How to become an expert fast
Generalists, Emerging Spaces, and Domain Combos
No one knows what the world will look like in the next 10 years.
We are living in an age of rapid and widespread change. For example, the increasing pace of LLM development challenged many human crafts that require hard skills. In the upcoming 1-2 years, translators, photographers, and graphic designers will become seriously challenged by the more efficient GenAI. If you are one, I recommend you begin saving money and explore new viable career options. The changes happen rapidly – not even 24 months have passed since the ChatGPT launch (30.11.2022).
Constantly facing the unknown is challenging for us.
After all – we are creatures that thrive best in predictable and secure environments. It strains all our systems because the increased cortisol levels hinder many processes like digestion, higher cognition, or fertility. On top of that, navigating the unknown without a plan or at least some viable heuristics makes us more likely to prioritize short-term gain versus long-term values. It's really understandable; think about it – why would we focus on some far and out-of-reach value when the immediate world around us is in such unpredictable chaos?
One way to effectively address the reality of the unknown future is to develop a flexible mind.
What is a flexible mind? A flexible mind is a mode of being in the world. A flexible mind is ready for changes, prepared to pivot, and has all the resources it needs to go with the flow. This go-with-the-flow approach can be surprisingly well-structured too. The approach I talk about here is not by any means totally mindless; it has some boundaries that make it more concrete and defined. I will share the characteristics of this approach in a minute. But before we go there, let’s acknowledge a slightly nuanced yet strong benefit of having a flexible mind. When understood and applied correctly, the flexible mind can bring us success and fulfillment instead of dread and anxiety. We need to talk about the generalists to better understand how exactly this happens.
The flexible mind is a strong marker of many generalists. Generalists are people who possess a wide knowledge of multiple topics. They can be contrasted with Specialists, who prefer to focus intensely on one particular field to understand it deeply.
The future belongs to flexibly-minded generalists who become experts.1 Why? Because these individuals can quickly hop on an emerging trend, provide value through their work, and get rewarded as pioneers.2 With a bit of luck (and a slightly more considerable dose of bravery!), they are well-positioned to make the best out of the unknown future.
Here’s the best part. Becoming an expert in an emerging space is a viable way to succeed.
By “an emerging space”, I mean the space beyond sectors or industries. Such a space cuts across traditional sector or industry boundaries and often surfaces on top of emerging trends, innovative technologies, or new market opportunities.3 Think FinTech, BioTech, Industry 4.0, Blockchain & Crypto as some examples of the spaces.
Why is becoming an expert in an emerging space a recommended path to success? There are two reasons why this approach works. The first one is that it's easier to bring value to a space that has not yet developed its experts. Think of it as being a single fish in a blue ocean with no predators and loads of opportunities for forage and mating. Generalists are naturally more open to jumping sectors, industries, or markets. And since we are at the nature metaphors now – generalists do this “domain jumping” in a way akin to what you might remember from biology classes. They do it through the wondrous process of metamorphosis.
The second reason this approach works is thanks to utilizing what I call Domain Combos. Let's start with understanding the Domain Combos and how they work by providing some examples.
A Domain Combo is a combination of two distinct knowledge domains or unique skill sets that give birth to something new and unique that's more than the sum of its parts. It's like an emergence or synergy. Generalists thrive in creating Domain Combos for their careers. Domain Combos work on a simple principle. You take one knowledge domain/area or expertise/skill set (say art education) and combine it with another domain or area (let's say AI). Skilfully doing this combination means you arrive at something new and unique. In this example, what comes out from combining art education + knowledge of how to use AI becomes the "Generative Art" concept. But it's not only a concept; it's also a space where individuals begin to experiment, work, and explore. The "Generative Art" becomes an emerging space where specific individuals can hope to leave their footprint and eventually succeed.
Another example of Domain Combos would be integrating an individual's passion for the Economy knowledge with Business design skills and Crypto as the market. Before reading on, think about what could emerge from such a combination.
The mix above gives birth to the emerging "Tokenomics" space, which is nested inside the Blockchain & Crypto space itself! (yep, spaces can be nested in other spaces, too – just like systems can and often do). Moreover, once the space emerges, it begins to naturally "grow" experts within. Check out folks from the Tokenomics Newsletter as an example. They are masters of Domain Comboing, focused on delivering value through sharing knowledge and frameworks and even providing tools for designing a token economy yourself.
The tricky part about the Domain Combos is that they require a leap of faith from the curious explorer. There are no guarantees in life. Thus, creating something unique or integrating two or more distinct domains/skillets/concepts/spaces might not always pan out. And that's perfectly fine. We should also be advised that when it comes to finding your unique niche – you can hit the jackpot in a Bob Ross "happy accident" style, not necessarily by design. With the right mindset, we can equip ourselves with the proper methods and frameworks to help us navigate the unknown waters – but that's pretty much it. This is because we can't foresee what the future brings – we can only remain flexible and adaptive to what comes our way. What brings hope is that practicing adaptability increases our chances of hitting the jackpot.
So far, we have discussed the "what"; let's now dig into "how" to become experts.
There are multiple pathways to becoming an expert. I will share three paths and describe one in detail.
You can become an expert consciously or unconsciously. Becoming an expert unconsciously means you don't design a plan for yourself. Instead, you go with the flow, follow your instincts, and accept where the world shores you. This can work but is quite volatile and unguided. My personal story exemplifies the unconscious path to achieving expertise in many different spaces.
There's also the conscious path to becoming an expert. It involves utilizing specific frameworks and methods to prepare for doing Domain Combos, then exploring the spaces efficiently and iterating until things click. This path involves enhanced and very directed learning, probing, hypothesizing, and experimenting. The conscious path is also exciting.
This path could be (among many things) passion-inspired, market-inspired, or a combination of both. In a nutshell, passion-inspired means you start by assessing what truly drives you and work to involve your passion as the Domain Combo's primary component. The market-inspired way focuses on scanning for opportunities in existing spaces first (think a booming space, like Crypto and NFTs in 2021 or AI in 2022-23).
Regardless of which way you choose, when weaving the Domain Combos, you need to focus on two things. First, getting the particular Job To Be Done well, and second – obtaining specific knowledge.
Getting the job to be done well is about solving specific customer needs with precision. Obtaining specific knowledge is about getting these rare insights that make one excel in a new field.
Let's look at making a Domain Combo within a Tech industry. Say you bet that interesting synergy can emerge from trying to combine E-commerce (a sub-industry for retail) with Data (general industry). Your hypothesis would be to combine shopping data and smart analysis to make online stores better and easier to use, leading to a new area of E-commerce Analytics that helps both shops and shoppers. So, you begin to dig into both topics. Inadvertently, you will stumble upon a question: How deep do I need to get in terms of the depth of knowledge and experience in e-commerce and data areas to make it click?
Not as deep as you might think.
Sometimes, even a relatively shallow dive in both domains is enough to bring real value and enable the combo to work its magic. You don't necessarily need to become an expert in e-commerce and an expert in data to become an expert in e-commerce analytics. To make it work, you can start by integrating only the selected few and most relevant concepts from each domain.
You don't need to go deep into a particular domain and become a specialist to extract value from a successful Domain Combo. Once you realize this, you will feel more confident entering any foreign domain. This, paired with an open mind and a learner mindset, sets you up for a real chance to succeed in finding your niche.
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Experts, not in the sense of Specialists.
You can discover more about the Pioneers here: The Next Big Thing
Sector (i.e., Tech, Healthcare, Finance, Energy). Industry (for Tech: Software, hardware, internet services, etc.).