In 2023, Higher Education Will Implode
College dropouts, recovering alcoholics, and formerly incarcerated people are consistently the best employees I’ve ever worked with. They have an intuitive feel for risk, are tenacious, and they're unflappable in a crisis. They’ve made horrible mistakes and are uniquely capable of reflecting on what they did wrong. They also are completely stigmatized.
So, this edition of the newsletter is both a prediction and a prayer about higher education and corporate hiring practices.
First, the prediction: I believe that in 2023 we will see the complete disruption of the college-to-work pipeline. College applications will plummet, dropouts will surge, and tuition fees (at long last) will level off and then decline. All but the top 50 universities will be hit by this massive decline in demand.
There are a few data points that underpin my prediction that higher education to implode:
One study by Georgetown University (ironic, I know) found that the average return on equity for companies led by college dropouts was 17% higher than companies led by CEOs with college degrees.
College tuition has increased by 38% over the past ten years, according to the College Board. This is unsustainable, especially when inflation is surging.
During the pandemic, college enrollment dropped by 6.6% according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
Second, the prayer: I pray that every executive at every company who has experienced the incredible value of employees who are stigmatized, reworks their job descriptions so that they tell the truth about the employees who actually add value.
In an effort to make that prayer become real, I sat down with Elizabeth Michelle Gafford, Janene Jonas, Rod Sayegh, Rick Kreifeldt, and Michael Amato, five corporate executives who’ve had an amazing impact on my life, who also dropped out of college. (All eventually went back and earned degrees. Rick dropped out of graduate school, not college)) I asked them, “if you could write a job description that is completely honest about who adds value, what would it say?”
The following is our prayer for highly qualified candidates.
Our prayer for an ideal candidate:
Self-taught, college dropout.
Person of color who will point out how we make it hard for people of color.
Recovering alcoholic, addict, and/or formerly incarcerated person.
Has quit or gotten fired from at least 2 jobs.
Has launched 3 businesses that generated revenue >$3million in <12 months.
Has failed at at least 3 businesses.
2 positive references and 2 people you hated working with. We want to know if we’re your ‘type’ (or not).
Answers these questions honestly:
If you were a competitor how would you put us out of business?
When did you last come home from work and want to quit your job?
When did we say or do something that you thought was stupid?
What’s the most joy you’ve ever gotten from work?
What would you add to this job description? If anyone actually posts this as an actual job description for an actual job, I will send you a free copy of my book, and a Punks & Pinstripes t-shirt.
I might also apply to work for you, if you're willing to overlook my two degrees ;-).
Elizabeth, Janene, Rod, Rick and Mike became executives at InVision, Aon, Fiduciary Trust International, HARMAN International, and Barclays respectively. They are also members of the invite-only peer-support network for badass executives, Punks & Pinstripes. They make me happy.
