The Beauty Of Range In Business
So, I have been raving about this book since I started listening last week on the Libby app (libraries are still awesome!). Being the bibliophile that I am, random books are constantly on my Pinterest feed enticing me to read them so I have a Pinterest board called "Books Worth Reading". When a title catches my eye or I run across a book I love, it goes there. This one was a new discovery but that's where I found it, on Pinterest. The only difference in this chance encounter versus most other books I see there is that I decided to find it and start reading or listening right away.
I'm so glad that I did because this book was the bear hug I didn't know that I needed to ease my concerns about whether or not my path has been too random and not specific enough. It's a thought I've wrestled with a lot, actually. Why? Well, it has always baffled me that my career opportunities never seem to sustain for longer than 4 years considering how dedicated and consistent I tend to be in life. My bigger problem tended to be not knowing when to let go and holding on to ideas, people and things for too long. I also beat myself up over the years because I never became a specialist in one particular thing. I tend to like to learn a little about a lot but I think it serves me well. This only becomes a problem when I look at my journey in comparison to other people (whether it's rolling the dice in the job market or ascending the ladder in an organization) because people seem to like specialists better than generalists. However, I keep hearing about how soft skills, which generalists are known to be adept at, are sorely needed just about everywhere.
Some of the highlights from the book for me have been about deep learning and analogical thinking. The author's explanation of the benefit of increased learning over time being more valuable floored me. He discussed studies around deep learning and how getting the hang of a new skill early on is not necessarily an indicator of mastery of said skill. I thought about all of the things I have tried that I gave up on early on because I did not think I would be good enough over time and didn't want to waste the effort. A huge personal paradigm shift took place as I realized that my own ideas about who I was have been skewed. What a feeling!
Ok, you're probably wondering why this is relevant to business, right? Of course. So, in my experience as both an attorney and a business consultant I had the pleasure of dealing with various industries and types of problems that needed to be solved. Each was unique and required a level of research and understanding that doesn't always come from being a specialist in one area. Range is about breadth, not depth. Analogical thinking is about taking concepts across categories through their similarities. If I can only go deep in one industry, what ideas can I generate about creative, innovative solutions if I haven't seen them in other industries? However, if I have seen similar situations play out over multiple industries, I have much more to draw from and also may have seen some awesome outcomes that my current client (or their industry) have never seen before. This is precisely why large corporations seek fresh perspectives from outside consulting firms. They don't come with the baggage of just that one industry or company and can apply analogical thinking and new ways of seeing that company's problems to help solve them in a new way. Consultants are not meant to help you maintain your status quo! They are meant to come in, lead you to see things that are harder for you to see (hello, blindspots!) and provide solutions that you have not tried. You cannot continue on in the same manner and expect radically different results. This book also solidified for me that I am on the right track and that I was made to do what I do. I would love to help you or your organization someday.
Sincerely,
-M