There’s No Such Thing as a Generalist
Hi! I’m Molly. I write about what it actually takes to lead inside growing, changing companies: the frameworks that help, the honest truth about what it feels like, and the messy work of shaping a career that actually fits.
Lessons is where those ideas live — both the writing and the conversations around it. (If you want to learn more about how Lessons and the community work, you can read more here.)
For the first part of my career, I wandered from function to function like the lost duck in Are You My Mother? I started in publishing, then moved into communications, HR, Recruiting, Biz Dev, Product, and on and on. Every few years, I’d walk up to a new function and ask, Is this where I belong?
Some felt right but too limiting (HR). Others were a resounding NO like Product (turns out, I don’t care whether the button is blue or green).
But through that wandering, I realized something: my skills transcended a single function. I wasn’t a great product manager, but I always have a product mindset when solving problems. I wasn’t just an HR leader, but one of my greatest strengths is that I know how to motivate and align people. My abilities cut across traditional job titles.
Some would call me a generalist.
I fucking hate that word.
The “Generalist” vs. “Specialist” Debate Is Lazy Thinking
People love categorizing things. Introvert or extrovert. Night owl or morning person. Generalist or specialist.
Generalists vs. specialists — which is better and why? You’ve probably come across at least one think-piece or thread on this topic. It’s everywhere, and people have very strong opinions about it.
I reject the premise entirely. In my experience, there is no such thing as a generalist because everyone is a specialist in something.
