Roundtable Review: The Generalist vs The Specialist
Most are familiar with the adage “jack of all trades, master of none.”
You’ve likely debated specialization and generalization in your business and personal skill set. Whether project types, services offered, or clients cultivated, it can be hard to choose between perfecting your niche or expanding your offerings.
For this Roundtable, Brick & Wonder Pro and Council members visited the Rich Brilliant Willing showroom in Soho, NYC, to explore how real estate and design rewards and punishes specialization, and generalization.
In our Roundtable format, Brick & Wonder members shared specific anecdotes based on personal experience, responding to one of the following discussion prompts in under two minutes:
- Are you a specialist in your field? If so, how has this benefitted or hurt your business? What does specialization mean to you?
- Tell us a time your generalist knowledge has propelled your business and career.
- Real estate and design require collaboration across disciplines. How does your knowledge of another field elevate your work?
Key Insights:
A specialist, who spends their whole career specializing in one discipline will tell you: there is always a frontier of knowledge that you are clawing away at.
Evan Nussbaum – Materials Supplier
It’s good to be a generalist in your specialty – you want to get people to call you, even if you end up finding someone else to help them.
Rachel Kelly – Real Estate Broker
Session Notes:
Brick & Wonder members can access the full session notes here.
Event Photos:
Rich Brilliant Willing, Soho:
ABOUT OUR ROUNDTABLES
Our monthly roundtables are exclusive to Pro & Council members and designed specifically to sharpen minds, increase knowledge and develop new perspectives in the real estate industry.
Members dive into a new topic every month with an accomplished and diverse peer group, raising and answering tough questions and gaining valuable insights.
