Management | Decision Making

Why Your Education Didn’t Prep You to Make Good Decisions at Work

Bridge the gap your degree left open. You’re equipped to make impactful choices!

Os Ishmael
7 min readMar 23, 2024

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A new graduate making a lot of poor decisions.
Losing it at work when you realize your uni education left out learning about real life scenarios. Image by author via Midjourney.

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The good old days in uni or college. Remember them?

Everything seemed so neatly boxed up in textbooks. Theories and models had all the answers.

But switch to the professional scene, and it’s a different story. Decisions here aren’t black and white; they’re filled with shades of gray, and every choice matters big time.

This is what we call the educational-professional gap, and trust me, it changes the game when it comes to making decisions at work.

We’ll explore this through an ex-colleague of mine, Jake, a bright academic mind facing the wilds of the corporate world.

And, did you know nearly half of all managers admit their college education didn’t gear them up for real job decision-making? Let’s dive into why.

The Root of the Problem — The Educational-Professional Disconnect

1. Academic vs. Professional

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Os Ishmael

Fractional Chief Communications Officer embracing life's wisdom | By day crafting strategic communications and narratives | At night, asleep.