Description - Bench happily highlights that while planning his career, he had considered the choice between being a Generalist or a Specialist early in his life. Mark wants to know about the decision that he took. Bench says that he decided to keep options open for himself and proclaims himself as a "very general Generalist". After listening to Bench, Mark says that he has realized that he has taken a path different from the two options. He considers himself as a "specialized Generalist" or what can be considered as a "generalized Specialist". Bench want to understand what this means. 

Mark explains that he is a Business Excellence Master Black Belt. He calls himself a generalized Specialist as he specializes in problem solving which he can do in any sector. He further explains that he could be considered a generalist too as he can work with large variety of processes but in a specialized way. 

 

This cartoon depicts that Lean Six Sigma and Business Excellence competencies allows one to be specialized without dependence on a specific industry or functional domain. 

Not sure if Mark is on the Mark this time.

 

It is relatively easier for a BB and/or MBB to switch domains basis their knowledge in business improvement methodologies, however, companies tend to prefer BB / MBBs who have specific domain knowledge as well.

 

Only if companies followed Mark's view.....what say?

I do see some companies asking for domain specific knowledge.

 

Our experience has been largely different. Majority of the global leaders that we have worked with were our first client in that sector. This has happened in several domains - here are a few - FMCG, Shoes, Aircraft, Starch, Soft Drinks, Liquor, Web Search, e-commerce, Fintech, Navigation, and Real Estate Management Services.  

 

I have seen hundreds of professionals shifting to highly unrelated sectors, for example, Telecom to Hospitality, Manufacturing to IT, Banking to IT, ITES to Banking and so on. 

I think Mark was right, we BB or MBB work with data, either (Numerical - Continuous or Discrete) or (Categorical - ordinal,nominal,binary) in event which sector it was, any decisions in an organisation are come under these data. so mark can solve any problem in any sector.

This is quite interesting to debate. Companies often ask for relevant experience and there by chose the candidate appropriately. If we hop the verticals and horizontals, then its challenging to accept us in the organization. companies don't need generalized specialist, rather specialized generalist are required for the business benefits.