed isn’t always crystal clear. This is the world of today. He contends that the best way to flourish is this environment is to learn more broadly, experiment with many different things and pursue a multitude of alternative paths before taking the deeper dive. He even says that one can choose where to focus their efforts for a variety of reasons: maybe they are naturally good at it, it is needed by society, it offers financial benefits, or they simply enjoy it. He stresses the importance of not discounting doing something that you enjoy, for this may be the key to finding true happiness. This is another discussion entirely, but the age old cliche is a cliche for a reason: the key to life is finding happiness. So find what makes you happy and do it. What better way to find your true passion than by experimenting and learning as many things as possible.
Over the course of the book, Epstein continues with numerous stories and examples across seemingly all fields. While he illustrates particular cases of specialization leading to great accomplishments, the overall thesis remains: building up expertise in just one field does not help performance. There are many more instances where creativity, flexibility and a wider scope of interests and knowledge achieved through generalization lead to world-changing breakthroughs and overall success.
Some of the other key takeaways from this book are as follows:
Experts and pundits in society are usually wrong. They are wrong for a variety of reasons, but one of the most common reasons is that most people dismiss new information that doesn’t conform to what they already believe. This goes back to Epstein’s overwhelming conviction that generalization lends itself to broader knowledge, success and the ability to advance as opposed to narrow-mindedness and specializing in only a certain aspect.
Breadth of experience and interest drives innovation. Closing yourself off from other ideas and solely focusing on one thing can often prevent you from seeing the bigger picture or finding the next breakthrough. Narrow expertise can be great, until the problem requires further reasoning. By thinking outside the box and opening yourself up to a wider spectrum can promote extended learning and foster greater overall growth.
Read, learn and practice broadly. One can never have too much knowledge about multiple different subject matters. The fear is often that a person who is not focused or specialized will become a “jack of all trades, but a master of none.” These are not mutually exclusive. You can be generalized first, with a large base of knowledge and interests, and still dive deeper in order to become an expert on certain matters.
Experimentation is as reliable a process to becoming an expert as early specialization.By doing more testing and experimenting, one might be able to find their true calling and possibly even increase their overall happiness, rather than specializing in a certain attribute that they may or may not be good at, or even like.
Identify whether you are in a “kind” environment where specialization would serve you best, or if you are in a “wicked” environment that requires creativity and adaptation in order to achieve success. It is possible that it could be both, but chances are that the wicked environment will be present at the start of your journey or appear more often along the way.
Patience, open-mindedness and curiosity promote growth and innovation.
Surround yourself with a more diverse group of people. By always staying in the same social settings and not expanding your environment, you are doing an injustice to yourself. How else are you supposed to grow, learn and provoke change if you surround yourself with likewise people and never look to the outside for something more.
Learning should be a slow and difficult process. Nothing great comes easy.
David Epstein shows that both specialization and generalization can lead to success, however the use of generalization affords oneself not only more opportunities to find success, but a better possibility of achieving overall happiness. By learning, experimenting and thinking broadly across multiple subject matters and points of interest, or developing “Range,” one can better position themselves to push the boundaries, find new breakthroughs and generate new major contributions that will significantly benefit our economy and society as a whole.
Tyler Krebeck
Chief Content Manager
Florianópolis, Brazil.
September 13th, 2019