It was the launchpad to his illustrious career in finance, including a 12-year reign at Goldman Sachs.
“I think education is the real accelerator for most people into the middle and upper classes,” Blankfein told CBS.
Higher education has long been lauded as the best path to success, but some leaders are encouraging budding workers to skip college altogether.
The ex-Goldman Sachs leader, an alumni of both Harvard University and Harvard Law School, says the elite college nurtured his confidence, writing skills, love of history, and engagement with current events. It was no cake walk—Blankfein wrote that he “survived” the experience more than he enjoyed it. But it was still “the best place to have gone.”
Blankfein might have missed out on that essential growth, integral to his career success, if he’d passed up on the college experience altogether.
“Your undergraduate years are your best opportunity to make yourself uncomfortable in a way that can help make you more curious and interesting,” he continued in his book.
While some leaders with elite college degrees are bashing higher education, others like Blankfein are crediting their education to their current success.
“Learning all of the…really important basics of engineering, but then marrying that with liberal arts, that really taught me to communicate in a compelling way, which is an absolute necessity when you’re in a leadership position.”
