How to thrive in ambiguity
A framework for creating impact when you're feeling lost
👋 Hey, it's Kareem - Welcome to Driving Impact, my weekly newsletter for high-performance product managers and operators learning to become unstoppable.
A quick personal update – I’ve had a few major changes in my life that have kept me away from writing for a little over a month. I’ll share one now, and will keep the other for the next issue.
First, our second son was born on the 5th of February – ironically the last essay I sent out was on the 4th as if I knew I wasn’t coming back for a while. Now this is not my first time as a parent, but it sure as hell felt like it was. With our first born, Zeina and I shared responsibilities which allowed us to each be kid free at different times in the day and regain our mental wellbeing. When our second was born, I found that my way of helping was to completely take over responsibilities of our older son. Which meant every day drop-off and pick-up, morning and bed-time routines, baths, food, play, play, and more play… whatever you can think of. It quickly became overwhelming. So while, yes having a second child isn’t as daunting because you know what to expect – the overwhelming increase in responsibility, overnight, was definitely unexpected.
If you’re a parent of multiple kids, can you relate? please tell me it gets easier…
Now onto today’s newsletter.
At Amazon, I saw how first principles thinking and customer obsession allowed people to solve complex problems outside of their domain expertise.
When I led the launch of Amazon in Egypt, I was way in over my head. As a PM with no platform experience, I was suddenly tasked with building foundational marketplace systems—pricing engines, catalog infrastructure, inventory management—the core systems that make a marketplace function.
I immediately felt overwhelmed and filled with self-doubt.
But instead of panicking, I mapped the domain to first principles:
What core problems were we solving?
What fundamental constraints and dependencies existed?
What key risks needed mitigation?
In retrospect, my career has thrived precisely because of my ability to excel across domains—from finance to marketplace operations to product management.
I always wondered: Is there a formula others could follow to build broader skillsets and thrive in ambiguity?
And I think... I've found one.
David Epstein author of “Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World," argues that while specialization matters in certain fields (like medicine or engineering), generalists often succeed in complex, unpredictable environments.
But the challenge isn't just acquiring broad knowledge—it's creating disproportionate impact with it.
Too often, generalists find themselves valuable but not indispensable, interesting but not influential.
From my experience, the most impactful people are those who combine a generalist's ability to connect ideas across different fields with a specialist's focused understanding of particular subjects.
Deep Generalists are the combination of a generalist's ability to connect ideas across different fields with a specialist's deep, focused understanding of particular subjects.
The Framework
After working with hundreds of product managers and operators at Amazon and beyond, I've developed a framework that transforms how generalists create value by applying product thinking principles across domains:
Domain Mapping – Can you identify fundamental elements in new areas and connect them to your existing knowledge?
Value Discovery – Where can you contribute meaningfully and align your contributions with stakeholder needs?
Knowledge Filtering – Are you able to identify high-quality information efficiently and separate signal from noise?
Impact Optimization – Can you evaluate impact and communicate insights in ways that drive appropriate action?
Continuous Refinement – Do you engage in deliberate practice to refine your execution and build feedback mechanisms that accelerate your development?
Putting It Into Practice
Here's how to start implementing this framework:
This Week:
Create a "domain map" for your current project
Identify your highest-value contribution opportunity
Audit your information sources for signal-to-noise ratio
This Month:
Develop templates for different communication needs
Start a work journal to track patterns across projects
Schedule your first personal retrospective
The most successful Deep Generalists I've observed share a common trait: they approach new domains with genuine curiosity.
They're not trying to become subject matter experts overnight (maybe even never), but they're looking for the underlying patterns and principles that govern their domains.
I'd love to hear which part of the framework resonates most with you, or what aspects of being a Deep Generalist you're already practicing. Leave a comment or reply to this email with your thoughts—I read every response.
Thanks for reading! I’ll be back in your inbox next Wednesday.
Kareem
Connect with me
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