Nick Fisher: Is it better to be a specialist or a generalist? Sam Ovens: People used to think you really needed to be a Specialist in order to do something well. He says Google has this term called T-shaped people and they like to hire people who have a broad knowledge in a lot of different things. "That's how all people should aim to live is to be broadly knowledgeable but then really, really exceptional at one thing," he adds.