Comments on: Be a Winner by Being a Versatilist: What, Why and How

By: Ed Servello

Ed Servello — Sun, 09 May 2010 21:44:54 +0000

I think you can cast the role of the “Versatilist” within a technical area, such as IT. The IT versatilist may be more capable than a specialist in solving problems when that person understands the relationships between the functional parts of the broader system and has knowledge that spans the “edges” of typical specialties (e.g. networking, application support, server virtualization, printing, mainframe services, etc).

In my experience, a versatilist is in a good position to acquire “depth” from working with specialists, since the versatilist has a broad scaffold of knowledge to organize and understand the deeper knowledge in many areas. Building “deeper” over time empowers the versatilist to better innovate and solve problems across the whole system.

By: How to Improve Yourself

How to Improve Yourself — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 02:33:06 +0000

[...] One important thing to remember is you shouldn’t just upgrade your current skills. What if your field of expertise became irrelevant in the near future? What if the world no longer needed it? So, instead of just improving your current skills, open your eyes for new skills to learn. Is there a skill that could be in high demand a few years from now? Is there a skill that becomes increasingly necessary? Don’t just be a specialist. Be a versatilist. [...]

By: Learning and People Skills

Learning and People Skills — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:16:40 +0000

[...] In this kind of world, just being a generalist or specialist is not enough. You need to become a versatilist. A versatilist is a person who can quickly adapt to new situations and take advantage of them. I [...]

By: Tips For Developing Skills « Win Naing Lay

Tips For Developing Skills « Win Naing Lay — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 07:14:31 +0000

[...] Be a Winner by Being a Versatilist: What, Why and How [...]

By: Tips for Developing Skills

Tips for Developing Skills — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:22:36 +0000

[...] Be a Winner by Being a Versatilist: What, Why and How [...]

By: Donald Latumahina

Donald Latumahina — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:34:26 +0000

Helio, I think versatilists are not deeper and wider at the same time. Instead, they go deep on one subject at a time. Their strength lies in their ability to pick the right subject and quickly learn it.

By: Helio Miranda

Helio Miranda — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:39:55 +0000

I think that the problem of being “deeper and wider” as Slavi’s professors said, is the time. It looks like the Versalist is a combination of a Specialist with a Generalist. It’s a person who have a relative deep technical knowledge in some areas with the skill to connect it with fields that borders with them. As we all know it’s not a easy task to build a deep knowledge, it may take years before you can use a skill efficiently. I wonder how the Versalist will deal with this apparent overload (of being deeper and wider at the same time). Maybe this is the biggest challenge: How to be the right versalist at the right time…

By: Donald Latumahina

Donald Latumahina — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 06:42:01 +0000

Slavi,
You’re welcome, I’m glad you like it. I agree with your professor. Being specialist is good, but being versatilist is even better.

By: Slavi

Slavi — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:10:36 +0000

Hi.

thanks for the great post!

I asked one of my professors from the University what should I put as my future goals be a specialist or generalist and she replied to me:
it depends on your personal goals, if you want to work a non-managerial positions you could be specialist, on the other hand if you want to really succeed you have to go deeper and wider, i.e. Versatilist.

Take care,
Slavi

By: Donald Latumahina

Donald Latumahina — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 05:01:03 +0000

You’re welcome, Chiz!