I think being a specialist is becoming dangerous.
Not because specialists are useless. Quite the opposite. You should still be really fucking good at something.
But being good at one thing and knowing nothing outside it? I don't think that works anymore.
You need depth, but you also need breadth. You need one thing where you can go ten floors underground. At the same time, you should know enough about everything around it that if someone throws you into a completely different room, you don't just stand there confused.
That is what I mean when I say:
Be a generalist.
Not someone who knows a little about everything and is great at nothing. Someone who can learn anything fast enough to become dangerous.
The world is moving too fast for narrow job descriptions
For the longest time, careers were pretty straightforward.
You learned one skill. You became good at it. You got hired for that skill. You kept doing it for ten years. Maybe you became the senior version of that person.
A designer became a Senior Designer. A developer became a Senior Developer. A marketer became Head of Marketing.
Simple.
But look at what is happening now. The tools are changing every few months. The way we write code, design, make videos, run ads, research markets, analyse data and build products is changing.
A lot of the actual execution is getting easier.
Someone who couldn't code two years ago can now build a decent product with AI. Someone who couldn't edit videos can create one using a prompt. Someone who couldn't design can generate 20 directions in minutes.
So your value cannot just be:
“I know how to use this tool.”
The tool itself might disappear. Or AI might learn how to use it better than you.
Your real skill has to become:
“Give me a problem. I'll figure it out.”
That is a completely different kind of person.
If your entire job happens on a laptop, pay attention
This might sound dramatic, but I think about it a lot.
If everything you do for work happens inside a laptop, there is a pretty decent chance that a large chunk of it gets automated eventually.
Writing. Coding. Research. Design. Editing. Analysis. Operations. Customer support. Sales research.
Maybe not today. Maybe not completely. But over the next few years?
Bro. Look at the direction we are moving in.
AI does not need to replace your entire job for your job to change. If one person with AI can do work that previously required four people, the economics have already changed.
I don't think the solution is to become scared of AI. The solution is to become the person who knows how to use it to do the work of those four people.
That requires range.
Founders learn this by force
Being a founder forces you to become a generalist. You don't really get a choice.
One day you are designing the product. The next day you are writing a sales deck. Then a customer is angry. Then the server goes down. Then you need to recruit someone. Then you realise your pricing makes no sense. Then you need to understand GST. Then you are editing a video at 3 AM because the person who was supposed to do it disappeared.
There is no:
“Sorry, I'm not from this department.”
What department, bro?
You are the department.
Especially in the early days.
It teaches you a very important skill. Not design. Not sales. Not coding. Not marketing.
The skill is figuring shit out.
It is probably one of the most underrated skills in the world.
You don't know something? Fine. Google it. Ask AI. Call someone. Watch a video. Read the documentation. Break things. Try five solutions. Get it working. Move on.
You slowly stop identifying as someone who knows certain things. You start identifying as someone who can learn things.
That difference is massive.
Knowledge is no longer the moat. Learning speed is.
Imagine two people.
Person A knows everything about one software tool. They have used it for eight years. Every shortcut. Every feature. Everything.
Person B knows maybe 70% of the tool. But they also understand business, distribution, basic design, customers, AI tools, communication and how products get built.
Tomorrow, the software completely changes.
Who are you betting on?
I'd bet on Person B.
Person A's advantage is knowledge. Person B's advantage is the ability to acquire knowledge.
One expires. The other compounds.
It is like memorising one map versus learning how to navigate. If the road changes, the person who memorised the map is fucked. The navigator finds another route.
That is what I think a generalist really is: a navigator.
Specialists are still insanely important
Here is the important part. I am not saying:
“Don't become great at anything.”
That would be stupid. Some problems need experts. If I am getting brain surgery, I don't want a generalist who watched a 14-minute YouTube video yesterday.
Depth matters.
The best people probably have one or two things where they are genuinely world-class, then enough understanding of everything around them to connect the dots.
A developer who understands users and design is more dangerous than a developer who only understands code. A designer who understands distribution and business models can make much better product decisions. A marketer who understands the product can figure out why people aren't converting instead of changing the headline 47 times.
A founder who understands a little bit of code, design, sales, finance, hiring, psychology and distribution can connect things that specialists working independently might never see.
Think of expertise as a sword. Being a generalist means knowing when to use the sword, where to fight and whether you should even be fighting in the first place.
Both matter.
The biggest advantage is connecting dots
When you learn across different fields, you start seeing connections between them.
Something you learn in gaming might influence how you build a consumer app. Something you learn about psychology helps you write better sales copy. Something you learn while editing videos teaches you how to build a better creative tool. Something you learn in finance changes how you think about SaaS pricing.
Ideas move between industries.
Most innovation is probably not a magical idea appearing from nowhere. It is often someone taking an idea that already exists in one place and moving it somewhere else.
You can only do that if you have seen enough places.
A specialist has one toolbox with 100 incredible tools. A generalist might have 20 different toolboxes. They may not know every tool inside every box, but when a weird problem appears, they have more places to look.
Being a generalist doesn't mean knowing everything
Nobody knows everything. That isn't the goal.
The goal is to become comfortable not knowing.
The best generalists can enter a room where they understand 20% of what is happening and not panic.
They ask questions. They learn the language. They understand the basic mechanics. They find people who know more. They use tools. They experiment.
Slowly, 20% becomes 40%. Then 60%. Suddenly, they are useful.
That is the real superpower.
You don't need to already have the answer. You need the confidence that you can find it.
“That's not my job” is going to become expensive
I think that mentality is going to hurt a lot of people.
“That's not what I was hired for.”
“I don't know how to do that.”
“I'm a designer, not a marketer.”
“I'm a developer. I don't talk to customers.”
Okay.
Maybe that works in a huge company where your role is extremely specialised. I wouldn't know. I have never really worked in a traditional corporate job.
But in a fast-moving company? If you can get shit done, people notice.
Startups never have enough people. There are always more problems than humans. When you are the person who can jump between those problems, you become insanely useful.
Not because you are the best at everything. Because you are useful everywhere.
AI makes this even more important
AI gives generalists steroids.
Earlier, there was a limit. You might understand coding conceptually, but if you hadn't spent years learning syntax and frameworks, you couldn't build much.
Now you can understand the architecture, describe what you want, use AI, debug, learn while building and actually ship something.
The same is true for design, research, content and analytics.
AI is reducing the cost of crossing into another field. That massively rewards curious people.
If you are curious enough to learn a little bit of everything, AI can help you turn that little bit into actual execution.
The gap between:
“I know nothing about this.”
and
“I can probably figure this out.”
is getting smaller every year.
Become hard to categorise
I think being difficult to put into one box is a good thing now.
Can you build? Can you sell? Can you communicate? Can you understand numbers? Can you use AI? Can you lead people? Can you talk to customers? Can you learn something completely new in three days because the company suddenly needs it?
Good.
That person is useful.
You don't need to be world-class at all of those things. You should be dangerous enough.
Know one thing deeply. Know a lot of things broadly. Most importantly, learn fast.
Your career isn't going down one straight road anymore. The terrain will keep changing.
Tools will change. Jobs will change. Industries will change. Companies will die. New ones will appear.
The people who survive won't necessarily be the ones who memorised the current world best. They will be the ones who can adapt to the next one.
So yeah.
Become really fucking good at something.
But don't let that something become the only thing you know how to do.
Be a generalist.