Transcription
You probably have noticed that in life, especially when it comes to business and the creation of a company, the scale of expansion, we are faced with some strange phenomena. We see that the guys, let's call them the three-timers, those who, well, I call them the three-timers, not those who necessarily studied poorly, but also those who did not receive any formal education or entered some college, university, did not finish it, did not finish school. I conditionally in this video call the three-timers, let's say, those who did not shine with some amazing grades, red diplomas and something like that, and did not try to study very diligently, following the rules established in society and trying, so to speak, to get a red diploma at school, then finish the university, and all that. I call them the three-timers.
But why do these people often succeed in business? Why does this happen? When we look at people who create huge international companies, they often do not have any deep formal education. At the same time, if you look, make such an introspective, remember the three-timers, the red diplomas with which you studied, well, at least in my experience, what I see is that quite often these guys achieve very mediocre results in life. They are far from always in time. By the way, write in the comments, what category do you belong to? Were you a three-timer or were you an excellent student and a medalist? I can say that, oddly enough, according to the results of high school, I was not a three-timer, but the way I behaved and the way the teachers perceived me, for some reason they considered me almost a two-timer.
A lot of money is spent on education, we spend a lot of time. The efforts of our parents and the whole society are aimed at convincing us that we need to study better and get good grades. And all this takes up a very important part, plays a big role in our civilization. But in practice, it looks like it works strangely. Something is wrong here.
The first reason, in my opinion, is that the modern education system, which existed and existed when I was studying at school, and then in a higher military school, in an academy, this system of formal education, it is generally not oriented towards the development of intellect, wisdom, the ability to solve problems. And it is not oriented towards the development of individual abilities. Every person is individual, everyone has their own abilities, everyone has their own talents. But let's be honest, the existing education system is more oriented towards a person remembering some amount of information and correctly answering questions, and correctly answering the questions of tests and the questions of the teacher. You see, this is quite a fantastic thing. But the whole education system is not focused on the fact that you can use this knowledge in life. In the best case, we are given some practical tasks, although, if we talk about school, it has always been very weak. The most equipped was probably the chemistry office, and it was completely in ruins, and it was impossible to conduct any experiments there, but at least when I was studying. Maybe you were luckier, write in the comments, it's interesting. But the fact is that when you go through this formal education program, no one is interested in how you will actually apply it in life, how you will use this knowledge.
Oh, Mr. Translator, what should I do? What should I do? And when it appeared, that is, I was still studying at a time when there were no tests at all, and all exams were handed in the form of questions that you pulled out and answers that you gave to the teacher. Which was, by the way, very good, because even if you didn't understand the subject very well, but having the ability to lie convincingly and convey your thoughts, it sometimes helped, it sometimes helped. Now there are tests, everything has become easier on the one hand, and more difficult on the other. The tests are really relentless, but the tests are stupid, and they are even further from life, than just even, you know, a conversation or an answer to an open question from a teacher still forced you to somehow try to understand psychology, somehow develop some of your, you know, communication skills, communication, and so on. This was much more practical. But in any case, it makes us remember, and this is a modern education system. And life, you know, it is arranged in a completely different way. Because there are no right or wrong answers in life. There are opportunities in life that you can use. There are some hints in life that you can recognize. There are some potential fortunes in life that come to you, and you have to grab it by the tail, and for this you have to be quick, smart, able to recognize this luck, and so on. That is, life is an equation with a huge number of unknowns. And if a person, for years, you know, 10 years, well, 12 years now at school, wow, and then at some college or university, if a person was literally trained to remember and give the right answers from the point of view of the teacher, then this is not at all what is expected in life. Because in life no one will give you theoretical information, and then ask you to answer some pre-prepared questions. Life will give you questions that you are not ready for at all. In general, the first reason is that the education system is not oriented towards practice. It is more focused on memorization training, and that's why, by the way, very often at school the guys who have a good memory are ahead. The longer they remember what they don't understand, the more they overload their mind with all kinds of garbage. Because the information that you remember, but which is in no way related to life, and which you do not understand how to apply, it's just garbage, it's just garbage. You just become a walking encyclopedia, and maybe you have met such guys who are a walking encyclopedia. I have seen such people. They can give you dates, names, some insignificant details, and so on. But I always had a question. How can you apply this in life? How can this help you?
