12th October 2010
"Try to learn something about everything and everything about something."
Thomas H. Huxley
You have heard the old adage `knowledge is power'? You are judged by how much you know. Take the example of a computer. When you buy a computer, it cannot be put to immediate use unless you load the necessary software. The computer is as valuable as the variety of programmes it can run. Not only that. The computer is also evaluated by its memory capacity. The larger the memory capacity, the more will be its cost. Why do we need more capacity? We want to store as much bytes of information as possible. We talk about terra bytes of information. Once the computer is uploaded with the maximum number of files, if one day you are not able to access the computer, you become immobilised.
This comparison holds good for a human being also. We should be knowledgeable and capable of executing the most difficult tasks. It all starts with acquiring the basic knowledge. First we become a generalist. Then we take up any one area for our specialisation and invest all our time and efforts and become an expert on this. So the world expects us to be a generalist in many areas and specialist in one particular area.
Take the profile of any CEO. He has to be a generalist and a specialist. It applies to any field, be it medicine, engineering, accounting, legal etc.
Over this week end, just check if you satisfy these two conditions: Am I a generalist, and if so how much proficient am I in the over all aspects of my business? Am I a specialist? If so in what area I can say I am the authority? Am I the best in my specialist area, who is my role model and bench mark? What is the gap between my knowledge in my special area and the best in my field?
N C Sridharan
000
Posts
