The Polymath Position
Recently I visited the Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition in Milan where they had created functional working models of the inventions outlined in his Codex. He was an Italian polymath of the Renaissance who lived from the fifteenth to sixteenth century. As a relentless inventor and revolutionary thinker, his expertise spanned multiple fields that included painting, sculpting, architecture, mathematics, engineering, anatomy, botany, astronomy, history and cartography.
Prior to the exhibition I had been unaware of the breadth of Da Vinci’s interests and inventions; and the emotional experience of walking through rooms and rooms full of his creations overwhelmed me. There was no end to his inventiveness, and at one point I exclaimed out loud, “What, he even made musical instruments!” - to the amusement of other visitors.
As a person educated in the highly specialised British education system, I was spellbound by the sheer number of disciplines that Da Vinci was involved with. I was curious about Da Vinci’s open and unrestricted relationship with different disciplines and areas of knowledge. I found myself pondering his unique relationships with ideas and thinking – How did he make that work?
As a polymath he had deep relationships with knowledge across different disciplines – an approach that further fuelled his innovation and creativity. Da Vinci’s approach to knowledge and expertise is crucial for leaders who are interested in enhancing their own inventiveness, ability to engage in complex problem solving or ‘big picture thinking’.
How does a leader begin to think like a polymath and enter a relationship with different areas of knowledge - stimulating their creativity?
What is a polymath?
Da Vinci was a ‘polymath’ in that he mastered multiple disciplines of knowledge. He was incessantly curious, and embraced learning across his lifespan in pursuit of knowledge and insight. He did not restrict himself to one area of study but moved fluidly across different disciplines. As a ‘polymath’ he was the opposite of the modern day ‘monomath’ or ‘specialist’ - the individual who has an exclusive relationship with one area of knowledge that grows ever deeper over the course of their career.
What are the benefits of being a polymath?
Through his wide span of knowledge Da Vinci was able to generate useful and significant insights and breakthroughs in many fields. The position he took as a polymath across disciplines provided him with a unique vantage point of observation and deduction, where he could combine ideas from different disciplines in creative ways.
Monomaths are bound by the snares of deep specialization and often engage narrowly in ‘convergent thinking’, geared towards finding the correct solution to a problem. Polymaths meanwhile are able to access the language, symbols and rules of multiple paradigms which increases ‘divergent thinking’ and their ability to explore many possible solutions to a problem. They are valuable assets in the modern work scape where businesses desperately need people with the ability to see and develop big picture, synergistic solutions.
Polymathism is a largely untapped force in business practice and is vitally important in an interconnected world where we need complex problem solving; and where AI and machine learning are challenging the primacy of the ‘specialist’.
What insights might physicists bring to international relations? What insights might psychotherapists bring to the world of business? What insights might neuroscientists bring to the world of education?
What holds people back from becoming a polymath?
Perhaps the biggest challenge to becoming a polymath is how people alter their relationships with knowledge. Western educational systems still lean towards deep specialisation and from a young age children are encouraged to have relationships with a single disciplinary area. Furthermore, on an individual level people often avoid embracing new types of knowledge due to three types of fear which need to be recognised and overcome.
• Fear of losing control. Sometimes the monomath may seek a deep relationship with expertise to compensate for a lack of self worth or a need for an external locus of control. This ‘perfectionism’ can often be closely linked with the notion of ‘imposter syndrome’ and the fear of stepping into an area where they have little experience.
• Fear of losing power. Sometimes the monomath experiences power as an expert that is hard to relinquish – particularly if they have begun to operate as a ‘gatekeeper’ within that realm of knowledge. Entering a new disciplinary area they will find themselves suddenly thrust in to the position of a learner. This experience can feel disempowering and it requires a high degree of humility to engage with a new paradigm.
• Fear of losing identity. Sometimes the monomath gains a deep sense of identity through being aligned with a specialism, and intellectual diversification can feel like a threat towards their professional identity. They might also fear upsetting their alignment with other ‘group members’ or drawing the disapproval of ‘disciplinary gatekeepers’ who are against them delving into other areas of knowledge.
How do we take steps towards thinking and creating like a polymath?
1. Become open and curious about different areas of knowledge. Perhaps the first step is to lay aside our fears and start building open relationships with different types of knowledge. Initially, we need to foster curiosity for different disciplinary areas and ideas. Pick up a new hobby. Be curious about your friends’ jobs in other industries and really try to understand what they do. Watch a niche documentary on Netflix. Read an industry magazine from another disciplinary area. Buy a short ‘explainer’ book from the counter at your local bookshop or whilst you are in transit on a business trip. Like learning a new language, as people dabble with new types of knowledge they will identify similar rules and aspects of it, which will begin to dissipate some of those fears. People will become more comfortable with ‘not knowing’ and being a ‘learner’.
2. Commit to forming a long term relationship with a new area of knowledge. The second step is to build a deeper relationship with a new disciplinary area. People really need to understand the language, symbols and rules of a new paradigm before they are able to use it within complex problem solving or the invention of new knowledge. As people expose themselves to different disciplines, they will stumble on a new area of knowledge that resonates with them. This will eventually lead to them embarking on a deeper course of study or training in that new area. Whilst potentially costly and time consuming , this is necessary to truly operate as a polymath.