The next reason, from my point of view, is that the education system, like any big formal system, it will encourage, first of all, those who follow the rules and discipline. Well, agree, it's easier for teachers to deal with children who follow the rules, who do not make noise, who do not ask to go to the toilet during the lesson, do not leave the middle of the lecture. Those who do not ask inconvenient questions at the wrong time. If you think that teachers and professors of universities are some people who know the answer to all questions, I think it will be a bit of an exaggeration. Quite often, these are guys who have a fairly moderate amount of knowledge. And when they meet students asking unpleasant questions that they are not ready to answer, or that they simply have no answer to, which is unpleasant and uninteresting for the teacher or professor. Of course, with such guys, you want to shut them up, and, in general, sit and listen without opening your mouth. Something like that. And they try, such teachers, they really try to make sure that those who violate the rules of discipline become outcasts. Maybe it would be more useful to turn Mr. Potter and you into pocket watches? Then you would come in time. We got lost. Then maybe to the map? I hope you will find your seats without a map. So, if you treat these guys who went against the rules and could cross the teachers and ask uncomfortable questions, like this video. I'm just wondering how many rebels I have on my channel, let's say, who have wanted to manage their lives since childhood and did not really like to obey the rules, the meaning of which was not really clear. Well, the rules were created by teachers, they were not created for a student. And if we look at real life, if we look at entrepreneurship, we will find that quite often your success depends on how much you can go against the flow. I'm not talking about violating the law or violating any rules, but I'm talking about understanding where the boundaries are. This is one. And then, if you want to do something outstanding. You can't do something outstanding within the framework of the existing model, the existing rules, the existing system. In order to do something outstanding, we even use such a term as disruptor. You have to destroy something, you have to change something, and so on. What is the moral here? The moral here is that if a person is taught what the formal education system does to follow disciplinary strict rules, and to do it, to bring it to automatism, I think, this is my opinion, I think it reduces his ability to see opportunities later, and to create something new, to create something interesting. And this is exactly what makes the most money in this world.
The third reason. It is also related to the ability, such abilities as perseverance, the ability to focus attention, to understand. It's great that the education system develops it. And I am grateful to my math school and to my electronic and computer education at the military school for giving me this ability to penetrate, to understand, to study documents, to study materials, to dig deeply. But if a person is given the idea that this is the main value, maybe he will lose or underestimate such an important thing as communication. Business, achievements in life, are usually related to communication with people, with the ability to understand people. You must be able to understand your clients, to communicate with your clients, to see their emotions, to see their reactions, to understand what is going on in their heads, to ask the right questions. You must be able to do this with all your employees, to see their mood, to feel, to focus. Pay attention, excellents who are focused on understanding or memorizing every word in the textbook and then answer the teacher's question correctly, they mostly communicate with textbooks. And what do third-year students like me do at this time? At this time, I participated in our local vocal and instrumental ensemble and organized discos at my school on weekends. And this is what I was really interested in. This is what made me happy, again, girls, hormones and all that. By the way, one of the vivid examples of a person who, without any higher education at all, was able to achieve incredible results. And first of all, thanks to the skills of communication, skills of persuasion, skills of negotiating with people, it was Ray Kroc. I admire this person, I adore him. He is the founder of McDonald's. Strictly speaking, he was not the founder of McDonald's, because the founders of McDonald's were the brothers of McDonald's. And Ray Kroc, he was a commissioner. By increasing the offer, you increase the demand. The demand is the offer, the chicken and the egg, catch the logic. I see that yes, you are a long-sighted person, and appreciate the idea of salting profit. No, but thank you for your work. You see, he started building his career initially as a salesman of paper cups and all kinds of materials and equipment for cafes and restaurants. And I must note one more thing. He started working with the brothers of McDonald's, and he had an idea to make a franchise out of it. But I must note one more thing. He was not the first to want to make a franchise with the brothers of McDonald's. Before that, they had a couple of attempts when they tried to make a franchise, and, in fact, nothing worked out. But it was thanks to their communication skills, thanks to this developed ability to communicate, to create agreements with people, that he convinced the brothers of McDonald's. He had no money at all. He convinced them that he would make a huge, amazing franchise, everyone would become rich, everyone would become happy, and they really agreed to work with him. And thanks to this talent, and not some kind of formal education, depth of knowledge and understanding of theoretical physics, mathematics, he built one of the most successful and expensive brands in the world among fast food restaurants. That is, we can say that these communication skills were the main driver of his success. Therefore, it is absolutely not necessary that our accepted education system, where we have to sit straight, be focused on books, textbooks or teachers, follow the rules, this is what contributes to the development of entrepreneurial talents. Because Ray Kroc, apparently, developed his entrepreneurial talents only during breaks, only outside the school, something like that.
