We’ve hit a weird moment. Every marketer now has a supercomputer in their pocket. Any stat, model, or insight? A few taps away.
In other words: knowledge isn’t power anymore. Not when everyone’s got it.
What matters now? Knowing how to use it.
AI has flattened the knowledge curve. What used to be locked in specialists’ heads? You can get it from ChatGPT.
So what’s next? Simple: generalists win.
Because when the world turns into uncharted terrain, a Swiss Army knife beats a scalpel every time.
David Epstein called this years ago in his book Range:
Range trumps specialization. The modern world increasingly demands broad knowledge and the ability to integrate ideas from various domains…Our greatest strength is the exact opposite of narrow specialization. It is the ability to integrate broadly.”
Translation? In fast-moving environments, breadth beats depth.
Why This Matters for Your Marketing Team
If you’re running a marketing team right now, you need to ask a harder question than “Do we have the right people?”
Instead, ask: Are our roles even structured for this AI-powered world?
Here’s the deal:
Specialists aren’t dead. But they’re support players now, not the core of your team
Generalists? They’re your new operators. They connect dots, direct AI workflows, and figure out what actually works
In stable industries, specialists win. But in the chaos of AI-driven marketing? Adaptability is survival. Generalists—the Swiss Army knives—are the ones who make moves while everyone else overthinks.
A marketer who understands narrative design, data analysis, audience segmentation, creative strategy, and attribution? They’ll smoke a hyper-specialized PPC technician who’s waiting for a playbook to follow
Why? Because AI fills most of those narrow gaps.
What AI can’t do is tell you what question to ask, what output to use, and where to pivot next. That’s where humans win and generalists crush.
Herminia Ibarra said it best in Working Identity:
First act and then think…We discover the possibilities by doing, by trying new activities, building new networks, finding new role models. We learn who we are in practice, not in theory.”
AI rewards people who move first and connect later. Not those waiting to be told what to do.
How to Build for the AI Era
Here’s what a future-ready marketing team looks like:
Hire for curiosity, not credentials
Prioritize breadth of experience when filling leadership seats
Build symbiotic teams that solve problems end-to-end
Use AI to augment specialists but train generalists to drive strategy and synthesis
Think SEAL Team 6 or Band of Brothers, not a traditional org chart.
AI Won’t Replace Your Team. But It Will Reorder It.
AI’s not your next hire. It’s the tool that makes your hires more valuable.
But only if you’ve structured your team to think across functions, adapt fast, and move without perfect information.
Because out here in the uncharted frontier, range beats rigidity. Every. Single. Time.
Generalists will win.
And the brands that understand that first? They’ll win faster.