The art of the generalist: A 7-step methodology for smooth business operations

I have a confession. I’m a professional jack of all trades.

As Head of Operations at ryze Beyond, my job isn’t to be the expert in any single field, but to navigate across all of them. My calendar looks like organized chaos. One minute I’m diving into a conversation about performance metrics. An hour later, I’m in a legal sync about GDPR compliance. By lunch, I’m troubleshooting product delays with the dev team.

I’m not the expert in any of these rooms. I can’t be. That’s not the job. And yet, I’m expected to contribute, make decisions, and move things forward. Every day.

How to lead without being the expert

Early in my career, that felt impossible. How do you lead across areas where you’re not the authority? How do you stay grounded when every meeting pulls you into a different world?

This article is my answer.

It’s the method—and the mindset—I use to approach any challenge, even when the starting point is zero.

You’ve probably heard the old line, “A Jack of all trades is a master of none.” What most people don’t know is that the end of the saying is “but oftentimes better than a master of one.” And I believe that is a modern leader’s greatest strength. 

The key isn’t mastering every subject; it’s mastering a framework for thinking through any subject. A framework isn’t just helpful when things go smoothly. It’s at its most powerful when things start to go sideways. Because a good plan isn’t a rigid script. It’s “a good basis for change”— a compass you can return to when the path gets messy.

In this piece, I’ll walk you through the 7-step framework I use to bring clarity to the chaos and make confident decisions, no matter the room I’m in.

What is the 7-step framework?

Let’s be real: the seven principles I’m about to share aren’t revolutionary.

Set a goal.
Know your budget.
Define your risks.
You’ve heard it all before. 

Honestly, if you’ve managed even one project in your career, you could probably guess most of the list without breaking a sweat.

So why do so many projects still run off the rails? Why do we still blow timelines, overspend budgets, and end up with results that don’t match the brief?

It’s not just about knowing the steps. It’s about actually applying them—with consistency, discipline, and zero exceptions. The magic isn’t in the framework itself. The magic is in the commitment to use it on everything.

Big initiative? Use the framework. Tiny one-off task? Use the framework. Planning a surprise party for your parents’ golden wedding anniversary? You guessed it, use the framework.

The framework isn’t just a checklist; it’s a thinking tool—a way to create clarity, align teams, and keep moving forward.

Apply the framework

Before I start anything, from a company-wide launch to rearranging my living room furniture, I go through these seven:

1. The goal: What problem are we truly solving?
2. The KPIs: How will we know (with data) that we’ve succeeded?
3. The milestones: What are the major checkpoints on our path to success?
4. The timeline: What’s our realistic roadmap for execution?
5. The dependencies & risks: What could kill this project?
6. The R&R (Roles & responsibilities): Who owns what, and who needs to be in the loop?
7. The budget & resources: Do we have the fuel (people, tools, money) to get there?

That’s it. Seven questions. Obvious? Maybe. But when used right, they’ll change the way you approach everything.

Then, scale it across any task.

Here’s where the method gets interesting.

The real power of the framework lies not in its elegance or simplicity but in its scalability. This isn’t some theory I dust off for boardroom strategy sessions. I use it to make sense of everything, big or small, personal or professional.

To prove that this isn’t just management-speak, let’s apply the same seven questions to two totally different challenges: one from my living room, and one from my work at ryze Beyond.

Micro example: Hanging a New TV

I’m serious. It’s not as intuitive as you’d think! I’ll explain: 

I moved into a new place and wanted to mount the TV. Seemed simple enough, but you don’t want to know what can happen if you use the wrong bolts or forget to check the stud placement. Trust me.

Here’s how the framework applied:

• • Goal: Hang the TV securely and centered, with zero chance of it falling. 
  • KPIs: The screen is 100% leveled (checked with a tool), and stays up (no “uh-oh” moments)
  • Milestones: Buy the hardware, mark the wall, drill, and mount.
  • Timeline: 30 minutes max.
  • Dependencies & risks: I need a drill and mounting kit. The risk? Hitting a stud, or worse, an electrical wire.
  • R&R: That was all me.
  • Budget & resources: Around $25 for hardware and wall anchors.

