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Richard J. Franke was a history major at Yale before earning his M.B.A. degree at Harvard in 1957.
Later, as chief executive of John Nuveen & Co., a Chicago-based fund manager specializing in tax-exempt bonds, he considered that history degree at least as important as the business training. He was more apt to quote Sophocles or Montaigne than any financial guru. He hired people with degrees in philosophy, English or theology as well as those with financial skills.
The humanities, Mr. Franke argued, were the best way to learn communication and critical-thinking skills, understand other people, and stay open to adopting new ideas as new information emerged.
“Business leaders with a background in the humanities have a deeper understanding of themselves and others,” he said in a 2000 speech.
In the memoir he wrote for his grandchildren, he recommended a rich diet of reading, including biographies and obituaries.
Do you read obituaries? I rarely do but this held my attention in how Franke shaped his life and business to conform to his love of the humanities.
Do you agree with him that studying humanities makes one a more rounded individual, and it is a critical aspect of one’s education that is focused mainly in commerce and science?
Rarely read obituaries. I would concur somewhat with Mr Franke, but it really depends on the person and their level of natural curiosity and learning / interest of various topics. Some people can be very holistic in their approach without a specific type of degree and others may not. Also, being able to have a good mentor (in the industry) early in one's work career is probably more important.
I do think the stereotype, in general, of humanities being more broad based and better at communication is mainly due to the type and level of things a humanity major may be required to read and write about versus the more technical and science oriented degrees. As for critical thinking skills I don't think it would matter as much. Although this could be more a function of the quality of the instruction and teachers / educators one is exposed to during the education process. A good coursework with a cross disciplinary complement area of study seems the ideal. When the student can mix the qualitative (soft skills) with the quantitative I think it helps give the broadest (initial formal training) to address a future career. FWIW
Rarely read obituaries. I would concur somewhat with Mr Franke, but it really depends on the person and their level of natural curiosity and learning / interest of various topics. Some people can be very holistic in their approach without a specific type of degree and others may not. Also, being able to have a good mentor (in the industry) early in one's work career is probably more important.
I do think the stereotype, in general, of humanities being more broad based and better at communication is mainly due to the type and level of things a humanity major may be required to read and write about versus the more technical and science oriented degrees. As for critical thinking skills I don't think it would matter as much. Although this could be more a function of the quality of the instruction and teachers / educators one is exposed to during the education process. A good coursework with a cross disciplinary complement area of study seems the ideal. When the student can mix the qualitative (soft skills) with the quantitative I think it helps give the broadest (initial formal training) to address a future career. FWIW
Steve Jobs is an example how an enriched experience mixes with business acumen to produce a utility product of beauty. Elegance, simplicity, beauty are what I think of when i think of Apple products.
Quote:
When he left college, he opted for the position of a video game designer at Atari. A few months later, Jobs travelled to India accompanied by his friend Dan Kottke. Mystified by the eastern philosophies, he wanted to quench his thirst for spiritual enlightenment. He spent some time in Delhi roaming around barefoot and donning a lungi. He came back to Atari a Buddhist becoming more focused and somewhere grasping his hold on the questions inside him. India was a transformative point in Steve Jobs education as these seven months helped him explore his ideas of spirituality. He reconnected with Steve Wozniak after heading back and together they went to pioneer the technological world with the invention of Apple Computers.
You've never known anybody personally who has died?
Obituaries always exaggerate that person's accomplishments and passions.
Being into Astrology, if there's a birthdate, and the Obituary is interesting, I might look up their astrological placements for confirmation or curiosity.
I'm sure many obituaries have made people angry (A business owner with employees for instance) or scratching their heads in wonder, like their children who read: The sweetest, kindest, caring Father a child could ever have. Or it may even leave the wife nonplussed: the best husband a woman could ever have!
Suicide is such a taboo subject, in all the obit's I've read over the years, I did read one where the mother, who lost her sun to a drug overdose, spelled it right out in the obituary. Very, very rare to read!
As mentioned, it depends on the situation.
If someone is already too open, lacking direction - then maybe humanities would hinder more than help.
But if someone is too directed/focused on a particular field unrelated to humanities - then it might be needed.
Even hard lives come with valuable lessons. What defines as "well lived" could be up to interpretation. The actions of monsters can help people look at their own actions and re-evaluate their choices. You can't have the ying without the yang.
I sometimes read obituaries. I always find them touching and generally they make me smile and consider the deceased to have lived their life well, no matter what. That's pretty much the purpose of an obituary.
I had a jokester uncle who used to say "You should only say good things about the dead. He's dead... and that's a good thing."
I wanted to add something that ties in to the title of the OP:
The absolute most touching gift I got after my husband died was a beautiful set of windchimes from a good friend. On the windchimes (actually on the "ringer" part of the windchimes) it has my husband's birth day and death day, and his name, and it said "A life well lived, a man well loved." I absolutely love those windchimes.
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