The Generalist Drift

Being a generalist really does teach you the business early on, but it quietly caps your growth by year five.

Chart: The Generalist Drift. Being a generalist really does teach you the business early on, but it quietly caps your growth by year five.
Save this chart Download

The mechanism

The chart plots two paths over five years. The red generalist line climbs fast at first, then flattens into a ceiling where no new lessons come after year three. The green dashed specialist line starts slower but keeps rising past a crossover point in year three. Early on, doing a bit of everything is a fast education; years later, it is a lid on how far you can go.

Part of Positioning. Who you are for and why you are the obvious choice.