- CAREERS THE JOB DOCTOR
Eye on the pme:
speclal .. t.
are wlnn. ...any people find it fun tO be a jaek of all [rades
(and maste r of none). I'm one of them: I've en-
joyed being a pianist, medical researcher,
(eaeher, school psychologist, professor, rose hybrjdjzer,
college eouose!or, eareer counse!or, acmr, direcmr, and
writer of everyrhing from co lumns, ro plays, to movies,
ro proposals for rcjnvenrinc education.
Inrelligent people often .da..b.hk w idely because they
can usually progress quite quickly. Unfortuna rely, ir
takes a lot longer ro go from good to great. As Malcohn
Gladwell reporred in his book Outlicrs (Penguin, ISBN
978-0-14-\ 04302-9, €7.30), most extremely successful
people go dcep for dccades. I daubt rhat rhe person who
will eure cancer will have dabblcd at it.So, should we force ourselves [0 rake the time to
become a real expert ar something? Answering that re·
quires us to look at [his key question: to live a good life,
where should wc be on the conrinuum berween hedon-
ism and producriviry/alrr uism? Can we take [he easyI KM-c:o[,sun~i: i: '^00 lor " 1 '~I;)r'] ~==~Berater~ (ln) _____ _
dabble (atlin 5th.) ]'d:cb' 11 dilettieren: Sich nebenbei mit etw.
beschafligen
diret lor [d~'rtkl'r "' ~==::th'~"~'~R~egisseUr(I""J;;, ___ _
uperti~ [,eksp.,.'li:z"' Mnllen, Fachwissen
hybridizer [' halbrld:llz.,.°1 Person, die HybrIdSOften zil<:htet
lack of .111 11 trades: be a - von allem etwas, aber mchts
land master of none) richtig kÖRnen11,
r
; h ier: neu gestalten50 Business 5pJlJigh1
SPECIALIST
UR GENERALIST?
Werden Sie Experte auf ei nem Gebiet - es lohnt
sich! MARTY NEMKO sagt Ih nen warum. ewuumro ute and simply say that it's a matter of personal
choice? I don't (hink so. If everyone juSt pursued hedon-
ism, most of thc rime would be spenr earing, drinking,
having sex, watehing movies, and so on. 500n, there'd
be linie food, and our ~ would never ger repaircd.
In comrasr, if everyone spem maximum time on pro-
duetivity, we'd have more medieal discoveries, better
(and less expensive) food, and ehe like.
Thus, I invite you (and me, too) to rake a look at the
areas in which you have some eKperrjse. Is there one you
feel yOll shollld go deeper ima? Ir doesn't have tO be
monumental - you eauld deeide tO become an expert
on ~ w jd"ers. After all, if you price a widger right,
more people will buy ir aod bencfir from it, and you
make sure rhe widger eompa ny's employees have jobs.
Who knows? You may find that going imo greafer
depth gets you passionate abollt a field, even if it's 1lllUl:
~. I know pcople who, having beeome expert at
somerhing, turned passionare abalLt such prosaic prod-
ucts as accordioo doors! Ir feels good to become an ex-
perr on sOOlerhing. And going deep is likcly ro help your
career. Exeept at [he very top of a field (for example,
.c..E.Q), societ)' rewards specialists, not generalists.Of course, there' s a negative side to gaing deep:
excessive narrowness. We all know teehnieal cxperts
who are locked inro lower- Ievel jobs because they lack
the leadership skills and o rganizatio nal ability to move
up. They mayaiso lack the imerpersona l skills [0 be
goad friends, lovers, and parents. Bur ir seems w iser tO
start by becoming an expert in sOJllething and then tO
learn those mher skills, rather than ro starr by dabbling
in rhem aH.
To be honest, I don't think I have the discipline to give
up dilertantism aod go deeper ioto one rhing, a lrho ugh
I could make a bigger contriburion by becoming a rruc
expert o n how ro career-coach docrors, a ~ interest
of mine. Bur how abour )'au , dear reader? ls [here some-
thing you wam tO go deeper into? Il1 ._ 1 More job advice at http://www.business-spotlight.defcareers
MARTY NEMKO is ooe of Amerlca's top ~
~. The author of Cool Gafeers for Dumm/es
(Wiley. ISBN 9 78-0-470-11774-3. $ 19.99), he
has been advising ellents for more than 20 years.
He is based 10 Oakland, Call!ornia. Contact:
[email protected] http://www.martynemko.com4/2010