As AI takes over the routine tasks once designed to post-grad talent, leaders and young workers alike are questioning the value of a college degree. However, Stripe cofounder John Collison believes that going to school and doubling up on disciplines with two majors is the best way to stand out in the AI era—and the advice has long been echoed by business leaders, like the late legendary investor Charlie Munger.
“If you understand software and understand finance—or if you understand software and understand marketing—you now can go massively improve the entire marketing funnel for your company,” Collison said on the TBPN podcast. “One person can do what would have taken 20 people dredging through all these systems.”
The president of the $159 billion fintech company believes that double majors will have a leg up in leading successful careers. Young professionals can best market themselves by having a wide array of skills—adapability that’s key in an ever-changing workplace upended by AI.
And Collison’s advice had been passed down by generations of business moguls.
Warren Buffett’s business partner, Charlie Munger, has long promoted the power of ‘multidisciplinary thinking’
Munger—who was one of Warren Buffett’s closest business confidants, leading as Berkshire Hathaway’s vice chairman for decades—also promoted the power of drawing upon multiple disciplines of study.
Throughout his decades-long career, the Wall Street icon lived through several technology transformations. But the core skill of cross-disciplinary expertise has never lost its luster.
“Charlie Munger talked about the importance of being multidisciplinary,” Collison continued.
“He thinks getting a functional understanding of many disciplines is not that hard. You can just go read the books now or you can talk to your AI about it,” he added. “I think multidisciplinary thinkers are going to do incredibly well.”
The leaders who say broad thinkers have the edge in an AI world
From Silicon Valley to Wall Street, a growing chorus of executives are coming to the same conclusion: breadth of knowledge and cross-disciplinary fluency will define who thrives in the AI era.
Daniela Amodei, president and cofounder of Anthropic, believes that humans and AI will work together in the tech transformation; but now, people skills are more important than ever.
Talent with a liberal arts education—which typically spans humanities, natural sciences, sociology, and the arts—will have the most well-rounded skill set to thrive. The AI pioneer says the tech models are already very good at STEM, putting a premium on soft skills like EQ, communication, and curiosity.
“I actually think studying the humanities is going to be more important than ever,” Amodei said in an interview with ABC News earlier this year. “I think this idea that there are things that make us uniquely human—understanding ourselves, understanding history, understanding what makes us tick—I think that will always be really, really important.”
“I think the ability to have critical thinking skills and learn how to interact with other people will be more important in the future, rather than less.”
Microsoft’s chief scientist, Jaime Teevan, agrees that liberal arts degrees might be the real unlock to succeeding in the modern workforce.
Instead of being siloed into one discipline, they can apply a wide breadth of knowledge to complicated business problems. Liberal arts tracks that have historically been the worst-paid majors—like anthropology, psychology, and education—could have real value in the AI era.
“Metacognitive skills will be very important—flexibility, adaptability, experimentation, thinking critically, being able to challenge things. Developing critical-thinking skills requires friction, doing things that are hard, doing deep thinking,” Teevan told The Wall Street Journal earlier this year. “For that, a traditional liberal-arts education is really important.”
Even in a market as precise and quant-heavy as Wall Street, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has emphasized the growing importance of developing “soft skills” alongside their expertise. He says that workers need to leverage their emotional quotient, leaning into critical thinking and communication skills, as well as how to write well and execute a meeting. It’ll be their career ticket as AI automates entry-level roles.
“My advice to people would be critical thinking, learn skills, learn your EQ [emotional quotient], learn how to be good in a meeting, how to communicate, how to write,” Dimon told Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures last year. “You’ll have plenty of jobs.”
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