Business Philosophy
How studying the humanities will help you turn a profit in your business ventures and propel you to financial security
Many times, I have mentioned my commitment to pointing out issues without offering solutions. Last week while trying to offer an alternative to ‘macho vitalism’, I made the following claim:
“Staying out of debt and building a productive business is one of the most important ways Christian men can empower themselves today. Capital influences culture.”
If you’re like me and are looking to build a business or career, you need to be studying the humanities. I’d like to share some of what I’ve learned which may help in that venture. I am classically educated, and I find that my humanities studies lend very well to business.
Business is no more than a combination of relationships and processes. A relationship is easy to define: a rapport or cooperation between two or more people. A process I will here define as no more than a syllogism: what conditions need to be true for my product/service to be timely and accurate?
70% of business is dealing with relationships. The other 30% is process. Students of the humanities have the tools to excel in both areas, which is why I argue studying the humanities is a great business school. I argued for classical education in “Education vs Inundation” as an excellent tradition which trains your mind how to think outside set pathways. I’m going to expand that in this piece with a practical overview of the benefits.
First, since so much of business is built on relationships (perhaps even more than my estimate of 70%), it stands to reason that studying people and how they interact is invaluable. The study of history and politics teach you how people tend to act, and how you could react to certain situations. You may read about the betrayal of Caesar and apply that to avoid a hostile takeover of your firm. You may do something as simple as read Cicero’s essay on friendship and learn how to better relate to your coworkers. You could even use one of my favorite tools to directly study the lives of past entrepreneurs: Founders podcast by David Senra.
Studying past relationships stacks your mind with centuries of experience from other interpersonal relationships, far more than you could ever experience in your short life. You will be more versatile in business than someone who’s lived only one life.
Other humanities have important roles in business too. Especially self-employed or as an entrepreneur, having written and oral communication skills at your disposal is vital. Learning to speak persuasively unlocks one of the most valuable skills in business: sales. Selling yourself and your product is the first step to successful business. If you’re unable to tell someone what you’re providing and why it’s in their interest, you won’t go very far. Rhetoric will teach you to speak well.
Studying Latin teaches excellent writing skills. I speak from experience- I largely attribute my humble skills as a writer to my Latin training. The structure of the language forces you to learn your own language better in order to translate. In the end, you will be an expert at English, even if your Latin isn’t very good.
Art and literature have their place too. Every advertisement is a piece of art or a piece of writing. Developing an eye for an attractive branding and learning to persuade in writing are vital to a marketing campaign. Storytelling is the number one way to write attractive copy. All these above skills help you to form great relationships with associates and customers.
What about process? One of my mentors, a retired GE Executive, permanently etched a piece of advice on my mind:
“Business is process. The only metrics of a good process are timeliness and accuracy. Get it done on time and get it done right. Use your process.”
Above I claimed that business is 30% process and that all process is syllogism. Philosophical syllogisms and business processes are parallel. Both ask the following: What must be true for X outcome? A process, like a syllogism, lays out all the conditions that must be met for something to take place.
Philosophers get proficient at working on syllogisms in reverse. Given the apparent reality (a conclusion or a product), what conditions must be true to make it so (the premises or process)? The study of philosophy enables you to perceive how parts of a process are connected and where problems could be rooted. Philosophy is a superpower for structuring businesses. Especially for low-margin businesses, dialed in process can greatly contribute to the bottom line.
Applying all this knowledge to real-life business situations forces you to think analogically: that is, you are forced to draw conclusions through similarities which can lead to innovative ideas. My friend Adam Knorr (check out his Substack!) recommended me the book Range by David Epstein.
Epstein points out how ‘late specializers’ tend to perform well in relation to ‘early specializers’ by boiling down their past experiences into analogies they apply to a current problem. Studying the humanities does something similar. You may not be a business school grad, but with your knowledge of humanities, you know enough about people and processes to problem-solve with analogical thinking.
I came across a post while writing this piece in which
said something similar to what I am saying, but with even more foresight. Anyone’s guess who’s to blame for the mimesis this time!Mr. Burgis should know- he's a successful entrepreneur and author. I’m unsurprised that he and I are talking about the humanities, even if for different reasons. The outlook of business under the AI revolution makes these analogical skills offered by the humanities worth the work of studying to gain them.
There is an ongoing resurgence of classical education in the Anglophone world. Chesterton Schools network is just one example I know of chartering in my own city this school year. I know from friends across the pond that the same is true in the UK. I encourage you to join the movement if you’re looking for success in business. Studying the humanities allows you to take advantage of a thousand past lives to better your business relationships and help you structure your operation. Reading Caesar and Aristotle in your free time has the potential to boost your income as much as that pricey MBA- and they’re far more interesting anyway!