The Hedgehog and the Fox
Expand Your Talent Stack and Change Your Life
Imagine that you could change your life radically by shifting your approach slightly. When you leverage your time, effort and money, you can create a massive return on a smaller investment. Here is how. If you are a hedgehog, broaden your horizons and become a fox.
Isiah Berlin proposed that there are two very different types of people: the hedgehog and the fox. The Hedgehog takes one discipline and delves into it, becoming an expert and a specialist; deep knowledge, but hyper-focused. The fox takes a different approach. He knows many different topics, but with more generalized knowledge. While we’ve paraphrased and distorted Berlin’s idea, this classification is important: in life and in our professional and personal growth:
What should we choose to focus on?
Should we choose to specialize? Or is it better to develop our talents in multiple areas?
The Talmud discusses this very issue. It asks what is better: an uprooter of mountains, a deep delving thinker sor a Sinai, a person with encyclopedic knowledge, who has mastered the entire corpus G-d delivered at Mount Sinai.
Scott Adams, the author of Dilbert makes an argument for what he dubs a talent stack. You create a talent stack when you combine multiple strengths and developed skills then apply them to achieve your goals. Berlin’s fox has many philosophical abilities (for example Berlin tries to determine if Tolstoy was a philosophical Hedgehog or Fox). The talent stack is the fox on down to earth level. It’s about practical talent: skills that are actionable, relevant and empowering.
Adams argues that very few people can succeed as Talent Hedgehogs, people who develop one talent to achieve major success in life. People like Bobby Fischer and Tiger Woods come to mind. While both Fischer and Woods had significant difficulties in other areas of life (relationships…) honing their unique talents: chess and golf brought them success and fame.
This type of success in beyond the reach of 99% of us. We all have latent talent, but there will only be one best in the world at chess, basketball, music… Having world class talent in a single area is very rare. You might be really good at chess, but chances are you’re not the next Bobby Fisher. If being hedgehog were the only path to major success then the hedgehogs of the world all have to fight it out for a limited space on top of the mountain. Most of us would have to resign ourselves to mediocrity.
Be a Talent Fox
Adams proposes that we all have divergent unique talents. Some of these talents we’re born with and others we’re taught. We choose how to develop them. By combining them in resourceful ways we form a personalized and actionable talent stack. The term “talent stack” emphasizes how talents can build upon and complement each other. When you develop and merge multiple talents you create a rare and a powerful tool for self-actualization.
A friend of mine, Will, was a world class soccer player. At 17 he experienced a debilitating knee injury. He was still really good, but with the injury he had trouble with the grueling pace of international sports. After two intense and unsuccessful operations, Will realized that his knee would never be the same. He had to give up his dreams of being a star. Will would not succeed as a soccer hedgehog. But Will had a latent talent stack. This is how he actualized it:
Here are Will’s latent skills: Will is good at soccer (not the best, but really good); he likes children (not enough to have his own, but enough to handle them for 20 hours a week), Will is also confident and persuasive (in the 70th percentile). Will worked on these talents and applied his talent stack in a unique way.
Will (who is not Jewish) lived near a local Jewish school. He walked in and convinced the head Rabbi that he could start an after-school soccer program that would take his school to the next level. Rabbi H. was skeptical. His students had no athletic ability. They couldn’t tell you the difference between soccer and basketball. Still, he gave Will a chance.
Four years later, the soccer program is an amazing success. The school team is the regional champion and the soccer program has more children registered than the school. Will developed and applied his unique talent stack. You can too.
So your feeling psyched! Are you ready to build your talent stack? Consider these pointers:
- Combine Talents that compliment your interests and career aims- if you’re a musician and want to apply your abilities on a larger stage learn about marketing. If you’re an army officer looking to move up in the ranks, join toastmasters and learn how to speak. (Incidentally, most army bases have multiple toastmasters clubs.) Which leads us to:
- Use communication to showcase your talents- whether you’re a salesman, an entrepreneur or career-oriented, the ability to showcase what you can give your customer or boss is crucial. Improving skills like public speaking or writing clear, readable emails will give you the opportunity to put your abilities into play in the social and economic arenas.
- Learn about your unique abilities and quirks- we all have different personalities, strengths and weaknesses. You want to become more self-aware to see where your abilities lie and where to invest your energy. Some powerful tools include: personality tests (I like the Myers-Briggs test at 16personalties.com), mindfulness exercises, journal writing and daily reflections
- Develop an abundance mindset- to combine diverse talents you need the vision to see how they come together. You aim isn’t to see what doesn’t work; you want to see the possibilities and stacks that work. By seeing the world as ripe for the taking, you are opening your mind to unexplored talent roads and combinations. This empowers you to choose the best tools to create your future.
—————-
In my next post you’ll see how the Trump vs. Hillary election contest was a battle between a hedgehog politician of thirty years and a fox. We’ll explore how Trump’s talent stack gave him the tools to overcome nearly impossible odds. By actualizing a powerful talent stack, Trump took the world by surprise and seized the moment and the presidency.
Next Post – Political Deathmatch: The Hedgehog vs The Fox
Resources and References
- A big thank you to Scott Adams for introducing me too and cracking open this fascinating topic.
- The hedgehog and the fox- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hedgehog_and_the_Fox
- The Talmudic distinction between a Sinai and Oker Harim is found in Talmud Brachot 64a (the commentators and supercommentators break the concept down much further).
- I first heard the term abundance mindset from Mike Cernovich. His passion gave it meaning.
