Jack of most trades, master of one
There's value in being the second smartest person in the room
I know, I know…this isn’t the original quote, but that’s not the point I am making here.
I disagree with the original saying, anyway -
A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.
Okay, then. Let me go and sob in my room.
Not today.
I think it’s an unfair comparison in the first place that comes done to categorising people as either ‘generalists’ or ‘specialists’.
I am sure you can think of enough examples of successful people in both these categories. Probably some are in your immediate circle as well.
I am aware of my limited knowledge sphere so let me address this only to creatives toiling to identify which category to put themselves in.
Obvious but not-so-obvious things at play:
You can’t possibly know everything there is to know in this world.
Do you have to? Not really.If you can’t know everything, is it possible to master everything? A big no.
Also, do you even need to? A bigger NO.Now, if you can’t know everything and can’t master everything. What are the possible combinations?
Know nothing, master nothing. Possible, but not sure you want this.
Know one thing, master many things? Haha.. laughable and logically flawed.
The winning combination → Know many things, master one.
There’s tremendous value in being the second smartest person in the room for two reasons -
You can always learn something from the smartest person in the room. But to milk this opportunity, you need to know to ask great questions by understanding what the room is about to some degree. It is the incremental learning opportunity you’re after when you’re in a room that does not match your expertise.
The Goldilocks Rule is at play. You’re just challenged enough to be motivated to become better and expand your knowledge sphere.
Why does this even matter, you may ask.
“I know I can research and create whatever work is required from me.”
Sure, you can, but your ability to think tangentially about a topic reduces drastically if your subconscious mind isn’t at play.
As creatives, our imagination is our biggest superpower; To connect and merge ideas that are not obvious to others.
Being the jack of many trades increases the surface area of our imagination.
It enables our subconscious to build connections we would otherwise have had to fill with forced research.
Research should aid and validate your ideas, not build them. Especially when you’re thinking out of the box to create something new.
And this is where the magic happens.
Your inputs are richer, and now you can go ahead and do what you do best: write, edit, shoot, design, etc.
We start believing that our craft is the only important thing, and we begin to shut out other areas of our life.
I vehemently disagree with this approach.
If there is one thing common between work that inspires and moves you, it is that it didn’t come from obsessing over the specialist nature of the craft, but rather its ability to become a tool to create work that transcends our limited worldview.
Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman India of Ogilvy, in his book Pandeymonium mentions that cricket has had a significant influence on his life and is a close second to the environment provided by his family.
Cricket inspired some of his best work. If you’re an Indian, you can never forget this ad conceptualised, written, and created by Piyush Pandey with his capable team at Ogilvy for Cadbury.
Same folks, same. Time travel is indeed possible.
Almost 30 years and still iconic, the team revamped the ad without changing a single thing in 2022.
Read this in a newsletter I am unable to recall, and I can’t agree more.
The generalist becomes more powerful when they develop a speciality they can apply to their broad insight.
The specialist becomes more powerful when they develop a broader surface area of knowledge to connect with their expertise.
As a marketer, I really don’t have to know how to prototype an app. But if I want to go any further in life and create work that’s beyond my own imagination, I basically have to be the second smartest person in the room on that subject, and on every subject except marketing…where I’d hope to be the first-smartest.
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