In an interview with the Guardian, Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of American Vogue, talked about a few things – Hillary Clinton in particular. But she also said something that piqued my interest:
“The young people we hire today at Condé Nast are fearless polymaths”
That’s about the fifth time I’ve heard that word in the past week. Admittedly the other four were because I used it. But I’ve had a few conversations recently, with both students and colleagues about the need, as one of my graduates advised current students before Christmas, to ‘be interesting’.
A colleague told me recently that more than one professional illustrator had advised students not to specialise, and to remain flexible, taking an interest in as much as possible and to express themselves creatively in as many ways as possible.
Wintour said the same thing in her Guardian interview:
Wintour used the opportunity to appeal to the younger generation to “not become too specialised” and instead “be intellectually free”
And
“I urge you instead to seek to be relevant, to be agile and educated.”
Continue reading Fearless polymaths: irrelevance and creativity
