My good friend Robbie Crabtree just launched an online course called Performative Speaking (PS).

‍

There are lots of good reasons to take this course as outlined here, but I thought it would be nice to zoom out a little to think about my investment decision-making process. How am I doing with my money and time? Am I getting a good ROI? If yes, how can I increase it? If not, what did I do wrong and how can I make a better decision next time?

When I invest my time and money, obviously I look for benefits I will get in return. I’m approaching it from a different path this time though. Instead of focusing on what I will get, I will start from what I will NOT get by enrolling in PS.

‍

Specifically, the course is missing these:

1. No traditional certification to decorate my resume.

2. No guaranteed job offer after completion.

3. No trendy skills like programming skills.

The price tag of $1499 seems rather expensive if I put it this way for a bunch of videos and online discussion boards.

But for me, the missing aspects are the essential building blocks of what I am seeking: A community of “Supportive, ambitious, intelligent, talented, and selfless” people as Robbie wrote in his newsletter.

PS is attractive to me because it is missing the 3 usual benefits of traditional education. And the lack of them I believe better aligns students to form a more meaningful and happier community.

Let me explain why.

Because PS does NOT offer certification or diploma like in a traditional college education, the course attracts people who ALREADY have advanced degrees and proven professional track record. A community of intelligent and ambitious people? Check!

Because PS does NOT give you a guaranteed job offer and the course is kind of expensive, the course tends to attract people who have enough resources to help others. In other words, the class repels a desperate job seeker and attracts a strategic leader with a long-term goal. A community of supportive people? Check!

Because PS does NOT give you the latest tech skills, the course attracts people with a genuine interest in the topic (development of communication skills in this case) and fosters long-term relationships among them. A community of talented and selfless people? Check!

Now, let me compare that with my dark days in college…

‍

The traditional college setting (at least the second tier public university I went) was a terrible place to meet a group of caring people because it was structured in a way that rewards short-term gain and discourages long-term relationship building.

It attracted thousands of students who go there out of fear that they would be shut out from career opportunities without a college degree. The dumb diploma I studied for had absolutely no value outside of my repulsive resume. So I didn’t care about actual learning inside and outside of the classes.

Not all but plenty of my peers thought the same. They dashed out the classrooms as soon as the lecture was over. We’ve wasted too much on tuition. We’ve wasted more time in the class on top of that. We were not going to waste more time outside of the class. So, most of them didn’t do homework either. Even if they did the assignment, it was put together 30 minutes before they left home. A lot of students, myself included, were there because they knew they had to do their time to earn the diploma and that’s all. Who the hell wants to partner up with my past self? Form a community? Forget it!

Then there is this direct job placement in fields such as engineering and teaching. Sometimes they will even give you a job before you earn your diploma because they are so short-handed. But those fields tend to attract people who are in there just for the money. They will abandon the ship as soon as they can and asking them to be a part of the community was too much to ask. I know this because I used to be one of them.

And finally, the biggest attraction of PS is that it does not teach the cool technical skill of the day. Instead, PS is a course about improving communication with other human beings, not about how to give orders to machines. Indeed, knowing how to speak computer languages pays well. That is why many people are attracted to the field of programming whether or not they actually enjoy talking with the machines.

I’m not a tech-savvy programmer so I can’t speak for them, but if I were one, I would have no respect for those wannabe geeks who are in it just for the sake of money. If I were a true techie who has been programming since I was 4, I want to hang around and code with like-minded fellows. I would not want to invest any picosecond with people who do not share my passion.

I knew I would never ever see my college classmates once the term was over. Our only common interest was to do the time and get the diploma. That’s it. Get in. Get out. There was no point in forming a relationship. So we didn’t.

Back to 2020. I no longer depend on the traditional education system because I found a better alternative.

Not teaching the trendy skills and incentivizing people with diplomas and dough is the best community building feature that PS has. It aligns people to see benefits in the long-term. When we share our enthusiasm, we tend to want to keep in touch. When we know that we will see each other again, we begin treating each other better. I like the freedom that global city life allows us but I also need the cozy village-like feel among friends.

So yeah, I’m positive that I’m going to learn tons of good stuff from cool people in the community of PS this fall :D