The Generalist Starter Pack ✨

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If your career makes no sense on paper but perfect sense when you explain it…

…Welcome to the world of generalists. This starter pack was put together for the 2026 International Generalist Day meetup in Zagreb. Whether you're reading this before the event, or long after, consider it your companion to understanding what a generalist is, why it matters, and how to find your people.

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Here's a quick gut check. If 3 or more of these resonate, you're not unfocused. You're a generalist.

[ ] Your career looks like a squiggly line, not a ladder
[ ] People call you "the glue" or say you're "good at everything but hard to put in a box"
[ ] You get restless in roles that ask you to do only one thing
[ ] You're the person who connects people, ideas, and teams that wouldn't otherwise talk to each other
[ ] Job descriptions never quite capture what you actually do best
[ ] You thrive in ambiguity and early-stage environments where the path isn't clear yet
[ ] You've had multiple careers, side projects, or interests that feel unrelated on paper
[ ] You've Googled "what am I good at" more than once

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There are at least 150,000+ people worldwide who feel exactly the same.

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A generalist is someone whose value comes from breadth — the ability to work across disciplines, connect ideas from different fields, and adapt to new challenges. While a specialist goes deep in one domain, a generalist builds a portfolio of skills across many and their superpower is in the connections between them.

You might know generalists by other names: multipotentialites, scanners, polymaths, slashies, or people with squiggly careers. The common thread is a breadth of experience and an ability to connect dots across disciplines.

	Generalist	Specialist
Skill profile	Broad across many areas	Deep in one area
Strength	Connecting dots, adapting	Deep expertise, precision
Thrives in	Ambiguity, early-stage, cross-functional	Well-defined, mature domains
Career path	Non-linear, portfolio-style	Linear, ladder-style
AI era advantage	Orchestrating AI across domains	Training AI in one domain

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With AI, everyone now has access to 10,000 specialists in their pocket. Deep expertise in a single domain is no longer the rare commodity it once was. What AI cannot replicate is the human ability to connect ideas across fields, navigate ambiguity, ask the right questions, and bring together people and perspectives that don't usually sit in the same room. These are generalist superpowers.

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Meet Milly

LinkedIn · TikTok · Instagram

Milly Tamati is the founder of Generalist World. Throughout her life, she's been a tour guide, a startup operator, a writer for a Japanese tourism publication, a short film producer focusing on women in construction, and a community builder.

When she went job searching in 2022, she realised the world was looking for specialists and she couldn't squeeze herself into that box. Instead of trying to fit in, she pitched a role to a CEO: no job title, just come in and solve problems. She was hired as the Director of Miscellaneous.

Today, Generalist World has grown to nearly 60,000+ subscribers and over 700 community members, all building careers on their own terms.

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