One of the first things that
came to my mind is that even in the arts, where we kind of expect people to
give everything up to follow their dreams, this kind of behavior makes no
sense. Most of us need some kind of day job while we pursue our art, and
without a college degree you will be limited to traditional pursuits, such as
waiting tables (actors), driving cabs (writers), or dressing up as corporate mascots
and playing with children and badly-behaved adults (dancers). Granted, the
alternative has its own hazards – faced with having a B.A. in English and no
specific training I got a job in the service sector, got promoted into
management, got an MBA, and eventually became a management consultant and a
management teacher. But throwing any chance of getting a job that does not
involve rancid pizza and vomit (which all of the above do) seems absurd,
especially if you were only two more weeks from finishing…
In a business context,
however, this behavior isn’t just absurd, but idiotic. Business strategy is all
about being better than the competition, and one of the key concepts is using
the available resources to gain that competitive advantage. I don’t know if
having a degree in Computer Science will be of any relevance in whatever
entrepreneurial pursuit the self-proclaimed “former valedictorian” is going to
begin next – he does not mention it anywhere in his open letter – but just
throwing it away because you can isn’t a good policy. Especially when you
consider that he (or his parents) have already spent the money on tuition. It’s
also not a good demonstration of the mentality you need to be in business, let
alone become an entrepreneur with nothing but willpower and a hankering for taking
on the world…
I think that the late Sir
Terry Pratchett said it best, in his YA novel The Wee Free Men:
‘…if you trust in yourself…’
‘Yes?’
‘…and believe in your
dreams…’
‘Yes?’
‘…and follow your star…’ Miss Tick went on.
‘Yes?’
‘…you’ll still get beaten by
people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren’t so
lazy.’
Now, I don’t mean to suggest
that this particular young dreamer, or any of the others like him, are actually
lazy, or that they don’t have every intention of working eighty or ninety hours
a week to make their entrepreneurial ventures a success. I’m certainly not the
world’s expect on entrepreneurship, as witnessed by the fact that I work for
the State of Michigan these days. And goodness knows, I’ve made the mistake of
ignoring the evidence of history and assuming that when I try something it will
be different. But if I’ve learned anything in the last twenty-some years of
bouncing around Corporate America (and studying it, and teaching people about
it), it’s that the things we think are unique are often common, and the
problems that we believe no one can solve have often been solved many times
before…
In the end, all we really
have are intelligence and knowledge, as guided by experience, and throwing any
of it away so you can thumb your nose at all of the people who are somehow less
special than you are doesn’t make you an entrepreneurial genius…
Although it might make you a
Computer Science major who needs to read more…
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