Hi Friend
Welcome to your weekly dose of personal and career fuel
Everyone has an opinion on the generalist vs specialist debate.
Specialists say depth is defensible. Generalists say breadth is adaptable. Both are right. Both are missing the point.
The question is not whether you should be a generalist or a specialist. The question is whether what you have built is still what the next level requires.
For most senior professionals, the honest answer is no.
Here is the pattern.
You spent the first decade going deep. Building expertise. Becoming the person people come to when they need the answer. That depth got you promoted. It earned you credibility.
Then something shifted.
The roles above you stopped rewarding depth. They started rewarding something else. The ability to see across functions. To lead people who know more than you about specific things. To make calls when the technical answer is ambiguous.
The specialist who cannot make this shift hits a ceiling. Not because they are not good enough. Because the game changed and nobody told them.
