You Can Do Anything: The Surprising Power of a "Useless" Liberal Arts Education Hardcover – August 8, 2017

Don’t be fooled by the title, this book is a must-read for any college student, parents of college students, employers, college advisors, graduates, and most specifically, the liberal arts student. George Anders’ book packs a plethora of supporting evidence and facts to boost his stance that majoring in a liberal arts education doesn’t mean that you are forever chained to a life of saying, “Would you like fries with that?” College is a time-consuming endeavor with a large price tag, parents and students are keen on pursuing the best option to ensure they receive a satisfying return on their investment. Anders’ book offers encouragement, beneficial advice, powerful anecdotes, and concrete examples to illustrate the usefulness and potential of a liberal arts degree.Today, everyone puts focus and emphasis on STEM degrees and the idea that majoring in these fields are the only route to finding success and a good job after graduation. While it’s true that recruiters still actively chase after STEM majors, Anders does an incredible job in researching the potential of liberal arts students in today’s job market, identifying opportunities for those with a liberal arts background, and exploring strategies for liberal arts students to tailor their skills for a wide-range of job opportunities. He brings hope to the liberal arts community by pointing out that the job market is constantly changing and millions of jobs, that didn’t exist five years ago, are being created for individuals that can deal with ambiguity, utilize critical thinking skills, and use ingenuity to solve problems. Anders presents various testaments from tech-companies and businesses that are actively looking to hire liberal arts students for their intellectual curiosity, problem-solving skills, and ability to analyze and interpret data and information. Moreover, Anders’ book coveys the message to readers that liberal arts students will have to work hard, use creative approaches, and improvise to build their way to a successful career.His book is an essential, helpful tool for anyone ready to launch themselves into starting their own business, finding a job, or learning how to market their skills in any field. Anders illustrates to readers the possibility for greatness with the power of an education since a degree is the golden ticket to opening doors to vast opportunities. George Anders demonstrates the value of a liberal arts degrees in the job market, not just in academia, by utilizing many inspiring examples of liberal arts majors that have gone on to create billion dollar companies or do jobs not related to their major. One of the main takeaways of the book: your major does not equal or limit your ability of career options. A liberal arts curriculum gives you an advantage over those that have a narrow sub-set of job-specific skills. Anders argues that employers need generalists with a wide-range of skills that can complement any type of role within their company. The hard truth is that earning a Bachelors’ degree does not guarantee a job upon graduation; however, leaving college with a transferable skill set ensures you stay on the right track towards a successful future. Anders’ book is separated into four sections that hits on various key points, such as, helping individuals build towards a satisfying and successful future, market their skills, explore job opportunities, and launch themselves into the job market.The first section is titled “Your Strengths”, it presents various examples of how “supposedly impractical classes” have the potential to launch students’ careers with the ever-changing job market. Anders sheds light on the stigmatization of the liberal arts community by discussing that “taunting liberal arts majors had become an ugly sport” (Anders) by notable public figures, such as Jeb Bush and Megan McArdle. In a society that is quick to discredit the value of a liberal arts degree, it’s inspiring to see Anders publish a book directed towards portraying liberal arts majors in a positive light.Anders’ book opens with an inspiring example, a liberal arts student that has prevailed and now leads a successful career, Josh Sucher. Majoring in Anthropology and acquiring marketable skills, such as curiosity and creativity, has led Sucher to become a field researcher for Etsy, a billion-dollar online market. To readers, it’s important to note that Sucher translated his knowledge of anthropology to become a researcher for a billion-dollar online company; a skill that will be taught in this book. The bottom line, employers are looking to hire college graduates that write well, speak clearly, work effectively in teams, and know how to analyze problems, all qualities that are central to the liberal arts major.The second section, titled “Your Opportunities”, explores career strategies for liberal arts students to secure good jobs. The chapter is filled with endless accounts of liberal arts student successes, such as, a philosophy major creating one of Silicon Valley’s most successful start-ups, to demonstrate to readers that everyone has the potential to be successful. Additionally, the section focuses on a dozen sectors, examples include project managers, social-media experts, and market researchers, where employers are waiting to hire promising candidates that can adapt to a changing job market and move forward “in the face of ambiguity” (Anders 2017). This chapter is perfect for readers to learn the sectors that are targeting the strengths found in a robust liberal arts education. In short, this section is meant to serve as a guide that highlights opportunities and career options for liberal arts students. Of course, the reader should note that annual income hardly equates to a measure of success in life. “Your Allies”, the third section, looks at possible changes that could help our society make use of the “pioneering spirit” (Anders 2017). In other words, showcasing the positive effect of how campus career offices and recent alumni can make the job hunt less frustrating. The chapter introduces several major companies that “get it” (Anders 2017) when it comes to the merits of hiring liberal arts majors. In a bold declaration, Anders states that a company’s success hinges on the central elements of what comprises a liberal arts degree: “working on the frontier, finding insights, choosing the right approach, and reading the room” (Anders 2017). Section three, emphasizes the importance of networking with past alumni to improve college-to-career mitigation. Many students overlook the benefits of past alumni; a dumb mistake. Alumni have the power to benefit your job search in ways that you couldn’t imagine. Anywhere from offering beneficial advice to putting in a good word for you with an employer; alumni are valuable resources that shouldn’t be taken for granted.The last section, “Your Tool Kit”, provides tactical advice on how to get hired and move up the corporate ladder to higher pay and great benefits. Anders stresses that anyone with a liberal arts background has the ammunition to tell an unparalleled story to future employers; the key is to effectively tell your story. Anders offers strong advice and a step-by-step guide on how to perfect this maneuver and to ensure that you stand out among hundreds of applicants. Overall, the last section is the most useful in terms of practicality and starting on the process of utilizing your degree to secure a great job. Ultimately, Anders’ novel is packed with testaments to the power of a liberal arts education, words of hope and encouragement to the liberal arts community, inspiration and concrete examples, and a sense of direction on where and how to start ones’ career. Anders’ book does a fantastic job in decrypting the job market and creating a powerful must-read for the liberal arts student planning to launch their career, and while the journey may be fraught with hardships, the feeling of leading a success future will be well worth the wait.

