The following text is taken from Kenneth Mikkelsen’s LinkedIn post…
On Being a Neo-Generalist
“What people do, the paths they follow and decisions they make, are shaped by interaction with the world with which they engage. We are all immigrants to the future; none of as is a native in that land. There is an emerging group of individuals, however, who are testing the boundaries. They naturally question how we work, create value, lead, learn and innovate. Their behaviours are anomalous rather than generic; experimental and exploratory. This is the advent of neo-generalists.
These are the citizens of the future, concerned with smarter living and meaningful lives. They are people who determine how they work and where, even what projects they will work on and in what capacity. They take advantage of advances in digital and mobile technologies to enhance their education, their commercial activities and civic duties. They aggregate and assess data to inform their decision-making. They select and filter their own information and news sources, mastering the knowledge they access and share.
Neo-generalists are people who are unwilling simply to conform but who reach for something better. People who ask important questions rather than pretending to have all the right answers. They pull interest and support rather than pushing orders, shaping the world through which they move, catalysing others to do likewise. Through their actions, they demonstrate that innovation happens at the edges of the already known.
It is by constantly scanning the horizon for emerging ideas, fresh knowledge and interesting people that neo-generalists stay current. Their relevance is determined by their ability to connect the outer world with the inner world. A clear understanding of values, purpose and vision enables them to relate to developing trends on a personal level, live with polarities and reconcile dilemmas without losing their grounding or the support of others.
Neo-generalists build bridges between disciplines, people and ideas, seeing the whole picture rather than just a fragment of it. Natural curiosity leads them to change their perspective, expanding their peripheral view as required. They recognise patterns and know how to make sense of subtle clues. Constantly they examine and critique how they think, learn, act and live. Their reliance on synthesis, mash-up, break-down and re-design pulls them in new directions. Their actions and behaviour then becomes a guide that others choose to follow.
With this comes accountability - both to the self and others. Leadership as a form of service, guided by a personal moral compass. It requires ownership and responsibility, particularly when the experiments fail to deliver, injecting renewed energy for each iteration. As well as recognition of the contributions of others in times of success.
Invariably, the actions of the one benefit the many. Neo-generalists live in perpetual beta, always becoming. Self-agency is expressed through exploration, experimentation, personal interaction and connection to their surroundings. Their acts are made in pursuit of the highest attainable quality of life. The footprints they leave behind benefit those that follow.”
– Kenneth Mikkelsen