Specialist vs. Generalist: What's Better?

“A Jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.”

Were you aware of the full quote? I wasn’t. I’d only heard the shortened version: jack of all trades, master of none. 

The original quote apparently dates back to Elizabethan English. And was apparently used to refer to William Shakespeare.

Over the course of time, the last portion of the quote was dropped. Not sure why. Maybe just easier to remember?

But, doing so completely changed its meaning.

The original quote values someone who can do many different types of skills, even if not to a maximum level for any one skill.

The updated version kinda disses those with many skills in favor of the specialist. It celebrates the master by dismissing the generalist.

I’ve always been a believer in having as wide a skillset as possible: carpenter, builder, litigation investigator, political investigator (ok those two have some common skillsets), personal safety and self-defense coach, and workplace violence prevention consultant.

When I was younger and working in building back in the 1980s, there was a big push for specialists, framers, drywallers, finish carpenters, cabinet installers, even door hangers, who did piece work in the carpentry trade. 

It came out of the rise of the tract home that started in the post Korean War era.

Those tradesmen did one thing only. And they did it well. In fact, they often times revolutionized how the work was done.

They were paid by production volume rather than by the hour, and they could make a really good living (during good economic times).

I didn’t work that way. I could do all of those skills. Not as efficiently as those that did only one skill. But, I could build an entire house, or work on a remodeling job, from start to finish.

Continuity over speed.

I got to run crews, and work on some pretty amazing projects, not because I was a master, but because I could work on and problem solve most any aspect of the trade.

A jack of all trades, and not a master of one. And for production work, the master of one makes the most sense, but for custom work, and remodeling, the continuity mattered.

In the investigation world, there were specialists too. People who just did one thing, surveillance, skip tracing, asset research, accident investigations, fire investigations, appellate investigations, or fraud investigations.

They were incredibly efficient in how they went about their work.

I could and did all of that (though I never liked the surveillance work much too much hurry up and wait for my personality). Though not as efficiently as a specialist, but with great results.

I was able to do that because I developed multiple skillsets, locating and interviewing witnesses, locating and using public records to prove or disprove facts and impeach witnesses, I could cull through written materials and pull out the important information, and could photograph/video and document through measuring and sketching any kind of scene.

Having the multiple skills allowed me to conduct any type of civil plaintiff or criminal defense investigation for attorneys, as well as third party fact-finding investigations for businesses, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies.

And then those same skills transferred over to doing political work.

 And then there were the skills I developed in teaching self-defense. I never quite made it to being a master in TKD and Hapkido, Covid ended my martial arts career one year shy of testing for my 4th Dan (literally master).

I certainly got the opportunity to do some training with masters in many different types of fields.

Though in the end, thanks to having a variety of skillsets acquired through different experiences,  I developed a non-martial arts approach to teaching personal safety and self-defense.

And I was able to develop an approach to not just work with individuals, but to help businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies prevent workplace violence, keep their staff safe, and protect their reputations with the public.

What do you think?

Generalist or specialist?