Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
Wanted: Multitasking Workaholic Generalists
Bob Weinstein is a journalist who covers technology, project management, the workplace and career development.
So you graduated at the top of your class from an Ivy League school. You’re smarter than Albert Einstein and are listed in Guinness World Records with an IQ of 900.
Does all that mean you’re going to get a job faster than anyone else? The truth is your incredible academic past doesn’t hold the same weight it once would have in the ‘70, ‘80s and ‘90s. Back then, employers--especially elite technology companies--went out of their way to hire super brains because they had potential.
But they preferred specialists, people who could do one thing exceptionally well. They paid them fabulous salaries with great benefits and perks--maybe tossed a snazzy company car in the package--and then put these employees in cubicles and told them to be brilliant eight hours a day. That’s what they were paid to do.
It was a neat, clean and simple arrangement. No wonder CEOs of midsize and large companies had little idea who worked for them. The well-paid specialists were afraid to come out of their cubicles. The obvious advantage for management, however, was that not knowing these smart people took some of the pain out of firing them. They weren’t real living and breathing human beings--just titles, job functions and payroll numbers.
Fast-forward to 2008. It’s a whole new era. These days, companies don&rsquo…
Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.
ADVERTISEMENTS
|
"Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator; but among those whom I love, I can: All of them can make me laugh." - W.H. Auden |