Book Review: Range by David Epstein
New York Times bestselling author of The Sports Gene, David Epstein has written an equally compelling book, Range—Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. Packed with documented research and resources, he offers a convincing case for how to capture and cultivate the power of breadth, diverse experience, and interdisciplinary exploration within systems that increasingly demand hyper specialization. Epstein offers page-turning examples that can be applied to every profession, business and marketing practice.
Why are we reading this book?
Chapter 7—Flirting with Your Possible Selves is the story of Frances Hesselbein whose desire to be a playwright took a sharp left turn in 1976 when she became the CEO of the Girl Scouts. For thirteen years she introduced innovative problem solving to triple minority leadership, add a quarter million members, and more than 130,000 new volunteers. The cookie business grew to more than $300 million a year. Her secret? Discover the possibilities by not doing a prescribed, specialized formula. And we say, YES!
Backstory:
Epstein opens with the stories of two well-known sports figures—Tiger Woods and Roger Federer. Of the two, Tiger’s rise to fame has been highly publicized—how his dad saw Tiger’s potential when he swung a golf club at the age of two and the subsequent myopic focus to achieve professional excellence in golf. Roger Federer’s path is not so well known—that his was a circuitous route before becoming one of the top tennis players in the world. A classic example of how the professed necessity of hyperspecialization forms the core of a vast, successful, and sometimes well-meaning marketing machine that perpetuates the importance of specialization.
Challenge:
It’s Epstein’s premise that there are many routes to expertise. Going beyond the more common examples of successful generalists such as athletes and musicians, he demonstrates the depth of his research with examples from NASA to toy manufacturers and medical research. The challenge is to not compare your path to that of any other’s road to success. Instead, “Compare yourself to yesterday, not to people who aren’t you,” Epstein says.
Solution:
There is no clear-cut solution. In the world of specialization, generalists are those who tinker with ideas much like the jazz musician improvises, who find their own voice to solve problems. Herminia Ibarra, a professor of organizational behavior, concluded from her studies that “We discover the possibilities by doing, by trying new activities, building new networks, finding new role models.” It is this “outsider advantage” that gives generalists the ability to succeed as innovative leaders with well-developed problem-solving skills regardless of what industry or endeavor they pursue.
Solution Steps:
- Refrain from turning conceptual problems into procedural ones just to execute an outcome.
- Be okay with the space in between the problem and the solution.
- Tolerating big mistakes can create the best learning opportunities.
- Expand narrow viewpoints, embrace challenges with a greater range of perspectives.
Summary:
Professionally and personally, Epstein encourages the reader to approach projects like Michelangelo approached a block of marble: “willing to learn and adjust as you go, and even abandon a previous goal and change directions entirely should the need arise.” Research supports that diverse groups of specialists cannot fully replace the contributions of broad individuals because “experience is not wasted.” Hesselbein concurs with, “A mind kept wide open will take something from every new experience.”