21. The Power of Being a Generalist: Vikram Mansharamani x ‘The Peter Principle’

Have you ever felt like a victim of your reputation? You gain recognition for something; you claim it as your personal brand. Then, people assume that's all there is to you. How do you keep confounding others’ expectations of you? And more importantly, how do you continue to confound your own expectations? Dr. Vikram Mansharamani, author of Think for Yourself: Restoring Common Sense in an Age of Experts and Artificial Intelligence joins me today to talk about this. Vikram has lectured at Harvard and Yale, and was named LinkedIn's top voice for Finance & Global Economics. Clearly, he knows about building a reputation. Yet, when he describes himself, his expertise is the last thing he focuses on. Get‌ ‌book‌ ‌links‌ ‌and‌ ‌resources‌ ‌at‌ https://www.mbs.works/2-pages-podcast/  Vikram reads from ‘The Peter Principle’ by Laurence J. Peter. [reading beings at 14:56]  Hear us discuss: “Every single perspective is limited, biased, and incomplete.” [6:30] | “We’re so focused on the evaluation of the present that we’re not willing to consider an alternative for the future.” [20:18] | The ‘career jungle gym’. [21:49] | Holistic development: moving through the stages of learning. [26:20] | Being a generalist versus playing to your strengths. [28:57] | Nurturing curiosity. [32:34]

Om Podcasten

Discover the best bits of the best books read by people you admire. Michael Bungay Stanier hosts the podcast where brilliant people read the best two pages of a favourite book. Listen as authors, leaders, activists, academics, celebrities, and entrepreneurs dig in with MBS to explore the insights and ideas within. Whether it’s books that inspire leadership, change, self-development and growth, power, strategy, ambition, productivity, or creativity and innovation - this is hand-curated wisdom from people who know. These are the books that change minds, shape lives, and inspire great work and worthy goals.