Robert Heinlein is the source of some great quotes. Like TANSTAAFL, There Aint No Such Thing As A Free Lunch (I promise to prove it in another post). Also he had this one:

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

My uncle has a hand-calligraphy version of this on his wall. Now, I happen to disagree with certain ones of those, but generally, that is, on the whole, I support the idea because I've always been a bit of a generalist.

Generalists have a problem in this modern world. Society these days is geared to specialists. Virtually any educational or job pattern wants you to specialize more and more until you achieve the maximum of achievement by being really, really good at some small area that no-one else can touch you in. Large successful companies love people like this. When I was younger I always felt that I didn't fit in (for example at CS school) because I would never be just interested in some narrow thing. I wanted to know about everything.

Now I've discovered that Founder / CEO is the perfect job for a generalist. Not only does it stretch you personally, but you need to become competent at so many things. To paraphrase Heinlein, a founder / CEO should be able to sell a product, balance a budget, hire an employee, invent a technology, build a team, design an office, pitch to investors, hold off creditors, look good on TV, speak to the public, write good copy, be friendly to strangers, prioritize like a maniac, envision the future, and create tomorrow. Miss too many of those and you're not going to make it.

To some people that might sound like a nightmare. Personally, I enjoy being able to turn my mind to so many different things over the course of the week. Repetition is boredom. And I like to learn, and there's always new things to learn in this job.

Of course Heinlein also occasionally was a pompous full of himself know it all (as projected into characters like Jubal Harshaw). But we all have our flaws.