If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
If you pulled a B or C average in college, good luck getting an interview with Google or other intellectually rigorous global employers. But according to Alan C. Guarino, an author and recruiter, companies that overemphasize academic performance systematically overlook valuable talent.
“Success, defined as business achievement, comes to a wide range of people. For some, it has little correlation to their classroom successes,” writes Guarino in his new book, Smart is Not Enough!
Of course, the prevailing wisdom is that academic performance is a proxy for the ability to learn new skills, even though it’s no guarantee of future success. Are there a lot of underachieving former valedictorians in our midst? (A brief look at some of the research in this area shows mixed results with regard to linking academic performance, academic testing and future success.)
Guarino highlights the business efficacy of academic underachievers. “When it comes to talent, the world is round with two very important poles - the North Pole, where the top-ranked academic achievers are found, and the South Pole, where the bright and savvy winners are found.”
It’s not an anti-intellectual rant; Guarino argues that companies should hire a mix of North and South Pole types. We have all known some ‘South Pole’ people who have achieved far beyond what their teachers and perhaps their friends may have expected of them. We admire people who overcome long odds and push forward with new ideas - that’s the hallmark of many innovators and entrepreneurs.
Will other recruiters be persuaded by Guarino’s thesis that ‘South Polers’ are an underappreciated talent pool?
Years ago,after “The Organization Man” was published, Michigan State University published a counterpiece entitled “The Enterprising Man”. It vwas a masterpiece of case studies of guys who couldn’t/wouldn’t/didn’t fit into the corporate mold and went off and made grand successes. I always thought the best part was the suggestion by the authors that the Enterprising Man had to be schooled to learn essentials. Courses included “Dealing and Double Dealing” and “Getting Rid of Partners”.
Oh my, if people only knew how many C average students work for places like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Oracle, IBM, etc.
Actually, some hiring managers will NOT want to know anything about your GPA.
In close to 20 years working as a career coach for executive, management and professional men and women I not found a connection between academic success, even among grads of top tier schools and business success. It seems to me that the c- grad from an average state school can do just as well as a 4.0 from a top school. I have seen Harvard MBA’s plateaued at middle management and in one case a community college drop out become president and CEO of a $500 million company