Education and Brown-Nosing

Just today I was speaking to a student who proclaimed that she didn’t need to read my book about brown-nosing because she was getting a masters degree and once she had that she would be able to write her own ticket. I didn’t have the heart to burst her bubble but anyone who has spent any time in the corporate world can tell you that education does not necessarily make you a success at work.

Your education helps. It helps you perform better at your job. It helps you understand the organization. It helps you think. It helps you see things in new and different ways. It helps you solve problems, assess risk and manage processes. But it cannot make up for people skills and it cannot make up for the brownnosing skills I’ve been writing about ---- visibility, positioning, networking and connecting.

Yes, her degree is a ticket.  But this student fails to see that the degree is simply the ticket that she needs to be allowed into the game. A masters degree may be an upgrade from an undergraduate degree which brings with it a few more perks but once allowed into the game you still must know how to play.

 No amount of education can make up for a deficiency in personal and social skill but there are many people out there who have these skills and who are quite successful without much formal education.

After all, education doesn’t make you smart, it just makes you educated. Don't ever forget that it's not about the credentials you have, it's about how you  use those credentials to further the organization's goals and objectives.

Think about it ---- 

Linda