Careerist

The Meaning of “Well-Rounded” in Corporate

Posted by Monica O'Brien on April 14, 2008 at 6:29 pm.

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Did your high school counselor told you colleges were looking for well-rounded applicants to admit to their schools?  Mine did.  Back then, “well-rounded” meant join every extracurricular you could to fill your essays and applications, so that’s what I did.  And I got accepted.

Now, companies say they want well-rounded employees, but here’s a secret that might better your career: what companies really want are employees who can bring a broad perspective to one area of expertise. 

What’s the difference?  Well-rounded employees dip their toes into everything, but don’t ever jump in.  They are easy to replace, because they haven’t developed expertise in one area.  They are the employees who support top performers rather than become them.  They are the employees who get described as “Jack of all trades, master of none.”

Having a broad perspective is much different than being well-rounded.  Employees with broad perspectives have one area of expertise, but continue their education in other disciplines to gain new concepts, which get applied in their daily work.  These employees are the innovators, the top performers, the “big picture” people who get promoted to high-level positions in their industry.  They are the inspired ones who strive for constant improvement of processes; who get paid for their ideas rather than their grunt work.

Are you still stuck in “well-rounded” mode?  Look for an article later this week about places to look to broaden your perspective.  Subscribe now to get notified when it’s published for free!

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  • Ms. O'Brien,
    I really enjoyed this post, and thought you made an excellent point... one which I wished would trickle down to the realm OF high school guidance counselors -- only in the past few months have I really found my greatest interests, and have enjoyed exploring those so much more than any superficial extracurricular. I consider myself fortunate enough to have realized this in time for college applications (and thus I believe that the passion showed through), but many of my peers have not reached this level yet.

    Your post reminded me of an older piece written by Timothy Ferriss -- and though he argues in favor of being a jack of all trades (http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/09/14...), he also reinforces this belief with his lifestyle design philosophy, while aiming his article towards upstart entrepreneurs and the self-employed. It still basically amounts to what you favor, that is, "broadened perspective" in "one area of expertise," albeit buffered by outside interests intended for fun and entertainment.

    I'm looking forward to this follow-up post!
  • A good post, but I think it ultimately falls short of actually explaining itself.

    At the very least, how do you tell when you're well-rounded, sufficiently focused, or just TOO focused? Most people who aren't "well-rounded" in the corporate sense are just as likely to be too specialized (see: Autism, Asperger's Syndrome) as they are to be too un-specialized. A delineation between the three would be nice.
  • Monica, our biorhythms must be in sync or something. I've been thinking about an idea very similar to this. I'll probably post about it later this week...

    You're right on the money here. Although, I think it's worth pointing out that there are definite risks to developing an expertise. Obviously, while you're opening doors because of your specialization, you're closing many as well. What you specialize in also matters, you don't want to master something that will become outdated or is too tough of obscure to break into.
  • Depending on your area of work, moving from well-rounded to job specific will greatly improve your worth to the company.

    In some cases, being well-rounded may as well mean you're an intern. Once you are the go-to person for specifics you know you've found your place in the company.

    Then again, you never want to be known as "not well-rounded".

    Good, quick, succinct post!
  • Great Post, having broad perspective disciplined in a field being an expert in the field, then learning more aspects in other disciplines is a good way improve a company's growth.
  • hey Monica

    Thought provoking post, you said, "Well-rounded employees dip their toes into everything, but don’t ever jump in. They are easy to replace, because they haven’t developed expertise in one area.

    They are the employees who support top performers rather than become them. They are the employees who get described as 'Jack of all trades, master of none.'"

    I never considered this perspective, naturally one might expect the individual called the "Jack of all trades" to be better off than the one who masters a particular skill.

    The person this describes is my girlfriend's brother. He is excellent at stepping into different disciplines so he might learn not just for the sake of learning, but to implement his broad knowledge back into his daily work related tasks.

    Great read, this might be the longest I've spent on any site this week. Thanks for sharing!
  • Just wanted to agree that becoming a specialist in one area is way more valuble than being well rounded, but not a real specialist. It is especially true for cut edge professions for example SEOs, mobile web desginers, social network ad representative or M&A specialists. That is why specialist can dictate a price like $500 per hour, because the knowledge is just so unique to the person that it is just not easy to replace one. I think naturally professionals are curios people so they might know just enough about other area as well.
    P.S. administrative assistants should be well rounded.
  • Glenn, thank you for sharing that link. I enjoyed the read. I think it's great that you've gotten past the "I'm doing this so I can put it on my resume" stage. It sounds like you are headed to college soon, so I wanted to encourage you to continue pursuing your interests and find new ones. College is not a time to get too serious about one thing, so experiment. You are already headed in the right direction.

    Rachel, I think you are absolutely right. I've only answered the Why, but haven't explained myself thoroughly on the What and How. Be on the lookout for another post.

    Jaclyn, I look forward to reading what you have to say about this! Great point about specializing.

    Torbjorn, good points. You and Jaclyn are both talking about balancing between expert and nothing.

    Biodun, thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the post.

    Miguel, sounds like your brother is a smart guy. This is exactly what I meant - taking a multi-disciplinary approach to your job. ie: Just because someone is a scientist or engineer doesn't mean they can't use psychology principles in their daily work.

    Roman, I'm interested in the administrative assistant comment. What do you mean? Just curious.

    Thanks to everyone for the comments! I know this post was short and I should write some follow-up posts to clarify.
  • While choosing a major and areas of study in college, I was still so focused on being "well-rounded." If I was involved in an academic organization, I would accompany that with being involved in a social or sport organization. I followed the high-school advice of well-rounded=successful. After my senior year in college, I have learned that while well-roundedness may make you an interesting person, passion for one thing- your area of expertise- will make you a better hire.
  • I meant that a person who is rounded in a lot of subjects, but not specialist in anything is good candidate to be an assistant to the top performers.Since, they will be able to deal with variety of subject on a low level of execution. I think it is the same thought you had in the post.
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