Q: When it comes to succeeding in business, which do you
think is more important: education or experience? - Regina
M.
A: Regina, have you seen the television show, Fear
Factor? If you haven't seen it you've probably heard about
it. Fear Factor is the show where they put contestants through
all sorts of pseudo-death defying feats like bungee jumping
off a bridge over a pool of crocodiles and driving a car through
a wall of fire (you know, the stuff we did for fun in high
school).
The contestant who overcomes their personal fear factor wins
the cash and prizes (usually at the cost of their dignity,
but I digress).
The highlight of Fear Factor is the eating competition. That's
when contestants are invited to partake of all sorts of culinary
fare. Yummy stuff like monkey brains, all manner of live bugs
and spiders, moose intestines, old fruitcake (the horror!),
and my personal favorite, live giant worms. At this point
the competition becomes not so much who can overcome their
fear actor, but who has the lowest gag reflex.
Your question makes me feel a little like those contestants,
Regina, because no matter how I answer I am opening a can
of giant worms that I will undoubtedly be forced to eat later.
My highly educated peers will argue that education is much
more important than experience, while my highly experienced
peers will argue that experience is more important. Either
way, it's worms ala carte for me.
Oh well, I've eaten more than my share of crow over the years.
How much worse can worms be?
It's important to understand that the success of an entrepreneur
is not measured by how much education he or she has or how
many years of experience are under his or her belt. An entrepreneur's
success is measured by achievements, not words on a resume.
By definition, an entrepreneur is a risk-taking businessperson:
someone who sets up and finances new commercial enterprises
to make a profit. Entrepreneurs start businesses. The smart
ones then hire MBAs to run them.
Let's start with education. Is a Bachelor's degree or better
required to succeed in business? Of course not. An MBA from
Harvard might give you a leg up in a job interview, but it
certainly doesn't guarantee that you will succeed in business.
Nor does it automatically mean that you will be a better business
person than someone who didn't finish high school. Knowledge
is a good thing - if you know what to do with it.
Perhaps it is the academic environment itself that turns mere
mortal nerds into budding entrepreneurs. The late '90s proved
that college students with no experience beyond organizing
a frat keg party could start businesses that would exceed
all expectations.
Many would argue that the key to success for most of these
ventures was that the founders (or the VC financing them)
were smart enough to know that while they had an abundance
of education, they needed experienced managers to really run
the show.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin were college students when they
started the company that would become Google. They were smart
enough to bring in Eric Schmidt to be chairman and CEO when
the business took off. Schmidt was the former CEO of Novell
and CTO of Sun Microsystems. A PhD, Schmidt is a man of education
and experience.
Jerry Yang and David Filo were candidates in Electrical Engineering
at Stanford when they started YAHOO (Yet Another Hierarchical
Officious Oracle) in 1994. They brought in Tim Koogle from
Motorola to run things shortly thereafter and now the company
is led by Terry Semel, who previously spent 24 years running
Warner Bros.
Now on to experience. Is experience a prerequisite of business
success? Again, not at all. Many experienced entrepreneurs
gained their experience in failed businesses, so experience
does not instantly translate to success.
So, when it comes to succeeding in business, which is more
important: education or experience? While neither is as helpful
as a rich relative, here's the answer that will hopefully
help me avoid those worms: Both education and experience can
play a large part in business success.
The more important question is can you succeed in business
without one or the other, or even without both? And the answer
to that one is: yes. Can I get ketchup with those worms?
Many successful businesses were started by first time entrepreneurs
who never went to college. Natural talent, ambition, drive,
determination, and good old dumb luck have fueled many success
entrepreneurs, myself included. I don't have a degree (I drove
past a college once. It looked hard, so I kept going). Would
a degree have helped make my business trek easier? Perhaps.
Then again, I know people with advanced degrees who are flipping
burgers at McDonalds. It's good experience, I suppose.
A combination of education and experience (and a variety
of other things) is the best recipe for success. As the old
saying goes, "There is no better education than that
which comes from experience."
In the end, it really doesn't matter how much education, experience,
talent, luck or money you have. It's what you do with it that
matters.
