Life of a Generalist
When startups begin to look for people to add to their team, they often look for generalists with a focus on a certain field. For example, Airbnb's first hire had responsibilities across operations and product development. Uber's first employee was hired to be a "business development and product badass." Pinterest's first hire was a jack-of-all-trades who could help wherever he was needed.
Why is that? Put simply, startups are full of ambiguity and experimentation.
When you throw a generalist at a problem. They use lateral thinking, drawing from various experiences and contexts to find innovative solutions to problems. They’re built to deal with ambiguity. Perfect for fast-growing startups.
But what does the life of a generalist look like and what skills does it require? At the end of this session you will learn:
What a day in the life of a generalist looks like
How to land a generalist role
What makes for a good generalist
Whether one stays a generalist forever or not
How a generalist’s role changes as the company grow