Which is better?

I started at the bottom. Unlike many, when I say bottom I mean fresh from an isolated island called Biorka in southeast Alaska, barely out of home-schooled high school, entering the United States Marine Corp boot camp as a recruit/private with no idea what I was doing… bottom.

But I have lived my life as Nike says: Just Do It! I did it… in many cases without promotion or compensation to learn the ropes and work outside my comfort zone. I studied when necessary, I absorbed many books and studied great people. And I inculcated lessons learned. Yes, I humbly failed in many cases but learned so much in those failures to have achieved a level of understanding. I impressed the managers and received that promotion, and that one, and that one, and yes even that one! I was busy learning the trade, gaining the experience and making a difference.  And in so doing, I achieved rank and position ahead of those of my age group that chased a degree.

Therefore, I must ask: Is one better than the other? Or should the question really be: is a self-driven person full of energy, focus, and determination, proven through the slings and arrows of the real world, simply not good enough without a degree?

Before you blurt out an answer, understand, I have worked alongside people with Masters that have brought no additional worth to the table. I have watched as some sporting prestigious degrees have failed where I succeeded with ease. In my years I have not seen a time where the degree in and of itself brought any advantage other than that advantage artificially created by those elitists that hold the same credentials. These are the people that deploy their station through filters that would eject the likes of Sir Richards Branson without a second glance! In fact, the basic statement so pronounced by these people is: Without such paper, you are not of our class! You cannot possibly be our equal. In essence, begone you retched hack! An opinion that stands in dark contrast to every single successful person that I have met. Each has been successful because of their inner drive, their personality, their ability to get along, and their ability to grasp the strategic values of the company for which they work. In each of these success stories, the degree may hang on the wall, but the person (with all their failures, personal experience, and lessons learned), sits behind the desk. The buck stopped there!

As a former hiring manager, I believe it boils down to what a boss used to say all the time: “People, People, People”. (He came up through the ranks, owned just short of 200 aircraft, retired a very rich man, and would not pass the degree filter test). What he clearly preached to me was for us to find the right candidate we needed to make sure we were looking at the whole person. He understood that all people are created equal but after that it is up to the individual. To find the right fit takes more than a checkbox on a webpage. If you are a smart leader you do not buy a car simply because it is a Ford, you buy it only if your research says it is the best fit for your specific needs. With the advent of AI filters HR and hiring managers have become lazy unwilling to take the time to find the right weighted questions to ask. They are chocked by those narrow boxes placed around people and surprised at the resulting mundane candidates. Funnier still, they complain about the lack of “qualified candidates”.

Let me end by asking, is your hiring filter set to Degree Required? Is that filter based on a regulatory requirement? Is it based on a set standard such as medical doctor, registered nurse, or engineer that have legitimate required merit? Or is it based on a fictitious elitist ideal built on the illusion that somebody without a degree simply is not a person of your stature? If this is the case, do not be surprised if people like Bill Gates, Sir John Major, or Deborah Meaden, are not numbered among your staff.