Review of Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World

Book Link: https://smile.amazon.com/Range-Generalists-Triumph-Specialized-World/dp/0735214484

I listened to the Audiobook over multiple commutes to work and during a time when we are ramping up our focus on hiring and growing the team. The timing of that really helped drive home the concept of "Match Quality" that is repeated throughout the book and made it sticky by so easily connecting it to something I was already thinking deeply about. In the software industry, there is this push for "T-shaped" engineers which are basically generalists that have one or two deep specialties they can contribute. I get the point and why companies and managers are a bit obsessive over finding these people, but I also think that it is much more difficult to go from a specialist in an area to a generalist than it is to be a generalist that finds a speciality. This books seems to back that perspective up and posit that generalists can more easily specialize in a area because of the breadth of knowledge and different perspectives they are bringing to it. They can push past barriers and "drop their tools" to more fully understand and unlock new findings. The book is littered with examples supporting examples of this in a way that almost makes it seem like they are all cherry-picked to help prove a point while providing no counter-examples save for the "Tiger Model" example vs the "Roger Model" that kicks everything off. However, given how the world and our lives are constantly evolving and always requiring new skills, knowledge, and perspective to thrive, it is pretty clear anecdotaly that specializing doesn't provide the necessary capabilities to survive long-term, only until that specialization is commoditized or entirely no longer needed. Sometimes you can get lucky with a specialization, like farming, that can last for centuries. But eventually every specialization will meet an end (or drastic evolution) from technology advancements, worldwide priorities, or just time.

A part of me finds this book a bit dispressing in that specializing is often wasted effort and nobody should spend time beyond a certain point of learning more or getting better. But a larger part of me recognizes that this all comes back to finding balance in the world to maximize your happiness. Purely generalists or purely specialists neither will be successful long term but rather it is somewhere between the two that is the optimal space. It is up to each of us to find that spot for ourselves and maximize our own match quality with it.