“A Mile Wide And An Inch Deep”

The shallowness of the river with the wide width represents the saying: A Mile Wide and an Inch Deep.

A while back I was watching an episode of Shark Tank on TV. It is a show where entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to 5 “sharks” who may or may not invest in their products or services. One of the entrepreneurs said something like, “I am an inch wide and a mile deep with my invention. I am all in. It is all I think about.”

That got me thinking about people in general. While I understood the concept of an inch wide and a mile deep, it led me to thinking about people who may be a mile wide and an inch deep.

Origin of a Concept

The phrase the entrepreneur used of an inch wide and a mile deep was one I have never heard of before. It just sparked a whole thought process about people. To my surprise, the entrepreneur’s phrase was a variation on a very old saying!

American humorist Edgar Wilson “Bill” Nye (1850-1896) is credited with the term, a mile wide and an inch deep. In an April 1889 article, Nye referred to the Platte, a midwestern river that is part of the Missouri River watershed, as being a muddy, wide, shallow river that was useless for navigation. In some areas, the Platte is “a mile wide and ¾ of an inch deep.”

Since that time, the phrase, a mile wide and an inch deep, has been used to describe people who are superficial. This phrase has been used to describe politicians, and people in academia and in business.

A Mile Wide and An Inch Deep

People who are a “jack of all trades, but master of none” are people who are a mile wide and an inch deep. Most people who own a home need to be a mile wide and an inch deep! Meaning, as home owners you will need to know some things about electrical, plumbing, heating/cooling and carpentry situations. There is nothing wrong with being a jack of all trades! If you need in depth skills you will call in a professional plumber, electrician or carpenter!

For the longest time, business CEOs were hired based on their diverse knowledge, their being a mile wide and an inch deep! If a business needed expertise in a particular subject, a consultant who was an inch wide and a mile deep would be brought aboard.

An Inch Wide and a Mile Deep

There are people who are incredibly knowledgeable in their area of expertise, but don’t have much ability in a wide variety of other things. When you go to your primary care provider, you probably want that person to be a mile wide and an inch deep. You want your primary care provider to know about diabetes, strep throat, when to send you for an x-ray, when to send you to the specialist for an echocardiogram, etc.

But when it comes to having your knee operated on, you are looking for that orthopedic surgeon to be someone who has done thousands of arthroscopic surgeries! You will want that surgeon to be an inch wide and a mile deep in their knowledge of how the knee functions!

These are the specialists. Just like that entrepreneur on Shark Tank. These are the people who are focused and passionate about one thing. They eat, sleep and drink something. It may be an invention, it may be cooking, it may be investing in the stock market, it may be flipping houses. Individuals who are an inch wide and a mile deep are laser focused on something in their life, sometimes to the exclusion of all else.

Impact on Your Work Relationships

At work, you may have co-workers who can work in any department. For example, at a big box home improvement store they will be the employees who can work in any department: the garden center, plumbing, flooring or electrical. You name it, and they have a little knowledge about a lot of things! Or there may be people who can only work the cash register.

It doesn’t make the diverse employee better or worse than the person who exclusively works the cash register. For employee satisfaction and increased productivity, supervisors need to know the strengths and the ideal setting for each of their employees.

Impact on Your Home Relationships

At home, having an understanding of the differences in skills of people and an appreciation of the different areas of expertise people have will go a long way to a successful personal relationship. Asking, or expecting, a person to be a jack of all trades (a mile wide) when their mind is focused on one thing can cause problems in a relationship. For example, someone who is a gourmet chef may have a difficult time with planning a child’s birthday party with all of its moving parts and pieces (invitations, food, cake, drinks, paper plates and cups, entertainment, balloons, etc.).

You may have an expectation that your partner, who is a financial whiz, is also the home DIY fix-it person who can change out a leaky faucet or toilet. You may need to just call a plumber! On the other hand, your partner can fix anything, but may not be someone who is a financial whiz. You may need to just work with a financial planner.

Forcing someone into a way of doing things that is not how they function comfortably is only asking for trouble in a relationship. Expectations will certainly fall short of reality, and hurt feelings and/or destroyed relationships will surely occur.

Take-away Point

It is not better or worse to be a mile wide and an inch deep or an inch wide and a mile deep. Both have their unique purposes and functions. The importance comes in when you are negotiating a work or home relationship with someone who sees the world a little differently than you.

With warmest regards,