What’s the most effective path to success in any domain? It’s not what you think. Plenty of experts argue that anyone who wants to develop a skill, play an instrument or lead their field should start early, focus intensely and rack up as many hours of deliberate practice as possible. If you dabble or delay, you’ll never catch up to the people who got a head start. But a closer look at research on the world’s top performers, from professional athletes to Nobel laureates, shows that early specialization is the exception, not the rule. Bestselling author on the science of performance David Epstein has examined the world’s most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters and scientists. He discovered that in most fields—especially those that are complex, unpredictable and difficult to automate—generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. Generalists often find their path late, and they juggle many interests rather than focusing on one. They’re also more creative, more agile and able to make connections their more specialized peers can’t see. Read More >

Drawing from his #1 New York Times bestseller Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, which has attracted praise from thought leaders like Bill Gates, Adam Grant, Malcolm Gladwell, Daniel Pink, James Clear and Susan Cain; Epstein shares how individuals, teams and organizations of all kinds can harness this under-recognized superpower. As Gladwell put it: “For reasons I cannot explain, David Epstein manages to make me thoroughly enjoy the experience of being told that everything I thought about something was wrong.”

David Epstein customizes his content for specific audiences, including:

Business: No matter the industry, every business thrives or dies on educated guessing about what the future holds. In a tour of fascinatingly counterintuitive research, David explains how specialists often develop worse judgments about the future as they gain knowledge and credentials in a particular domain, and how leaders who are interdisciplinary thinkers can reverse that troubling trend.

Human Resources/Management: Employing studies of “serial innovators,” David explains how HR policies at mature companies often accidentally screen out employees with the highest potential for creative contributions, and what recruiters and hiring managers can do to counter that. But the power of range doesn't stop with recruiting; David shares research on how employees with diverse work experience can make an organization more competitive, more agile and better prepared for the unexpected.

Healthcare: Increasing specialization in healthcare has been necessary, but also means that individual providers now see a smaller piece of the total health puzzle than ever before—a trend that has led to some eyebrow-raising outcomes. David discusses how generalists can enhance specialized environments, and how healthcare organizations can hire, develop and cross-train to improve performance and the patient experience.

Investment/Financial Services: As information becomes more rapidly disseminated, it is increasingly difficult (read: expensive, in time and money) to gain an information advantage. However, more information means more opportunities to take advantage of analytical inefficiencies in a market. Who is best suited to analyze the same information that everyone else has? People with range. David shares surprising research on the habits of mind that can lead to an analytical competitive advantage in an information-rich market.

Educators: Drawing on the latest research, David shares how learners of all ages, and their educators, can thrive in an increasingly complex world — not by picking a single specialty and mastering it, but by sampling many areas, changing (and failing) often and focusing on the kind of analytical thinking skills that transfer between domains. His talk explains how to learn, teach, and create educational institutions primed for the 21st century.

Technology Innovators: In an age of rapid technological change, it can feel like hyper-specialization is a necessity for reaching the cutting edge, never mind pushing it. But in fact, there has never been more opportunity for “lateral thinking” generalists to drive technological progress. David discusses the habits of mind that lead generalists to make connections that their more specialized peers miss, and how organizations can be structured so that specialists and generalists enhance one another's performance.

Students & Parents: As any graduation speech will tell you, the key to success is knowing where you want to be years from now and determining the steps to get there. Except, research shows that’s precisely the opposite of how most successful and fulfilled people develop their lives and careers. David discusses work showing that top performers assiduously avoid rigid long-term planning and premature specialization. Along the way, he shares how anyone can adopt habits that will help them work toward an optimal fit between who they are and what they do. Read Less ^

In today’s fast-changing world, organizations should be looking for nimble thinkers and skilled generalists—those who can see around corners and adapt their skills in response to disruption and change. What is the secret to finding, cultivating and retaining an agile workforce with this mindset and potential? And once you find them, how do you match generalists, experts and, increasingly, AI to form optimal teams hardwired for impact and innovation? In this essential talk, New York Times bestselling author and science writer David Epstein expands on his #1 best-seller, Range to reveal what it takes to recruit, build and retain the workforce of the future. Read More >

David’s customized presentations provide research-based strategies to:  Read Less ^

• Make your organization more agile and better prepared for the unexpected
• Find and recruit skilled generalists equipped for fast-changing “wicked” learning environments
• Identify candidates that are hardwired for impact and innovation
• Improve “match quality” (the fit between abilities, interest and role)
• Spot and cultivate future leaders and serial innovators—and eliminate practices that screen them out
• Form optimal teams in which depth and breadth complement each other
• Re-invigorate existing teams and foster ingenuity with outside perspectives
• Use AI to enhance, rather than supplant, human intelligence
• Foster idea diversity and a culture of continuous improvement
• Cultivate, motivate and retain employees with the greatest potential for impact and innovation

Why is it so important to differentiate the chain of communication from the chain of command? When information travels at the same path as the chain of command, it doesn’t move fast enough to keep up with rapid change or support impactful decisions. Even before COVID and remote work, leaders often found themselves in a proverbial “bubble,” with a slow-moving feedback loop to all levels of their organization. In many cases, this phenomenon has been intensified by remote work, which can reduce the flow of information and collaboration within an organization’s network of teams. Also gone are the serendipitous creativity and unplanned “water cooler moments” that occur in an in-person workplace. In this timely and popular talk, bestselling author and expert on the science of high performance, David Epstein comes to the rescue. He shares fascinating research and timeless case studies that address current challenges and will remain relevant, given that remote work is here to stay. Read More >

You’ll learn how to: Read Less ^

• Differentiate the chain of communication from the chain of command—increasing information flow and collaboration from top to bottom and across your organization.
• Ensure that decision-makers are getting information from all levels and that teams across the organization are seeing their role in the big picture.
• Structure your culture to accelerate information flow.
• Cultivate “serial innovators” who can connect the dots and information across the organization.
• Leverage knowledge already in your network—especially when things are rapidly changing.
• Work toward becoming a learning organization, comprised of teams that are skilled at creating, acquiring and transferring knowledge.