The market has always had a debatable question whether a person should be
Street Smart or Book Smart. Time and time again, people have cited examples of
each set of people who have tasted success with their ventures and dealings in
the market. We have even seen a reality TV show (Apprentice – featuring Donald
Trump) where in one season of the show, the book-smart teamed against the
street-smart.
However, one can only keep wondering what the real answer to the question is.
Because ultimately, most parents spend a fortune on getting their children
educated these days and I doubt they would positively accept the critique that their book-smart children only managed so much success while the fellow
who was a back-bencher his whole life or a drop out in high school was now
running a highly profitable venture.
The answer to the question is quite simple. The two although seem related
are in fact poles apart and quite unrelated. Ultimately, from a different point
of view, it is life’s experiences that teach us to be dynamic and open to the most adverse
situations in which one can circumvent his problems and manage things with an
ease that might even be construed as having a peace of mind.
Truth be told, even Colleges today fret over this question but the
solution is quite simple. Some people are born naturals and have the
personality traits of a leader even if they might not be good at their
academia. The flipside is that the students who need support can be mentored to
understand their business environment and agreements governing a business entity. Book-smart need not be limited to academic or
theoretical knowledge because ultimately even a person who has had adequate
class-room training and case-study sessions can exhibit exceptional analytical
skills fit for successfully running a business concern.
That is the sole reason that colleges like Computer College include
Case-study sessions in their curriculum so that a student understands the
business environment around him. It can be safely said that such an approach is
like creating a simulation of a real-life scenario in the classroom and
preparing well in-advance for it. The thinking can also be correlated to how NASA astronauts prepare for deep space walks in a simulated compressed environment without an
atmosphere. It prepares them when they face such a real-life situation. This
analogy can also be applied to book-smart people also in the sense that the training imparted earlier is often a prelude to their future success.
Coming to the fellows on the street-smart side of the table, they often
possess a personality that charms, a cool sense of mind and an air around them
that nothing is wrong and everything can be turned to gold. It represents their
thinking attitude which is mostly a can-do attitude. However, these candidates
are highly risk-taking and the road to their success is quite difficult initially wherein
they strive a lot in the incubation phase of their ventures. Ultimately, their success is defined by
how dynamic they are in accepting the economic changes in a marketplace but the
most crucial factor determining their failure or success is their ability to
network with the right people from an early age.
In
contrast, even a well-trained book-smart candidate can be absorbed into
mainstream industries or can setup his own business concern over time or
depending upon his preferences. The training that he can get through academia
goes a long way in fostering his understanding of business ethics, environment
and money-markets. The answer to the question therefore can be explained as
both sides have their own plus points and for a fact, people from both these
groups are unique in their own individual way.
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