The result? Mission accomplished in under 25 minutes, and you’d best believe that thing is stuck on the wall for good.

Macro example: Building a new corporate website

Now let’s scale up (because that’s what ops does best) – Same structure, wildly different scope.

At ryze Beyond, we recently kicked off a full redesign of our corporate site. It needed to reflect our evolving brand, support recruitment, and help potential partners understand what we do. Big project. Lots of cooks in the kitchen.

Same seven questions:

• • Goal: Launch a new site that communicates our brand and value proposition, and supports both talent acquisition and strategic partnerships.
  • KPIs: Increase qualified job applications by 30%, and boost “Contact Us” leads from potential partners by 20%.
  • Milestones: Finalize messaging → Create wireframes → Build → QA → Launch
  • Timeline: Four months, from kickoff to go-live.
  • Dependencies & risks: Marketing needed to deliver updated content on time, which was our most significant dependency and biggest risk.
  • R&R: I led the project. Marketing owned the messaging. R&D handled development.
  • Budget & resources: External design agency + dedicated dev hours internally.

The outcome? Launched on time, hit both KPIs by month two, and reduced confusion in every subsequent sales conversation.

It’s not a checklist, it’s a mindset

This is what I mean when I say the framework works everywhere.

The size of the challenge is irrelevant here when you follow a consistent, structured way to break it down and move it forward. That’s what makes it such a powerful tool for generalists like me—and maybe you, too.

Because when your calendar jumps from product to legal to ops to lunch, what you need isn’t more expertise. What you need is a mental model that brings clarity, no matter the domain.

That’s how you stay calm in chaos. And that’s how you lead without needing to have all the answers.

Frameworks guide, people drive: The 3 principles of human leadership

A framework is powerful—but let’s not confuse it with a magic wand.

At the end of the day, even the best strategy is still a blueprint. And a blueprint, without the right crew, won’t build anything. The real work—the momentum, the trust, the follow-through—comes from people.

That’s why I’ve learned to pair structured thinking with something softer but just as critical: human leadership.

Years ago, I was lucky enough to sit down with the founder of a company I really admire. We were deep in a conversation about scaling teams, and he shared something I will never forget: three simple principles for working with people. They’ve become part of my leadership DNA. And they work in unison with the framework, every time.

Another numbered list coming your way (worth it, I promise):

1. Connecting communication

You don’t need to walk out of every meeting in agreement. But you do need to walk out with mutual understanding. That’s the baseline.

In practice, this means listening not to respond but to learn. It means asking one more question before drawing a conclusion. The human connection—being heard, being seen—is often more valuable than the immediate solution.

1. Lead with authentic optimism

If you’re leading a project and you don’t truly believe the goal is possible, don’t expect anyone else to.

Optimism isn’t a nice-to-have after a strong morning coffee; it’s a professional obligation. Being optimistic doesn’t mean ignoring risks or pretending things are easy. We’re not here to “fake it ‘til we make it.” What it actually means is showing your team that progress is possible, that the problem can be solved, and that the work matters. And most importantly, believing it.

People take their cues from the energy in the room. And if you’re not projecting belief, you’re projecting doubt—whether you mean to or not.

1. Proactivity and a “can-do” mindset

This one’s about posture. Not just waiting for the fire to start, but checking the batteries in the smoke detector before anything smolders.

The best people I’ve worked with share one thing: they don’t just identify problems. They propose the next steps. They ask, “What can I do right now to keep this moving?” And they stay focused on solutions, even when the path gets messy.

You can have the best plan in the world. But if your team doesn’t trust each other, doesn’t feel seen, or doesn’t believe in the mission, the plan won’t matter.

The generalist’s edge

Let’s come back to the reality of the generalist: the calendar chaos, the context-switching, the constant need to make decisions in rooms where you’re not the expert. I’ve learned that I don’t need to know everything. I just need to master two things that work everywhere:

1. A framework that brings clarity to any problem, and
2. A set of human principles that build trust and keep the team moving with me, not just behind me.

It’s a synergy. We have this perception that freedom is gained through independence, spontaneity, and the absence of constraint. I believe structure is what gives us the real freedom to exceed our human potential and achieve goals with individual agency, reason, and conscience.

That is the real art of the generalist.