A few months ago, WideNet took part in a mentoring session at an annual small business event. I had the opportunity to sit down and field questions from marketing and business students from the local college (Jacksonville State University, home of the Marching Southerners and my alma mater).
Every single student that I spoke with was a carbon copy of the last: rehearsed, well dressed, and carrying their traditionally-formatted resume in hand. One by one, I threw out a series of questions, all of which responded with the same answer: “No.”
“Do you know anything about Facebook advertising?”
“Do you know how to use social media as a business tool?”
“Have you learned anything about content marketing? ABM? Automation? Video?”
No. No. No. No.
Now, keep in mind, these weren’t freshman. These were seniors. People who were weeks away from graduating, and they were completely clueless about the industry they want to work in.
I gave them some tips, a few authors and blogs to check out, and a list of things to start learning ASAP. But the thing that became so clear to me (something Gary Vaynerchuk has spoken about so often) is how badly traditional academia is failing hopeful entrepreneurs and marketers.
And when I say traditional, I mean the traditional academic path that most, like these kids, tend to take: the business degree, the MBA, etc., etc., etc.
If I could go back in time to when those kids were picking a major, I would tell them to do one of two things. A: skip college and just start grinding. They’re not equipping you with the tools and skills you need in the first place, so get out there and learn them on your own. Or B: If you simply want, must, or need to get a formal education, don’t major in business, major in liberal arts.
English, theater, art. Any of these “useless” degrees are significantly more valuable than a business degree ever could be. And the reason for that is simple: marketing is all about empathy and relationships. There’s not a calculation or a method or a formula that can give you that. What we know as the “traditional” means are out the window.
More and more people want authentic experiences and relationships with the businesses they patronize. Which means, in order to be a great marketer in today’s world, you have to have a solid grip on the human experience—and that’s the real education you get through a liberal arts degree (we don’t call them the humanities for nothing).
So forget the business degree. Forget the internship. Forget the MBA. Either ditch college all together or go be a theater kid for four years. It’ll do more for you than you might realize.