I think specialization has its benefits as people can have domain expertise and understand the ins and outs of an industry extremely well. However, in my experience it poses two problems: 1) specialists have a myopic viewpoint where they think security prices move based on their industry factors = incorrect much of the time. 2) you go through periods of booms & then subsequent underperformance. Example: Energy investors are doing great currently but had to wait through years of underperformance. Only on an institutional level can you not produce results for extended periods and keep your job. Generalists (those with security level & macro understanding) generally avoid these pitfalls & as exemplified this year are generally doing much better than specialists scratching their heads as to what’s going on.