Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up…
~Thomas Edison
Hope Yen, of the Associated Press, reports in an article entitled A Higher Degree of Uncertainty that 1 in 2 recent college graduates is either unemployed or underemployed. More specifically, about 1.5 million, or 53.6% of bachelor’s degree holders younger than the age of 25, were unemployed or underemployed last year according to the author. American’s total debt associated with college education will surpass 1 trillion dollars sometime in 2012, which is more than all of the outstanding credit card debt and more than all automobile loan debt.
According to a report on cnbc.com, the average pay for a college grad is a bit under $47,000, which is considerably more than $30,197 median income of high school grads, pointing to a validity of college education. However, tack on an average $23,000 of college loan debt… and one starts to wonder.
In the aforementioned article, the author introduces us to a recent college graduate forced to work at a coffee shop. Mr. Bledsoe graduated in 2010 with a degree in creative writing. The general consensus, if you follow the news, is that Mr. Bledsoe and others like him are screwed. I think not! I think he is lucky! He may possess some of the necessary qualities of a successful entrepreneur / investor. Let me explain:
As I survey the landscape of all college degrees and professions, I am able to group them into 3 basic categories, namely deconstruction, creative, and creative synthesis. Deconstruction is any subject that can be learned in small pieces, which can then be pooled together to constitute a knowledge base. These subjects do not require much problem solving or creativity; they are rather dry and matter of fact. In a profession such as this, all we do is compile and organize facts. A good example is history. The thought pattern of a person in this profession is to take a gigantean subject matter and break it down into manageable pieces. This requires good memory, organizational skills, and lots of patience. What it does not require is creative problem-solving.
Other subjects are based solely on creativity. Many of the liberal arts are in this group, such as art, music, dance, and creative writing. Seeing as I come from this field as a trained classical musician, I can tell you that a lot of folks in this group are intensely creative and yet utterly irrational.
Finally, there are those professions that require both creativity and rational problem-solving. This is the best of both worlds, so to speak. Unlike the first category, the thought pattern here is based on the ability to receive and process a multitude of information inputs, then synthesize them into a solution. Naturally, this necessitates both creativity and rational. Two examples of the professions in this group are engineering and architecture.
What about entrepreneurs and investors? Which group do they most fit in? Well, they obviously do not fit into any, that’s why they are on their own. They are most similar to the folks in the third category; however, what sets them apart is a view that it’s okay to walk away from a steady paycheck and it’s okay not to have an employer.
The reason behind my suggestion that Mr. Bledsoe may be very lucky is because I know he definitely has two out of the three necessary attributes to become an entrepreneur and investor. First of all, having been educated in the field of creative writing, he is surely a creative thinker – it is in the title. Secondly, the economy has decided for Mr. Bledsoe that – whether he likes it or not – he will not get a paycheck in his chosen field. So, the only question left is whether he has a propensity toward problem-solving; whether he can synthesize information to create solutions because, if he does, he has a strong chance of achieving success in the arena of entrepreneurialism and investing. And lets face it, this is where financial success resides!
Would you agree with me that there is reason to be optimistic for Mr. Bledsoe – and other grads like him?