I wouldn't really call Roger Federer a generalist. He's the number one tennis player on the planet and specializes in tennis more than anyone under the sun. Maybe as a kid he played other sports but don't we all? I don't think this generalist concept was fully explored in this article.
That being said, I frequently worry about this concept of generalist vs specialist and which will yield a better or more impactful career. Despite the negative connotation of the word "generalist", I do believe people that have wide skillsets with some specialty are pretty valuable. But I think it depends on what you want to do and what you want to impact. For inventing a new medication, maybe a speciality is a way to achieve that. For starting a business, maybe generalist is the better toolset.
I think it's ok to be either, I just wish I could be both. :)
> For inventing a new medication, maybe a speciality is a way to achieve that. For starting a business, maybe generalist is the better toolset.
I feel that for any end result, you can define the concept of overspecialization. Taking the medication example - you likely want a specialist in biochemistry involved, but if said specialist is actually a specialist of a particular metabolic pathway, they may arrive at a partial solution, and miss the insights that come from being aware of other pathways and how they interact.
Some problems (and I suspect biology already has plenty of them) may also be tricky in the sense that they simultaneously require breadth and depth that's near-impossible for one person to have simultaneously. Those problems will need a mix of extreme specialists with some "less deep" specialists.
That being said, I frequently worry about this concept of generalist vs specialist and which will yield a better or more impactful career. Despite the negative connotation of the word "generalist", I do believe people that have wide skillsets with some specialty are pretty valuable. But I think it depends on what you want to do and what you want to impact. For inventing a new medication, maybe a speciality is a way to achieve that. For starting a business, maybe generalist is the better toolset.
I think it's ok to be either, I just wish I could be both. :)