Written by Joshua DeVlieger, ’24
I recently had a discussion with someone who asked me to defend the value of receiving an education in finance from a liberal arts college. I always find this discussion intriguing because lurking in the background is the implication that liberal arts courses are somehow detrimental to getting a focused degree in business. This notion couldn’t be further from the truth. Liberal arts coursework is inherently valuable to a business education. The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, one of the premier undergraduate business programs, proudly declares that undergraduate students are required to complete nine courses in the liberal arts and sciences. This comprises about 25% of their college education. If the top business program spends 25% of its time focusing on courses in the liberal arts, then there must be some merit to studying the liberal arts with business.
Beyond this singular example, there is a plethora of support for the value of liberal arts coursework, support that is far more credible and rigorous than I could muster as a 22-year-old with a mere four years of experience in higher education. What I would like to offer, however, is a personal vindication for the value I see in studying the liberal arts. The knowledge I gained through Hillsdale’s comprehensive liberal arts core not only enhanced my business education, but also transcended it in many ways. The liberal arts are not just a means to a better understanding of business; its paideia extends far beyond existing only as a method to teach critical thinking that can be applied to a specific subject. This is my primary response to the titular question. My second response delves into the happy consequence that studying the liberal arts in conjunction with business conferred benefits that I may not have realized otherwise. Reflecting on my experience over the last four years, I’d like to highlight two of the most impactful benefits.
- Benefit 1: The value of discovering what you don’t know
It’s a terrible thing to be in a meeting where you are supposed to have the answers and suddenly realize after a probing question that you don’t have all the answers. Sometimes this is uncontrollable, and as Socrates opined, the best route is to admit that you do not know something, but you can’t just stop there. To Socrates, an unexamined life is not one worth living, and this applies to business just as much as it applies to philosophy. When there is a question that needs solving, you must seek to understand the answer. This thought process is not unique to the liberal arts; what is unique is recognizing this process as rooted in Socratic ignorance: it is better to be aware of your own limitations than to wrongly believe you know more than you do. Maintaining this mindset incentivizes the pattern of actively searching for these limitations and then trying to push beyond them in a search for truth and accuracy. A well-examined financial model where I see a problem, search for an answer, realize I’m uncertain of the answer, and then admit my own limited knowledge and seek advice is far more valuable than a model where I glaze over areas of limited knowledge as probably correct only to end up being wrong at a critical juncture. This Socratic mentality makes asking for help a reward, not a chore to be ashamed of. It makes discovering something I do not know an opportunity to learn and know something that is inherently better because it is true. This is immensely valuable to my own pursuit of excellence while also being valuable to the client. I wonder how long it would have taken me to recognize this value without having studied the liberal arts.
- Benefit 2: The value of broad reading
Some of the best lessons I learned about business leadership didn’t come from a book on business management. Part of the business core at Hillsdale includes a business leadership class, and the most impactful reading in the class came from Vice Admiral James Stockdale’s Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot. Stockdale was a POW at the infamous “Hanoi Hilton” during the Vietnam War, and his writing provides deep insight into what it means to develop the character to lead. It was not written with a business manager in mind, but it contains lessons within it that are more important than whether a U-form or M-form is the best way to structure a company. Stockdale’s understanding of moral philosophy and his reflections on what it means to be a man of character and a man of heart leading in times of intense crisis provide immensely valuable knowledge.
He reveals deep truths about the nature of leadership, and helpfully distinguishes between “gamesmen” and “hardhearted” leaders. He describes a hardhearted leader as a person who is “able to stand the full experience of reality” and can “deal with fear, guilt, truth, and reality.” The contrast is a gamesman, someone who needs to be loved in order to do their work. Gamesmen may work well without crises, but their fundamental fear of being unpopular often drives rash decisions. In many cases, these leaders aren’t necessarily bad; rather, they lack the spine required to make hard decisions. They fear losing their air of coolness and often partake in mental gymnastics to rationalize a poor but popular response to a crisis that has a clear moral solution. Stockdale’s hardhearted leader, on the other hand, has “the audacity” to stand up for the correct yet unpopular decisions. Technical knowledge of business management is important, but reading broadly from a liberal arts perspective exposed me to ideas that not only shaped my outlook on leadership in business, but also my outlook on life.
So, what is the value of getting a business degree from a liberal arts college? It helps concretize knowledge that goes beyond just the technical in a uniquely relevant way. More importantly, the liberal arts stand as valuable on their own merits, offering a rich world of learning that extends beyond the corporate office and nests itself deep within the soul. A liberal arts business degree affords the privilege of receiving a thorough education for both the corporate world and everything outside of it.
Joshua DeVlieger is a 2024 graduate of Hillsdale College. He majored in financial management.
Published in June 2024
