Jill of all trades, master of many

Stacey K. Black                       http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/staceykblack

What do Hedy Lamar, Oprah, Rita Moreno, Joan Chen, Florence Nightingale, Debbie Allen, and Laurie Anderson (and many other famous women) all have in common?  They are all Jill of all trades, master of many… women who are multi talented “Renaissance women”.  And we could add another woman to that list, Stacey K. Black, pictured above.  Stacey has been a top hairstylist for major TV shows, a film and TV director, a writer, a filmmaker, a singer, and a songwriter… and she loves telling people’s stories with all of those skills.

There are lots of example of people who have managed to be a generalist and a specialist.  They don’t have to be mutually exclusive.  There are many reasons remarkable, talented women like Stacey are able to achieve mastery of several different skills.

1.  Although women traditionally only had a few choices for careers (nurse, secretary), the options for careers for women now are greater than ever.  Men have had those opportunities for centuries, so there are many examples of “Renaissance men”, but in recent history, women have been allowed to show this creative diversity as well.
2. Like cross training in athletics enhances performance overall, learning one skill (such as writing) can help you learn another skill (like directing) more quickly and deeply than specializing may.
3. If it’s true that it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill, we are living longer than ever before, so we have more time to learn multiple skills than we ever have before.
4. We are more open as a society to changing careers than ever before, so we have more support and encouragement to try different careers.
5. Many careers don’t require professional credentials to show mastery.  So, although you still have to go to medical school to be a doctor, you can discover how to write or make films with all kinds of avenues.  And technology is making it easier to learn those skills as well.

The opportunities are greater for all of us to be multi talented than in any time in history.  So, let’s recognize and be inspired by the creative potential of the generalist and the specialist, the women and the men, who continue to make this world a better, more innovative place to live!