The advantages of being a generalist over a specialist
At today’s Lab in Emerging Journalism I stressed the importance and richness of being interdisciplinary using myself as a case study.
Firstly, I explained how traditional journalism as generally taught can find itself ineffectual against bad agents in these times. If we keep on doing what we’ve been doing, we’ll keep on getting what we got.
As academics we run the risk of training a next gen to continue doing what’s been done before. The new challenges of this era demand more as AI the disruptor is showing.
Secondly, that there’s ample evidence of the scope and expertise offered being interdisciplinary and how that leads to divergent thinking. Really pleased with the student’s reception to how to become a critical creative.
I talked them through how to train themselves to become creative in the same way you might train in the gym. Classrooms are the least appropriate environment for knowledge exchange. We discussed why they’re used, but more importantly how we can maximise creativity in those settings.
For my career, I explained how my movements from one domain to another was a necessity. When I couldn’t find work in one field, I used my hobbies and interest to restart a new career. I started as a Chem/ Maths student before becoming a journalist, then academic.
In the middle, tech in Soho working dotcoms led to working with great people at Google last year. Jon Staton hashtag#RIP was a formidable advertiser whom I learned from, Jude Kelly CBE mentored me to consider myself an artist, and in the World of Sport at the time you couldn’t get any bigger than Lewis vs Tyson.
But the messaging was that wide interests can lead to informed leadership. Philosopher Isaiah Berlin described people with wide interests as Foxes. Hedgehogs were people who had deep singular interests. Neither is better, they’er just different. However if you are a Fox, you can develop multiple specialisms.
I write about Foxes in the new journal launched Media Hyphenates, which you can access here www.viewmagazine.tv See you in the Lab 😊
Interesting write up here of Generalists vs Specialists and whether you’re an M, T, X or E person.
