Tiger Woods may be the best golfer ever, and he started swinging clubs when he started walking. He engaged in deliberate practice and prepared mentally as early as 6. He is the epitome of hyper-specialization. Todd Marinovich experienced similar training in football. His father was the strength and conditioning coach for the Oakland Raiders, and he started training his son when he was extremely young. His dad planned for him to play quarterback and make it to the NFL. Marinovich set many national high school football records and did make it to the NFL. However, his NFL career ended abruptly due to off-the-field issues. His intense focus did not result in greatness in the same way as Tiger Woods. Most people believe Tiger is the hard work breeds greatness story and Marinovich is the exception. David Epstein in his book Range argues Tiger is actually the exception, and his work may provide advice for our students.
Epstein compares generalists to hyper-specialists in Range. He argues the general public sees Tiger and believes specialization early is the best way to achieve success in life. He then proceeds through the book with constant examples of individuals who were generalists with multiple areas of expertise that both succeed and out-performed the hyper-specialists. Multiple stories in the book involved teams in problem solving competitions. The teams that included different specializations solved more problems and were always more accurate. He also discussed NASA's leadership. Under leaders that encouraged cross-departmental communication, missions succeeded at higher rates. Leaders who discouraged communication encountered disasters that lost lives. His argument is people who hyper-specialize only see the problem they study, the old-saying that "if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." Individuals with broader knowledge have more problem-solving tools and approach situations with analogies to other areas.
The book is interesting, but also enlightening for our students. This definitely helps with career advice. I tell students to intern in different offices and specialties. They can find what they like, and they will see different perspectives. This is also important for bar preparation. I encounter students every year who worked exclusively in Criminal Law or Family Law, for example, who won't approach other subjects. They don't want to practice Property, so they ignore it. Students can use other subjects' ideas or rules to help on the MBE. I always try to get students to use all the rules in their toolbox to reach the "right" answer, even when the rule is from a different subject. Hyper-specialization, or hyper-focus in law, can be a detriment when preparing for a test designed for a generalist.
Broadening our knowledge is both fun and can make us better problem solvers.
(Steven F0ster)
