Episode 1: The Fox and the Hedgehog – To Generalize or Focus

In this episode, Phil and Steve discuss different approaches to life, success, and happiness by introducing the idea first coined by Isaiah Berlin. They go through various perspectives, including NPR’s the Hidden Brain and Tim Ferriss’ reasons to be a generalist.

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References

• The Fox and the Hedgehog – Isaiah Berlin (1953); 
• Fable: Fox and the Cat; 
• Hidden Brain (NPR) – The Fox And The Hedgehog: The Triumphs And Perils Of Going Big; 
• Steve’s site; 
• Post on Medium by Louis Chew – You don’t need to be good at many things, you need to be great at one; 
• Superstar Effect; 
• Deliberate Practice; 
• Cal Newport – So Good They Can’t Ignore You; 
• Scott Adams – How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big; 
• Scott Adams – Career Advice; 
• Tim Ferriss – 5 Reasons to be a Jack-of-all-Trades; 
• 80:20 Rule / Pareto Distribution; 
• The Crimson – Why You Shouldn’t Trust Malcolm Gladwell; 
• 10,000 hour rule (from Wikipedia): “Throughout the publication, Gladwell repeatedly mentions the “10,000-Hour Rule”, claiming that the key to achieving world-class expertise in any skill, is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing the correct way, for a total of around 10,000 hours, though the authors of the original study this was based on have disputed Gladwell’s usage.”; 
• Tim Ferriss – 4 Hour Workweek; 
• Nassim Taleb – Antifragility; 
• Millennials; 
• The relevant section of Sylvia Plath’s “The Fig Tree” from The Bell Jar; 

Corrections

• Phil misspoke – he didn’t graduate (2011) at the height of the recession (2007-2008); 
• Steve was incorrect about Generalists – There is no official title called a “generalist” and that is not where the term “General” comes from;