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CHAPTER 3

EDUCATION

IN THIS CHAPTER, WE’LL TALK ABOUT THE CLASS I’D LIKE TO TEACH, THE VALUE OF AN MBA, HOW TO GET A MENTOR, AND WHAT PROFESSORS CAN DO, IF ANYTHING, TO ENGAGE THEIR STUDENTS.

The answers to the questions in this chapter might make you think that I’m not a fan of the current education system. You’re going to think I don’t see any value in it because I was a bad student, and there’s probably some truth to that. It is deliciously ironic that I, an F student, have received invitations to speak at Harvard, Yale, and Stanford.

School was never my thing. That’s an unusual thing for an immigrant to say, especially a Jewish immigrant. Traditionally education was my people’s (and most people’s) ticket out of the ghetto. But I sucked at it. We’re not talking B’s and C’s with the occasional D popping up its ugly head. We’re talking a long, remarkably consistent stream of D’s and F’s. There were just so many more interesting things to think about than the Pythagorean theorem or grammar, like the ton of cash I was making selling baseball cards. I just didn’t have the patience or the interest to study what was in my books. I knew that wasn’t where I was going to learn what I needed to know to succeed.

If only more people had the same self-awareness and self-confidence. As a forty-year-old man today who spends most of his time with successful entrepreneurs and professionals, I’m fascinated at how little parallel there can be between one’s level of education and success in the modern business world. I would never be so naïve or misguided as to suggest that time spent in a top university can’t help get you closer to financial success, and I know that diplomas are entry-level requirements for thousands of jobs. But I passionately, emphatically believe that the American university system has lost its value proposition in face of the speed and intensity of the current business marketplace. When you also factor in the unfair debt structure of college loans and how severely they can set young people back, I think it’s time we really start having conversations about whether a college degree is appropriate for everyone.

It’s a hard conversation to have because the American college dream has been so well branded. Even when kids know in their souls that they don’t belong in school, parents can’t let it go. Many grew up hearing that a college degree is necessary for any upward mobility or interesting career, and they are terrified their kids will find their options limited without those degrees in hand. They haven’t yet recognized the massive changes that have occurred in the business place. You also have other scenarios where parents are at a total loss on how to guide their kid because he got a great-grandmother’s entrepreneurial DNA instead of their own more traditionally inclined DNA. But what pisses me off is how often parents’ self-esteem is unhealthily attached to the accomplishments of their kids. They force their kids into an inhospitable educational ecosystem and terrible debt just so they can get their hands on the right bumper sticker. That’s despicable, and I hope anyone struggling against this will read this chapter and find the courage to strike out on their own and follow their heart. I am a purebred entrepreneur but I have no interest in making either of my kids become one. If they choose to go a more traditional route, I’ll support them. Truly, though, by the time my kids will be college-age, the free education that will be available on the Internet will be incredible. My kids’ generation may be the last generation that holds university to such high esteem.

If you’re lucky enough that you can afford to go to school just to soak up the experience, network, or expand your horizons and ideas, be my guest. But today you can go to an incubator to network and you can travel to expand your horizons. Why do you have to incur debt—debt that you cannot even declare bankruptcy against—to do those things? You might even be able to get paid to do it! One thing is certain: College will not properly train you to be a prime-time player in today’s business environment and anything you might learn there about marketing or social media is already on its way to obsolescence. The entire market moves at such a speed that even great entrepreneurs have a hard time keeping up. Within a month of your graduation, there will always be a new platform, a new app, a new channel for doing business that didn’t exist before. Nothing except hustle, prescience, good instincts, time, and patience is going to help you master them. And none of those things can be taught anywhere except the School of Life.

If you could create and teach your own college (or high school) course, what would the name of the class be? How would you teach it?

I am a fourteen-year-old. I want to be an entrepreneur but I don’t know where to start. What actions should I be taking as a kid?

I read Think and Grow Rich and it changed my life in a positive way. Have you read any books that influenced you?

What advice would you give a high school senior in America who is trying to decide whether or not to go to college, and which one?

I feel as though online courses are usurping traditional education in a big way. Do you see this happening, and is there money to be made?

What’s the last new skill you learned as a result of taking an interest in someone else’s passion, hobby, or job?

I’m a self-taught media marketer. Is it worth taking courses before applying for jobs?

Any tips on how to get a mentor?

What advice do you have for professors to engage college students in the classroom? What about outside of class?

I’m ten years old. Which one of your books should I read first and when should I read it? I can’t decide!

Morale in public education is at an all-time low right now. How do we create a thank-you-economy culture despite government mandates, curricula that aren’t effective today, no funding, and, most of all, high stress and pressure on teachers?