A quick survey of one major job site reveals over 280,000 results for job titles that include “Specialist,” but only 12,000 that include “Generalist.”

For the mathematicians out there, that means just one generalist position for every 25 specialist positions.

GENERALISTS ARE ALREADY ADDING VALUE TO THE ORGANIZATION   In our research, 52% of employees consider themselves to be generalists.

Additionally, we found generalists in all functional areas—from sales to supply chain, customer service to manufacturing and HR—and in all levels of the organization.

However, our research shows more than half of them (51%) thrive in ambiguity, roughly two thirds (65%) cope well in highly stressful situations, and nearly three fourths (71%) prefer projects that challenge their skills and thinking.

In terms of creative problem solving, another two thirds (65%) of generalists excel at tasks that require connecting new ideas and working across disciplines, and most (59%) challenge the accepted ways of doing things often.

When generalists are given work and projects that push their thinking, it increases the probability of: Great work by 804% Engagement by 289% Inclusion by 300%

It also dramatically impacts business outcomes. When generalists innovate to overcome obstacles, it increases the odds of: Increased revenue over the past year by 114% Increased employee desire to be with their company in one year by 539% An organization that will thrive by 26x