FEW BOOKS have been written on the topic of multipotentiality. A search on the topic on Amazon.com yields less than a dozen results. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a very real thing. Multipotentiality is, in concept, not something new. In fact, the idea is as old as mankind itself, but the word itself has only been around for a few decades.
I was introduced to the concept by a fellow multipotentialite I’ll just call Elaine. I had recently helped her craft a resumé for a job to which she was applying. It was a bit of a daunting task because her career was anything but linear. It forked off in so many directions, collectively giving her all the tools she needed to be successful in the job for which she was applying. My challenge was to present all of that varied experience in a way that showed the board of directors receiving the application that despite her lack of experience in the field to which she was applying to work, and her lack of relevant formal education, she was an ideal candidate for the job.
Out of dozens of applicants, she was one of five who got an interview. She didn’t get the job. She’s glad.
When I was first introduced to the idea, I could stop learning about it. Within three weeks I’d written over 10,000 words about the topic in a book that I then never quite finished.
Before I get into why I would become so obsessed with multipotentiality, let’s take a moment to define it.
What is a multipotentialite?
A multipotentialite is a person with the ability and preference to excel in two or more (often many more) fields. They often possess a particularly strong intellectual or artistic curiosity. Their interests may span across multiple fields rather than focusing in one area.
That’s my definition, based substantially around the definition I found on Wikipedia.
As I explored the concept, I quickly came to the realization that the term not only describes me, but it explains me. And thus the start of my book (which became this series of blog posts) was the product of my innate, unwavering and unflappable curiosity. Once I understood that multipotentiality is a thing, and that it explains why my life and career have moved in the direction they’ve moved, I dove in head first, determined to soak up as much about the topic as I could.
They say “curiosity killed the cat,” so if I were a cat I would by now have used up far more than my nine lives. But I like the infrequently-appended rejoinder, making the saying, “Curiosity killed the cat but satisfaction brought it back.”
It’s possible you might stumble across this blog post in a similar state to the one I found myself in over the weeks that followed my introduction to the concept, wanting to know more everything about what it means to be a multipotentialite. Or maybe you think I’m totally out to lunch because you can’t relate to the concept of multipotentiality. In such a case, you could likely be described as a specialist. Unlike a multipotentialite, a specialist prefers to focus and excel in a single area. You may have lots of hobbies, but you likely wouldn’t ever want to make a career out of any of them.
Regardless of whether you view yourself as a specialist, or a multipotentialite, or whether you have no idea which one you are and don’t know how to figure it out, I have two pieces of good news for you.
- The world needs both specialists and multipotentialites.
- This blog posts and others in its series aim to help you understand the differences between the two, and why both are important.
Multipotentialites sometimes go by other terms as well, such as multipod and multi-passionate. They have some close relatives as well. Here are a few of other words that have similar but not identical meanings. Keep in mind that these are my own definitions and I’m not a big fan of assigning labels to people except when doing so helps them to understand themselves better or find community with others. (Labels are for jars, not people.) But I do think defining some terms will help you understand what I’m talking about when I discuss multipotentiality… and what I’m not talking about.
Polymath
A polymath is a person with wide-ranging knowledge or learning. The term came about in the early 17th century and was derived from the Greek word polumathēs, meaning “having learned much”. Broken down: polu = much and manthanean = learn. To me, a polymath is a person who has accomplished a great deal of learning. My grandfather could be considered a polymath, because he loved to learn about a wide variety of topics. He didn’t just know a little bit about a lot of topics or a lot about a few topics, he knew a lot about a lot of topics. Polymath could also be used to describe someone who has applied their vast and varied learning. Think Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo, more recently Sir Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin and even Thomas Jefferson, and as far back as Aristotle. Strong arguments could be made for applying the title to more modern names as well, including Stephen Fry, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and even Oprah Winfrey. Based on each of these examples, one could describe a polymath simply as a highly successful multipotentialite.
Generalist
A generalist is a person who is comptent in several different fields or activities. Think “handyman”. This is someone who might be able to build the walls in your house, run the pipies and wire in the lights. Unlike the specialist carpenter, plumber or electrician, they have some ability in each field, without a great deal of specialist knowledge in any.
Scanner
A scanner is someone who wants to explore many, many different things, but becomes bored of any one of them quickly. They want to experience a taste of everything. If life were a restaurant, they would hope there’s a buffet. A scanner may struggle to stick with a job long, might avoid repetition and could avoid choosing a career path for fear of choosing the wrong one. Being a scanner isn’t necessarily a bad thing, if applied smartly. Consider the value of being able to very quickly glean basic knowledge of a topic or grasp the essential requirements of a task.
I compare being a scanner to “skimming” when reading. Skimming is reading text quickly to gain a general idea of the meaning of what one is reading, without necessarily absorbing all the details of the text. A scanner may have the ability to quickly grasp the gist of many ideas and concepts, without wasting time in the nitty gritty. Reading a full-length novel may be cumbersome to some, but skimming the Coles Notes to get an understanding of the book without all the fluff might be appealing to someone who’s a scanner.
Renaissance Man
This is perhaps one of my favourite words used often to describe multipotentialites and polymaths. After all, who wouldn’t want to be described as a renaissance man?
Leonardo da Vinci, the archetype of the Renaissana Man, was described as having an “unquenchable curiosity” and a “feverishly inventive imagination.”
In Renaissance times, multipotentialites represented what was considered to be the ideal model of a human being. A person was considered well-rounded if they had the ability to speak multiple languages, play an instrument (or many) and write poetry, and if they possessed an education in science, philosophy and theology. In fact, our modern term for higher education “university” dates back to a time when people didn’t have to choose a major. Universities of the Renaissance period didn’t specialize, but rather they gave students a full education in a broad range of subject areas.
I think that the topic of multipotentiality is one that will see increasing interest in the coming years and decades. Why? Because societal (and particularly industrial) pressures have pushed multipotentialites aside and even held them down, favouring the focused productivity of the specialist. But there comes a point when even the most hardened industrialist has to recognize that when minds from different backgrounds are brought together to solve a problem, it takes someone with an understanding of varied viewpoints to provide a sort of translation service, facilitating an effective exchange of information and ideas, in order to solve complex problems.
More on that later. Next week though, a little about how imagination and curiosity fueled my own multipotentialite mind from a young age.
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