You Can Do Anything: The Surprising Power of a "Useless" Liberal Arts Education By George AndersAs a student trying to receive his degree in the liberal arts, I truly believe that this book should be read by everyone who is attempting to do the same. This book has given me a strong sense of hope that things will be okay. Going through my education, I have been told that my degree will be useless; however, "You Can Do Anything" has countered this argument with the irrefutable truth that degrees like ours are necessary."You Can Do Anything: The Surprising Power of a 'Useless' Liberal Arts Education" is a book that centers on the use and opportunities that a liberal arts education can provide. George Angers uses the success stories of several people who have degrees in the field and have found their place in unexpected areas. He continues to emphasize the idea that the adaptability of the degree is in and of itself useful, especially in a time when the job market is constantly changing. The base skills that degrees like English, Psychology, Humanities, Philosophy, and things of the like can be applied to almost anything. The ability to be a critical thinker holds value in a constantly changing world.Overall, the book itself holds a great deal of value to anyone who will read it; the lessons that are learned and hope that one can receive are well worth the read. His exploration of where you can go and what you can be holds extraordinary value. You are not doomed to be at a Starbucks for the rest of your life.Thanks for the read!Liem

Not that long ago, an angered and disappointed father might cynically tell his child, newly graduated with a liberal arts degree, “Why don’t you go down to the anthropology factory? I hear they’re hiring!”“In the course of this book,” author George Anders explains, “we will explore all sorts of ways your liberal arts education and society’s needs can fit together.”Just a few decades ago, this would not have been a reasonable proposition. However, the more we automate the routine activities, the more we create digital solutions, the more essential human judgment becomes. New technology is destroying millions of predictable, task-based jobs that traditionally provided tickets into the middle class.McKinsey researchers estimate that 45% of workplace tasks in modern society are at risk of being automated.The curiosity, creativity, and empathy one usually develops through a liberal arts education is an advantage today. Disruptive change doesn’t reduce the value of this type of education: it can actually provide an advantage.From May 2012 through May 2016, 541,000 new jobs were created in the computing sector in the US. In the same period compliance officers, entertainment producers and directors, event planners, fund-raisers, genetic counsellors, graphic designers, human-resources specialists, management analysts, market research analysts, marketing specialists, school administrators, technical writers, and training specialists more than triple the new-job contribution. “Most of these new jobs have tiptoed into the U.S. economy with no fanfare whatsoever,” notes Anders. And South Africa is not far behind.While it is true that most job opportunities today call for some technical literacy, this can be acquired in just a few months of concentrated effort. It is also worth noting that computer-related fields employ less than 3 percent of the workforce.Job hunting has changed a lot since the 1970s and even since the 1990s. Predictable career paths are rare, and the opportunities to improvise are great. The social philosopher, Eric Hoffer explained, “In times of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”People with degrees in the humanities and social sciences have risen to the top in fields as diverse as finance, government, non-profits, and the entrepreneurial economy.Companies such as IBM count on sociology majors to explain some of its most complex technology to customers, and leading ad agencies hire English majors, not data scientists, when they want to tell stories with numbers.In 2016 the author surveyed the job ads at Indeed.com. He found more than 5,500 listings that offered over $100,000 annual pay for work requiring ‘critical thinking.’ This skill, Anders found to be shorthand for a set of competencies that includes a confident eagerness to take on areas where nobody knows the rules yet. It requires applying imagination to the job, adapting well to new situations and having well-honed analytic methods for finding insights.On demand for high-paying work is the ability to thrive by spotting the less obvious answer. As one gains experience and rises in power, you are expected to synthesize insights and complex decisions. Additionally, candidates are expected to understand group dynamics and other peoples’ motivations in an unusually deep way. This allows them to ‘read the room’, and inspire others.These requirements are commonplace for senior or more valued staff, and replace fact-packed heads that can’t analyse well. The Internet can give everyone the facts they need, quickly.This is where a liberal arts education adds value. To do well at the classics, being able to regurgitate knowledge in insufficient. A liberal arts education should develop useful ways of analysing situations and instil an open-minded confidence about exploring the new ideas. It should foster curiosity, the ability to connect the dots, and to filter and distil information.This is what employers as diverse as the movie creators at Sony, the digital-storage technicians at Dropbox, and the thermostat makers at Johnson Controls are looking for. As are FedEx, McKinsey, and PayPal.Reid Hoffman the founder of LinkedIn, and one of the world’s foremost angel investors, has a Masters degree in philosophy from Oxford. PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, achieved his philosophy degree from Stanford. Regardless of whether you’re studying philosophy, English, sociology, or any of a dozen other disciplines, you’re being introduced to a wider way of engaging with the world. Payoffs arise later in all sorts of jobs.I recall my own philosophy professor telling us that any society that doesn’t respect its plumbers and its philosophers will find that neither its pipes nor its ideas will hold water. With the workplace evolving, and technology becoming commonplace, the value of plumbers and philosophers is replacing the value we gave to high levels of knowledge, rather than practical ability, and mental agility and critical thinking.Readability Light --+-- SeriousInsights High --+-- LowPractical High ---+- Low*Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy, and is the author of the recently released ‘Executive Update.

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