Don't Feed the Thought Leaders
Being a hedgehog is useful on the journey to domain mastery because sticking to frameworks saves you time and headache compared to not having any frameworks at all.<p>The 3 stages of domain mastery:<p>Stage 1 - No knowledge or structure to approach a domain (everything is hard, pitfalls are everywhere)<p>Stage 2 - Frameworks that are useful to approach the domain (Map to avoid pitfall areas)<p>Stage 3 - Detailed understanding of the domain (in which you can move through pitfall areas freely and see where frameworks fall short)<p>Hedgehogs are at stage 2. You move from stage 1 to stage 2 by adopting frameworks; hence, hedgehogs are seen as "thought leaders" because they teach the frameworks that lead MOST people to more mastery. Except when you're at stage 3, in which case frameworks lead you to more inefficiencies compared to your own understanding.<p>All good decisions must be made by stage 3 persons, but ironically, training is most efficiently done by stage 2 persons. Hedgehogs get more limelight because 90% of the population is at stage 1 and values the knowledge of stage 2 (and can't grasp the complexities and nuances of stage 3).<p>Many hedgehogs struggle to touch stage 3, and instead see stage 2 as mastery. This is compounded by the positive feedback loops of success - the frameworks save time, it gives them reputation, it allows them to save stage 1 persons from their ignorance, and it's the foundation of their current level and achievements. Frameworks are also convenient and broadly applicable to many problems; detailed domain mastery in contrast is difficult, time consuming, and  highly contextualized.<p>All of this makes it hard to move beyond stage 2 into stage 3.