How important is my degree?

As smart people who deal a lot with binaryness (there “is” a right answer), we place high regard for education, as we should. But please understand that business and academia are 2 different animals with only a little overlap. I have lots of education and lots of practical work experience, and I have to be careful “when” to apply my formal education, which isn’t often.

Classic example (I’m sure many of you have many more):

I graduated Allegheny College with the founders of ijet.com. At an alumni event, they presented their business case and web site. It was very interesting. At the end, a business professor summed things up. Not a single thing he said made any sense or had anything to do with the presentation. I wondered if he had even watched it. That’s when I decided to stop feeling bad about sleeping through all that Cost/Value Curve bullshit so many years ago.

Get your degree. Get your education. But please understand they aren’t necessarily the same thing.