Hedgehog or Fox?

I've been blessed with the ability to do almost "anything".
I've been blessed with a career which lead me throughout the country, enabled me to work at almost every level of an organisation and in a production as well as advisory role.
I've been blessed to meet a large number of people (and learned to like most of them).
I've been blessed to have the opportunity to share my knowledge and experience, as well as to provide direction to individuals, teams and organisations.
I've been blessed with a keen ability to see what other do not see (especially wrt behaviour).
I've been blessed to be very skilled in terms of facilitating individuals and teams through difficult situations and projects.
I've been blessed to empower and support people in their quests.

I'm frustrated with people continuously asking what your core competence is; what is it what you really do well, only to frown when I explain what I do .... to be knowledgeable, to see the bigger picture, to guide people on their road to success, to stand between foes, to be the buffer, to make you look good, to make things happen - without kicking people in their teeth (well, sometimes they need it).

The fox and hedgehog concept is based on the Greek parable that states: "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing."  Many a writer built on this and divided people and organisations into these two concepts - emphasising that the hedgehog wins or becomes great on one thing.  Applying the model goes through the process of (1) understanding your passions, (2) understanding what you can be best at (3) understand how to generate sustained cash flow and profitability, (4) identify the overlap between the above and then (5) review/make your strategy and plans.

Do I differ from the above; no, I do not!  It is a good model and does make a lot of sense, I used it to help a number of people, and it worked.

But I differ as well.  You see, the challenge lies in the balance of things.  If you only have staff that is very good at one thing, there will be no integration and lots of misunderstandings.  Being very good at one thing also poses challenges of staying up to date with continuous change, you can becomes so focused on that one thing that the world/market passed you by!

I believe that success lies in the blend of foxes and hedgehogs.  In the blend of products and services.  In the correct compilation of teams.  There is no "or", you need both.  There is a "need layer" between these two - foxes need hedgehogs and vise versa.

Are my blessings turning into a workplace curse?  No!  It however does pose some challenges when I need to sell my services, when I need to explain what I do!  However, in all the things I can do and do well, facilitating (taking people on a journey) is the one thing I can do best of all ......