Knowledge is power and a lifelong pursuit

Graduating undergraduate students across a sea of colleges and universities in the traditional spring ceremony all sigh with relief of their accomplishment and state, in no uncertain terms, “I will never take another class again!” The beauty of this statement is the naiveté that comes in believing that there is no more formal learning to be attained.

The beast emerges when one acts on that naiveté. Complicating this process is the fact that here in Michigan, the lifetime employment commitment that allowed much of this belief to flourish has been shattered at its most vulnerable points. The attainment of a post-secondary degree is no longer the ‘recreational pursuit’ that one did during their spare time or to fill a social void.

There are practical reasons why many of those same persons, adamant in their convictions about not returning to the classroom, find themselves, unapologetically, back in the educational arena.

The internal competitive landscape has become more intense. The corporate squish and squeeze that has catapulted thousands out of their cubicles and onto Monster.com has created a stronger need for well-informed, multi-skilled, socially-intelligent project managers. In an ideal world where there is relative equality among competing applicants for promotions (i.e. merit, work experience, task completion, time with the company), the objective measures give way to the subjective biases of the person filling the position. Anytime a Director can have a talented employee who also possesses an advanced degree as part of their corporate team, the odds favor that persons selection over someone equally as determined, but less educated. Much of the prevailing wisdom leans in the direction of blaming the employee who was not wise enough to stay even with the pack. In simpler terms, the employee gave the director the easier option of not being chosen. Quite frankly, it’s a lot easier knowing you weren’t chosen because a person just didn’t like you as opposed to hearing, “Sorry, if only you would have had that degree.”

What you do and who you know are only two legs of a three-legged chair. Only a fool would dismiss the importance of competence and relationships as constant factors in the career advancement process. They are just as important now as they’ve always been. The addition of advanced education as a new constant changes the equation and places a new set of demands on corporate survivors. Knowing how to do something and through whom that something is done also requires a level of ‘social intelligence’ that comes through exposure to formal learning and informal networking. The advent of globalization is not just about multi-national companies competing for consumer attention, but also the recognition that the planet has become one large academy for ‘lifelong’ learning. Competing powers are all directing resources toward raising the educational attainment of its populous in order to accelerate the competitive cycle and have access to the most broad-based, globally intelligent employees.

Knowledge-based employees are a means to a competitive end. Gone are the days when an employee could rest on the laurels of their ‘functional’ knowledge and the narrow scope of their expertise. Business entities paid competitive wages to a lot of employees for a narrow range of knowledge about a specific area of concern. There was no advantage to knowing how the pieces fit together because everything moved on a consistent cycle of events. Like the cost of living allowance, that concept has long since been jettisoned from the building. In its place is a new focus on expanded knowledge, individual persistence and the ability to think in a broader scope. The adult learner is now the ‘lifelong’ learner, in school on a part-time basis and trying to balance the increasing demands that come with trying to stay afloat.

The short supply of high caliber talent will not last forever. According to the most recent data of the National Education Association, less than 30% of working adults have some form of a post-secondary degree. The number of degree granting institutions have increased dramatically since the 1990’s and the development of online learning. Ignorance of the links is not acceptable and employers no longer have to accept the excuse that “I couldn’t find a suitable degree program that would still allow me to work.” These institutions have positioned themselves to be the portals of knowledge in which you enter to broaden your knowledge base and raise the competitive landscape.

There is no time like the present to position oneself for the future. For many, the role of full time life person and part-time student is more than just an abstract notion. It will involve real time with real issues. It will not be easy, but as so many parents of baby boomers were fond of saying, “Whoever said that life…, well, you know the rest.