Jensen Huang has been CEO of NVIDIA for 33 years. That is a role with a very specific type of information environment. He is sort of this weird combination of specialist and - he necessarily has to operate within a certain level of abstraction.
I’m somewhere in the middle, I’m a high achiever but not the highest. I would say I’m above average in my usage of AI at my tech job. The way I’ve learned systems thinking is by being a bit non-specific in what I learn. British history, psychology, software engineering, queuing theory, cooking.
The idea of learning systems but not basic math - the idea of being too discerning in what I’m willing to learn. The entire idea of passing up the ability to learn something like basic math.
So many mental models of the world are developed by engaging with things like basic math. How do you learn systems without learning patterns behind numbers?
If the whole argument is something like it’s now about taste or creativity or being a builder? The way you learn those skills is engagement with all the things. It’s not abandoning all the things to read a book on systems thinking and product management.
It’s not never focus, but if your default position is “maybe I shouldn’t be curious about that”. You’re operating from a deficit.