The next reason why, from my point of view, triplets, who are not very focused on all these formalities and problems, often have more chances than graduates, it is due to the fact that, you know, schools, universities and colleges teach us a certain model of thinking, a certain concept of right and wrong. And they do a good job, in general, they do a good job. But when it comes to real life, we see the following phenomenon. School programs, colleges and universities programs are programs that, strictly speaking, were made decades ago. And I'm not saying that they are completely outdated, but they were made decades ago, when there were no social networks, when there was a completely different communication, when other industries were developed, when people in different industries earned in different ways. If you remember what was there 30-40 years ago, it was the dawn of network retail. If we are talking about America, 30-40 years ago, it was just the time when these huge, unreal-sized retail networks were created, many of which, by the way, are now very actively bankrupt. And all these programs, all these values, all these models, they are imbued with this era. Do you understand? And I know it sounds pretty strange, paradoxical, but it's true. That is, the programs were made, and the values and model of the world were set when it was really the dawn, boom and all that. But today this model is not viable. Today these retail networks, which were then just the pinnacle of innovation, the pinnacle, as they say, of human thought, they are simply bankrupt today, one after another in America. Why? Because online is pushing them out, because they can't stand the competition with Amazon and many others. In general, when you strongly believe in some models and are not able to... you don't have the so-called critical thinking. Which is very often the case, by the way, among the Trinity, among the rebels, among those who go against the system, starting from school. They have developed critical thinking, which the school, the university, the college are trying to suppress. Because from their point of view, there is only one correct answer. We, the Trinity, we expose all this to a very critical analysis. We ask unpleasant questions, and so on. And when a person, for a long time, is taught, suppressing this critical thinking, suppressing this ability to ask questions, why is it so accepted? Where did it all come from? Why do we do this? Why can't it be done differently? When this is suppressed, and very often the medalists, the medalists who are directly focused on pleasing the teacher, they are focused on getting good grades. This critical thinking breaks down. You see? And they start to think with patterns. They really start to believe in these patterns. They really believe in models. Especially if their parents help them to believe in it, and so on. They get into such a very unpleasant situation when it's hard for them to cope with life. Well, imagine if Elon Musk thought with patterns and tried to fit into some certain models of behavior. Could we ever see Tesla electric cars? I think it's our best product. I think it's the most unique vehicle. And finally the future will look like the future. Well, you remember, I don't know if you remember the first Tesla electric car, but everyone laughed at it. Well, yes, it's a funny toy, very interesting. It's like today's Apple Vision Pro. I have an Apple Vision Pro, and I'm mastering it. I still haven't found a serious practical application of this thing in it. Just like Tesla cars. Well, it's a funny toy. Well, it's a car. It's not very comfortable, but it's electric, and that's the future. And, by the way, Musk himself is one of the guys who just dropped out of school to do business. He only studied for two days. at Stanford University, and then dropped out of school and went to do business.
The next reason, perhaps, why the top three succeed, and the excellent ones, as it were, suffer defeat. You see, educational programs are very, what is called, too genuine. That is, they are made in a very square-nest way, so that this program suits everyone. Educational programs, well, let's be honest, even often in colleges and universities they are made. very far from the goal that a person becomes really a professional in some field. And I'm not even talking about high school. High school is generally such a general education. That is, general education, and there is no focus, in principle, on making a person do something, do something. Regardless of what talents you have, regardless of what tendencies you have, regardless of what goals you have in life, what you want to do, you get, in general, a standardized program. Standardized in terms of the composition of subjects, standardized in terms of dynamics, this is also a very important point, because different people have different speeds. For some it is too slow, for some it is super fast. By the way, for those for whom it is super fast, it does not mean that they are less capable. I know guys who study slowly, understand slowly, but when they do something, they get incredible results. That is, each of us has another parameter, such as the speed with which we can perceive information. And I want to tell you, it has nothing to do with the results. There are people who quickly absorb information and cannot apply it at all. There are people who slowly absorb information and get incredible results. That is, it is just an individual feature. It's like, I don't know, the speed of speech. Someone speaks very fast, and someone speaks slowly. But from this, those who speak fast often do not look smarter and cannot even convey more information. You see, the problem is that when we talk about entrepreneurship, we do not have a school or college where entrepreneurship is really taught. We have schools and colleges where there are standard subjects, economics of law, and so on, mathematics and literature. And when an excellent student in all these subjects, you see, an excellent student who just shines with excellent grades, decides to open a business, thinking that it is well-educated, for many it is, you see, an object of pride. I am the best student. in the class, and so on. I am all decorated with gold medals. There is nothing wrong in getting gold medals if you do it by mastering the knowledge correctly, while not spoiling your intelligence, developing all the other skills, and so on. I am talking about those who are only focused on this as a major achievement in life. They find out that having received all this set of knowledge, subjects, remembering all these important historical facts, who, when, with whom drank tea, what happened next, in what year, in what place, in what month and on what day they signed some important document 750 years ago, and so on. Extraordinary practical information helps the business a lot. It's sarcasm. I am no expert, but I believe what we discovered was sarcasm. Yes. They suddenly find out that getting into the business world, they get into a world where there are very few paved paths, where there are very few ready-made instructions. And the only thing they can do there more or less, mastering mathematics, is to count well. Well, and good. And then they find out that they have to deal with people, first of all, because business is about people. They have to deal with a team, they have to deal with management, you know. And there are no answers to the question of how to deal with it. You won't find them in any instructions, in textbooks. Yes, you can find them, but for this you need to find some books, listen to some podcasts, take some courses, and so on. By the way, if you are experiencing. this state or you have a feeling that it would be good for you to get better at managing people, I highly recommend you to come to my master class on how to strengthen a team, strengthen the foundation of a business and reach a new level. In this master class, in a very compact form, I give the main tools that help any person to manage a business, to manage people, to manage a team so that it grows and brings income.
