4: Being a Generalist is Limiting Your Career

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[This transcript has not been edited and is provided as a service.

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] One of the toughest challenges I face with the people I work with is convincing them to focus their narrative even a little.

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They want to position themselves as generalists.

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After all, many of them are MBAs with their sights set on general management roles.

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Have you ever found yourself thinking or saying but I'm a generalist, I'm adaptable, I can learn anything, I don't want to limit my options?

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And then your back stiffens up and your face hardens into a frown.

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I've seen it in person and on the other end of a Zoom session many times.

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Don't get me wrong.

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I understand where the resistance is coming from the people I work with and likely you naturally want to have access to the greatest range of opportunities possible.

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That could be because you're not entirely sure about what you want to do next, or maybe you're just uncomfortable facing a career path that seems to be narrowing with time.

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Whatever the source of the discomfort might be, I think most of us want to appeal to the broadest audience possible.

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The problem with this approach, especially for senior leaders, is this Executive recruiters boards and hiring managers typically aren't looking for a generalist who is adaptable and can learn anything.

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They're looking for an ideal candidate, and I put that in quotes One uniquely qualified individual who understands their business and can help them solve the specific challenges they're facing now and in the foreseeable future.

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They want the needle in the haystack, not the haystack.

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I'm Doug Lester, an executive coach and career strategist to MBAs and ambitious professionals.

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I've worked one-on-one with well over a thousand people, helping them craft compelling work-life narratives and advance satisfying, meaningful careers.

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When it comes to your career and your life, if you don't craft your own narrative, then someone else might do it for you and you might not like what they come up with.

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So let's work together on your narrative now.

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I'm definitely not the first to convey the message that when you try to serve everyone, you end up serving no one.

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That wisdom has been around for a long time.

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Still, I'm surprised that this realization doesn't seem to stick.

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Perhaps people have forgotten it, or maybe they know it but are in denial.

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I suspect it's the latter.

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When I was a senior recruiter at Isaacson Miller, a top executive search firm, we went to visit our clients at the start of every search.

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They were usually hiring for what we like to call a cabinet-level position, essentially a role on their senior leadership team, whether we were speaking with the chair of a board, an organization's top leader or a key stakeholder.

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It was virtually guaranteed that we would hear some version of the following statement.

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In fact, I would find myself counting the minutes until they said it.

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And here it is.

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We are at a unique point in our history, facing a set of specific challenges.

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We need someone who has faced similar challenges in an organization like ours and has already overcome them, preferably several times.

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In other words, the firm's clients wanted a specialist, not a generalist.

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More specifically, our clients wanted a leader who had experience facing a particular challenge or set of challenges similar to their own in a particular context similar to their context, who had proven success overcoming that challenge or challenges in that context, preferably several times.

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And if you've listened to episode one of this podcast, it's called what's your Career Narrative.

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The three components I propose are very similar.

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Your narrative or you could think of it as your positioning in this case should answer the following questions what do you do, what context do you do it in and what is the impact of your work?

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I think that approach matches up pretty nicely with what our clients almost always said they wanted.

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Now you may already have noticed something about what our clients were saying they wanted.

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They weren't asking for specific skills.

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They were looking primarily for stories of challenges overcome, and that was what we tried to find for them people who could tell those specific stories.

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In other words, we were looking for specialists.

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As a consumer products marketer fresh out of business school, I learned the power of a sharply defined positioning that one differentiates a product from its competitors and two speaks directly to the consumer whose problem the brand's product promises to solve.

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I worked at Nutrigina for seven years, so let's think about skin care for a minute.

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If you have sensitive skin, you don't want just any old soap or cleanser.

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You want a dermatologist recommended cleanser that is effective at cleaning even the most sensitive skin without leaving it dry or irritated.

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You'll actively seek out and buy a specialist cleanser specifically formulated to live up to that promise, and you'll likely be willing to pay more for it, and you'll think the expense is worth it when your skin is clean, moisturized and, most importantly, soothed and calm.

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What you won't buy is a cleanser formulated for everyone and all skin types.

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After all, your skin is different, your skin is sensitive and you need a solution specifically positioned for your particular skin care challenge.

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Similarly, when you, as a professional are the obvious solution to a specific problem in a specific context, hiring managers and recruiters who have that problem.

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In that context they're going to seek you out.

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They may even offer to pay you more.

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As a former executive recruiter, I can vouch for that one.

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My job was to look for the ideal candidate who was the solution to the specific challenges my firm's client was facing.

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And if you were the ideal candidate, or close to it, we would have probably made a case for paying you more.

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Think about it we pay premium prices for highly skilled professionals who are the solution to a specific problem all the time.

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When was the last time you got a bill from your attorney, tax accountant or a medical specialist?

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You expected that bill to be high.

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The same is true for MBAs and other professionals.

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Let's consider a positioning I hear all the time I'm an experienced, results-oriented marketer, strategist and general manager.

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There are thousands and thousands of MBAs and other professionals who could meet that description.

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That's a lot of competition and it's not a particularly compelling positioning for anyone who is looking to hire the solution to their specific marketing or general management problem, whatever that might be.

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Now let's consider what might happen if that experienced marketer, strategist and general manager adopted a reasonably focused positioning.

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Like I'm, an experienced marketer and general manager who helps high-growth companies fill their product pipeline and build market presence to drive sustainable growth, I think there are plenty of companies out there looking to hire who might say that's exactly what they want, and if they think they need it badly enough, and if you're obviously a good match and please don't make them think too hard about it then they'll likely be willing to pay you a premium.

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The trick here is to come up with a positioning that's authentic and stays true to your interests, experience and ambitions, and it's just specific enough.

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And that's the key that the companies you might want to work for would say you're exactly what we've been looking for.

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And if you're ever tempted to answer the question so what do you do with an answer that includes the word generalist in it, or is the equivalent of saying I can do anything?

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Then you have a problem that you need to fix.

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People hire people to solve a problem and you need to be the obvious solution to that problem.

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The problem could be quite specific or it could be reasonably broad, but you're still an expert at solving that problem in a particular context or setting.

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So what problems do you like to solve and who could benefit from hiring you?

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As the solution to that problem, consider incorporating this problem solution approach into your own narrative, maybe even work it into your LinkedIn headline and about section.

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It will help the people who want to hire someone like you find you and if you need some help focusing your positioning, consider signing up for a career strategy session at career narrativescom.

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Forward slash strategy.

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We can work on it together.