For quite some time now the business world has been plagued by the idea that formal education or even enrolling in comprehensive courses holds no real value for anyone’s future career. Instead of empty knowledge entrepreneurs and business owners should spend time developing soft and hard skills that can actually improve their professional prospects. Of course, all these claims are nonsense. Sure, possessing applicable, high-value skills is what will keep the momentum of your career. But, formal education is what makes the foundations to acquire these skills easier, expand your horizons, and make you successfully navigate the corporate hierarchy. Still not convinced? Let us go then in greater detail and see just how important education can be for your future career as a business owner or an entrepreneur.
Developing strong work ethics
Skills and knowledge can be and should be acquired as long as you are alive. To be able, however, to constantly develop those skills, you will need to have a very strong work ethic and work habits. Traditional educational institutions are probably the best place to attain these critical traits since they expose the students to a very challenging curriculum that requires consistent and committed work. These tasks are also very stimulating and provoke students’ curiosity and will to engage in new challenges. All these things gradually develop into lifelong habits that will prove to be useful once you start your own gig.
Broad and systematized knowledge
Some people tend to look at this as one of formal education’s biggest detriments, so why would you learn the things that won’t have any tangible purpose during your career? The thing is that neither of the things you learn in school is without value. Math and physics teach you to think logically. History develops your critical thinking, teaches you to take opposing stances, and makes you a worldlier person. We could break down all classes this way, but you get the point. The best thing is that learning all these things is not left to your own devices. The programs are systematized and designed to encourage these skills.
Learning how to learn
Recently, there has been a lot of talk about how the modern business world is moving at a lightning pace and the only way to keep up with it is to embrace the mentality of lifelong learning. Well, going through traditional educational institutions will definitely prepare you for this type of challenge and, more importantly, teach you how to learn new things and discover new materials in the simplest manner. For instance, if you want to go through some new topic you can simply check University of Manchester projects or similar student materials. The web is stacked with such notes, but you need to know where to look for them.
Networking opportunities
We have all heard the tales of the billionaires who rose from nothing and built their empires without ever going to college. Although such examples do exist, they are extremely rare – according to a recent European study, as many as 98% of active CEOs have an academic background and hold at least a Bachelor’s degree. Putting aside the obvious conclusion that education does, in fact, pay off, we should also consider that university presents an excellent opportunity for networking with people who may, someday, prove to be industry leaders. These bonds are much harder to forge further down the road.
Acquiring countless soft skills
If you are unfamiliar with the term, soft skills or, as we also call them, core skills that describe your personality. Some of the most valued examples include the likes of communication skills, emotional intelligence, adaptability, responsibility, growth mindset, openness to feedback, and active listening. As of lately, these qualities have become just as valued as hard skills (skills directly related to the profession). Well, it’s good to know then that formal education offers students countless opportunities for developing these exact traits in an environment that is not unlike corporate but features much lower stakes.
Having a broader understanding of the world
Last but not least, we would like to remind you that the present-day economy is incredibly globalized. Starting up your own gig immediately puts you on the world map where you will have an opportunity to work with people of different ethnic, national, and religious backgrounds that may have a drastically different understanding of economic, social, and other issues. Educational institutions present a great melting pot where you will get exposure to this stunning diversity while educational programs do an excellent job of helping you understand these different viewpoints and become a better leader as a result.
We hope these few arguments helped you reach a better understanding of why education is so important even today when people seem to focus on developing high-value skills rather than acquiring knowledge. Skills are just like buildings – in order to stand the test of time and allow future upgrades, they need to be put on rock-solid foundations. There is no better way to put these critical cornerstones than by getting a proper education.