Peter Drucker once commented on the difference between generalists and specialists which differs to the common perception of a generalist as a jack of all trades. He said, “The only meaningful definition of a generalist is a specialist who can relate his own small area to the universe of knowledge.”
To Drucker, it was not a question of having knowledge in more than one area, because that alone makes a person just a specialist in X different areas. He saw it as the ability to relate one’s work to the efforts of others.
Even more harshly, he notes that as a knowledge worker, if you can’t communicate what you know, or make it useful for other people from other areas of specialisation, you will not be very useful.
Originally posted on Linkedin