Why Companies Need Philosophers

The titanic companies that comprise the annual Forbes Global 2000 list, ranking the 2,000 largest companies on earth in terms of sales, profit, assets and market value, are bound to have something in common.

There is the explicit similarity of sums. Whether Berkshire Hathaway at No. 1 or Sun Communities which earned the bottom spot, these are all multi-billion, publicly traded corporations. There are also more implicit resemblances, such as the race and gender of the majority of people who make up the board.

The educational background of board members is another connection. Predictably, MBAs, usually from top universities, as well as other finance and business related degrees.

To note, this uniformity goes beyond just the boardroom. These degrees tend to be a prerequisite for anyone in a C-suite or similarly ranked position.

Conversely, to those who studied the humanities, prepare to be supervised.

This discrepancy in degrees in leadership positions of the highest-profile companies is no secret. The number of humanities-related majors has been steadily declining for years. In fact, the number of computer science degrees is about to eclipse all humanities degrees combined.

These numbers suggest a belief that the possession of computer and business-related degrees are not just for leadership roles in big companies but in the general workforce. Companies are looking for someone who can code, not provide analysis of a classic work of fiction or art. The humanities are being left behind for what is perceived as more modern and practical collegiate paths.

There is one exception to this rule. One humanities-focused major has been trending up in recent years: Philosophy.

Companies need to heed this and hire more people with a philosophical background. It will result in some significant advantages.

Why Hire A Philosopher

Here are three reasons why every boardroom should have at least one seat saved for a philosopher.

1 - The Solution to a Question may not Come from an Answer

Problem-solving is a crucial skill in the business world. A proper business-focused education will provide various methods to address a problem, whatever it may be. These methods tend to be empirically-minded, aimed at using data points and past examples of an akin issue for how to solve current problems.

Degrees in subjects such as finance and computer science also provide a similar methodology in looking for answers to a question. For example, a programmer may try different lines of code to try and tackle a bug.

But when a philosopher faces a question, her first instinct is not a trial-and-error approach to find an answer. Instead, she will first look at the question itself.

The question may be set up as a non-starter, with no possible answer. But, if the question was constructed differently, the answer would reveal itself. As the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein quips, the goal of philosophy is, “to let the fly out of the fly-bottle.”

2 - Clarity is Paramount

There is no universal philosophical writing genre. Plato wrote play-like dialogues, Jean-Paul Sartre novels and Descartes had his journals. However, these thinkers never applied to be published in an academic philosophy journal or sat in front of a thesis committee. Contemporary philosophers routinely deal with this, so their writing style is relatively uniform.

There must be an abstract that succinctly explains the argument. Then, there’s an introduction that does the same thing again—a short description of what’s ahead in different words. Only at that point does the argument actually come.

Among other things, this is an exercise in clarity. The skill to clearly articulate a 30 to 40 page argument in a few paragraphs cannot be understated in the business world with all the quick pitch meetings, short interviews and overall attention deficit caused by too many emails. Brevity is a business tactic.

3 - Do more than preach values, Live the values

The phenomenon of saying one thing and doing another, often the exact opposite, is quite common. Washington, D.C. and Big-Tech are clear case-studies here.

Contrast that with any philosophy seminar. Here, you will meet great thinkers like Simone de Beauvoir, who not only wrote about the freedom that women deserve in The Second Sex but lived it in her lifelong global travels and romantic life. Or, you will encounter Socrates, who chose to follow the principle of justice to his grave when he could have escaped a death sentence. He only had to slightly bend the rules in his favor.

These people should have a seat in the room, from the most prominent corporate boardrooms to local nonprofits. The payoff will be exactly what leadership demands but rarely achieves: better results.