Something I'm increasingly finding is that a person's role is no longer based solely on the speciality that person brings - wearing only a single primary hat. In ancient times, a person's role would be decided partly through immediate recency (who and what is in your vicinity?), partly through heritage and inclinations, and through lots of luck.
Nowadays, we have no such limitations. Geographic limitations are surmountable (see: a few editions ago where I was in SF). Informational limitations are nil with the Internet save for really raw human data. With the exception of this flight I'm flying on (which has terrible Wi-Fi for some reason), most of the role deciding factors I've mentioned are taken out of the picture.
Another highly important bit here is the relative risk involved with taking on new ventures and experiments; not even a decade ago, if you wanted to do something new or novel outside what was present to you by virtue of recency and geography, your level of risk goes way up - and traditional wisdom applies that you cannot do multiple things at once.
However, we as humans are far more multifaceted than that. I don't think it's impossible for us to wear many hats, nor impossible for us to do that and do it well. If you asked me to do what I'm currently doing now a decade ago, I'd call it impossible - both through being a novice and through the actual tools available. Now more than ever, the wearing of many hats is not some negative signal for lack of focus - instead, I look at things like how many people were affected by what you did.
Side note: one of my favorite characters/series is Spider-Man / Peter Parker (especially the classic animated episodes), and with Brand New Day coming out recently, the theme of a protagonist being forced into choosing one aspect of their personality or another is something I'm very well reminded of. Having the strength to live with multiple hats, to willingly choose all of them at once, is something that is growing in our world.
Fun fact, this edition nearly got taken out by bad Wi-Fi - I'm currently flying to Rome before a wedding. It's interesting, however - I have AI agents working on multiple consultancy items and products in the background. I'm even working on a short film with a collaborator for a film festival. Lots of hats is how I live, and I don't think that's going away any time soon.
Be well,
Michael Kirsanov