Jack of Trades, Master of Polymath
As per the mighty Wikipedia, a Polymath is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Biggest example :- Leonardo Da Vinci , the Monalisa Man. Excelling in the fields on engineering, technology, arts, mathematics is no joke in today’s resource driven world.
What if I say there exists a number of Polymaths? Not one, but hundreds. They are people amongst us. People who have won over capitalism driven society. The Entrepreneurs.
Modern day entrepreneurs exhibit a wide range of skills to stand out from the rest. Knowledge of basic accounting, sales, marketing , domain specific knowledge are considered critical for any startup entrepreneur . Not to mention the interpersonal skills required to effectively communicate and negotiate deals with stakeholders.
So why Jack of all trades, Master of None? Why people with “too many interests” are less likely to be successful? Why being a generalist is the path to mediocrity?
The answer lies in history. Old time greats to Kepler, Darwin, Euler, Feynman to modern greats like Elon, Jobs, Hughes, McLaren have exhibited the best of humanity . It was the scientists who prevailed in yesteryears and now it’s the entrepreneurs. People who combine the best of knowledge what humanity offers across diverse fields at that point of time and make something great in their core domain by integrating all those knowledge.
The thing to learn is being Polymath is the new normal. Only when people have knowledge of diverse fields , they can connect the missing dots. As Da Vinci said “ The future belongs to the integrators”.
