Book Review: Range

I recently finished Range — Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. It was a fascinating exploration of whether or not deep and early specialization is a key driver of ultimate success. As is fairly evident in the article, the author concludes that in fact having a broader set of interests to explore early in life, early in a career, and over time can actually be key drivers to greater success and more innovative thinking. There were two reasons this book really resonated with me.

First, as a father of two young kids, the question of early specialization in sports, in particular, is a constant question. I have generally tried to keep sports fun and engaging for my sons — without pushing them too hard to pick a sport and really throw themselves into it. I would love to see them become competitive athletes, but it does feel like there’s pressure for them to take one sport and become very serious about it very early (before age 10) — and I just don’t think that’s productive. Seeing data to support that belief was certainly reassuring.

Second, as someone with an engineering degree who has worked in engineering, business development, sales, and marketing I enjoyed the discussion of how innovation often comes from inspiration from diverse interests. I certainly find that experience in both multiple industries and multiple functional areas of business can help you see a broader perspective on how various decisions might play out. I often find this leads to the ability to ask the right questions about critical strategic decisions.

I’m a firm believer that asking the right questions is often more important than finding the answers. Einstein famously said:

“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask… for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.”

I was also reminded of this value when I ran across this article in the Atlantic this morning: At Work, Expertise is Falling out of Favor. It re-enforces my belief that there is a tremendous benefit to having a solid foundational understanding of a lot of different areas and that much value is created at the intersection of different diverse areas. That is not to say that deep expertise is not also valuable, simply that it is not the only path to success. I highly recommend both the book and the article as good reads to contemplate.

Originally published at https://jeffkeltner.com on July 25, 2019.