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Good morning Launch Key 🚀 community.

Back before the word was hijacked, getting a liberal arts education made a lot of sense. Taking knowledge from various subjects, leaders like Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln developed critical thinking skills and learned how to ‘learn.’

We’ve drifted away from that in the age of specialization. But there are signs that the future belongs to people who can connect disparate dots.

Let's get into it.

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Table of Contents

• Pull to Eject

  • Connect the Dots

• Modern Tools

• Free Knowledge

• Recommendations

• Visual Crapshoot

Pull to Eject

Thomas Jefferson didn’t have a college degree.

He enrolled at William and Mary at age 16, already proficient in English, Latin, Greek, and French. He stayed for 2 years and studied philosophy, mathematics, and natural philosophy. He completed his formal education later becoming a self-taught lawyer, but cultivated a lifelong love of learning through extensive reading. 

But he never got a degree. He was a learn-it-all.

Jefferson’s educational foundation built his incredible career portfolio of authoring the Declaration of Independence, becoming the 3rd US President, founding the University of Virginia and completing the Louisiana Purchase to name just a few.

Today’s average career portfolio will have 14 different jobs. And the way to prepare for those is to broaden your knowledge.

Expertise has become overrated. Specialization will land you in the unemployment line as AI replaces white collar gigs.

Mike Bechtel gave an interesting talk at SXSW this spring on just this topic. In an era of hyper specialization, the way up is to work more broadly - be a wider thinker. I don’t love his delivery, but the message is crystal clear. Cross pollination can yield far better results - especially in the age of AI.

After his talk, the first question was what curriculum would you create for students today to be ready for this learn-it-all future? And Bechtel’s answer is straight out of Jefferson’s education: the classics. From Socrates to the Renaissance. Great Books Programs. Add in just enough math and science to know what’s possible.

That’s a classic liberal arts education.

Connect the Dots

In perhaps the greatest commencement speech ever, Steve Jobs stressed the importance of connecting the dots in this 2005 Stanford epic. One of the most important things he learned was not about computer engineering, but about typefaces and proportionally spaced fonts.

Woz would figure out all the necessary technology needed to create the Macintosh, but Jobs insisted on the human ease-of-use. His uncommon knowledge gave an elegance to user interface that changed how we interact with computers.

This 15-minute speech is some of his best clarity. Jobs famously talked about limited time after his initial cancer scare.

One if his favorite childhood publications was the counterculture Whole Earth Catalog. Their last issue had the tagline Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish and that is how Jobs challenged the 2005 Stanford class.

It’s still great advice 2 decades later.

Even if you have specialized for a couple of decades, you probably have quite a bit of uncommon knowledge of your own. How can you pull those unique experiences into something you control? A side hustle. A passion project. A completely new direction in your 50’s, 60’s or beyond.

It’s easier if you’re a Learn-it-all.

Now go launch something 🚀 

Modern Tools

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Free Knowledge

Comedian Des Bishop pokes fun at the lack of thinking since we got a super computer in our pocket. His ‘Mindfulness’ bit is painfully accurate though.

Recommendations

💼 Thriving Freelance - Gigs and Growth : Hundreds of job opportunities sent directly to your inbox each week, plus timely resources to support you as you grow and evolve.

📕 MGMT Playbook : Practical management insights straight to your inbox every Wednesday.

🗃️ Dealroom Business Success Uncovered : Learn directly from billionaire entrepreneurs on how to grow a business. Join a community of 2,000+ innovators.

Visual Crapshoot