3 Reasons Humanities PhDs Are Valuable in Business or Why I Love Working with Teachers!

3 Reasons Humanities PhDs Are Valuable in Business or Why I Love Working with Teachers!

1) We are skilled diplomats.

Many Humanities PhDs were fortunate enough to be teachers. We managed classrooms full of lively students, we met the expectations of administrators, and we collaborated with colleagues to improve our pedagogies. We were trained to keep conversations going, to draw out ideas from people, to help people succeed—not to bring discourses to a screeching halt with a careless word or thoughtless remark, or to point fingers, or to turn and run when the heat gets turned up. I’m not saying we’re perfect, but when I want someone on my team, I think of teachers. Think about it—teachers are dedicated to helping students succeed, day in and day out. Teachers constantly look for ways to help others gain knowledge!

Teachers lift others up, bring out the best in people; it is a part of the person, not just the job.

2) We do not get starstruck.

We have worked with the top people in our field for years and learned quickly that to cull great ideas means to treat everyone as equals—no matter who they are and what credentials they hold. What does that mean? I can respectfully agree and disagree with anyone—even a superhero. Everyone has a right to be heard and have an opinion; it is due to this fact that we can have the excitement of exchanging ideas and learning from one another. That doesn’t mean we enter every conversation swinging; it does mean we won’t fold our cards just because someone like Donald Trump pulls up a chair.

(Truth be told, I did get starstruck once when I took Alice Notley out to dinner along with other graduate students. I fearlessly picked her up in my rusty powder blue Buick and we had a wonderful time.)

3) We are hard pressed to burn a bridge.

Many of us have formed lifelong friendships with those who have taught us, our teachers and professors from years and years previous— which makes sense when you think about it. Research is based on the idea that we stand on the shoulders of others; we are trained to give a nod, to give credit, to other people’s ideas even as we work to improve or expand upon those ideas. We won’t needlessly jeopardize our relationship with others because we have learned from experience that we need one another to succeed, to think critically, to think better.

In short, as we trace the ideas that came before us, we see the veins of thought that connect us. We value those who have helped to shape us and those who continue to teach us.

(I remember when I gave a rather lengthy and rambling description of my dissertation research in food studies to my cousin, and she turned around and summed it up perfectly, in one sentence, using isocolon. She said, "Oh, I get it: You read, you eat, you remember." She was eight or nine at the time, showing me her stuffed animal collection. "Exactly!" I practically shouted. I wanted to bring her back to my university as a research assistant.)  :)

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Shannon Mullally has a doctorate in Creative Writing and loves food studies. Find Shannon on twitter @SMMullally.