Jack of all trades but master of (none) one

During my childhood, I was quite accustomed to seeing my parents' unhappy reaction to my somewhat consistent poor performance in school. There was very little I could do to fulfil their wishes as I was too busy mastering skills in sports, namely, football, cricket, badminton, swimming, chess and what not!

With all her hopes dashed for my future as a good student, my rather progressive-minded mother even tried to make me a gymnast! When one stretches his time to so many areas of sports, one is likely to end up being a jack of all trades without being a master in one.

The saying, "jack of all trades, master of none" is often used on a negative note. Picking a specific skill and learning to master it is believed to be more important to a successful career, than being able to turn your hand on several tasks.

Going back two decades to my Unilever days, I wanted to move one of my colleagues who happened to be a bright accountant to a management accounting role as part of his job rotation to ensure a better career. But he refused the opportunity citing that the financial accounting role is essential to every organisation while the management accounting role is limited to a few multinational companies.

I thought such a conservative approach is a major barrier to becoming a transformational leader in today's world. Being a master of one as opposed to Jack of all trades is often mistakenly considered 'future proofing' one's career!

Be it our personal time or limited corporate resources, we are constrained by many factors. Hence, it is important to allocate resources smartly to ensure that you or your product or your company is known for one quality. It gives you a unique identity in the minds of people.

Let's take the example of the telecom sector.

There are four critical parameters that users consider: network, price, innovative products and services. In Bangladesh, as far as public perception goes, a market leader must first have a great network (coverage); second, least priced; third, the best in 4G; and fourth, high data speed. But if we look at the existing telecom leaders, are they best in all these parameters? The answer is no because it is practically not possible.

If an operator wants to ensure good network quality (coverage, speed etc.), it has to ensure massive capital investment. Similarly, low prices would significantly dent the profitability. Focusing on both is bound to weaken the balance sheet.

How to solve this puzzle of trying to be master of one while being jack of all trades in an organisation then?

Be very clear on what distinct position you want to create for your company/product/brand. The best in quality would have to be allowed to charge a premium. If one wants to create a product like Rolex, the company needs to disproportionately invest in state of the art research and development and factory coupled with advertisement.

With premium pricing, the product/company should be able to recover not only the cost of investment but also extract good profit! Individuals also need to work the same way to create their own identity in the job market.

On the other hand, the job market during the pandemic may well justify that being a generalist might not be such a bad thing after all. The record-breaking economic downturn in the last two years has brought a huge number of businesses like travel and hospitality to a standstill, which has led to a surge in redundancies. The current trends are definitely refreshing the importance of being the jack of all trades!

In order to grow, one cannot rule out the importance of being a jack of all trades. However, it is, at the same time, equally important to amplify the importance of having a unique identity (master of one!), be it the product leader or the corporate leader.

The author is a telecom and management expert.