The Chief Tunnel-Visionary Officer

by Dov Gordon

Many executives still believe that talent always comes pinned to a mock-sheepskin diploma.  People with this mindset often step in value but, confusing it for something else, they curse their fate and scrape it off.  Here's the story.

"Joe" the CEO of a smallish manufacturing company participated in an Executive Round-Table meeting with over half a dozen CEO’s, enjoyed it, learned a lot and called me asking to join.  But several days later he changed his mind and backed out.  Why?  He discovered that I don’t have a university degree.

It didn't matter that I have successfully coached MBA's and PhD's or that the group attracts MBA's and highly experienced executives who come to learn from each other and from me.  It didn't even matter that he had tasted it and wanted more!  All that mattered was that I lacked a degree.

This is like refusing a juicy Negev tomato because you believe tomatoes can't grow in a desert!

While I don't advise just anyone to skip university, a degree is often overrated.

A famous ten year study conducted at Bell Labs by Robert E. Kelley and Janet Caplan concluded that "Academic talent was not a good indicator of on-the-job productivity.  Nor was IQ."  Instead they identified nine qualities that really make the difference, including the ability to take initiative, work on a team and to network intelligently.

A degree-deficient friend of mine grew a nursing home from 60 beds with 37 occupied to 280 beds with full occupancy.  He did this at an age when his friends were up late cramming for exams.

Another friend, Michael, is the COO of a public company with $50 million in sales last year.  Recently he considered going for an MBA.  A local university of fine repute offered a program that interested him but the professor said accepting him would be problematic.  The reason?  He lacked an undergraduate degree.

Michael turned to leave.  That was when the professor asked if he would speak to the students.  "I couldn't believe what I heard!" he told me.  "I wasn't good enough to take classes, but I was good enough to lecture!"

Tom Peters, whose books form part of the business curriculum at some local universities, has preached for years that as many as 25% of your employees should lack a college degree.  It is common knowledge that Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Michael Dell don’t have degrees.  Nor do 20% of American millionaires according to Thomas Stanley in his bestselling book “The Millionaire Next Door.”

Be wary.  It is easy to become ensnared by the old cliché of "consider the source."  In truth you should only consider the value offered you.  A true business leader recognizes talent and grabs the value offered him, even if it comes in packaging other than what he or she expected.

A university degree is a means to an end:  to acquire knowledge and experience that will help you lead a productive life.

If someone takes an alternate route to the same destination and you walk away because you don't like the road he took -- who loses?

“Joe CEO” is a smart guy with a lot of experience, but it seems tightly wrapped in his academic tunnel vision.

 The Gordon Group's THOUGHT PROVOKER Questions:

1. Do you buy into the false cliché "consider the source" when really you should only consider the value something will be worth to you - regardless of how it gets to you?

Dov Gordon is President of The Gordon Group, www.GordonGroupEC.com, an Executive Coaching and Consulting firm.  He also facilitates the Executive Round-Table, a peer group for CEO's of mid-sized Israeli companies.

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Copyright 2005 © by Dov Gordon.  All rights reserved.