Talent Arbitrage: Locating and Cultivating Generalizing Specialists

Are generalizing specialists rare?

The Short Answer: Yes, but primarily because corporate HR structures have spent twenty years filtering them out. Most hiring funnels are designed to catch "Specialists" (keywords: Java, SAP, GAAP) and reject "Generalists" (keywords: Integrated, Cross-functional, Strategic).

This creates a Talent Arbitrage opportunity. While your competitors fight over expensive, narrow specialists, you can corner the market on the "Agile Thinkers" who bridge strategy and tactics.

Here is your sourcing and cultivation playbook.

I. The External Hunt: Where do they hide?

"Generalizing Specialists" usually avoid large, siloed bureaucracies because they find them suffocating. To find them, you must look in "high-friction" environments where survival requires broad skills.

1. The "Failed" Founder or CTO

• Why: A founder of a 10-person startup cannot be a specialist. They had to code the product, sell the vision, and balance the books. Even if the startup failed, their "Generalizing" muscle is elite.
• The Pitch: "We have the capital and the scale; you bring the agility. No fundraising required."

2. The "Recovery" Management Consultant

• Why: Look for Managers/Senior Managers at boutique firms (or Big 4) who are tired of making slides and want to build. They have the "Broad Business Acumen" (Strategy) and are often desperate to apply it to "Deep Technical Literacy" (Execution).
• The Filter: Avoid career strategists. Look for consultants with implementation experience.

3. The "Shadow IT" Rebel

• Why: Look inside your own industry for the "Excel Wizard" or the "Low-Code Hacker" in the Finance or Operations department. These are people who bypassed IT to solve a business problem.
• The Signal: They are often labeled as "difficult" by middle management because they "break process" to deliver value.

4. Current Roles (Trojan Horses)

They often hide in roles that require vague, cross-functional survival skills:

• Technical Product Manager (who actually commits code).
• Solutions Architect (who actually talks to customers).
• Chief of Staff (to a CTO or CPO).
• Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) (often forces a systemic, end-to-end view).

II. The Internal Engine: Growing Your Own

You asked if you can grow them by rotating "Agile Thinkers." Yes, and this is your highest ROI lever.

The INPERVA™ model explicitly advises moving away from "one-and-done learning-ware" toward "experiential learning.” Here is the rotation mechanism:

The "Tour of Duty" Rotation Program

To create a Generalizing Specialist, you must force them to experience the pain of different silos. Do not rotate them through departments (HR, Finance); rotate them through the Value Chain.

The Graduation Criterion:

At the end of 12 months, give them a problem that spans all three domains (e.g., "Fix the customer churn caused by supply chain delays"). If they solve it using AI and influence rather than requesting a $2M budget, they are a Generalizing Specialist.

III. Partner Insight: The "T-Shaped" Certification

To operationalize this, establish an internal "Generalizing Specialist Certification."

• The Problem: High-potential employees fear that if they rotate, they will lose their "career ladder" progress (e.g., "I won't be a Senior Engineer anymore").
• The Fix: Create a new, prestigious ladder. Make the "Generalizing Specialist" title harder to get than a VP title. Require them to demonstrate proficiency in:

1. AI Orchestration (Technical).
2. P&L Mechanics (Business).
3. High Character/Truth-Telling (Leadership).