Blinded by expertise and single-minded focus? It happens. But in a fast-paced world driven by complex and diverse factors, connecting the dots is often more important than developing the dots. “The future doesn’t have to surprise you,” so says Vikram Mansharamani, global trend-watcher, Harvard Lecturer, author, and investor.

Mansharamani shows audiences how to look differently at their industry and business with the goal of helping them spot risk and capture opportunities others miss. The overwhelming flood of political, economic, technological, social, and market forces that bombard us every day is distracting. It prevents us from paying attention to what really matters.

Our usual response to the noise is to focus narrowly or turn to specialists for help. But is that the right path? Have we been blinded by focus? Has the mantra of expertise and specialization misled us? Vikram thinks the pendulum has swung too far. He offers scores of compelling real-life examples that show how a narrow lens can lead us to miss the most important signals – the ones we’re least primed to see.

The advice he offers is counter-intuitive. He advocates opening up to get a broader view; to zoom out. He calls the logic the generalist’s approach. Breadth, Vikram argues, is as important as depth. Generalists win by paying attention to more than their area of expertise.

Vikram’s generalist framework for looking at the world differently is at the center of what he delivers in his speeches and can be focused on just about any subject.