FeistyFemale

16/11/2007 In Entrepreneurship, General, Life by feistyfemale

I was perturbed when I finally had to concede that a high-level qualification can mean absolutely zero in business practice!

A qualification is supposed to provide you with a wealth of knowledge and theoretical concepts that can be applied to myriad situations — it is supposed to give you that extra edge in business and help you adapt to change faster. Qualifications and tertiary education are supposed to provide you with the tools and techniques to get the job done. Why study if you won’t be applying the information and knowledge in your daily environment?

Little did I realise that knowledge and practice don’t automatically go together. Apparently, there is a huge gap between acquiring knowledge and applying or transferring that knowledge to practice.

Business and entrepreneurship are not for the faint-hearted — it is always more complicated and difficult than initially imagined. Thus, practical skills, passion and energy are crucial.

Qualifications are not the alpha and omega in business and entrepreneurship. They mean diddly-squat at the end of the day if those much-needed leadership, business or creative skills are not used to get the job done. No qualification can make you a natural leader, a great problem solver, a competitive, ambitious, goal-oriented, innovative risk-taker. No qualification can provide you with passion, energy and the ability to deal with change, pressure, criticism and difficult people.

Qualifications do not provide you with logic thought, marketing savvy and common sense to create a workable business strategy. You might have an MBA, but boy oh boy, it doesn’t guarantee success! No course or exam can ensure that you will put your valuable knowledge to good use in practice.

Qualifications are one-dimensional and, with this in mind, I believe that most qualifications don’t hold much merit in an entrepreneurial environment. There are a number of reasons for this.

They cannot predict how an individual will perform in a particular environment. Can the individual deal with a pressured environment? No qualification can indicate this.

People thrive in different circumstances.

A general qualification is no indicator for specific skills.

Qualifications don’t teach the right people at the right time. What you learnt in your course will probably be outdated by the time you use it. These days Google is much more up to date and effective for educational purposes for the information-hungry trendsetter.

Your qualification does not make you a natural leader.

A qualification does not make you socially well adapted.

A qualification does not indicate intelligence — you might only be intelligent within a certain milieu.

A qualification does not indicate passion and how hard you are willing to work toward achieving your goal. Dedication is often the key ingredient in success.

A qualification does not make you creative or innovative.

Don’t get me wrong — I do believe that qualifications stand you in good stead if you have to apply for a job. Qualifications contribute hugely to employability and differentiation between hundreds of other applicants. The thing is, in business and entrepreneurship, qualifications are not the alpha and omega.

That MBA might look good on your CV, but is it really going to help you succeed if you do not or cannot practice the principles?
Maybe common sense and practicality should be valued instead?

*** First published on the Mail & Guardian Online Thought Leader website 16 November 2007