No Degree - Growing Social Status

Puzzling that influential work network LinkedIn retains a slot in your profile for where you got your degree. 

This is at a time when not getting a degree carries increasing social status. And social status, as Toby Stuart hammers in "Anointed," is what keeps opening doors to opportunity. Once society "anoints" you as worth chasing after, your prospects are golden.

Back to no-degree. Well known is that OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman doesn't have a degree and that billionaire Peter Thiel pays you not to get one (Thiel Fellowship). Look at how far Jeffrey Epstein got without a degree and how he duped all those Ivy graduates, ranging from Larry Summers to Leon Botstein.

The objective of the LinkedIn alma mater identity is probably so that you can loop in with other alumni for help in getting, holding and moving on to better work. But the reality is that those alumni might themselves have become powerless to aid. They have been unemployed. Knowledge workers are losing jobs that aren't coming back because of cost-efficiency, off-shoring and AI. 

Meanwhile and predictably the setting of degree-getting - college - houses increasing mental illness. The Hill reports today on the Johns Hopkins research:

"Suicidal ideation was up 154 percent, restlessness increased by 80 percent and trouble concentrating rose by more than 77 percent. Women, minority students and people experiencing financial difficulty were more likely to experience depressive symptoms."  

Could a trigger be that those pursuing degrees sense it's become a long long shot for ensuring the ability to earn a good living? And an expensive one? 

A sign of the loss of social status for that whole continuum of being in college prep in high school to adopting poverty-with-a-purpose in attending college to heading out to the big city to make it after graduation is this: Instead of awe about the potential involved, there is sadness. Even the public relations professors I talk with express deep sadness that their best and brightest are unable to be hired for jobs in their field. Meanwhile the graduates with welding certificates from trade schools are. Currently I am coaching a youth who has one more semester to go. I encourage them to finish. But we are trying out non-white-collar strategies for full-time work. 

Stuart points out both how social status consists of respect, yes, deference and the lack of it a stinging stigma. About the latter, did you ever get on the s**t list in your organization. The daily impact of slights and worse is brutal.

Soon enough those with those unmarketable degrees might not only be stuck forever not being able to enter adulthood but also shrink in self-esteem into nothingness. The mental illness experienced in college could worsen. 

Here's something interesting. I had the most social status when broadcasting that I was a Harvard Law School dropout. Simultaneously I was a legal influencer for eight years. At that time prominent Harvard Law School alumni who had made it big in law like Brad Karp at Paul, Weiss would frequently contact me about my content. I even had an email conversation with famous Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz. Also, became great buddies with the folks at Jones Day. Dechert partners requested being on my influencer platform. 

Is the new path to success no path? Start where you are. Try things. You soon find out what you star in. 

Success is a mental game. Failure comes from being done in by the “committee” in your head.

Together, we liberate your thinking. Then we change your story. And, unleash success. Meanwhile, we focus on bringing in income. That puts you in a position of strength.

Intuitive Coaching. Special expertise with transitions, becoming a solopreneur and aging. Psychic/tarot readings, upon request. Complimentary consultation with Jane Genova (Text 203-468-8579, janegenova374@gmail.com). Yes, test out the chemistry. Zero risk.

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