Imagine the following scenario, you are the CEO of an engineering company where you have an opening vacancy for a COO, Chief Operating Officer, and you are looking to promote one of two people.

The first is John who is the head of the design department with 25 years of experience, started his career with your company as a junior civil design engineer then moved up to a senior design engineer, team leader, civil design department head and then the design department head. In addition to his BSc. degree, John has an MSc. in structural engineering and a PhD in post-tension structures.

The second is Sara who is the head of procurement department with 17 years of experience, started in your company as a junior mechanical design engineer, moved to another firm to the position of site engineer then a deputy project manager then project manager and lately she came back your firm as a project procurement manager then got promoted to be the procurement department manager. In addition to her BSc. degree, Sara has a PMP certificate and an MBA in procurement. 

All other things equal, who would you rather have by your side to be your COO? If John is your obvious choice then you need to think again and re-evaluate your decision.

The key word here is exposure. As we move up the ladder, the exposure to different functions becomes more valuable than specializing in one area. The more activities you are familiar with the stronger your edge becomes in moving to leadership positions. Simply put, you have a better chance when you are jack of all trades, master of none than being the master of only one trade.

This is one of the reasons many companies have rotation programs for employees to work in different departments and geographical locations. These programs are designed with succession planning in mind and those who show resilience and adaptability in different roles are more likely to move up instead of those performing exceptionally in one area and poorly in all others.

There is no doubt that specialists and experts are a huge asset to any firm and the success of this firm depends on how well experienced its staff in their roles. If your goal is to be a subject matter expert or the go-to person, then you need to stay up to date in your field and deepen your knowledge in it.

On the other hand, if your career aspiration is to move up and be in a leadership position or run your own business, then you should start by diversifying your skills and exposure to different functions in your field of interest.

We need in leadership and managerial positions people who can wear different hats and speak different languages.