Forget 10,000 hours on one skill. According to David Epstein, range is the key to success

It’s likely you’ve heard of the 10,000-hour rule. Popularised by Malcom Gladwell in his bestseller book Outliers, the rule states that anyone who engages in deliberate practice of any skill or specialty for a total of 10,000 hours will become an expert in that field. It’s the rule that taught us that the key to success is specialising as early as possible and dedicating thousands of hours to one field.

But this is completely wrong.

It’s this rule that David Epstein aims to demystify and argue against in his latest book Range: How Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. In Range, Epstein explains why it’s more valuable to be a generalist who possesses a wealth of experiences in most fields, as opposed to a specialist who narrows their thinking by specialising early.

It’s not a book that devalues specialisation; rather, it identifies the limitations of early specialisation, explaining why it shouldn’t be the defining factor of success that is glorified by our society.

To illustrate his point, Epstein begins the book with the story of Tiger Woods and Roger Federer — two sportsmen who are arguably the greatest of all time in their respective sports.

On one hand, child prodigy Tiger Woods picked up his first golf club at the ripe age of seven months and won his first tournament at age two, competing in the under-ten’s division. Tiger became one of the top golfers in the world, tallying up a long list of golf records and is tied for first place for total PGA tour wins. Through his success, he became a case study on why specialising early as a child leads to success.

But the story of Roger Federer takes a different road. As a child, his parents encouraged him to sample a wide variety of different sports, including basketball, handball and wrestling, before eventually gravitating towards tennis. Despite not having a head start in tennis, he became a junior champion at age 17 and went onto win his first grand slam, Wimbledon, at age 21.

Epstein argues that Tiger is the exception, not the rule. Throughout history our society has celebrated exceptions to the rule, only supporting the idea that early specialisation is the key to success. But in reality, there are more successful people out there like Roger than there are Tiger.

The book uncovers that in many fields, skills and industries, generalists with a range of experiences are more creative, more agile and more successful than their specialised colleagues.

To better understand where each type thrives, Epstein introduces us to two states: the kind environment and the wicked environment. The kind environment is where patterns repeat or feedback is immediate — think golf or chess, where the rules are rigid and you instantly know if you’ve made a bad swing or move. On the other hand, wicked environments are more complex, where patterns are less apparent and feedback is delayed.

Specialists thrive in a kind environment, whereas generalists thrive in dynamic, wicked environments. Epstein reveals that being a generalist helps a person better adapt to new situations by applying learnings from a diverse range of experiences.

As the book weaves through different stories, it offers case studies and examples of where generalists have excelled in various different fields. three core insights for success come to light:

Three core insights for success

1. Head starts are overrated

   While a head start in a kind environment might give a person an advantage, Epstein argues this advantage doesn’t matter as much in wicked environments. In fact, successful people tend to juggle with multiple interests and activities before they specialise in their niche. There’s also an advantage to being a late bloomer, as demonstrated through the stories of people such as Van Gogh and JK Rowling, who excelled despite their late starts.

2. Range improves innovation and creativity

   Creative achievers tend to have broad interests, as they have the ability to draw upon outside experiences and insights to support creative solutions. To support this notion, Epstein focuses a chapter on the ‘Outsider Advantage’, detailing how innovation truly happens when an outsider reframes the problem and generates a novel solution — since specialists tend to only try solutions that have worked before.
   

3. The importance of starting broad before narrowing in

   Throughout the book we read stories on how successful people have a sampling period. They try multiple different sports, disciplines, or careers before settling in their niche. Epstein argues a sample period is often an integral part of developing great performers, athletes, students or successful people.

With range becoming a more important part of future workplaces and teams, businesses will start to realise the benefits of employing people with a range of diverse experience. 

Three ways to increase your range

1. Microskilling/upskilling

   Expanding your range means increasing your skills set and experiences, with mircoskilling and upskilling being great ways to do this. There are plenty of ways to expand your skillset online, whether it’s through free or paid platforms. One great example is Skill Finder, which is supported by industry giants — such as Adobe and LinkedIn — and can connect you with thousands of online courses offered by the best in the industry. 

2. Continual learning

   In addition to microskilling, it’s important for all professionals to continually learn both in a professional and personal context. Reading books, specifically business or personal development books, is a great method to learn broad skills that can be applied to multiple sectors and situations.

3. Leap of faith and lateral movement

   As jobs become more complex, the old career model that promotes specialisation may not be as relevant. A report conducted by the Foundation for Young Australians discovered trends that suggest young people now will have 17 jobs spanning across five different careers or sectors in their lifetime. Therefore, to truly embrace the future of work, you might consider moving to a different industry or moving laterally across departments in your own organisation.

Ultimately, Range is a sobering take on success that aims to challenge the popular formula of success and how our society perceives it. It’s a valuable and important read for anyone who manages a business or a team.

Interested in hearing David Epstein discuss his research? Check out his TED talk on the subject.

Range was the February book of the month for The Mercury Book Club, Australia’s first and only book subscription box dedicated to business and personal development books.