EDUCATION

More education is usually, but not always, better.

I was reading an article about the probability that a new business will succeed. According to the article, the more education the entrepreneur has, the higher the likelihood that his business will succeed except at the doctoral level. Having a Ph.D. does not increase the likelihood of success. In fact, it decreases the likelihood that a new business will succeed.

At first I was startled by this finding. I know that I learned a lot during my doctoral program, and I am certain that others also learn a lot in the process of earning a doctoral degree. Why was more education worse than nothing, at least in this regard?

After reflecting on the matter, I am no longer surprised. Learning so much about one discipline of study really has two parts. First, the person learns so much about that discipline of study. Second, the person learns to evaluate almost everything from the perspective of that discipline. Knowing more about one particular discipline is not the problem. Looking at an issue from the perspective of the law, or psychology, or history, or whatever discipline means seeing only one small aspect of the issue. This narrow perspective makes it easier to understand the issue from THAT perspective but HARDER to understand the issue from many other perspectives that are as important or more important.

An entrepreneur must see a problem from many perspectives. To see things from many perspectives, he must have a wide range of knowledge and a wide variety of experiences. Too much knowledge in one area or too many experiences of one type interferes with evaluating an issue broadly.

While this may be most true about an entrepreneur, it is also true to a great extent about all managers and even about all people. Life throws many issues at us. A specialist must evaluate professional issues from the narrow perspective of his professional discipline. Nevertheless, a specialist who evaluates nonprofessional issues from the narrow perspective of his profession is making a significant mistake.

When I am home, I am not a psychologist. When my children have issues (they still do even though they are essentially "all grown up"), I should not and do not evaluate their issues from the perspective of a psychologist. Frequently, my job is to evaluate their issues from the perspective of "Pop." Sometimes, my job is to evaluate their issues from the perspective of an impartial person. At other times, my job is to butt out completely. (Now that I think about it, that is the best approach almost all of the time.)

More education is better than less education provided that it helps us view the many types of problems that we each face from the many different perspectives. Viewing every issue from the same narrow perspective, no matter how knowledgeable you are about that perspective, interferes with good problem solving.