An advanced degree is certainly helpful in any business climate-no one disputes that. But degrees do not guarantee success and true entrepreneurs and leaders often have other special talents and virtues that empower them to achieve great success. I work with many executives who do NOT have their advanced degree and some have no college degree at all – and they share with me in confidence that they worry about the perception of that.
To be sure we are looking at the picture of success with eyes wide open, let’s take a look at just a very small list of executives (in no particular order) who did NOT obtain their college degree:
Ted Turner, Time Warner / AOL Philanthropist
Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren Corporation
Anna Wintour, English Editor-In-Chief of American Vogue
Sheldon Adelson, CEO and Chairman of Las Vegas Sands
Bill Gates, Co-Founder of Microsoft Corp
Steve Jobs, The late Co-Founder of Apple
Matt Mullenweg, Founder of WordPress
Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle
Arash Ferdowsi, Co-Founder of Dropbox
Mark Zuckerberg, Founder of Facebook
David Neeleman, Founder of JetBlue Airways
Susan Lyne, CEO of AOL’s Content Brands
John Mackay, Founder of Whole Foods
Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO of Dell