Almost two months ago an entrepreneur of the Business Department in TCU came to visit our class. Michael Sherrod introduced himself with enthusiasm and charisma and one of the first things he said was: "English majors are the most important people in a business." Of course, I'm paraphrasing, but his statement was well remembered because for years I've heard comments similar to "You will never find a job as an English Major." "Go into law instead." "English? I don't think you make much with that." I'm sure I'm not the only person who has heard these point of views and I most likely will not be the last. Yet, on a Thursday morning in a class full of English majors and minors I heard Michael deny what most people had told me during my short college career. English majors are highly sought for, he said, and not because it's a field with less applicants, but because English majors are innovative.
For a business to thrive it needs creativity and requires of its workers and CEO fathers and mothers to keep a lookout for new ideas and creative ways to market or build new products. Sherrod clung to this point when he spoke with us. Creativity blooms in an English major and minor's mind because the student reads constantly and writes constantly both fiction and non-fiction pieces for class. Sherrod believed (quite emphatically) that businesses needed more creative thinkers who could put forth new ideas and new answers to current financial or production problems. He went as far as saying: "You don't need to get a business major to get into business. I didn't get a business major and I helped bring up several companies." Again, paraphrasing, but the gist of the idea is there. English majors don't need to fear being out of a job because indirectly Sharrod stated that they are a commodity. There are fewer English majors and minors each year and businesses are scrambling to implement people who can read in depth and write without making multiple spelling mistakes. Being an English major suddenly didn't seem like a wishful dream to make it somewhere in the world.
There is much left for an English student to do and say. Every passing day is full of people offering new ideas for an application on IPhone or a new website for an upcoming movie. Creative minds are everywhere, but as Sherrod said, English majors and people focused on literary works have a different way of viewing the world. The jobs are out there and so are the businesses, all we English folk have to do is search.
For those of us who have minds based in the Liberal Arts world, but are majoring in Business (maybe even Accounting) this was also a very comforting thought. Often times in my business classes, I feel discounted by my classmates because I also have a love for English and writing and am extremely passionate about it. They think that this creativity and uniqueness I have is a sign that I can be of no use in business situations and business projects. I feel and hear this so much I was foolishly starting to believe it. But hearing Michael Sherrod tell me that what makes me so different and almost ostracized by my classmates is the thing that makes me an asset to a business team and an innovator in the business world was the biggest encouragement that I ever could have received. His talk was one of the best moments of my semester over all, because it really helped to affirm me in a year that I thought I had lost my drive and I had completely missed the mark with my major.
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