What Does versatile Mean
Versatile is an adjective that comes from the Latin word versatilis and refers to the ability of something or someone to adapt quickly and easily to different functions . Versatility, therefore, is a highly valued feature.
For example: “We need to hire a versatile player who can perform in different positions within the playing field” , “I think I am a versatile worker who is in a position to offer all kinds of solutions to the company” , “What most I like this bag is that it is very versatile: you can use it during the day when I go to work or at night if I decide to go out to dinner ” .
A versatile item allows for multiple different uses.
A versatile individual
A versatile person is in a position to respond to different challenges and to adapt to all kinds of contexts.
For this reason, versatility is a value that employers often take into account when hiring someone. Sometimes they prefer to do without a specialist, who works in a single area of the company , and instead choose to choose a person who has the ability to successfully perform various tasks, regardless of not standing out in any particular sector .
Versatility in sport
Something similar happens in professional sports . Teams usually have players who specialize in some task or who only occupy one position on the field of play, but in every squad (also called squad) there are several versatile athletes.
In a soccer team , to mention one case, a player who can perform in three or four positions is very useful since this translates into the possibility of replacing different teammates.
Versatility is often a highly appreciated value.
María Callas, a versatile artist
In music, the term versatile is widely used, especially in the field of singing, to refer to those performers who have the capacity to do justice to works of varied themes or of very different periods and styles. María Callas, for many the soprano par excellence, was a clear example of versatility, regardless of the damage she may have caused to her vocal cords: during her intense career, she put herself in the shoes of the darkest and most cheerful characters, testing from Mozart to Puccini, through Rossini and Verdi.
The case of Callas exceeds the physical issues, the merely vocal, since she was a great actress, capable of impressing in her performances a series of unprecedented emotions, raising the acting plane of the opera, something that until then had not been done to that level. Despite having received many negative reviews since the beginning of her career, her legacy is undeniable when you look at her successors, from Joan Sutherland (one of the most prominent singers of the last hundred years) to the youngest of today.
The negative aspect
As discussed, versatility does not always represent a virtue . There are those who consider that doing many things carries an inevitable cost on a qualitative level; in other words, someone capable of performing in various fields cannot be very talented in any of them. However, flexibility can be beneficial since it allows one to observe life from many perspectives, as if the experience of more than one person were acquired at the same time, with the consequent enrichment at the intellectual level, which can be used to improve an aspect in particular.
There are people with multiple talents , who quickly learn seemingly distant concepts and who carry out a wide variety of activities with satisfactory results. Continuing with what was stated in the previous paragraph, this versatility can work against the subject, if it does not allow him to focus on only one path; On the other hand, it can become a treasure for him if, through his passage through the various fields, he gathers the necessary wisdom to improve his vocation.