The Benefits of Generalist Leadership and How To Cultivate It

At the beginning of the year, the digital landscape is littered with articles about leadership trends and best practices in the new year. Despite the framing of their missives, most of them boil down to evergreen questions:

• Why and how do leaders succeed?
• How do they continue to grow and improve?
• What are the differences between leading a small organization and a large one?

All of these questions matter. Many argue that answers specific to a specialization yield the most valuable insights. That’s an understandable position. No one wants to be the proverbial, ‘jack of all trades, master of none.’

But perhaps that assumption answers the wrong question: is specialization really the best approach to leadership in the first place?

The Value of Generalist Leadership

I read David Epstein’s excellent book Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. As the title suggests, it goes against conventional wisdom regarding the value of specialization. Generalists, he argues, are better poised for success.

Thinking about these arguments in the context of elevating emerging leaders within our organizations, I found it increasingly difficult to argue with Epstein’s premise. The business world seems to agree. A 10-year Harvard Business Review study of 17,000 C-Suite executives found that 90% came into the role with generalist experience.

The top of the organization seems to belong to the exceedingly well-rounded leader with expertise in as many areas of the business as possible. How do we build more of them?

Encourage Expansive Learning To Develop Talent

Nurturing talent within an organization improves its odds of success. Open, honest communication improves our understanding of how people want to grow under our roof, but that’s only one piece of the puzzle.

The bigger challenge is finding out how we help them grow. On that note, you’ll find no shortage of articles telling you that companies and employees should invest in professional development that deepens specialization.

But perhaps the better approach is to train them in more than one part of the business. There is an argument to be made that understanding how different pieces of the company work together improves an employee’s work in their own specialty and promotes broader strategic thinking.

Ideally, this takes place in-house. In some cases, though, employers may still benefit from an individual leaving the organization entirely. If an employee gathers varied experience at another company and comes back with what they’ve learned, they may provide value that internal cross-functional training couldn’t have generated.

Pay Attention To Shifting Sentiment in Growing Leaders

A while back, a fellow that I had been mentoring was offered a job at another company and was getting ready to leave his own. When he told his employer that he was leaving, they asked why. As it turned out, he had been about to receive a significant raise and more responsibility in his current company!

Needless to say, he accepted the bigger raise, more responsibility, and better title. I’m happy for him and for his employer.

This event speaks to why it’s important for employers hoping to build (and retain) budding leaders to keep their finger on the pulse of employee job satisfaction. An approach of ‘managing by wandering around’ may enable leaders and their teams to see and think more about the big picture.

Keep Your Head Up

‘Heads Up Management’ refers to working on the business instead of just working in the business. When you have your head down and are buried in your own work, there’s very little you can see. Looking up broadens and informs a more comprehensive perspective. You can see other people with their unique viewpoints. You can see the bigger picture of where your people fit into the business.

In addition to reinforcing a generalist perspective in existing leadership, it enables the company to foster future generalist leaders. For example, people might come into a traditional entry-level role and stay there for somewhere between five months and a year. Over the first two years in the business, they might be moved through several different business units. All the while, they are being evaluated and determining where they’d like to go with the organization and how.

Heads Up Management gives you the bird’s eye view needed to parse employee contributions and see where adjustments might be made to continue future leader growth.

Another important element is to regularly ask your peers and team for their input. We need to encourage folks to provide  honest feedback.  Again, we often come from diverse backgrounds so may have different and unique perspectives on issues.  While the answers may initially seem to be from left field or a different universe, there are often exciting and diverse ideas that can be implemented.

Use a Long-Term Approach To Grow Leaders

One of the four questions we often pose at our firm is, how do you define long-term?

In the context of developing generalist leaders, the long-term should focus on employee progression beyond responsibility for limited and specific tasks. That often includes managing other people doing those same tasks and others.

Encouraging the development of generalist thinking may improve employee success along this long-term path. Giving people the opportunity to witness other parts of the organization in action can model the importance of such perspectives, building future leaders of a stronger organization.

The Role of Generalist Leadership in Small Businesses

It’s possible that you’ve read this advice and thought, that it won’t work for your business because it is too small.

This is the wrong way to think about it. You might be surprised by the value derived from exploring the distinctive experiences your small team brings to the table. And approaches like Heads Up Management may help you identify opportunities to look to people outside your organization to fill in skills gaps.

• Does generalist leadership development work with around 25 people?
• Are there generalist growth and mobility opportunities for ourselves and those around us?
• Can we encourage and nurture greater range in such an environment?

In a word: yes.

Embrace Organizational Overlap To Elevate Generalist Development

You may be surprised to learn that there may be even more talent and experience diversity in smaller organizations than in larger ones.

In certain large companies, your peers usually have a very similar set of skills and experiences to what you already have by the time you reach a leadership role. In a smaller organization, you usually have peers from all different types of backgrounds collaborating, each with their own lived experiences and perspectives.

Emphasize Cross-Functional Training

The development of generalist leadership in a smaller organization may be even more important than in larger ones. There are likely not going to be as many peers an employee can turn to and ask for their advice or how a particular situation aligns with their experience.

Fortunately, the very nature of growing and managing a small business fosters generalist leadership. There’s a lot to do and not enough hours in a day, so people end up wearing multiple hats. As a result, employees often gain exposure to a broader range of capability sets by default.

Baked-in generalist development at a small business is a good starting point, of course. But companies that want to make sure the mentality continues as they scale need to make it a deliberate choice. Ensuring you have the capability to continue providing opportunities for exposure to other people and departments for the sake of diverse learning sets you up for ongoing success.

It’s Time To Blow Up the Silos

If a person is going to become a true leader at some point in their career, it’s going to be far more challenging if they only understand one piece of the company. Even a small business may benefit from breaking down silos.

Having a variety of experiences like the kind described in Range helps both current and emerging leaders alike. The business’s long-term profitability and culture will benefit for years to come as a result.

It is said that variety is the spice of life. It might also be the secret ingredient in developing effective leaders.

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[Editors’ Note: To learn more about this and related topics, you may want to attend the following on-demand webinars (which you can view at your leisure, and each includes a comprehensive customer PowerPoint about the topic):

1. Protecting Your Employee Assets: Human Resources Management & The Life Cycle Of The Employment Relationship / Show Them the Money: Wage & Hour Compliance
2. Insurance For The Business Owner – 101 / Understanding Risk Management Basics for Business Owners
3. Protecting Your Employee Assets: Human / Resources Management & The Life Cycle Of The Employment Relationship An Ounce of Prevention: Policies, Procedures and Proactivity

This article was originally published in April 2020 and updated March 20, 2023.]

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