Five minutes, 20 slides. What would you say?

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Ignite no. 1

Matt Castner

The Case for Being a Generalist

The war between specialists and generalists has been quite one-sided. Google the words, and you'll see "Specialist" has a 40 to 1 advantage over "Generalist." On June 25th, 2009, I hope to turn the tide of this great inequality. From an educational perspective, being a generalist is more efficient use of time, and a more effective use of a brain. Generalists bring many perspectives to bear on any problem they face. This helps them see interdisciplinary complexities, and produce more valid solutions. Since specializing in something takes a long time, you might expect "generalizing" to be an involved process. Well, it's not. In fact, it only takes about five minutes. It's as simple as changing the way you look at the world.

About Matt Castner:

Matt is a recent college graduate with three degrees (two actual degrees, and two halves of one). He currently writes 'Typing About Talking' (http://typingabouttalking.blogspot.com) a saucy new blog about free mind-smartening content on the internet. He also has a full-time consulting gig, but that doesn't stop him from dabbling in entrepreneurship and dog ownership.