You see, I studied to be a radio engineer. That is, it's electronics, it's radiators, it's radio waves and all that. I defended my diploma at the Department of Applied Mathematics, because, to be honest, the last two years at the university I didn't study at all. The last two years I practically paid off from all the departments by writing software. It was such an era when computerization appeared, computers appeared, but the teachers had no idea what to do with these computers and how to use them in the educational process. And so the last two years I did what I liked. I entertained myself with the full program. I wrote programs, and I was awarded with degrees and exams for it. So it was a military university. Well, you must agree, this approach probably contributes to the development of entrepreneurial thinking. I found a way to solve this problem by bypassing the existing rules. And this is a common thing. If you remember the first world billionaire, Henry Ford, who went to a rural boarding school, he studied well, but instead of lessons, he often ran around the garages, in the workshops. He was interested in mechanics, in hardware, but which of the boys is not interested in hardware? At the age of 16, Henry had already left home, dropped out of school, and went to a student of a machine builder in Detroit. And there he really worked at various factories, there he studied mechanics and over time, in the end, you see, we had the Ford Corporation and these cars.
What do I mean by this? I'm not saying that being a Trinity is good. Don't get me wrong. But from the point of view of the development of entrepreneurial abilities, it is better to be a Trinity who is passionate about what interests him, naturally, something creative, something that is applicable in life, because then there are more chances to achieve results and benefit yourself, your family, all of humanity. I'm not saying that being a Trinity is bad. But being a Trinity is bad and, most likely, it is very destructive. for the mind of this person if he is a Trinity because he is just mumbling, memorizing, trying to please the teachers and follow all the rules, while not developing this ability to be interested in what can be applied in life. Is this system of values worth spending time on? Or should I try to merge it somehow, get some Mark and get more? It depends on how much this object is applicable in life, how much it really corresponds to my talents, to how I will act, and how much it will really help me to do something useful in life, to make some good company, to earn money, to benefit people. Therefore, every time when you study something, studying any subject is what I do to this day. I always start with a question of how I am going to apply it, how it will change my activity.
According to the Guardian Financial report, among US entrepreneurs there is a very different level of education. Approximately 30% of entrepreneurs 30% of entrepreneurs are people who graduated from an ordinary high school. An ordinary high school, general education. 31% of entrepreneurs in the United States have a degree of a junior specialist. What is a junior specialist? This is what we call an associated degree. This is the level of a vocational school. If you imagine a good vocational school where there are, let's say, two-year courses. of a mechanic, two-year courses of a welder, and so on, this is about the same level. Only 17% of entrepreneurs in the United States have a bachelor's degree. This is what we consider a higher education. 18% have a master's degree. And 4% of entrepreneurs have, if you translate it into Russian, it is a candidate for science or higher. Pay attention, the vast majority of entrepreneurs have a school education or have an education at the level of a vocational school. By the way, in the same report. it is said that formal education, especially higher education, is probably not as important for entrepreneurs as it is for ordinary employees. This is phenomenal, this is what I love. They do not look from the point of view. that it is not so important to become an entrepreneur, but for ordinary employees it is still important. And this is what I wanted to tell you, and this report from Gaiden Financial confirms this.