“The world is not built by generalists, but rather experts. While I do not claim to be an expert at anything right now, I hope to some day be acknowledged as such.” I would like to have my own Marketing Consulting firm and be a Chief Marketing Officer.
I know what you are thinking: How can you be an expert and a CMO? CMO’s are generalists. What a great point! I’m so glad you thought of that!
CMO are experts. They are experts at the facilitation of relationships through a good or service. In order to become an expert at relationships one must master the art of the Internet, Direct Mail, Advertising, Sponsorships, Innovation, Customer Experience and so on. CMOs are the backbone of positive experiences customers have with companies everyday. I figure 
that the more I strive to become an expert at the job I am given, that eventually all roads lead to the corner office.
My point is this – CMOs are NOT generalists, and a generalist I am not and will not be. A generalist aimlessly floats through an organization and consistently moves laterally because they are just good at everything. A generalist would have an easy time moving from Marketing to Human Resources to Operations back to Marketing, because they are a warm body to get an organization by. Experts are the individuals that move the needle on sales, they drive profits and regularly leave companies because their expertise is warranted else where.
If you are not convinced that being an expert is the way to go, or just are a bulleted list kindof person then read on. Here are a few reasons that your shouldn’t be a Generalist:
- You will never advance as quickly as you would like. If you are constantly being moved around because you are a warm body who does what they are told, they have fun in mediocre-ville.
- You performance reviews will be cluttered with “Meets Expectations.” Exceeding the expectations of others is Expert talk
- Meaningful projects are not handed over to those who do lots of things good. They are handed to those who have the expertise to deliver a project with great results.
- Generalists don’t start companies and they don’t run companies.
- You’re not doing what you like to do. It is very rare to find someone who really enjoys every aspect of business. When you find your niche, chances are you are going to really enjoy what you do.
