The Jack Of All Trades Myth
Sep 14th, 2007 by Lewis 2 Comments
Tim Ferriss’ recent post The Top 5 Reasons To Be a Jack Of All Trades really opened my eyes to the world of business. He targets the idea of being a “Jack of all trades, master of none” and then discounts the “master of none” part!
The basis for his article goes back to the Pareto Principle (80/20 rule). His arguement is that you can ‘Master’ any skill - ie. get to the 80% level - in about a year. The remaining 20% could take another 10 years, 20 years or even a lifetime of practice to achieve. This results in a diminishing return on time invested (ROTI) after the 80% is achieved. Tim’s arguement is that the term ‘Master’ is very different than being ‘Perfect’.
My Understanding
Although I completely agree with his statement for many areas of business, I think that the article should clarify it’s target audience a little better. I don’t want to have a Doctor, with 1 year of schooling, removing my appendix. I would prefer that an Engineer, with more than 1 year of schooling, design the building I work in. I’d also like the rocket scientist who designs the space shuttle that flies over my house to have more than 1 year of schooling. Other than these people, I’m all for it.
Entrepreneurs and Team Builders
Being a Jack Of All Trades will work wonders for you if you are also working towards creating your own business or self-directed investing. A Jack needs to create a team of people who have specialized knowledge that can be leveraged. Without this drive, a Jack will probably be forced to spend their days in a mid-level management position of some large Cog manufacturing company.
As you can imagine, the world needs people who are specialized for this exact reason. If you have the ability to successfully build teams and motivate people, you don’t need to know more about taxation than your accountant. You also don’t need to have a better understanding of the legal profession than your lawyer. What you need is the ability to manage your team, your time and your goals.
Dare I say: Become a Jack of all trades?
Not without a warning:
There are too many people who should run away screaming if someone suggests that they become an entrepreneur. My suggestion is that you take a good look at your personality, long term goals and skills. If you’ve got the internal motivation you need to succeed then go for it. If you’re satisfied working 9 to 5 with a steady 3% raise every year, then stick with that.
Create your life the way you want it.
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I would rather be a jack of all trade because I wouldn’t need to rely on others or at least have a basic understanding of everything to get things rolling. I’m new to html codes and I’m starting to get a grasp of it by exploring and experimenting. People need to experiment new things to learn more and to complement their other skills.
On the other hand, why should we assume the quantity of years equals a quality of education? Which doctor do you want removing your appendix, the one who slept through 4 years of medical school or the one who was attentive through one year? By the same token, would you prefer a doctor with 4 years of med school or 1 year of hands-on experience? Or, the doctor with 1 year of medical school at a well-known university, or the doctor with 4 years of medical school at some university in the Caribbean you’ve never heard of?
Of course, we all want the person with the most experience and education. But, time alone is not necessarily the best measurement.
And, in less critical fields, what does a diploma tell you, really? That they met the minimum requirements in some field or weren’t caught cheating on their final?
Anyway, I think that it’s probably true that you can master most skills within a year. Ever watch “The Pretender”? There was one episode where Jarod said that he had been taught that most skills could be mastered in a couple hours.
I guess it depends upon the skill. There are certainly things that seem difficult, but once you get the hang of them, they are easy. Can you get the “hang of it” in a year? Probably. Under two hours? Maybe, depending.
Where you want that person with more education or more experience is when something goes wrong. You could watch a video and learn how to remove an appendix. You could then watch it step by step as you remove the appendix too. But, what happens when something goes wrong? When the appendix isn’t where expected? When something starts bleeding when it shouldn’t, or the patient begins to have problems? It’s the things you don’t know that can kill! Probably 80% of the skill required to remove an appendix could be learned in a day. The other 20%, which would include stuff like things that could go wrong, could take much, much longer.
And, that’s where the doctor with 1 year of attentive medical training may best a doctor with 4 years of semiconscious medical training.