As a PM do I wish I majored in computer science sometimes? You bet but I went out of my way to learn to code instead.

What Silicon Valley lacks is cognitive diversity. If everyone majored in preprofessional majors like business and computer science we would all think in algorithms, cost benefit analysis, binary mode, and myopic ways. A liberal arts education forces you to become an interstitial thinker, you connect the gaps, and think about how bodies of knowledge are connected. You are a multipotentialite.

With the foundation of web 1.0 and the basics of the internet laid out, we need a new wave of thinkers who can connect interdisciplinary knowledge like psychology, economics, philosophy, computer science etc. People don’t just need new products, they need products that they can connect with and will delight them. You can’t teach empathy but rather empathy cultivates through experiencing shared humanity through literature, traveling, writing, and discoursing.

As a product manager, I always find myself at the intersections of disciplines. I don’t read the Economist for face value. I evaluate its arguments from multiple vantage points. I don’t move sets of metrics without evaluating if it solves people problems first. I don’t just ship a product because it’s sick without gathering the inputs of cross-functional stakeholders. I don’t steam roll my peers because I think I am the smartest.

Yes, it took me longer to break into tech and establish myself as a PM with a liberal arts degree. But my nontraditional background is what sets me apart. You are the accumulation of differences that make you YOU. I started writing because I wanted to establish credibility as a product manager and soon discovered that I have the power to connect my readers to the intersection of tech and shared humanity. The liberal arts degree is neither a necessary nor a sufficient to be successful in 2016.

You can read about why we need to give liberal arts majors a chance here.