There’s plenty news in the press about the plethora of students raking in the straight A’s for their work. In fact, stories about straight A’s are no longer novel, and a little bit – dare I say – common. I think about where it will get these students in the short, and long, term. [I also wonder about the poor souls that are truly exemplary being engulfed in the company they keep!]. So how does any of this excellence on paper lay the foundations for up and coming entrepreneurs?
Think about our country many centuries ago, where the landowners were wealthy and passed down their titles and riches through their sons or heirs. This afforded a Western, academic education, which in turn meant securing most of the wealth and much of the land – and subsequently expanding these assets. Money begets money. Money begets power. Power begets power.
But how did the landowners come to exist in the first place? – Through their brave and bolchy forebearers. They didn’t have straight A’s in Physics or Marketing. They were wily, devisive, willful, brave and strong … And yes, sometimes, just damned lucky.
My own education was appropriate for what I always wanted to do: graphic design and advertising. For years after qualifying with a B.A. Hons 2.2, the sting of that grade smarted. Then work took over, and my interest in design, people and business became more significant. As I mixed with more people in business, I learned a great deal about how others tick.
I am a huge fan of “The Apprentice” and “Dragon’s Den”. I watch Sir Alan Sugar, Debbie Meadon, and Duncan Banatyne with fascination. You can look at a lot of business people and find similarities between their character attributes and motivations, I’m sure. Some of them were born into business like heirs to the throne. Some became successful business people because of a life-changing event, psychological challenges, or a long-standing dream, perhaps. And some … were simply born into war: the fighting kind. In terms of our ancestors, it was the latter who simply had the balls, if you’ll forgive such a macho term, and the opportunism, and no formal education at all. This character type seems the most formidable in business. Why? Because they are not easily discouraged or scared or indecisive. And one has the strongest of sensations that if you took it all away – the money, the power, the title, the land – they’d still be fighting their corner … and winning.
It reminds me of a moving scene in the film “Gattica” where Ethan Hawke’s character Vincent is swimming in a race against his “perfect”, gentetically superior, brother. His brother was genetically screened at embryonic stage, for maximum strength, ability, intelligence and longevity. He wins the races every time, until this night, when he can swim no more without risking being too tired to make it back to shore. So he retreats, and Vincent wins, swimming on into the darkness. When asked by his brother many years later how he managed to win that race, Vincent replies simply that he chose not to save anything for the journey back, implying that he was desperate enough to risk his life to win. And it’s that desperation, that fight from the body and soul, that some people have on a given day, and some people have every day.
Being academically able will only get you so far. And that, sadly, is what our new batch of graduates are about to find out. There’s a recession out there, and an awful lot of competition … requiring an awful lot more than just straight A’s on a piece of paper.
