The Reign of Specialists is Over with David Epstein, Best-Selling Author of Range and The Sports Gene
01/19/22 • 32 min
Growing up, we’re all asked what we want to be when we’re older. Our answer is normally met with an explanation of the years of education and dedication we’ll have to go through to get there. Whether it’s trade school, medical school, a PhD, or apprenticeship, we start to understand that we’ll need years of specialized training to get to where we want to be. But what if that whole way of thinking is wrong?
Today, we’re learning to completely shift our approach to the understanding of expertise. Our guest is David Epstein, bestselling author of Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World and The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance. He shares why you should shift your focus from being a specialist to a generalist, and how that can exponentially increase your odds for success. You won’t want to miss it.
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"The people who are good forecasters sometimes have an area of specialty, sometimes they don't, but more important than what they think, is how they think." - David Epstein
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Time Stamps
(0:00) How Satyen became a generalist
(2:52) Why IQ tests aren’t as helpful as you think
(5:53) What makes an environment kind or wicked
(13:23) Getting comfortable with sporadic success
(18:31) The perks of generalization
(22:57) The shortcomings of specialization
(26:36) What we can learn from Vincent Van Gogh
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Sponsor
This podcast is presented by Alation.
Learn more:
Data Radicals: https://www.alation.com/podcast/
Alation’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/alation/
Satyen’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ssangani/
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Links
Growing up, we’re all asked what we want to be when we’re older. Our answer is normally met with an explanation of the years of education and dedication we’ll have to go through to get there. Whether it’s trade school, medical school, a PhD, or apprenticeship, we start to understand that we’ll need years of specialized training to get to where we want to be. But what if that whole way of thinking is wrong?
Today, we’re learning to completely shift our approach to the understanding of expertise. Our guest is David Epstein, bestselling author of Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World and The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance. He shares why you should shift your focus from being a specialist to a generalist, and how that can exponentially increase your odds for success. You won’t want to miss it.
--------
"The people who are good forecasters sometimes have an area of specialty, sometimes they don't, but more important than what they think, is how they think." - David Epstein
--------
Time Stamps
(0:00) How Satyen became a generalist
(2:52) Why IQ tests aren’t as helpful as you think
(5:53) What makes an environment kind or wicked
(13:23) Getting comfortable with sporadic success
(18:31) The perks of generalization
(22:57) The shortcomings of specialization
(26:36) What we can learn from Vincent Van Gogh
--------
Sponsor
This podcast is presented by Alation.
Learn more:
Data Radicals: https://www.alation.com/podcast/
Alation’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/alation/
Satyen’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ssangani/
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Links
Previous Episode
Trailer
Data confers immense power. With it, we can transform the world as we know it. But, despite all that potential—too few people know how to wield data. 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created every day. Saul Alinsky famously said “If people don’t think they have the power to solve their problems, they won’t even think about how to solve them.” Translating that information into meaning is one of the most significant challenges of our time. We believe it’s the key to addressing our most pressing issues, from climate change to global inequality. Many of us see this as an opportunity: How do we teach more people to leverage data?
This show is called Data Radicals, hosted by Satyen Sangani, CEO of Alation. Join us on this journey as we engage data leaders, academics and analysts from all walks of life. We’ll be featuring the stories of the culture builders and truth-seekers who are doing big things with data. Whether you’re a Chief Data Officer, a young data analyst on the path to the C-suite, or a data fanatic who wants to learn from today’s change makers - this podcast is for you.
So tap the follow button, and get ready to hear from some of the most innovative minds in the world of data. Welcome to Data Radicals. Powered by the team at Alation.
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Sponsor
This podcast is presented by Alation.
Learn more:
Data Radicals: https://www.alation.com/podcast/
Alation’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/alation/
Satyen’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ssangani/
Next Episode
Emerging from the Data Dark Ages with Jennifer Belissent, Principal Data Strategist, Snowflake
You may not realize it, but data literacy is an issue that affects everyone. From the mom-and-pop shop around the corner to the Fortune 500 C-suite, everyone has skin in the game. Yet, how to teach data literacy is still not widely understood or prioritized by data leaders. That needs to change, and the first step is listening to today’s episode.
We’re talking with Jennifer Belissent, Principal Data Strategist at Snowflake, about tackling data literacy. She shares how data literacy impacts everything from smart cities, to your local grocery store, to your corner office. Tune in to learn how you can use data literacy to build your own data culture, have a lens into your customer's behavior, increase productivity, and much more.
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"Many people are not comfortable with data. We've created the haves and have-nots within an organization. We need to make sure that data literacy programs are inclusive. " - Jennifer Belissent
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Time Stamps
(0:00) What’s happening with data literacy today
(3:28) The inevitability of smart cities
(5:34) Data serves as a lens into people’s behavior
(9:05) How to approach data literacy
(17:04) The CDO’s role in data literacy
(22:55) Creating a data culture
(27:44) Teaching your employees data literacy
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Sponsor
This podcast is presented by Alation.
Learn more:
Data Radicals: https://www.alation.com/podcast/
Alation’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/alation/
Satyen’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ssangani/
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Links
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