I would argue that for larger, more complex projects, it seems crucial to have basic proficiency in supporting skills as well as the core skills. It is not uncommon for a person with extreme skill in one area to fail or experience diminishing marginal returns on their skill, because it is necessary but not sufficient to succeed in their goal.
Between a person with core skills for a project and one with supporting skills, the person with core skills will get better results. However, between a person with core skills and one with core and supporting skills or subordinates with supporting skills, I predict the latter has a good chance of doing better on a complex project even if their core skills are not as strong.
In the baseball example, the core skill seems to be eliciting effort from the team, and the supporting skill would be optimizing the allocation of that effort. They may not be inherently “core” and “supporting”, though: it may just be that eliciting effort seems sufficient for victory (and therefore “core”) because few other coaches have it. (I don’t follow baseball, so I don’t know how true that is.) Once the environment changes and standards for effort are raised, the Red Queen’s race begins again, and optimization for effort yields huge returns since everyone’s team is putting for close to peak effort.
If supporting skills seem to interfere with the core skills due to conflicting priorities or methods, to me that just means that those who can balance the two and make them work together will see even better results.
I would argue that for larger, more complex projects, it seems crucial to have basic proficiency in supporting skills as well as the core skills. It is not uncommon for a person with extreme skill in one area to fail or experience diminishing marginal returns on their skill, because it is necessary but not sufficient to succeed in their goal.
Between a person with core skills for a project and one with supporting skills, the person with core skills will get better results. However, between a person with core skills and one with core and supporting skills or subordinates with supporting skills, I predict the latter has a good chance of doing better on a complex project even if their core skills are not as strong.
In the baseball example, the core skill seems to be eliciting effort from the team, and the supporting skill would be optimizing the allocation of that effort. They may not be inherently “core” and “supporting”, though: it may just be that eliciting effort seems sufficient for victory (and therefore “core”) because few other coaches have it. (I don’t follow baseball, so I don’t know how true that is.) Once the environment changes and standards for effort are raised, the Red Queen’s race begins again, and optimization for effort yields huge returns since everyone’s team is putting for close to peak effort.
If supporting skills seem to interfere with the core skills due to conflicting priorities or methods, to me that just means that those who can balance the two and make them work together will see even better results.
Thoughts?