Which strategy do you think is better: generalist or specialist?

[DorkVader]

@monstro

Generalist: Someone who knows enough about a lot of things to be a useful source of information for most everyday problems but who probably wouldn’t be able to get enough in the weeds to fix major problems of a specific nature.

Specialist: Someone who knows a whole lot about one or two things and who are lifesavers for major problems in those specific areas, but can’t really help with any problems outside of those areas.

First off, which type do you think you are?

Secondly, which type seems to be valued the most in your organization?

Thirdly, how rigid do you think these types are? Like, if you think you’re a specialist, how hard do you think it would be for you to turn into a generalist, if you had to?

snip

I’m a generalist, mostly, but I do have a bit of specialization within the confines of my company.
I work in the moving industry, which covers everything from household, to office to commercial warehousing and delivery.
In my company I work on all types of jobs, including some maintenance and repair of equipment. However, over the 3 years I’ve been with this company, I’ve been moved into the role (and named on the corporate flow chart) of “commercial white glove and crew served delivery” supervisor with a strong bleed over into office moves supervisor. (white glove means not only clean hands but extra precaution taken with delivery, unboxing and assembly of items)
I don’t do sales.

In my company, right now, the generalists are more valued(with the exception of the sales staff). However, that’s because the bread and butter of my company has always been household moves. With the massive increase in business for the commercial warehouse over the last two years though, attitudes are starting to change a bit. The owners of the company are traditionalists, but actively looking for ways and exploring different avenues to increase company profits is also one of those traditions, so they haven’t been hestitant to put more resources in that direction even while being cautious.

I think it is very easy to specialize. less, or narrower field of knowledge to learn, easier to get deep into it that way. quicker recognition since there are fewer direct competitors (generally speaking). I think it depends a lot on circumstance first and personality second, unless you are at the beginning of your life as an adult and are deliberately making that decision then.
How easy is it to move to generalist? I dunno, I think that really depends on personality more and circumstance to a lesser degree, again with the exception for those at the beginning of adulthood who are purposefully make those choices.
Sooooo, I guess what all that means is that if you are moved in one or the other direction by circumstance and personality later in life its not too rigid, but if you make a choice either direction at the beginning of life (so to speak) then it is a much more rigid thing, although the lifer generalist is probably quite a bit more flexible than the lifer specialist. IMO

[DSeid]

@Qadgop_the_Mercotan

I’m glad you’ve found such a position and role. Primary care pediatrics (I’m 97% sure that’s what you do, please correct me if I’m wrong) is a wonderful fusion of primary and specialty skills. Same for ob/gyn, another specialty where a lot of primary care is done.

In general family medicine (which in my career has consisted of delivering babies, taking care of sick kids, casting basic fractures, doing general internal medicine and routine gynecology and family planning, doing ER work, neuro, endocrine, etc. etc. etc.) I’m told by many of my colleagues that they’re not allowed to practice to their skill level in their various areas, as a matter of practice policy. Liability costs are mentioned, but there’s also a sense that the specialists need to be kept busy as possible, especially since they get reimbursed at higher rates. As does the medical corporation as a whole, when specialty care occurs.

The generalist physicians of my generation that I encounter generally tell me some variation of the above, and also tell me they can’t wait to get out of practice because their caseloads are too full of the ‘worried well’ and even with those cases they’re not given enough time with patients. Which personally is what I enjoy the most.

I’ll end the ‘old fart’ rant here, and I truly do hope today’s generalists in medicine are enjoying careers more like yours than like some that I’ve observed. And I’m damned grateful I’ve found a particular niche which allows me to practice to my skill level and continue to expand my experience.

We could very quickly get into a major hijack here …

To keep it as brief as I can - yes general pediatrics with a small role in “clinical leadership.” I readily admit that my “corporate medicine” environment may be different than many. We are a bit over 800 docs now (and growing) with a sizable primary care component and we physicians own the business. We are not owned by a hospital system. We’ve also embraced and have been long preparing for the shifting environment, specifically understanding that our business does better by being able to prove we are providing higher quality at lower costs and understanding that we need to not only manage individual patients but populations as well. Specialists doing what is in a PCP’s wheelhouse does not serve our corporate goals, but working seamlessly as teams with appropriate hand-offs, keeping our specialists busy with that which needs or is at least best and most efficiently served by their specific skill and knowledge sets does.

That said, the FPs have it tough, even tougher than the internists. Much of the work of proving that value, which benefits all of us in the group, falls on them.

And docs in smaller groups and owned by hospital systems are in very difficult places.

[Doctor_Jackson]

Every organization/group needs both to be most efficient. I’m a generalist. I’m the one to whom the concept or problem gets handed initially. I analyze what I’m given, formulate a high level plan and call in the appropriate specialist(s) at the appropriate time(s). Once the proof of concept is ready or the problem resolved I gather all the pieces and present the whole.

• I understand SQL capability and can read scripts but you don’t want me writing them
• I know, in general, on which systems the data resides but you don’t want me modeling it
• I know what needs to be included on the reports and how they should look but you don’t want me designing them
• I know the big picture of each area of operation and how it fits into the whole but you don’t want me doing production work.
• I’m really good at making sense of ambiguity, formulating a plan of attack and leading diverse groups of specialists toward a common goal. That’s what you want me doing!