“The AI Economy Demands Generalists, Not Specialists”, Fixel
I see a lot of people on LinkedIn making proclamations like this lately.
And they get a lot of engagement. Comments pile up about how those of us donning towers of hats will finally have our moment. How those acting as the “connective tissue” between departments will finally get their muscles flexing and march the business exactly where it needs to go.
AI has the potential to magnify our existing skills, so having more must only be a benefit… right?
Like it's masking the near existential crisis so many are facing right now.
Marketing has always been fair game for critique from virtually anyone. The sales team will always need more leads, Product worries you aren’t highlighting functionality correctly, and the founder’s son swears you need a podcast. We’re all swimming in daily exposure to marketing output, so naturally everyone is an expert.
It impacts all marketers, but it’s a particular grievance for the generalist bunch. If you spend your time spread across five disciplines, there will be at least five specialists who are better read, better practiced and just all-around more skilled at each. Because that’s all they do. Every day.
For the last 15 years, I’ve worked across brand creative, web design, UX, digital automation, analytics, business strategy and performance marketing. I spend my spare time making art and writing copious essays and stories. I used to run a production press and dabbled in photography. If you look up “generalist” in the dictionary, you’ll probably find my headshot beneath it.
Early in your career, this can be a great position. You’re like an amoeba, becoming whatever a company needs and ready to absorb new lessons. But as you gain tenure, positioning yourself around breadth can discount your expertise.
They have thousands of products across every consumer category you can think of. But customers rarely choose them because of general quality. It’s typically for some combination of cost and convenience. Price matching is literally a race to the bottom. It’s a clear sign of commoditization.
Walmart is obviously a successful enterprise. But you are not a conglomerate. What works for a business with buying power, volume and economies of scale doesn’t work for individuals. Your greatest asset is time… and it’s finite.
They had a C-level title and oversaw half the company. The discussion revolved around outsourcing something strategic that fell within my mandate, even though I had everything I needed to make it happen.
Between the two of us, his mandate was obviously much larger. But he was a strategic leader and I was seen as an executional one. And for this particular project, he didn’t want the discounted option. He wanted the premium brand. Positioning myself on breadth had done me dirty. Being pretty good at everything doesn’t scale.
I’ve seen more toe-stepping and criticism across the marketing industry this year alone than in my entire career. “Everyone can” code, design, write copy — you name it. Executional breadth has been commoditized.
Often, this starts with genuinely good intentions. Someone has an idea and they feel empowered to pursue it. It becomes a problem when we assume we’re suddenly experts. It becomes the issue marketers have always faced… but on steroids.
But rarely apply those principles to ourselves as professionals. We know our brands can't be everything to everyone. We need to pick our niche and do it well. In other words, specialize.
We hear social experts singing the praises of “personal branding” and too often dismiss it as busyness. Making posts and making sure you’re seen.
But making sure that, when you’re seen, it’s in the right light is just as important. That’s what positioning is and it should never be built off all the things you can do. It’s not about your “features”; it’s about what you want to be known for. If you position yourself around everything you’ve ever done (or could do!), that’s what people will see.
We’re always unwittingly approaching new situations with our own compounding frames of reference. Introducing yourself based on everything you can do opens the door to being compared to specialists in every one of those disciplines. Not to mention your predecessor, your boss and the top-shelf behemoth brands we encounter every day... And now AI. If you’ve been somewhere a while, you may even be being compared to your own shadow.
You likely won’t find it on your own. You need to ask those who’ve worked with you to truly understand where you stand, the impact you've had and your perceived gaps. Feedback of all types (even the painful kind, like the one I shared earlier), can help you find your way. To see what’s working and what really isn’t.
It can take time. But you’ll know you’ve found it when all those scattered aspects of yourself click. Suddenly, your breadth has a centre of gravity.
Suddenly you're not a generalist anymore.
You're a specialist. ✨
I build "brand & demand". I’ve got a big toolbox at my disposal, but that’s how I help businesses grow... and I’m damn good at it.
