Perspective From The Past, A Letter To The Future

I love the GenNext blog over at Ad Age. It's a great effort to capture the opinions and thinking of the new crop of undergrad and grad students who will be entering the industry.

Of particular note are the posts by Kelly Eidson. Admittedly, I'm a bit biased since she has been such an outspoken fan of The BeanCast. But marketing podcast aside, she is an insightful writer with some good perspectives.

Recently she did an honest assessment of her graduate studies and the value they would bring to her career. She's a positive person, but the outlook had some grim overtones. This work she was doing was not going to be the guarantee she had hoped it would be and that was giving her pause for reflection.

The Perspective of an Aging Ad Guy

The comments by readers were also a cautious mix of hope and uncertainty. Which after reading prompted me to offer some perspective from my own 40-year-old, non-grad school path to career. Here's what I wrote. Hope it offers some inspiration if you too are struggling with your school decisions:

I had to laugh at this trip down memory lane. I stood at the grad school cross roads and chose the other path...immediate career. So now sitting past 40, I'll offer perspective from the other direction.

Grad school or portfolio school (or what have you) does offer significant advantages in getting hired into agencies. Your points are well taken that it is not a guarantee nor a ticket to wealth. But it's a needed leg in the door at the better shops and makes starting in this business a little easier.

This higher education thing offers significant networking opportunities that will become increasingly valuable as you continue your career. I've always been amazed at the level of contacts out-of-the-box that grad school has afforded my associates.

The higher education path does open the door to greater advancement down the road. There are not many top-level executives in marketing today who haven't done the grad school route.

However, having said all this, the true entrepreneurs I've met, the ones who are self-made and completely innovative, are more likely to have taken the career route. They start at a disadvantage, but they are quick to learn and soon become equal to and often exceed the acumen of the grad school set. Look at Gates. Look at Jobs. In our own industry, look at Bogusky.

My reason for pointing this out is to highlight a single fact: The point of education is not to learn stuff, but to learn how to learn stuff.

This fact often becomes lost along the way. We too often rely on our knowledge to the detriment of our innovation. So I encourage you to use your degree to get your jobs and get your advancement. But along the way, act with the innocence and drive of someone who doesn't have these advantages. This combination will make you unstoppable.

Good luck and keep listening to the show. ;-)