Who am I? I’m a Jack-of-all-trades.

Hi, I’m Sandy, one of the Parkers behind parkerlings.com. Have you heard the phrase, “Jack-of-all-trades, master of none?” I’m assuming you have, but let’s just make sure we’re talking about the same thing. A quick Google search clarifies that it’s a complimentary term referring to a generalist, rather than a specialist.

Insult or compliment?

For me, I’ve usually taken it as a compliment. I’ve often used it to describe myself. It’s been a key tenant of my identity for as long as I can remember. I’ve been proud to use it to refer to myself as a well-rounded individual, curious about lots of different subjects. I can recall one or two instances where it was used negatively, to chide me, but overall, that’s been pretty rare, I’m happy to say.

Jack-of-all-trades, master of none?

After high school, I attended a small, liberal arts college. I remember one of the college’s leaders (I’m not sure whom), describe liberal arts something like this:

A liberal arts college is like having all the subjects in the world in the one collegiate pond and to get your degree you have to learn about each of the subjects in the pond a couple inches deep. But then you have your major and minor subjects where you get a foot or more deep into the pond and develop a bit of an expertise in those that you’re really passionate about.

Wisconsin Lutheran College employee, 1994

I loved my college experience. It is up there as one of the best chapters of my life because that liberal arts ethos, both in the classroom and around campus suited me and my personality perfectly. I excelled at getting a smattering of understanding about the breadth of topics that were offered to me.

In the 20+ years after college, I’ve naturally gravitated to jobs and career which required the skills of a generalist. As a volunteer for the Lutheran Church in Bulgaria, I did everything from the monthly expense accounting back to our American backers, to teaching English language courses, to babysitting for the missionaries’ kids. And, in my role as a product manager for a large telecoms company in the UK, I’ve led a wide range of initiatives — from designing and developing broadband equipment to writing marketing communications, to helping to design the systems that control the products’ order journeys — and lots in between.

Through all these experiences, my Jack-of-all-trades nature — that curiosity and desire to learn and understand and practice a bit about all the subjects I encountered — has been a lot of the reason for my success.

Jack-of-all-trades, master of some.

What I’ve discovered over many years as a generalist, is that actually, being a generalist is, in itself, something that can be mastered. In other words, you can be an expert generalist. That doesn’t have to be an oxymoron. Because, of course, every individual is a bit of a generalist; God created us that way so that we could stay alive. We all breathe, but those who are good at sport or singing are arguably more expert at it since they have trained their bodies and their lungs to go further without getting out of breath. And we all eat, but those of us who are good at cooking probably eat better than those who aren’t.

So, how do you know whether you’re a Jack-of-all-trades or a subject matter expert?

In reality, it’s all relative. If you’re the only one who has done some research on a subject amongst your family and group of friends or acquaintances, then, within that group of people, you’re the expert. There isn’t actually a specific threshold of knowledge that you have to attain before you can be the expert at something at any given moment with a particular group of people. You just have to know a bit more on the particular subject being discussed compared to everyone else in the room. Oh, actually, to be the expert though, you do need to be willing to put your head above the parapet and tell the people what you know — even if that is merely by validating that you agree or disagree with what others in the room are saying (and can back that position up with your learning and experience). Whether and how you maintain your expertise over time is what will then keep people coming back to you as an expert in that particular subject.

What are the skills and qualities of a Jack-of-all-trades?

They’re much the same as the skills and qualities of a specialist, the only difference is the breadth and extent of subjects on which a person applies them:

• An intense curiosity and desire to learn
• An ability and confidence to ask questions to help your and others’ understanding of the subject
• A willingness to try, and potentially fail
• The willingness to share your experience about the subject with others
• A recognition that there is always more that you could learn, whether you want to, or not.

I am a Jack-of-all-trades.

I am truly not an expert at anything. I’m pretty good at a lot of different things, and I’m grateful for both the experts and fellow generalists who’ve taught me over the years.

I’m glad I’m not an expert. If I was, life would be boring since there’d be nothing to pursue, nothing more to be learned, nothing to be improved upon. Thank you, God, for making me a Jack-of-all-trades and for giving me many great teachers along the way.

What about you?

Do you tend to be a Jack-of-all-trades, or a subject matter expert? Are there any qualities of a Jack-of-all-trades that I’ve missed? Share your thoughts below.

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