In college, I had a professor of finance and while I cannot remember his name, I will never forget something he said one day in class.
We had just finished our mid-term exam, and most of the class was worked up and complaining about the test. The professor, at the last minute, made us take the test in the computer lab using Lotus 1-2-3 (for those of you too young to remember, Lotus 1-2-3 was the #1 spreadsheet software on the market before Excel). In the late ‘80s, personal computers were still not that common. Most kids coming into college had never used one, and it was a rare student that actually owned a computer.
So naturally, most of the students in the class thought it was completely unfair that the professor would make them take the test on a computer. And, like only kids and college students can, they whined about the total unfairness of it all, “I thought this was a finance class, not a computer class! It’s not fair! I don’t know how to use a computer!”
At which point the professor said something brilliant! “If you were a carpenter, trying to get a job in construction and you told the foreman you couldn’t use a hammer, do you think he would hire you?!?! Spreadsheet software is the hammer of business & finance. You won’t be able to get a job in finance if you don’t know how to use it.”
Basically he told us to suck it up and learn how to use (and find) the right tool for the job.
“Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have faith in people, that they are basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them.” - Steve Jobs
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