Imagine us: three guys frantically driving through downtown DC, late to our meeting, no GPS (for the only one with a smartphone forgot to charge it), and we are arguing about how to use an atlas. Well, we did get to the meeting, although quite late, and we did learn how to use an atlas, after getting lost a billion times. This is the story of my monumental trip to the Capital.
We left on a Friday, returned home on a Sunday. What transpired in those three days none of us expected. Jeff Waite, Quin Weidner, and myself embarked to a conference hosted by Future Business Leaders of America. The conference has various seminars on different subjects. Many of these discussions deeply impacted my life. However, one in particular rises above the rest. Titled “Why I dropped out of the Ivy League”, a young man, perhaps 23, gave a talk on the future of entrepreneurship, and the trends that say college and business do NOT usually go well with each other. Zachary Slayback, the speaker, portrayed an alternative to college. He was, and is, a part of an organization called Praxis. Praxis acts as a middleman, of a sorts, between startups and young entrepreneurs looking to gain real world business experience. The idea behind Praxis resonated with me... But, I wasn't convinced. Not until I read the book he recommended so highly. Zero to One is a sort of guide for startups looking to create something new, something fresh. The author, Peter Theil, co-founder of PayPal and founder of Palantir, blew my mind.
I have read this book four times now; each time with a new insight. This book directed my mind towards something I knew deep down I wanted; perhaps even needed. Of all the things I could say about this trip, there is no doubt the seminar on dropping out of the Ivy League tops them all. Last thought: The goal of learning, for me at least, has got to be to achieve a desired outcome. What did I actually gain from that seminary and book, and how do I apply those lessons today? One lesson to close on - college is expensive, and the return on this investment is rarely worth it.. If you can't even find a career in your industry, what's the point? I am not saying college is bad, or a bad investment. What I am saying is that, for the vast majority, it is rarely a good investment. Thus, the lesson is simple - invest time and money into something that has a foreseeable and definable outcome. Define what you want to gain from an endeavor, and formulate the appropriate steps to achieve it.
